Challenge
Small and Medium-sized businesses needed a comprehensive solution to manage their vendors, pay employees, and manage cash flows. Available solutions such as bill-pay didn't provide the features and functionality necessary for small business owners to manage their business payments.
Research
We conducted 12 follow-me-home studies, 9 in-house card shorting exercises, and several usability studies on design concepts. Our primary research goal was to understand how small business owners differentiate and take care of personal payments and business payments.
Persona
Moe– Grocery store owner.
•Manages his business through quick book.
•Makes ACH payments to over 200 vendors and around 25 employees through BFA.
•Hates checks.
I Need
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To be able to pay my employees and vendors
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Take payments
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To keep records
I Want
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To be organized
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To pay Taxes or ask for reimbursements
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Pay my employees easily and timely
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Keep all the records in one place
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Keep full control of all the activities
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To focus on my business
Expectations
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Initial setup may take sometime
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ACH payments could take few days to clear
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My employees need to sign and approve him to get him to the system
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If I don't have enough fund, the payment will be declined
Emotions
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I am worried that I might miss a payment
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I am not very organized
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I look for ease of transferring fund as a core baking service
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My vendors and employees are like family to me, so when I make a payment, I also send a thank you note to them.
Findings
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Small business owners treat personal payments and business payments very differently.
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For small business owners, cash flow is critical to ensure that they have enough money to pay their employees and vendors.
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Paying someone is not just a transaction; this is also a moment to appreciate their hard work.
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Vendor payment can happen on an ad-hoc basis or a specific interval.
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Sometimes they delegate the activities to other employees or to 3rd party.
Solution
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Based on the findings from our research, we decided to create a new Business Payment Center instead of adding features to the personal banking account to support business payments.
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We created a contact book for them to make recurring payments.
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We consolidated ACH and Wire transfer to the same experience.
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Simplified adding wire info to the system.
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Presented cash flow front and center
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Removed the batch payment transfer to single ones and created batch in the back-end.
Payment screen
Multiple payments
Wire transfer
More mocks
Demo Prototype
LinkedIn Recommendation
