UPDATED 10:43 EDT / OCTOBER 27 2016

NEWS

Cashflow to cloud: overcoming the financing debacle for small business | #QBConnect

From time to time, all growing small businesses with cashflow problems seek out financing. Unfortunately, many of them find it difficult to secure these small loans from big banks, especially in the timely fashion in which they are needed. In fact, lack of access to capital is one of the biggest reasons companies fail within the first five years, according to Rania Succar, director and business leader, QuickBooks Financing, at Intuit Inc.

Succar spoke with John Walls (@JohnWalls21) and Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), co-hosts of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the QuickBooks Connect event in San Jose, CA, to talk about the difficulty many small businesses have getting short-term financing, and how Intuit’s QuickBooks is helping them overcome it.

Major hurdles for small business lending

Cash flow is one of the biggest problems a small business can have. At some point in time, virtually all businesses run short of available liquidity and need to borrow money, and in most cases they need it quickly. Unfortunately, more often than not they are finding that traditional branch-style banks cannot help them. According to Succar, the approval rates at these type of lenders are around 30 percent for small businesses. Additionally, it takes around 30 hours of preparation to even apply, which frustrates many applicants. Because of these hurdles to obtaining interim funding, lack of access to cash flow is one of the biggest reasons small businesses under five years old fail, she added.

“Whenever we talk to small businesses, the first thing they tell us is the thing that keeps them up at night is cash flow,” said Succar. “And we also know one of the biggest reasons small businesses fail is they can’t get access to cash flow and to cash. So with that in mind we took a look at financing, and for small businesses it’s a fairly broken process.”

Using pre-existing data to apply

If the customer already uses the QuickBooks platform, much of the financial data required to apply for a loan is already stored within the ecosystem. So since it is all accessible, QuickBooks will create the required loan application and associated paperwork for them automatically. This drastically reduces the time needed to apply.

“You need to put together tax returns, and interim financial reports if it’s the middle of the year, and bank statements. It’s very frustrating,” said Succar. “We have most of that that information in the Intuit space. Rather than even applying, it’s just available for you in QuickBooks when you need it.”

Accessing the right lenders

One of the other features the QuickBooks platform offers is lender matching and access. When the customer uses QuickBooks to apply for the loan, the system evaluates their application and automatically matches them with a list of financial services that are most likely to be able to help them. This is of enormous benefit when seeking a lender, because the customer does not have to continuously reapply if the first lender declines them.

“We figure out which of our lending partners, based on what you need, are best suited for your needs, and then we send the information to the lenders, with your permission, and then you get all your offers right there,” said Succar. “We’re very focused on taking the insights we have about a small business to help them get lending that’s right for them with confidence that they’re getting the right financing for their business.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of QuickBooks Connect.

*Disclosure: Intuit and other companies sponsor some Quickbooks Connect segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither Intuit nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.

Photo by SiliconANGLE

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