- building the team -
From micro business to small business
As SMEs expand, their workforces need to expand with them, enabling owners to rise above the day-to-day busy work of running a business so they can focus on growth.
Gretta’s business is humming along, but running the production, sales, and marketing on her own is overwhelming.
Perfect Stitch Business Profile
Trading: 3 years Revenue: $200,000 per annum Full-time employees: 3 Assets: A lockup full of stock and her website
To keep up with the demands of Perfect Stitch, she’ll have to expand her workforce, which feels intimidating because there’s more at stake and less room for mistakes when other people come into the picture.
Gretta has still been paying part-time employees in cash but knows that it’s time to formalize the arrangements. This will mean setting up formal payroll and converting them into full-time employees, which has implications on tax liabilities and benefits like healthcare and pensions. For this, Gretta will lean on expert advisors for specific instructions around onboarding, taxes, and benefits logistics, knowing that mistakes could be costly to her business and her relationships.
Fourteen percent of SMEs fail because they assemble the wrong team.
—CB Insights
What the bank can do:
Banks need to provide resources to help fuel SMEs’ growing businesses while mitigating risk. In this case, they can provide customers with both human and artificial intelligence for insights into their businesses’ financial health to maintain momentum and ensure that business owners can pay themselves and their employees in full, on time.
A bank can offer Gretta:
Intelligence to inform hiring:
Invoice analysis with data-backed insights
- 3-6 months of historic business data to forecast future cashflow
- Finance impact simulations of hiring new employees vs. scaling back orders
Recommendations for services to bring on new employees:
- Handling of legal contracts
- Payroll providers
- Potential benefits and pension partners
“I find it difficult to manage my cash flow. I don’t know if I’ll get paid when I expect to or if I’ll have enough to pay the invoices when they’re due. I want to grow, but investors aren’t interested unless I can get a handle on my finances and show them what my future positions will be.”
—Owner and Founder, Analytics Company, U.K.
A Challenger Bank Fit for the Growing Australian SME Marketplace
Australian SMEs have a history of being underserved and held back from meaningful capital, with many feeling locked out from “the Big Four” banks that dominate the market. Then along came Judo Bank, the first Challenger Bank to be launched in Australia. Judo Bank was purpose-built for the SME sector and its passionate community of entrepreneurs, who are critical to the lifeblood of the Australian economy. Launching a new bank is no small task, but Judo Bank focused purely on their customers, keeping them at the heart of all decisions from internal systems, customer-facing websites, security, and beyond. They wanted to ensure that SMEs could get access to capital quickly and efficiently through digital channels, feeling supported throughout their entire journey. Judo recognised that these customers’ expectations have changed — it’s no longer just about their branch experience — it’s about the craft of relationship banking and the digital ecosystem that supports bankers to better serve their customers. Judo Bank selected Temenos for their experience in core banking, their technology and suite of products, their speed and ability to move quickly, and the willingness of the team to help at a really vital time for the business.
"The biggest thing that would make a difference for my bank is for them to listen to their customers and then rapidly get some solutions out there to help us."
—Managing Director, Consulting Agency, Temenos SME Think Space Innovation Series 2020
"We wanted to grow … and ask for a loan, but our contact person wasn’t interested in what we did, how we worked, or how we funded the company."
—Founder and Partner, Consultant Group, Sweden