Join us for this live webinar — Fintech: Capitalizing on significant “app”ortunity in small business — on Wednesday, February 25th at 10 am Pacific, 1 pm Eastern. Register here for free.
Several years ago it would have taken a leap of faith for small business owners to be interested in a cloud-based small business application to manage their day-to-day financial needs. Fast-forward a few years, and the consumer-led app revolution paired with mass-adoption of cloud computing has changed that entirely.
As a result, small businesses are experiencing a massive shift driven by technology, forcing more and more to adopt new technologies in order to compete. Add to this the consumerization of business, and it’s no surprise that cloud-based financial applications are becoming in-demand solutions for cash-strapped small businesses who need intuitive and economical alternatives.
Traditional banks haven’t been able to keep up. The type of creative innovation possible in the scrappy, get-it-done culture of startups just isn’t possible inside a large FI framework, particularly when talking about small business. With three primary customer segments banks must focus on — retail customers (regular consumers), commercial (large business), and small business — FIs have to spend a lot of time and effort chasing and servicing the first two, leaving them slower to innovate in the small business space.
That’s understandable. And slowly changing. Today, fintech startups and traditional banks are beginning to work together in a marriage that allows both to meet the fast-accelerating technology demands of small business. The upside for banks is that they can speed innovation to market by integrating non-bank providers into their eco-system — and develop new revenue models by offering small business customers best-in-breed solutions. For fintech startups, the opportunity to work with providers such as Yodlee who, in turn, offer a secure authenticated connection to the banks, opens up a tremendous opportunity.
The range of fintech apps emerging to meet the needs of SMBs span just about every category: budgeting and number-crunching, expense management, lending, payroll, invoicing, on-site sales, inventory management, and more.
But when asked about what’s brewing on the horizon, Greg Weddell, Practice Manager, Small Business for Yodlee, points to a portal strategy. “At the end of the day, a lot of these small businesses want an all-in-one solution that allows you to add or adopt those services you want — instead of having to establish relationships with each individual service provider. “
“Right now, ” he continues, “Small businesses still have to struggle to find out who has the best expense management application, who has the best travel management, or budgeting solution, or inventory, or payroll.”
Join Greg and a panel of experts from both banking and fintech for an animated discussion on how the development and startup community can capitalize on the tech transformation unfolding in the small business space.
What you’ll learn:
- What’s happening in the small business fintech sector and what’s fueling its transformation
- The convergence of small business technology
- The dramatic growth of small business finapps and the future of small business
- The impact of Big Data and key insights gleaned from it
Speakers
Greg Weddell, Practice Manager, Small Business, Yodlee Greg is responsible for spearheading Yodlee’s growth and innovation in SMB banking. He has over 25 years of banking industry experience in the fields of Retail Banking, Small Business Banking, Domestic and International Commercial Lending, International Trade Services, and Treasury Management Services. He has previously worked for Capital One, Citizens Banking Corporation, Fifth Third Bank, Huntington National Bank, National City Bank, First Chicago NBD and National Bank of Detroit.
Christine Barry, Research Director, Wholesale Banking Practice, Aite Group Christine serves as research director for Aite Group’s Wholesale Banking practice, focusing on the strategies and technology implementations of global banks of all sizes. Her recent research has addressed global cash management trends and technologies, capturing the valuable small-business customer, corporate mobile banking, the drivers of global core banking system replacement, remote deposit capture, and best practices for community banks and credit unions. She is a seasoned banking industry expert with more than 15 years of experience in financial services products and technologies. She has worked with a broad range of U.S. and international clients, analyzing industry trends and identifying market opportunities, product gaps, and potential partners to help them achieve their strategic IT goals.
Kathryn Petralia, COO, Kabbage Kathryn has spent the past 18 years working with both startups and established companies focused on credit, payments, technology and ecommerce. She started Kabbage along with her two co-founders in early 2009, and the company has now provided more than $500 million to small businesses in the US and UK. Prior to Kabbage, Kathryn ran strategy for Revolution Money, which was acquired by American Express. Before Revolution, Kathryn was responsible for strategic development at CompuCredit Corporation, where she was led new markets and product development initiatives, as well as strategic alliances. Kathryn was one of the founders of WorthKnowing.com, a consumer financial services portal whose IP was later sold to CompuCredit and TransUnion. She is an inventor on 4 patents in the fintech space.
Andy Childs, Vice President, Marketing, Paychex Andy joined the national payroll and human resources outsourcing company as the senior marketing executive in February 2011, and now leads the marketing, corporate development and strategic planning functions.A senior executive with more than 30 years of marketing and business development experience, Andy previously held marketing leadership positions at Pitney Bowes, Mercer, and ADP. Earlier in his career, Andy was a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company.
This webinar is a co-production between VentureBeat and Yodlee.