FreshBooks: Why SMBs Need More Than Integrated Payments

Whether a consumer or a business, everyone wants to be able to pay easily and efficiently.

Sometimes, though, making and receiving payments is easier said than done. Or at least, it used to be, until payments-embedded platforms came along. Solutions providers are increasingly working to create solutions that make it easy for consumers to pay — and a lot easier for companies of any size to accept payments.

In the latest Payments Powering Platforms Tracker, powered by WePay, PYMNTS explores the latest developments in the platforms space, including how providers are working to get platform technology into the hands of those that need it most.

Around the Payments Powering Platforms world

The bulk of consumers have adapted to modern banking technology, but many remain underbanked or, in some cases, even completely unbanked. Now, several major platform providers are looking to answer the needs of these consumers who often have unsteady income and limited access to traditional banking tools.

Mastercard, for one, recently debuted a new solution using prepaid cards. The new offering is aimed at serving one-third of U.S. workers who balance multiple jobs and struggle with inconsistent pay and benefits.

The solution, known as the Inclusive Futures Project, is designed to address challenges in three key areas: digital solutions to manage finances and speed payments for gig workers, next-gen workers and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs); government services that foster greater innovation and efficiency; and new tools to enable smart cities to support a digitally inclusive future.

Meanwhile, Venmo recently debuted a new Instant Transfer feature. The offering is designed to enable consumers to receive credit on their debit cards within half an hour, cutting down the previous up-to-three-day wait.

Integrating payments to help SMBs

For a long time, SMBs have often been locked out of innovations in payment acceptance technology. But now, a growing number of software platforms are working to address that problem through independent point solutions that offer features like invoicing, bill payments, time and record keeping, integration into accounting systems and payments processing, among others.

FreshBooks, which has powered more than 10 million businesses through its platform, is one such player working to tackle these problems with its one-stop-shop solution. In a recent interview with PYMNTS, Mark Girvan, chief commercial officer at FreshBooks, discussed how the company is working to help SMBs manage the lifeblood of their businesses — cash flow through a portfolio of billing, cash management and recordkeeping options — and making digital payments an embedded part of SMBs billing process.

“Before you’d bill your client on a monthly basis,” Girvan said. “They’d take two weeks to pay — typically by check because using credit card was expensive and merchants didn’t want to lose to all those fees. We’ve now built all kinds of feature functionalities that can take that invoice, and manage it for you more quickly and do everything automatically.”

To read the full feature story, along with the latest Payments Powering Platforms headlines and trends — and the rankings of more than 100 industry providers — download the Payments Powering Platforms Tracker.

To download the Tracker, please fill out the form below:

About the Tracker

The PYMNTS Payments Powering Platforms Tracker, powered by WePay, serves as a monthly framework for the space, providing coverage of the most recent news and trends along with a provider directory highlighting the key players contributing across the payments-integrated platform ecosystem.