Bank of America, a financial institution with 3.2 million small business customers, announced today it has partnered with fintech startup Viewpost to open the wider world of fintech, specifically the modernization of payments, to small businesses.
“It’s important to move the dialogue beyond the transactional friction,” said Max Eliscu, CEO of Viewpost. He added that the prime focus of the partnership between the startup and Bank of America was not only the act of creating and sending an invoice, a process which costs around $180 billion per year, but to make sure business know the amount of money they have to hand. “These businesses don’t know what their cash flow is, and we wanted to open that door,” he said.
There are around 28 million American small businesses trying to stay afloat in the ever-shifting digital economy. For most in business, especially for startups and small businesses in the U.S., a major focus for improvement is payments: invoicing, processing, payment methods, etc.
As we know from the joyfully chaotic land of fintech startups, success depends not just on services provided, investor backing, and pure, unadulterated stubbornness, but on interoperability: how what you provide, when you provide it, and through what network all come together alongside the dozens of other technological tools used by consumers in order to offer the best possible experience. Customers need quick, reliable tools that can link to the other areas of their business, especially when it comes to finances.
“Our goal was to help businesses have visibility regarding their cash flow, which will expand access to capital and help them become more productive,” said Eliscu. “We think small businesses should have access to easy tools for this purpose.”
Viewpost is designed for businesses of all sizes but certainly has the capability to meet the distinct needs of smaller business, by streamlining the payments process down to simply logging into the Viewpost network.
Customers will use the same log in as their Bank of America credentials to link bank accounts to the network, from which they can receive or send electronic payments, create and send digital payment invoices, and further manage all of the tasks necessary to keep their business’s finances in check.
They can also access the service through the Business Service section of the Bank of America mobile app.
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