// PREDICTIVE INTELLIGENCE //

THAT MEANS RETHINKING WHAT IT IS SMALL BUSINESSES TRULY NEED FROM THEIR BANKING PARTNERS AND FOCUSING ON PERSONALISATION AND CONVENIENCE AT EVERY TOUCHPOINT.

faster, more accessible and more flexible,” the report notes.

“ SME owners and operators have been motivated to move beyond traditional funding sources, especially lending against the family home, to keep pace with rising costs and uncertain demand. Despite record recent rises, all signs point to further increases in SME non-bank lending in the years ahead.”

How they’ re keeping the customer satisfied

So, what exactly have these digital upstarts been doing differently or better to capture the custom of so many SMEs, so quickly?

Offering seamless onboarding and faster access to credit, for starters. Both are a boon to SME leaders. With a multitude of demands on their time, they tend to be less than enamoured by the prospect of having to visit a branch, merely to get a new finance facility up and running.

Throw in some digital tools to help SME owners manage forecasting, cash flow, invoicing, expense tracking and other aspects of the finance function and offer a userfriendly data analytics capability to help them extract the insights they need to make better decisions.

Finally, make it easy for them to get in touch – and get answers – whenever and however they choose, and you’ ve created a compelling value proposition for a cohort of more than 2.5 million potential customers.

Reversing the trend

Traditional banks that have belatedly realised they’ d like a little bit more of that small time

26 Intelligent SME. tech