Biz2Credit recently announced a partnership with Sage, a market leader in providing integrated accounting, payroll, and payment systems for businesses, to offer fast funding for Sage clients. Through a simple three-step process, Sage clients can get access to the funding they need from Biz2Credit next-day in as little as 24 hours. All Sage customers have to do is get pre-qualified, fill out a four-minute funding application, and get their loan approvals and funding—leaving them free to get back to business with the funds they need to continue moving forward.
Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, recently sat down for a podcast interview with the Sage Advice podcast to share his thoughts on everything from the Paycheck Protection Program and how businesses can pivot to stay competitive in today’s economy to his predictions for the economic recovery and the perks Sage clients will enjoy now that Biz2Credit is a Sage partner. Here’s what he had to say:
On how the current economy is impacting small businesses—and how businesses can shift to make themselves more competitive in the future
Arora didn’t sugarcoat things during his interview—the coronavirus and the resulting economic shutdown has been hard on small businesses. “For small businesses, this recession has been very tough,” Arora said in the podcast. “The economy is starting to reopen, but it’s a very slow start, and there’s also a lot of uncertainty around the infection rate and where the economy has reopened the infection rate has gone up.”
While there is still a lot of uncertainty about how and when the economy will bounce back, small business owners can set themselves up for greater success by focusing on pivoting their business strategy to focus on technology and shift to digital offerings, which are much better equipped to weather social distancing and other COVID-related restrictions.
“What this crisis has really shown is that [technology] is the most important way surviving—or even thriving—during this crisis,” said Arora. “My view is that businesses that are able to adapt and get to a point where they can reinvent their business models, they will do really well.”
On the Paycheck Protection Program
Arora also chatted with about the success of the Paycheck Protection Program and the impact it’s had on small businesses.
“The numbers have been phenomenal,” says Arora. “Typically, in a year, the SBA guarantees about 28 billion dollars in loans through banks. And in two months time, the SBA, through banks and non-bank lenders like ours, have been able to administer almost 520 billion in loans already.”
While the Paycheck Protection Program has been instrumental in keeping small businesses afloat (“Without PPP, it would have been very tough for many small businesses to even survive,” said Arora), it has also brought attention to some of the inefficiencies in working with banks and other traditional lenders on small business lending, which has led many small business owners to explore digital lending options to secure PPP loans and other relief funds—a trend Arora predicts will continue.
“There has been a lot of backlash and bad experiences that a lot of business owners have had with their existing bank partners, trying to get money through this program,” says Arora. “The next phase of the PPP program, including forgiveness, is even more depending on technology than on branches.”
On the economic recovery
Arora also shared his thoughts on the economic recovery—and why, once we get COVID-19 under control, the recovery will be a swift one.
“Unlike the last recession, there are very few underlying structural problems in the economy,” said Arora. “So, once we have a vaccination in play or the virus goes away, at that point in time the recovery will be extremely sharp.”
While Arora couldn’t make any predictions on when that sharp recovery will take place (“Whether that happens three months down the line or a year down the line, nobody knows that,” said Arora), he did say that businesses should be ready to take advantage when it does.
“Short-term is about hunkering down and being smart,” said Arora. “But medium-term is all about catching that growth.”
On the Sage and Biz2Credit partnership
Arora also shared more details about the partnership between Sage and Biz2Credit—and, more specifically, what that partnership means for Sage customers.
“We’re seeing that there are going to be two or three fundamental [benefits] for Sage customers,” said Arora. “One is to get access to a free digital platform on Biz2Credit that has been tried and tested by thousands and thousands of clients [with] a smooth, single sign on experience with [access to] all the data and multiple products that we have, including alternative lending, SBA lending, credit cards, and other products [and financing options].”
But the Biz2Credit partnership will bring more to Sage clients than just access to credit. “I think the biggest benefit that Sage customers is…on top of it, it’s not just access to credit, but it’s access to tools to manage their cash flow. It’s access to tools to look at their creditworthiness [and the] ability to improve their creditworthiness. [It’s the ability to] make smarter decisions and become better businesses.”
To learn more about the partnership between Sage and Biz2Credit, get access to fast funding, and apply online for the funding you need in just four minutes, visit the SageBusinessLoans.com
