Did you know that there are 33 million small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the US? Or that SMBs make up 99.9% of businesses across the entire country? The US economy relies heavily on these smaller enterprises, and there’s never been a greater need for innovative solutions to help them stay on track.
One of the most crucial aspects of a business’s success and sustainability is the ability to handle the complexity of business payments in the most efficient way possible. Thanks to technological advancements in the world of fintech, innovative companies like Melio are revolutionizing the B2B payments space for those 33 million SMBs.
Melio has reinvented the way businesses pay each other—offering an all-in-one solution for both accounts payable and accounts receivable. They’ve created a user-friendly digital B2B payment platform that not only saves time but also improves cash flow.
In this article, we explore how Melio helps businesses in multiple industries manage cash flow better, streamline payments, and maximize their potential.
There’s a lot more to business payments than consumer payments
When managing business payments, SMBs can face a few hurdles. Paying vendors and suppliers isn’t as intuitive as paying a friend on Venmo—consumer apps aren’t suitable for the nature and scale of business payments. Additionally, the banking sector and corporate solutions tend to target larger companies, leaving SMBs in the dark.
“B2B payments themselves are anything but simple…there is a lot that needs to happen before, during, and after the payment….”, says Aharon Levine, Melio’s VP of Payments Strategy. The payment process deals with complexities that aren’t present in consumer payments—such as larger payment volumes, high frequency of payments, approval workflows, invoice management, net terms, integrating with accounting software, payment tracking, and all things related to cash flow.
The solution: Melio streamlines efficiency and helps with cash flow management
Melio addresses all of the challenges we just mentioned by providing simplified workflows and tools to improve cash flow. Let’s look into some of these solutions in more detail…
Streamlined workflows lead to increased efficiency, saving hours each month
Manual work, such as processing invoices, paper checks, and data entry, can be time-consuming, and prone to errors. Melio allows businesses to manage it all digitally—by offering an all-in-one, integrated cloud-based solution.
How Melio streamlines efficiency and saves you time
- Do multiple actions at once: Managing multiple invoices can become a repetitive task. With Melio, you can select multiple bills and pay them at once, or combine multiple bills to the same vendor. Additionally, Melio lets you pay, approve, or decline payments all at the same time, so you can handle all your monthly bills in a matter of minutes.
- Create and manage approval workflows: Customize payment approval workflows to maximize efficiency and share responsibility while staying in control. This gives you better transparency and visibility over all your payments. Approval workflows also enhance accuracy and compliance while minimizing the risk of errors, fraud, or oversights.
- Easily upload bills: Scan bills, upload multiple bills at once, email invoices directly to Melio, and sync with accounting software to auto-populate all your bills and invoices. All of these methods help businesses to save valuable time on manual processes and reduce the risk of errors.
- Set up recurring payments: Melio lets you easily set up automatic payments to vendors you regularly pay the same amount. This automation reduces the administrative burden, minimizes the risk of late or missed payments, and improves cash flow predictability.
- Pay on the go: Enjoy more freedom and flexibility. Melio’s mobile app lets businesses make payments even when away from their desktop—meaning payments can now be sent from anywhere at any time.
Melio: the ultimate tool for improving cash flow
Maintaining a positive cash flow means you have enough money to pay for supplies, vendors, taxes, subcontractors, etc. while still having extra cash for unexpected expenses or for growing your business.
Here are some factors that can affect cash flow
- Inflation
- Supply chain issues
- Growing labor expenses
- Inventory management issues
- Inefficient payment management
How Melio’s tools allow for better cash flow management
When running a business, positive cash flow is essential. With Melio, you can better manage cash flow with flexible payment methods and capabilities that allow you to pay how you want when you want.
Here are just a few of these capabilities
- Better visibility: When you manage the payment process online, you have a better view of money going in and out. Melio lets you track and manage all your payments in one place so nothing slips through the cracks.
- Pay with a credit card: With Melio, pay by credit card*, even if your vendors don’t accept them. This allows you to defer payments to the next billing cycle while also earning rewards. Paying by card helps you buy the inventory you need now, while only paying when your balance is due—ensuring you have enough cash to do so.
- Pay over time: Melio’s financing solution allows you to pay net 30 or divide the payment into 1-12 monthly installments while your vendor gets paid today. Financing is another essential tool for small businesses, helping you cover today’s expenses while you repay at a pace that’s best for you.
- Instant payments: Hold onto cash longer by paying your vendors as close to the due date as possible. With Melio’s real-time payments feature, payments are processed in a matter of minutes, even on weekends and bank holidays. So you can have more cash to put back into your business.
- Control incoming payments: Melio is not just about making payments—it’s also about getting paid. Late incoming payments can throw off your cash flow. Melio lets you send payment reminders before the due date to ensure the funds are coming in right on time.
That’s the gist of it—Melio solves the challenges of business payments by offering the simplest solution—and it’s free. Boost efficiency and streamline your workflow while enjoying a sleek user experience, enhanced visibility, flexible payment methods, faster delivery times, and multiple features to help you manage your cash flow. Now that you have a deeper understanding of why Melio is a must-have tool for every business, you can try it yourself.
*Subject to card network limitations. A 2.9% fee applies.
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