CashEdge says small businesses want better e-payment services from their banks

A provider of electronic money services CashEdge Inc announced the results of its 2011 Small Business Payables and Receivables Survey. The survey found that small businesses have a strong desire to accelerate and simplify current payable/receivable processes and a willingness to adopt new electronic payment solutions. Moreover, these businesses expressed a strong desire to get such services from their banks.

Conducted by CashEdge, the study examined the behavior and preferences of 405 small businesses as they relate to their overall payables and receivables processes. Small businesses were defined by $1 million or less in annual sales revenue.

The survey found that while most small businesses still rely on manual, spreadsheet and paper-based systems for their account payables and receivables processes, the majority are interested in new solutions that would increase the speed of customer payments. In fact, 60 percent said that they would use an ACH receivables service for getting paid electronically if it did not require sharing account information.

Apart from this, the survey also found that:

• Small Business Owners are Looking for New Solutions to Get Paid Faster
• Respondents reported an average of 19 days to collect payments from customers
• 60 percent of respondents want to reduce the total days to payment
• 19 percent of respondents already leverage ACH transfers for vendor payments
• An additional 38 percent would do so if it were available to them
• 69 percent hold both their personal and business accounts at the same institution
• 76 percent use online banking for their small business