Barclays is to provide small business customers with a 'SmartBusiness Dashboard', a single site from which users can view real-time banking data alongside business information from third party apps.
Barclays has collaborated with a multitude of leading app providers - from Office 365 to Intuit QuickBooks to Twitter and more - to enable businesses to import their everyday business data and information provided by these apps into one dashboard within its online banking site.
The site provides business customers with access to a set of APIs from which to import their existing apps or download new apps, from a range of providers across bookkeeping, sales and inventory, marketing and analytics and workforce management.
Ian Rand, CEO for Barclays Business Banking says the service will help SMEs to manage their cashflow, compare data and make improvements to help sales growth and add in marketing insight while removing the burden of admin.
"Busy business owners shouldn’t have to spend time sorting through different spreadsheets, reports or switching between apps - we’ve created a tool to give businesses time back - and this is an efficient way to run and grow their business," he says.
Freely available to the bank's half a million business customers through their online banking login, the service has proved valuable to early pilot users.
James Gage, founder and managing director at Natural Tile, a luxury tile supplier based in Norfolk, says: “I’m able to see all my business data in one place, including accounting and website traffic alongside my bank information. Not only does this give me a better picture of my business performance and help me to manage my cashflow more efficiently, but it also frees up my time to focus on running the business. I used to spend 20 minutes reviewing my business data and finances each morning - it now takes 5 seconds.”