Nearly Half of SMBs Are Loyal to a Single Provider for Payments, Payroll, Invoicing and Accounting, Says New Report

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - Dec 7, 2015) - Nearly half (48 percent) of small and medium businesses (SMBs) use one technology supplier to handle accepting payments, processing payroll, issuing invoices and accounting, according to the PYMNTS.com SMB Technology Adoption Index, powered by Sage, for fourth quarter 2015. Meanwhile, 34 percent of SMB respondents use two or more suppliers for their financial technology solutions.

"Small and medium businesses want a flexible, integrated, end-to-end system for managing the movement of money -- that is, seamlessly getting paid, making payments, and managing cash flow -- and vendors who can provide these types of solutions have a distinct opportunity," said Paul Bridgewater, CEO of Sage Payment Solutions, the payments division for Sage North America. "Price isn't necessarily the primary consideration for SMBs; rather, they want suppliers who can deliver a comprehensive solution to help them smartly manage their companies."

Tweet This: Half of #SMBs use one payment, payroll, invoicing & accounting provider finds @SageNAmerica & @PYMNTS index http://bit.ly/1Ru8hHI

Other interesting findings from this quarter's SMB Technology Adoption Index include the following:

• 64 percent of SMBs that are not currently prepared to accept EMV cards have no plans to do so.
• Electronic invoicing is gaining adoption as 31 percent of SMBs use electronic invoicing, and, of those SMBs, 20 percent can also accept payments electronically.
• 46 percent of SMBs cite not getting paid on time as the most frustrating thing related to receiving payments from customers.

Scheduled to be released jointly on a quarterly basis by Sage, the market leader for integrated accounting, payroll and payment systems, and PYMNTS.com, the premier source of news and commentary on innovation in payments, the SMB Technology Adoption Index looks at business and technology trends impacting small and medium businesses in the U.S.

"With nearly 28 million small businesses and 22 million self-employed workers in the U.S., small and medium businesses account for about 60 percent of net job creation," said Karen Webster, CEO of PYMNTS.com. "It's vital for us to have a continuous understanding of the support these businesses need in order to continue to grow and thrive. The quarterly SMB Technology Adoption Index will provide that, while educating SMBs about the important technology options available to them."

According to the SMB Technology Adoption Index for fourth quarter 2015, U.S. small and medium businesses are relatively slow to adopt payments technology, with 60 percent of those surveyed saying their highest area of technology adoption is for managing the payroll process.

"Small merchants are more focused on their primary business than payment technology, despite a plethora of options available to streamline the payment process," added Bridgewater. "While somewhat understandable, this approach could be dangerous and lead to slower growth since businesses can gain major benefits from more effectively handling the movement of money."

Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8, at 1 p.m. ET, Bridgewater and Webster will discuss the Index, plus issues and solutions for small and medium businesses, during a live webcast. To register, please visit: http://bit.ly/1lUUf68

View the full SMB Technology Adoption Index for fourth quarter 2015 here: http://bit.ly/1O8s1vc

Research methodology
The research was conducted through an online survey among 800 small and medium business professionals during October 2015. After removing incomplete responses, 684 were included in the analysis. Confidence levels are 92 percent to 97 percent.

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