Small Business Tools, Tactics, and Transformation
Small and medium-sized business (SMB) owners and operators give a new meaning to the word “busy.” Their time is crowded with the tasks of running their business—from ordering supplies to managing employees to customer service. Often, they are also involved in the hands-on creation of the goods they’re bringing to market. And although they may start small, they usually have big dreams of growing their businesses.
SMBs need banking partners that can simplify all that busy activity and enable future growth without being yet another thing the SMB owner has to manage.
With this understanding, banks and credit unions that can offer digital solutions that actually make SMB owners’ lives easier—not harder—will win their loyalty. It all starts with a digital banking platform made just for them.
Digital Banking for the Way SMB Owners Work
The Q2 Digital Banking Platform provides a tailored digital experience that bridges the gap between oversimplified consumer banking and complex commercial solutions. The platform is built with SMBs as a forethought, not an afterthought. It’s adaptable, focused on enabling on-the-go self-service for these busy business owners, and scales financial institutions’ (FIs) ability to serve the SMB segment by leaning on the digital channel.
Todd Senger, chief revenue officer for Dacotah Bank, said the digital banking platform is a key differentiator for the bank. “Q2 is a strategic partner for various reasons. Not only is the technology there, but the user-friendliness of the platform itself is something that we absolutely think stands out,” he said.
Cash Management and Payments
The Q2 platform helps FIs support critical SMB cash flow and vendor payment challenges by offering comprehensive payment solutions, including support for ACH, checks, and instant payments on RTP and FedNow—giving SMBs choices for how they pay vendors, collect from customers, pay taxes, or however they need to move money.
“It makes it easier for businesses to do business, which is one of Fairwinds’ pillars,” said Myriam Towsley, AVP, Treasury Services at the credit union. “Q2 has really helped us with that. Whether it’s payroll, vendor payments, or payments from your customers, that offering through our treasury helps tremendously for our business.”
Entitlements
Although many SMB owners “wear all the hats” in their business, they can’t do everything all the time. So it’s important for them to be able to give employees specific access to banking services. The Q2 Digital Banking Platform allows for that control, ensuring employees have access only to the information they need and limiting who can originate transactions and move money through basic entitlements.
A New Approach to “Banking” Services
Beyond banking, the daily tasks of running a business are enough to take up every hour in the day. Owners and operators need help streamlining processes like payroll, expense tracking, and accounting. The Q2 Digital Banking Platform, through the Q2 Innovation Studio and its fintech partner ecosystem, allows FIs to become a central hub for SMBs, offering access to a variety of in-demand business tools directly within the digital banking platform.
This integrated approach eliminates the need for SMBs to juggle multiple tools and vendor relationships. By integrating essential fintech solutions, Q2 transforms digital banking into a comprehensive hub for SMB operations, increasing customer engagement and strengthening the FI’s position as a trusted partner.
“What I like most about Q2 is that it is a platform that is versatile. We can engage with other third-party applications. We can customize it. We can integrate it seamlessly with other services,” said Fred Lie, chief digital banking officer for Hanmi Bank.
Be a Trusted Partner for Fighting Fraud
For any SMB owner, fraud is a nagging concern. One fraudulent payment can put some SMBs out of business for good. But FIs can help their SMB customers sleep better at night by providing the information and tools to fight fraud before it does major damage.
Positive Pay
The Q2 positive pay solution, Centrix Exact/TMS, integrates with the Q2 Digital Banking Platform to provide seamless, robust positive pay and transaction management that helps businesses identify and stop ACH and check fraud in its tracks. Many SMBs don’t know about or understand the value of positive pay, so FIs that take the time to educate and inform their SMB customers can become a powerful ally against fraud.
Jessica Salerno, e-banking officer and team lead for Bank of Ann Arbor in Michigan, said her team takes an active approach to educating customers about the value of positive pay, but some SMBs don’t listen right away.
“We have had experiences where customers don't want positive pay or aren't interested when we first offer it to them,” she said. “Maybe we invite them to our fraud seminars; we keep sending them our monthly fraud newsletters. And then if we are in the unfortunate position where they then have an incident that positive pay could have assisted, we bring it up again at that time. And it's pretty tender when someone goes through an experience like that, but we try to let them know that positive pay would've helped them.”
In 2024, Q2’s positive pay solution stopped $3.6 billion worth of ACH and check fraud for 587 institutions.
Sentinel and Patrol
To keep accounts safe against the constant threat of cyberattack or online breaches, financial institutions need a layered security strategy. Q2 Sentinel adds another layer with automated, self-learning security technology that helps block fraud before it impacts FIs or their SMB customers. Sentinel uses machine learning, endpoint interrogation, and other leading-edge security strategies so FIs can monitor customers’ typical online behavior patterns and immediately flag any irregularities.
To provide another layer, Q2 Patrol identifies and flags unusual online activity so FIs can immediately block and prevent attempted fraudulent transactions before they happen. Patrol leverages customers’ typical usage patterns and log-in details to identify discrepancies that might signal potentially suspicious session activity.
Jennifer Maggio, VP and business solutions manager for Gulf Coast Bank and Trust, said a personal touch goes a long way in fraud prevention. “It creates trust between us and our customers because they’re not just getting an impersonal text message about a transaction that needs to be validated. They’re talking to a real person at our bank. They appreciate that they’re talking to someone who is taking the time to call and make sure their money is not going out the door fraudulently—because, unfortunately, fraud is a daily occurrence in our country.”
Targeting and Growing SMB Relationships
FIs need to take a thoughtful, data-driven approach to providing the digital banking experience that caters to the way SMBs live and work. Q2 provides the tools to better understand, segment, and target them.
Discover and SMART
Q2 Discover helps FIs track online behavior, product usage, and more to gain a deeper understanding of account holder activity. Then, the recommendation engine in Q2 SMART distills that account data to help FIs deliver the right content and offers at the right time to the right customer, anticipating SMB needs as soon as they arise.
“We can guide customers through our digital banking solution and address common questions within the platform, reducing the reliance on direct bank contact and increasing efficiency,” said Michael Purifoy, senior EVP, chief treasury and digital banking officer for VeraBank.
Audience Builder
With Q2 Audience Builder, FIs can organize SMB customers into segments based on behaviors and transactional characteristics. This enables FIs to provide a tailored experience with the tools and services SMBs need the most—whether on a computer or a smartphone.
“The fact that the mobile and online banking experiences are exactly the same—and our ability to customize them—is super helpful. Because we know our client base so well, we can say, ‘They’re going to like this particular thing, on this page, and we want it to be labeled that.’ The optionality brings flexibility,” explained Krista Snelling, CEO and president for West Coast Community Bank.
Interactive Test Drive
Telling SMBs you have the right banking experience is one thing, but showing them is another. With Q2 Interactive Test Drive, FIs can put prospective customers in the driver’s seat with a true-to-life demo of what their banking relationship with you will look like. SMBs can see real functionality and perform real transactions, getting an immersive experience that leaves nothing to the imagination.
Krista Snelling, CEO and president for West Coast Community Bank, described how Interactive Test Drive helps the bank win clients.
“We're up against two much larger financial institutions, and we go in and we do the proposal. They said, ‘We were going to go with a larger competitor until we saw this demo. We wanted to go with you because you're local, but we just didn't think that we were going to be able to because you guys weren't going to have the things that we wanted. But now we saw it, so it's yours.’ And we won the business.”
Treasury Fulfillment
Streamlining processes like account opening and onboarding is crucial for a positive onboarding experience and accelerating time to revenue. Q2 Treasury Fulfillment automates processes, reducing onboarding time and improving the customer experience from day one. This is particularly valuable as treasury onboarding can often be a manual process for FIs.
Simplify Banking and Be a Hero to SMBs
By leveraging the Q2 Digital Banking Platform and surrounding solutions, FIs can provide the tailored, comprehensive, and secure digital banking experience that growing SMBs need—creating a segment of loyal and profitable customers.
Russ Wilkie, EVP and chief experience officer for Hoosier Hills Credit Union , summed up the benefits of giving SMBs what they need.
“Since going live, we have increased our small business and commercial membership count nearly three times and more than doubled our small business and commercial deposits,” he said. “The ability to more efficiently process payroll, ACH, and payments; offer remote deposit capture; and deliver overall functionality has put us into a referral environment with the local CPAs. Q2 has been integral in that.”
Learn more about Q2’s approach to serving small businesses at q2.com/smallbusiness.