Helping Small Businesses Stay in Business
The national network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) provides free consulting services and low-cost training programs across the United States. The centers are an invaluable resource for new entrepreneurs and established businesses that want to improve their performance and grow. As a company that shares the SBDCs’ mission, we want to ensure that they have the resources they need to promote small business growth and economic opportunity.
Moody’s Analytics and Finagraph collaborated with SBDCs in 2017 to bolster their credit counseling programs for small business clients. At the Columbia-Harlem SBDC in New York City, we conducted focus groups and pilot programs that helped us gather feedback from small business owners to inform the development of CashFlowTool.com. We also joined the America’s SBDC Annual Conference to build awareness of our small business development efforts. Conferences gave way to trials and trainings as well as more outreach to extend the impact of these tools, thus empowering more businesses with the insights they need to survive and grow.
“The reaction we’ve gotten from the SBDCs and their clients has been phenomenal,” says Nancy Michael, Senior Director, Enterprise Risk Solutions at Moody’s Analytics. “Small businesses, their accountants and their advisors have been chomping at the bit to put these tools to use. It’s encouraging that we’ve hit on a real value that they’re lacking today.”
Throughout this pre-launch process, we heard from 650 small and midsize businesses about their desire for tools to better manage cash flow and financial performance. Entrepreneurs told us that accounting jargon and consultant-speak have little place in a busy business; instead, they want simple and instant ways to gauge their business performance.
Finagraph distilled these insights into CashFlowTool.com — a mobile and web-based app that shows a business’s most critical financial metrics through a Cash Flow Calendar and Cash Activity Feed. Information and activities are presented in an easily digestible format so that businesses can quickly figure out what’s going on and what needs to be done.
Mona is deeply involved in the small business community in Atlanta, Georgia, helping to spur growth in underdeveloped neighborhoods. We’re excited about the potential for CashFlowTool.com to help more entrepreneurs like her succeed.
