Author: Arturo Patterson

What the SBA Wants to See on Your Business Tax Returns

The Small Business Administrations, Your Business Tax Returns, and You

For businesses seeking financing from the SBA, understanding all your requirements is necessary. Here’s what the SBA wants. And here’s how the SBA educates entrepreneurs on how to file their business tax returns. Because what the SBA teaches business owners is what they want to see.

Your Business Tax Returns

Filling out your business tax returns right is Job One. The SBA suggests entrepreneurs work with accounting and/or tax professionals. Well-prepared, thorough forms do more than help you get an SBA loan. They also help keep your business from an audit.

Necessary Business Tax Returns Documents for an SBA Loan

You must complete and sign IRS Form 4506-T. Each principal owning 20% or more of the business must sign. Every general partner or managing member must sign. Any owner with more than a 50% ownership in an affiliate business must sign. Affiliates include business parent, subsidiaries, and/or businesses with common ownership or management. Provide complete copies, including all schedules, of the most recent Federal income tax returns for the business. Or provide an explanation if not available.

Potential Extra Tax Documents Needed for an SBA Loan

These include complete copies, with schedules, of the most recent Federal tax returns for each principal owning 20% or more of the business. You also must supply them from each general partner or managing member. And supply them from each affiliate if any owner has more than a 50% ownership in the affiliate business. Affiliates include, but are not limited to, business parents and subsidiaries. Plus other businesses with common ownership or management. If the most recent return is not filed, a year-end profit and loss statement and balance sheet for that tax year is acceptable.

For 2020/2021 PPP Loans

You did not have to file 2019 Taxes before applying for the loan. But businesses had to submit IRS form 4506-T. This gives the SBA access to historical business tax returns. Owners with more than a 50% stake in an affiliate business must sign the form. Principals owning 20% or more of the applicant business much also sign. Each partner or managing partner must sign.

Tax Forms that Partnerships Need to Fill Out for SBA Loans

Files Form 1065, US Partnership Return of Income – information only. Each partner gets a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065): Partner’s Share of Income Credit, Deductions, etc. (See page 1-13, Pub 1066). Partner completes Schedule E of Form 1040. Subject to Self-Employment Tax. Use Publication 541.

Partnerships must have a written partnership agreement. It’s best if an attorney drafts it, as accountants cannot give legal advice. The IRS advises partners to spend the money now for a proper set-up. This will save long and expensive battles in the future.

Tax Forms that Corporations Need to Fill Out for SBA Loans

S Corporation (S-Corp) – Files Form 1120S. You can elect to be taxed like a partnership. Use Form 2553 to make this election. You will need to file Form 2553 by the 15th day of the 3rd month for the year, to be treated as an S Corp. An S-Corp does not pay tax on income from daily operations.

S Corporations

All income, losses, deductions, and credits an S-Corp generates pass through to shareholder(s). Shareholder gets Schedule K-1 (Form 1120S): Shareholder’s Share of Income, Credits, Deductions, etc.

The shareholder completes Schedule E of Form 1040. An S Corporation is NOT Subject to self-employment tax (SE Tax). But wages are subject to FICA. Also check Form 1120S Instructions and Form 2553.

C Corporations

A C corporation files Form 1120 US Corporation Income Tax Return. The law treats corporations as legal entities, treated apart from their owners. This affords individual liability protection. Shareholders get dividends with a 1099-DIV form. Employees get Form W-2.

Employees of a C corporation are NOT subject to self-employment tax (SE Tax). But they will still have to pay income tax on their earnings. Corporate shareholders should check Publication 542. Note: there is possible double taxation with a C corporation

Tax Forms that Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) Need to Fill Out for SBA Loans

File a Certificate of Formation with SOS to form an LLC. This is not a federal tax entity (see Publication 3402). An LLC with more than one member is often considered a partnership. A single member LLC tends to be a “Disregarded Entity” and it files as Sole Proprietor.

An LLC can elect a C-Corporation treatment (using Form 8832), or an S-Corporation (using Form 2553). LLCs are popular. Owners have limited personal liability for the debts and actions of the LLC. This is without many of the formalities of a corporation.

Tax Forms that Sole Proprietorships Need to Fill Out for SBA Loans

This is the most common entity type. 23 million taxpayers filed as Schedule C in 2014. It is the simplest and cheapest form of business entity. You form it with one owner. You will need to file a Master License Application from the Dept. of Revenue (DOR) for your state.

In sole proprietorships, income flows to the individual via Schedule C.

One major drawback is the owner cannot be on the payroll. You will need to budget with care. The owner makes estimated tax payments. Per the IRS, anyone considering a sole proprietorship should talk to accounting and/or tax professionals. See if this setup is right.

Record Keeping Requirements for All Businesses

Records must support income and deductions that show amount, time, place, purpose. You must keep receipts, sales slips, invoices, bank deposit slips, and canceled checks. You must also keep other documents to substantiate income and deductions. Use a separate bank account for business.

Accounting Methods the IRS Accepts

The IRS accepts cash accounting and the accrual accounting methods.

With the cash accounting method, you report income when you get it. And you deduct expenses when they are actually paid. But it’s good for no more than $1 million in sales. This works for most businesses.

With the accrual accounting method, you report income when you earn it. This is regardless of when paid. And you deduct expenses when incurred regardless of when paid.

For both methods, see Publication 538.

The SBA and IRS Rules

The SBA of course insists that you fill out all forms right, report all income and losses. Take nothing but the deductions to which you’re entitled. The SBA provides detailed information on what it expects to see on your business tax returns. It’s identical to what the IRS expects to see on your business tax returns.

Taxes and Your Business Income

This includes all income your business gets unless excluded by law. This means income from sale of product or for your services. This includes bartering (Form 1099-B). You must include other types of income. The IRS advises business owners to keep good records.

Taxes and Your Business Expenses

To be deductible, expenses must pass certain tests. First, the expense must be ordinary. It must be necessary to your business. You must incur and/or pay it.

Amortizing Startup Costs

You can choose to amortize some startup costs for setting up your business over a period of 180 months (15 years). A start-up cost is amortizable if it meets both these tests. It is a cost you could deduct if you paid or incurred it to operate an existing trade or business (in the same field). And it must be a cost you pay or incur before the day your active trade or business begins. There is a $50,000 limit.

Car and Truck Expenses

If you use no more than four vehicles at the same time for business purposes, you may use the standard mileage rate. Use the standard mileage rate the first year. Otherwise, you can’t use the standard mileage rate on a vehicle after the first year of business use. In later years you can alternate between standard mileage and actual expenses. But if you used actual expenses in the first year you can NOT alternate. Publication 463: Travel, Entertainment, Gift and Car Expenses covers this.

But commuting expenses are not allowed. Deductible local transportation expenses may include getting from one place of work to another. They can also include visiting clients or customers; and going to a business meeting.

Depreciation

Depreciation is an annual deduction. The IRS allows it to recover the cost of your investment property beyond the current tax year. It is a decrease in the value of property over time. You must use the property in the business. It must have a determinable life longer than 1 year. Must be something that wears out, decays, gets used up, becomes obsolete or loses value from natural causes.

You cannot depreciate:

  • Land
  • Intangibles (like business good will)
  • Inventory
  • Leased property
  • Property outside the US
  • Property used for business less than 50% of the time

Travel Expenses

Ordinary and necessary expenses for travel away from the business, not your home. Travel expenses include:

  • Fares (air, taxis, etc.)
  • Baggage and shipping
  • 50% of meals
  • Lodging

Entertainment Expenses

These must be ordinary and necessary. They must meet either the Directly Related or Associated Tests. No more than 50% deductible whether you use Per Diem or Actual. Must allocate business part. Keep receipts that show time, place, and purpose of entertainment (includes meals). See Publication 463: Travel, Entertainment, Gift and Car Expenses.

Business Use of Your Home on Your Business Tax Returns

Many businesses start out of homes these days. The SBA says the IRS puts limitations on deductions. Good recordkeeping, as always, is necessary. But some deductions are possible.

See Form 8829, Expenses of Business Use of Home, and Publication 587, Business Use of Home. Your business use of your home must pass certain tests for acceptance.

Exclusive use means you must use a specific area of home for trade or business and nothing else. But there is an exception for storage and day care facilities. Regular use means using an area on a regular basis. Trade or Business use means using an area in connection with a trade or business.

Business Use of Home Test

To declare part of your home as being for a business use, you must meet these criteria. You must use a part of your home exclusively on a regular basis as your principal place of business. Or it can be a place of business your patients, clients, or customers use to meet or deal in the normal course of your business. Or it can be a separate structure you use in connection with your business.

Self-Employment Tax

The self-employment tax is Social Security and Medicare taxes. Working for someone else they pay half, and you pay half. But working for yourself you pay it all. Sole proprietors and partners may be subject to the SE Tax. If your net profit from self-employment is $400 or more, you must file Form 1040, Schedule SE, Self-Employment Tax.

Avoiding Tax Penalties—and Doing the Right Thing with Your Business Tax Returns

File an accurate, on time, and correct return. There is a 20% accuracy related penalty if you understate tax liability due to:

  • Negligence
  • Substantial valuation misstatements
  • Substantial understatement of tax

There is a 75% civil fraud penalty. For felony criminal fraud it’s a combined penalty of 5%/month, and a 4.5% late filing and 0.5% late payment.

An accurate, on time, and correct return might not get you an SBA loan, by itself. But an inaccurate, late, and/or incorrect return will tank your application for an SBA loan. Not to mention having to pay penalties. So work with a tax or accounting professional. Get your business tax returns right the first time, every time.

Takeaways

In short, the SBA wants to see what the IRS wants to see. There are a variety of forms and schedules to cover a multitude of circumstances. Understand depreciation. Learn how to declare your home as your place of business. Both will help you prepare more accurate and complete business tax returns. And work with a tax or accounting professional to assure your business tax returns are as good as they can be. This helps you get SBA loans and avoid penalties.

The post What the SBA Wants to See on Your Business Tax Returns appeared first on Credit Suite.

Why a 2022 Credit Plan is So Important

What is a 2022 Credit Plan?

A credit plan for 2022—or for any year, is a way to better organize a necessary task, which is building business credit. A plan will help you save time and money. And you’ll avoid the frustrations of denials and delays.

How the Plan works

It’s not one size fits all. There are measurable, qualitative differences between startups and seasoned businesses. And there are differences between businesses with just a year in business, and those with five years or more. We call these phases. Your options for credit and financing differ depending on phase.

Why Should You Map Out a Credit Plan for Your Business?

You could conceivably just apply for credit willy-nilly. And you could hope that you’re doing it right. But a plan helps you bypass unnecessary delays. And it keeps you focused. Your eyes stay on the prize.

The Phases in a 2022 Credit Plan

Every business begins as a Startup, phase 1. Your business might be just barely squeaking by. Once you’re past the startup stage and making money, you swing into Development, AKA phase 2. Now you’re making some money steadily. The Growth segment of your business’s life is phase 3, where you make more steady money and can afford to look past the next quarter or year.

Phase 4 is Maturity, where your business makes good, predictable money, hiring people, and expanding with ease. In this phase, you’re way past hanging by a thread. The final phase is 5, Exit. Here, you look to pass your business on, whether through sales or willing it to your heirs.

Your Business Plans for the Future

Where do you see your business in, say, a half a decade, or more?

  • Do you triple your revenue?
  • Bring on more employees?
  • Replace your fleet or other equipment?
  • Retire and pass your business along to a family member or sell the company?
  • Something else?

All these scenarios require funding! Even going concerns with stable, steady revenue can experience emergencies, or need to seize a business opportunity quickly and before they have the funds. All businesses can use business credit to achieve their aims. Even if you’ve already been through some phases, checking out earlier phases could help you see if you missed anything. And if you’re just starting out, reviewing later phases could show you your business’s future so you can be prepared.

2022 Credit Plan Phase 1: Setup and Launch

Setting up a business is a lot more than just saying you’re in business. The way the business is set up can directly affect the ability of your business to succeed. This first phase covers your first six to twelve months or so of existence. Let’s start with your brand new startup’s fundability™.

Fundability

Fundability is a business’s ability to get funding. Much of the power to get business money is in your hands. A business starts with no credit profile. But nearly half of all companies fail in their first 5 years, and about 2/3 in the first 10. This means that new businesses don’t seem fundable to lenders. You can change that by building for fundability from the jump.

Business Name

Let’s start with your business name. Always check with your Secretary of State—the name may have to be unique. Make sure your SOS has all necessary, up to date, and correct information for your company. Make sure that you are in good standing with them, and your entity is active. You have to file annual reports and pay an annual fee to stay active.

Keep the name of a high-risk or restricted industry out of your business name. Your business can be Amy’s rather than Amy’s Cannabis Dispensary. There is nothing underhanded about this. It is completely legitimate and honest.

A common reason for loan and credit card application denials is the lender can’t easily locate a business offline or online. So make it easy for lenders and credit providers to find your business. Make sure the business name is identical on corporation papers, licenses, utility statements, and bank statements. Also make sure the business name and all other information is the same on every online listing you can find. Keep it identical on all offline listings as well.

Business Address

Your business must be a real brick and mortar building, a deliverable physical address. Hence it can never be a UPS box or a PO Box. Some lenders do not approve and fund unless this criterion is met. A virtual address can also be a good idea if you need to hold a meeting or an interview, as it’s a lot more professional than using your kitchen table. We like Regus, Davinci, and Alliance Virtual Offices. But keep in mind there are credit providers that do not accept virtual addresses.

Business Entity and EIN

Get a free EIN for your business and choose your business entity at IRS.gov. To truly separate business credit from personal credit your business must be a separate legal entity, not a sole proprietor or partnership. Only incorporating creates a new and separate entity. By default, this reduces your personal liability. Other entities (like partnerships) don’t. File with the Secretary of State for your state. Set up your entity in the same state as your business address.

NAICS Codes

The IRS website is also where you choose the NAICS code for your business. NAICS codes help the government collect, analyze, and publish statistical data on the business economy. For example, per the NAICS, the 484230 code covers Specialized Freight (except Used Goods) Trucking, Long-Distance. The 484110 code covers General Freight Trucking, Local. A trucking company which performs both functions could technically go with either code.

Neither 484230 nor 484110 is on the NAICS list of high risk and cash-intensive businesses. But that list is from 2014. According to the NAICS, they don’t have any current plans to update the list. High risk NAICS codes can affect your ability to get traditional loans, but other providers may be able to look beyond them.

Business Phone and 411 Listing

It’s easy and inexpensive to set up a virtual local phone number or a toll free 800 number. A cell or home phone number as your main business line could make your business less fundable—but a VOIP is fine. And if you don’t want customers calling you on the road all day, do not use a personal cell phone as the business phone number. It also helps with fundability to have a dedicated business phone number. Your number needs a listing with 411 for most credit issuers and lenders to approve you. Check for your record to see if you’re listed and your information is accurate. No record? Then use ListYourself.net to get a listing.

Business Web Domain and Professional Website

Lenders and credit providers research your corporation on the internet. It is best if they learned everything directly from your corporate website. Because not having a professional website can hurt your chances of getting corporate credit. A Facebook page or a listing on Yelp is no substitute for an actual company website. You can buy web hosting from a hosting company like GoDaddy or HostGator.

Try to make your domain the same as your business name. Add a company email address on the same domain as your website. This often comes from a website domain provider, and may even be free with your hosting package. This is not just professional; it also greatly helps your chances of getting approval from a credit provider. Do not use Yahoo, AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, or similar kinds of email.

Business Licenses

Contact state, county, and city government offices to see if there are any required licenses and permits to operate your business. Licensing requirements differ depending on state, town, and industry. Being fully licensed builds credibility in your business, and that can help you get more customers. Not being licensed can mean fines, and maybe even jail time. Don’t risk it and get your licensing!

Business Bank Account in the Business’s Name

You must have a bank account devoted strictly to your business. The IRS does not want you commingling funds. Make accounting easier and reduce the risk of audit at tax time. Keep personal and business funds separate. Having a business-only bank account makes that easy. Many vendors require that you open a business-only bank account. Use your EIN to open a bank account and to build a business credit profile. And while you’re at it, get a merchant account so you can accept credit cards from your customers.

Get Set Up with the Business Credit Reporting Agencies

Start with Dun & Bradstreet because they are—by far—the largest business CRA. Run a search for your business on D&B’s website. If you can’t find it, then you’ll need to get a free D-U-N-S number on the D&B site. A D-U-N-S number plus 3 payment experiences leads to a PAYDEX score. So you need a D-U-N-S number to start building business credit, plus it is another common vendor requirement. Once you are in D&B’s system, search Experian and Equifax’s sites for your business.

Start Your Business Credit History

You get the most favorable funding by paying all bills on time, which means:

  • A PAYDEX score of 80
  • Equifax Credit Risk Score of 90 or better
  • A good FICO SBSS score, which is driven (in part) by on-time payments and business credit history

For Experian, historical behavior (payment history) is 5—10% of the total score. So make paying your company’s bills on time a cornerstone of your business credit building efforts.

Business Credit Building from the Ground Up with Your 2022 Credit Plan

Credit Plan Credit Suite info about vendor accountsStart with vendor accounts, a proven way to start building business credit. Vendor credit is generally not attached to a bank. So under federal law a Social Security number is not required. This is unlike bank loans and bank cards. So you can legitimately leave the SSN field blank, to force them to pull your business credit under your EIN.

Using Business Credit Vendors in Your 2022 Credit Plan

Check out three of our favorite starter vendors for any industry:

  • The CEO Creative
  • Grainger Industrial Supply
  • Uline

All three report positive payment experiences with your company.

The CEO Creative

Reports to Equifax and Credit Safe. They had been reporting to D&B up till December 2020 but stated that they are working to restore that. Get low price electronic, and quality custom design and branding services. With The CEO Creative, you can create your own logo, business cards, business accessories, etc.

Membership fee includes access to all their products, and member discounts. Get access to web printing and graphic design at a discounted rate. You must pay an annual fee to run your business credit report and maintain monthly reporting. Membership fee is not reported to credit bureaus. Minimum order of $40 to report. Remember: reporting to D&B is on hold right now.

Qualifying for The CEO Creative

Your corporate entity must be in good standing with the applicable Secretary of State, and you must have an established business credit history. You also need:

  • EIN
  • Company address matching everywhere
  • Your business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • At least 120 days in business

You must pay a yearly membership fee of $69.00. Apply online or over the phone. Terms are Net 30.

Grainger Industrial Supply

They sell hardware, power tools, and more. And they also do fleet maintenance. They report to Dun and Bradstreet. In addition to their standard qualifications, if a business doesn’t have established credit, they want to see additional documents like accounts payable, income statement, balance sheets, etc. Terms for Grainger Industrial Supply are Net 30, Net 45, Net 60, or Net 90.

Qualifying for Grainger Industrial Supply

Your business entity must be in good standing with Secretary of State. You also need:

  • EIN
  • Business address (matching everywhere)
  • D-U-N-S number
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account

Your business must be registered to Secretary of State (SOS) for at least 60 days. Apply online or over the phone.

Uline

They sell shipping, packing and industrial supplies. Uline reports to Dun & Bradstreet and Experian. You MUST create an account with them before starting to build business credit with them. Terms are Net 30.

Qualifying for Uline

Your business entity must be in good standing with the Secretary of State. You also need:

  • EIN
  • Business address (matching everywhere)
  • D-U-N-S number
  • Business license (if applicable)
  • A business bank account
  • Business phone number listed in 411
  • D&B PAYDEX score of 80 or better

Application may be approved for net 30 at time of order. Upon final review, Credit Department may change to a few prepaid orders before granting Net 30.

Business Credit Building with Credit Cards with a PG

The idea is to help you qualify for business credit with cards that you will use. As you continue building, more time in business helps. But to get started, you may need to give a personal guarantee. That’s okay; that’s a part of the strategy.

When you provide a personal guarantee, you are adding your Social Security number to the application. So expect a hard inquiry. You’re also adding the details of your personal income to the application.

Good Personal Credit is Also an Asset You Can Leverage in Your 2022 Credit Plan

If you already have good personal credit, then you’re all set. But if not, you can work with a credit partner or guarantor. And never stop improving your personal credit, no matter what your FICO score is.

Phase 1 Funding Option #1: Our Credit Line Hybrid

This is a form of unsecured funding. Our credit line hybrid has an even better interest rate than a secured loan. Get some of the highest loan amounts and credit lines for businesses. You can get 0% business credit cards with stated income. These report to business CRAs so you can build business credit at the same time. This gets you access to even more cash with no personal guarantee. You need a FICO credit score of at least 680 or a guarantor with good credit to get an approval. No financials are necessary.

Phase 1 Funding Option #2: 401(k) Financing

This is not a loan. You do not have to pay an early withdrawal fee or a tax penalty. You put the money back by contributing, just like with any 401(k) program so you won’t lose your retirement funds. The IRS calls this a Rollover for Business Startups (ROBS), which is a separate entity with its own set of requirements. The plan, through its company stock investments, rather than the individual owns the trade or business.

This financing isn’t a loan against, your 401(k), so there’s no interest to pay and does not use the 401(k) or stocks as collateral. Instead, this is simply a movement or change of custodian. Your 401(k) must have over $35,000 in it and cannot be from a business where you are currently employed. You can get 401(k) financing even with severely challenged personal credit.

Phase 1 Funding Option #3: Securities-Based Lending

Some lenders make loans using securities (like stocks and bonds) as collateral. Securities-based lending provides ready access to capital. The only restrictions to this kind of lending are other securities-based transactions, like buying shares or repaying a margin loan. You continue to earn interest on stocks pledged as collateral. But you will have challenged personal credit.

Phase 1 Funding Options Include Selling Part of Your Business’s Equity

Your business and its potential are assets. Selling off some business equity can take a few different forms. This depends on how much control you’re comfortable with ceding.

So talk to people you know about angel investing. Angels buy a smallish stake in your company. They usually don’t expect as big a return as venture capitalists do. VCs might also buy a stake, but they generally just want paradigm-changing businesses. Most straightforward industries won’t fill the bill unless your take on the industry is utterly unique. Another way to sell part of your equity is to take on another founder or partner.

Phase 1 Funding Option #4: Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding success isn’t guaranteed. And crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter take a percentage of any money you raise. But it can still be a way to get a cash infusion without giving up equity. If you’re exceptionally good online and have a compelling service and story, then you’re more likely to succeed than most people. Since crowdfunding campaigns are time-consuming, don’t start one unless your realistic chances of success are better than half.

Phase 1 Funding Option #5: Grants

Grants can come from the government or private businesses. So expect a lot of competition, difficult entry requirements, and not a lot of money. But it’s another way to get some cash without selling a chunk of your business. You may find there are few grants for your industry. But you still may be able to score grants based on the kind of entrepreneur you are, e. g. female, disabled, LGBTQ+, etc.

Phase 1 Goals for Credit and Funding

Right now, you have minimal Growth Monthly Revenue (GMR). So this is a fast paced growth plan. Throw it against the wall and take what you can get right now. Look at some short sighted daily and weekly goals for quick cash and growth. During this phase, your focus is on the essentials to create a viable business. Your goal is to build your consistent revenue to $10,000 per month and continue to improve your personal credit. Let’s move onto phase 2.

2022 Credit Plan Phase 2 Development: $1,000 to $10,000 GMR

In Phase 2, start developing marketing. Currently, you’re at an aggressive sales pace adding nurture and longer sales cycles. Use medium term monthly growth planning (campaign to campaign). So it’s time for software implementation and system development. You’re building the blocks of how your business is going to be, now and in the future. This phase should run somewhere between the first 6—24 months from launch.

Phase 2 Credit Options

Your credit options multiply once you get to Phase 2, including:

  • Business credit cards (No PG)
  • Advanced vendors
  • Vehicle financing
  • Cash flow management with providers like Brex and Divvy

Business Credit Cards with No Personal Guarantee

As you continue to build exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time, credit providers trust you more. So you can get higher limits and better terms. And you can start to get business credit cards with no PG.

No PG (Personal Guarantee) Financing

With no PG financing, you can continue building exceptional business credit and pay your bills on time. In general, any of the following  eliminate the need to provide a personal guarantee:

  • good business credit
  • a decent amount of time in business or
  • good personal credit

Much like with any other kind of business borrowing, the more assurances you can give the lender, the better.

Advanced Vendors in Your 2022 Credit Plan

There are many vendors who do not report to the business credit reporting agencies unless you default. But they’re still a good idea, because credit can help you beyond business credit building. Not having to put up 100% of the costs of equipment or a building or anything else can help with budgeting. Credit can sometimes be the only way to take advantage of a limited time opportunity if you don’t have cash right now. And if your business credit cards offer rewards, cash back, or points, then using them is to your advantage

Vehicle Financing

Vehicle financing can be a great way to get a business vehicle without having to wait until you can just pay cash for it. Note: business owners may be required to personally guarantee vehicle loans. And if you are a co-borrower, the loan most likely reports to your personal credit report. Some loans have a prepayment penalty. It is a good idea to have a loan proposal, detailing your business, loan needs, and financial statements. Here are a couple of vehicle financing choices from us.

Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing Through Credit Suite

Ford offers several commercial vehicle financing options. These include loans, lines, and leases to actual business entities and not sole proprietorships. Get a loan or a lease. Ford may ask for a PG if you are not approved on the merit of your application. Apply at the dealership. Ford reports to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.

Qualifying for Ford Commercial Vehicle Financing: Qualifying

Your business entity must be in good standing with the applicable Secretary of State. You also need:

  • EIN
  • Business address (matching everywhere)
  • D-U-N-S number
  • All business license(s)
  • A business bank account
  • Strong business credit history
  • Must have a good Experian business credit score
Ally Car Financing Through Credit Suite

Ally provides personal financing, but they also report to business credit bureaus. If your business qualifies for financing without the owner’s guarantee, you can get financing in the business name only. Ally reports to D&B, Experian, and Equifax.

Qualifying for and Ally Commercial Line of Credit

Your business entity must be in good standing with your Secretary of State. You also need:

  • EIN
  • Business address (matching everywhere)
  • D-U-N-S number
  • All business license(s)
  • And a business bank account
  • Bank reference
  • Fleet financing references

If you provide a PG, Ally does not report to the personal credit bureaus unless the account defaults.

Qualifying for Ally Commercial Vehicle Financing

Get a lease or a loan. You need most of the same things as you need for an Ally Commercial Line of Credit, except for a bank reference and fleet financing references. There is no minimum time in business requirement. Apply in person only; dealer will advise if approved or PG needed.

Cash Flow Management

There are several tools that can help streamline managing small business finances. Options like Brex, Divvy, Expensify, Lola, and more are growing in popularity.

Brex and Divvy

Brex and Divvy are business money management systems that integrate with your accounting software. You can track expenses and, depending on the level of service you choose, they also help with paying bills and controlling spending. Brex has a partnership with the FDIC and your funds are secure. Everyone that opens a Brex cash account gets a corporate card. Brex reports any payments to Dun & Bradstreet. Divvy reports to the Small Business Finance Exchange, which in turn provides data to all SBFE partners, including business credit bureaus.

Phase 2 Funding Options

In Phase 2, your funding options also increase, to:

  • Merchant cash advances
  • Revenue lending
  • Lines of credit (Fundbox)
  • Equipment financing/leasing
  • Invoice factoring

Merchant Cash Advances

An MCA technically isn’t a loan; it’s a cash advance based on the credit card sales of a business. A small business can apply for an MCA and have an advance deposited into its account quickly. So you can offer Net 30 terms but not have to wait a month to get paid. With an MCA you get funding based strictly on cash flow as verifiable per business bank statements. A lender mainly just wants to see consistent deposits.

Business Revenue Lending

You can technically qualify with only one year in business. But the annual revenue requirement is high enough that phase 2 should make more sense. You can raise capital from investors who get a percentage of the enterprise’s ongoing gross revenues in exchange for money invested until a predetermined amount is paid. Often this amount is between 3—5 times the original amount invested. Monthly payments fluctuate with revenue highs and lows and continue until you’ve paid back the loan in full.

Fundbox

Fundbox connects directly to your online accounting software when deciding to fund your business. You can get revolving line of credit for up to $100,000. Fundbox auto debits your weekly payment from your bank account. You don’t need to show a minimum personal credit score or a minimum time in business. But ideally Fundbox prefers 6 months in business or more.

Equipment Financing

Use a loan or lease to purchase or borrow hard assets for your business, equipment like a truck or a laptop. Pay predictable amounts every month. You can build business credit on a program like this.

Equipment Leasing

Or you can lease equipment, rather than buy it outright. You often put down less money than if you were buying the equipment. You may be able to negotiate flexible terms with an equipment lease, and it’s easy to upgrade equipment after your lease ends. This is helpful if your equipment is something like a computer which quickly becomes obsolete.

Equipment Sale-Leaseback

If you already own your equipment free and clear, did you know that you can use that as collateral for financing? Sell the equipment to a lender for cash. And then lease it back from them. You can unlock Section 179 tax savings and depreciate your entire equipment purchase in the first year. You need at least one larger piece of higher value equipment to qualify.

Invoice Factoring

If you have open invoices and extend credit to customers in some form, then you can get paid faster with factoring. Often this involves invoices with net terms, like net 30, 60, or 90. To be paid faster, turn those invoices over to a factoring company. They immediately give you an agreed upon percentage of the total of the invoices, like 80%. When your customer pays, the factoring company keeps their fee. Then they send you the rest. But never forget—factoring only works if your customers pay.

Phase 2 Goals for Credit and Funding

Goal #1 should be strong business credit (10—12 accounts) and good personal credit. You also want to build consistent revenue to $10,000 or more a month. Always develop business connections in your community and with potential lenders. Let’s move onto phase 3.

2022 Credit Plan Phase 3: Growth: $10,000 to $2 Million GMR

Now you’re in a time of successful growth…what you’re doing is working! It’s time to start optimizing systems and operations. You’ll undergo massive team and infrastructure development. Plus long term growth and planning for a semi-annual to annual focus on lifetime customer value. You need to make some high level strategic hires (Managers, VP’s, Essential C levels). This phase happens at about 24 months or more from launch.

Phase 3 Credit Options

Your Phase 3 credit options put your Phase 1 and Phase 2 options on steroids, with:

  • Team access to vendors and cards
  • Continue growing your vehicle fleet with vehicle financing
  • Vendor portfolio growth

Phase 3 Funding Options

Phase 3 opens your funding options up to:

  • All alternative options available
  • SBA loans
  • Bank loans

Alternative Options

This can often mean online lending. For certain industries, it is one of the only ways to get money. Before you dip into your savings, investigate business lending for your industry. Because lenders that specialize in lending to your industry are out there.

SBA Loans in Your 2022 Credit Plan

More time in business also makes SBA loans a real possibility for your business. It’s easier to get an SBA loan in Phase 3 versus earlier. This is because you can more readily show your business is established and making money. Demonstrated profitability and responsible credit and bank account management improve your chances of getting an approval for an SBA loan. SBA loans have great terms, which is why you should be striving to be eligible for one.

Traditional Bank Loans

Big banks only sign off on about 25% of the small business loan applications they see. Term loans often have lower interest rates than many other funding options, and also tend to be for higher loan amounts. Most likely, you must undergo a personal credit check and/or provide collateral.

Phase 3 Goals for Credit and Funding

In Phase 3, you take your business to the next financial level, so your goals are:

  • Profitability (to calculate loans)
  • Maintaining your good personal and business credit
  • Building up to $2,000,000 in annual gross revenue
  • Maximizing leverage of cash flow with vendors and business credit

Grow Your Vendor Portfolio with Retail Credit

You can get retail credit comes from major retailers. Retailers check if your business information is uniform everywhere, and if your business is properly and thoroughly licensed. Terms can be revolving. You  need at least 3 accounts reporting to the business CRAs.

Grow Your Vendor Portfolio with Fleet Credit

Use fleet credit to:

  • Buy fuel
  • Maintain vehicles of all sorts
  • Repair vehicles

These tend to be gas credit cards. There may be a minimal time in business requirement.

Grow Your Vendor Portfolio with Business Credit Cards

Business credit cards are more universal-type credit cards, like MasterCard. So you can use them pretty much anywhere. These cards may even have rewards programs. Terms can be revolving. Often you need to have at least 14 accounts reporting to the business CRAs. There can be longer time in business requirements. Let’s move onto phase 4.

2022 Credit Plan Phase 4: Maturity: $2M to 5M+ Annual Income

So consistent growth is key. Now you’re aiming for long term consistent and stable growth and moving toward market domination. This can include competitor buyouts and acquisitions. Product development and expansion becomes critical for longevity. Now it’s time for the big hire. You get to fill out C Level, Directors, and middle management. Yes, your business can become this big! This phase can happen at around four to five years from launch.

Phase 4 Credit Options

So now, the sky is pretty much the limit! You should be able to get:

  • Most major credit cards with no PG
  • All vendors should be accessible

And you should be able to leverage reports for specific vendors. This includes asking for a credit line.

Phase 4 Funding Options

In addition to everything we’ve already talked about, your business can take full advantage of:

  • Private equity
  • Investors

You might even sell shares in your corporation or go public!

Phase 4 Goals for Credit and Funding

So now you’re playing the long game. Your mission is to look to the future and help your business for decades to come. Therefore, you must:

  • Balance costs vs cash flow vs business profit
  • Leverage funding for expansions and buyouts

So you should maximize and leverage of cash flow with vendors and business credit. Let’s move ahead to phase 5.

2022 Credit Plan Phase 5: Exit

By now, your business should be very well established. Hence it’s time to cash in on all the work you have invested. Now your funding and credit has the long game return. A business credit portfolio is transferable and increases the value of your business.

Now your proven track record with merchant cash advances or revenue lending pays off big time, as it can keep your business cash flow moving through any difficulties. And a proven track record with the SBA, and a profitable banking relationship, also improves the value of your business. People want to buy something they can lend against if necessary.

Phase 5 Funding Options

Selling can mean you’re retiring, or maybe trading one form of entrepreneurship for another. Or you may want to change industries yet remain an entrepreneur. In Phase 5, you can:

  • Self-fund the sale in structured buy outs
  • Go to the SBA for acquisition money

In essence, you should be ready to sign for your own buyout. A profitable, seasoned business can be an exceptionally valuable legacy.

Your 2022 Credit Plan: Takeaways

Your successful business will go through several phases throughout its lifetime. These phases dictate how you can best finance your business, and the kinds of credit you’re most likely to qualify for. Follow the steps in order and reap the rewards. Contact us today for a free consultation to see where you are in your journey, and what you qualify for.

The post Why a 2022 Credit Plan is So Important appeared first on Credit Suite.

Best Business Process Management Software

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There’s a constant war between growing a business and keeping an operation lean, mean, and agile.

How does a company stay efficient, even as they are trying new things and bringing on employees?

It’s actually quite simple: business process management (BPM) software. Rarely are answers this easy.

BPM software helps organizations of all sizes streamline operations and minimize waste.

Visualize every process from end to end. Find opportunities for efficiency and automation. Get more done with fewer mistakes.

If optimizing your business processes sounds like a good idea, this post will tell you everything you need to know about how to find the perfect BPM software for you.

The Top 5 Options for Business Process Management Software

  1. Orchestly – Best for simple workflow automation
  2. Pipefy – Best BPM software for Kanban
  3. Creatio Studio – Best low-code solution
  4. Tallyfy – Best for automating recurring processes
  5. Zoho Creator – Best for customizable workflows

How to Choose the Best Business Process Management Software for You

These tools are supposed to make life easier, right?

Yes. 100 percent. 

And not just you, but your employees, customers, and potential clients, too.

Any organization can benefit from implementing BPM software. Because of their broad usefulness, these products come in a lot of shapes and sizes. 

Thankfully, you can break your search down into three essential goals. 

You are looking for BPM software that will help you:

  1. Clearly visualize business processes
  2. Automate more business processes
  3. Monitor and improve business processes

Design. Run. Automate. Improve. Repeat.

Once you get set up, it will be that simple. 

Figure out which features you need by considering each product in light of how it will help you visualize, automate, and monitor the daily work of your business.

Process Visualization

The first responsibility of BPM software is to help companies define and document their business processes. 

These platforms have a visual workflow builder that lets you map out every step of every process from start to finish. 

Missing steps and redundancies are plain as day. If there’s a breakdown in the billing process, for example, it will be easy to understand and address with BPM software. There’s a clear picture of how the paperwork is moving (or not) from start to finish.

This is way better than finding out there’s an issue from a confused or angry customer. By providing a full, end-to-end visualization of the process, BPM software is really helpful for diagnosing and treating common symptoms of business inefficiency.

What’s really nice is that you can quickly modify workflows without writing code.

Check out the drag-and-drop workflow builder in Orchestly, where you can see how each stage and transition can be easily defined:

Each product does it a little differently. It’s a good idea to watch their videos to see what the UI is like. This will give you a base-level sense of how each BPM software thinks about process management.

If you are a fan of the flow chart style, Orchestly is going to work well. Tallyfy wants to get away from flow charts and works off what they call a blueprint. Pipefy is designed to work best in board-based and Kanban settings.

Which one looks like it’s swimming in your current?

Process Automation

As elegant and useful as the visualization aspects of BPM software are, the process automation is where you’re going to see the major impact on your operations.

With workflows represented in a clear fashion, you can identify different points and transitions where you can add automation.

In the Pipefy workflow builder, for example, you can make it so one action triggers another. There’s no code to write, just select the option that pushes the workflow along.

This can take an incredible amount of busywork out of people’s day-to-day. A sales rep completes their proposal and it’s automatically routed to the right manager for review and approval. 

Not only is that rep moving on to their next task, the pending approval is queued up exactly where it needs to be for the manager. 

Nothing gets missed or held up.

BPM software is great at automating routine and recurring processes like:

  • Requests for approval
  • Inventory updates
  • Time-off requests
  • Promotions
  • Customer onboarding
  • Training new hires

There’s really no limit to the applications. You can implement uniform policies, keep everyone informed, and ensure that every last lowercase j is dotted.

With regards to automation, you want to choose BPM software that strikes an appropriate balance in your workspace. Something sophisticated enough to handle the job that is still within your IT wheelhouse.

The big edge that the code-heavy platforms have is that they can be 100% customized to fit your situation.

The upshot to the no-code platforms is that non-technical users are going to be up and running in no time. They won’t need help to build out and adjust workflows. This kind of independence is really important, and shouldn’t be sacrificed lightly in favor of a more comprehensive tool.

Process Monitoring

What if you never had to send another “Hey, how’s it going?” email? 

With BPM software, you can monitor your processes in real-time without ever having to bug someone again. No one does.

Users see exactly where they are on all their tasks. Dates and deadlines are clear, and everything they need to do is laid out in front of them.

Supervisors have total visibility of all projects and jobs. With workflows feeding information into dashboards, managers have a clear view of KPIs and bottlenecks can be seen—and avoided—well in advance.

Leadership can leverage your BPM platform to track tons of useful data for measuring productivity, forecasting costs, and further refining processes.

Another nice feature of good BPM software are the collaborative tools that help teams stay on track. 

These aren’t monitoring tools per se, but the ability to comment, @mention, or flag tasks may serve as a critical early warning system.

The Different Types of Business Process Management Software

BPM Software can do a whole lot on its own or it can act as a guide.The type of BPM software you need depends on your goals—visualization, monitoring, and automation—and how complex your desired workflows are.

In some ways, you can think of these four different types of BPM software as a stack that grows increasingly robust:

  1. Business Process Modeling Software: visualization
  2. Workflow Monitoring Software: visualization + monitoring
  3. Workflow Automation Software: visualization + monitoring + automation
  4. Low-Code Application Development: visualization + monitoring + advanced automation

Let’s go in-depth on each type to build a firm sense of how these capabilities help companies respond to different challenges.

Business Process Modeling Software

When you see business process modeling software, think of it as a BPM solution that helps with the visualization side of process management. 

These tools produce clear documentation, SOPs, and visual representations of workflows that can easily be shared throughout the company. 

This is crucial for maintaining consistency of business operations and a boon to new hires who can understand exactly where they fit in.

Workflow Management Software

The next step up in functionality is workflow management software. With this type of BPM software, individuals and teams can interact with the workflows. 

They can mark assignments as done, ask questions about specific tasks, and get all the information they need in one centralized location.

Workflow management solutions have a blend of visualization and monitoring capabilities that are really great for keeping everyone on track.

Workflow Automation Software

BPM software that fits in this category will let you automate repetitive tasks within workflows. Set rules that automatically route tasks, files, data to the right person or team. 

Say a customer fills out a form, for instance. This could trigger a welcome email series and automatically route their contact info to the appropriate rep. 

That’s a simple example, and you can set rules that automate as many steps as you like throughout the customer lifecycle.

These tools tend to connect to a variety of data sources and work well across the organization. Often they come with pre-built workflows and templates for HR, accounting, sales, and so on.

Scope out the solutions on the vendor website to see examples of who’s having success with each product. Are these markets and use-cases that apply to your business?

In terms of automation capabilities, the simpler, lighter workflow automation tools can do a lot. The more expensive premium tools can do a lot more. 

I know that’s an oversimplification, but in the end, the “power” of BPM software lies in how well a team can use it. The heavyweight automation features included with premium products are amazing, no doubt, but they take some time to master. 

Low-Code Application Development

Low-code application development platforms weren’t built for BPM, but they are growing in popularity as a solution.

Low-code application development platforms allow novice developers the ability to whip up custom applications that meet unique business needs. Really, anyone who puts the time in can figure out how to use these intuitive platforms with little to no coding.

Why is this important for BPM?.

The thing is, at a certain point, super-complex workflows can get unmanageable. There’s no one straw that breaks the camel’s back, but if your average user is having to reach out to IT to sort out problems with their daily work, there’s probably an issue. 

Low-code application development comes at the problem from a different angle. Instead of deploying a system and trying to fit it to your needs, why not build a system that’s specific to your organization?

These tools connect with third-party SaaS apps, so you can build out really rich workflows that leverage information from the tools you already use.

It’s a different approach to the same problem as traditional BPM software. If your teams are comfortable with a low-code solution, I’d go for it. They’re really affordable and have few hard limits in terms of what you can do.

#1 – Orchestly — Best for Simple Workflow Automation

Orchestly is built to optimize your everyday business processes.

Say you want to hire a new worker, file an expense report, or request new content. Maybe the marketing department wants a killer post about the best business process management software.

In each case, there are several steps of validation and review that need to be baked into each process. With Orchestly’s visual workflow editor, literally anyone can build out the exact steps required.

Here’s an example of an onboarding workflow in Orchestly.

Each step in the series of tasks is clearly defined in a series of stages (white boxes), connected by transitions (turquoise boxes), and parallel transitions (orange boxes). Drill down into each stage to the set of conditions that need to be followed before, during, and after any transition.

This is a super easy interface to master. 

There are tons of pre-built templates and, once users want to fine-tune their own scenarios, all of the visualization and basic automation is managed with an intuitive drag-and-drop editor.

Another really nice thing about Orchestly are the monitoring features. There are a host of ready-made report types that give you deep insight into your processes. 

You can drill down into transitions to discover how many requests are at a particular stage, the ratio of approvals to rejections, and other metrics. Plus, you can filter search results to get a real time picture of specific employees, projects, or customers.

Orchestly comes with other features that help you extend BPM functionality throughout your organization:

  • Role-based access control
  • Request manager
  • Form designer
  • Audit log
  • Email templates
  • APIs, extensions, and webhooks

Orchestly offers a free version that is limited to five users and three orchestrations (their word for workflow). The paid version, Orchestly Business, is $7/month per user with an annual subscription.

You can try Orchestly Business free for 15 days. If you have never given BPM software a shot, this is a great, low-risk option to start out.

#2 – Pipefy — Best BPM Software for Kanban

Pipefy is winning over a lot of people because of its approachable style. For companies that are already managing processes within a Kanban framework, Pipefy is going to fit like a missing puzzle piece.

This platform has the feel and flexibility of an agile project management tool, yet you’ve got the power of BPM software. 

Switch between calendar, list, and Kanban views. Yes it looks like Trello, but in Pipefy you can use the drag-and-drop editor to add rules, custom fields, and ensure that everyone assigned to the process knows exactly what’s necessary to keep things moving.

Build out completely custom workflows with Pipefy’s easy editor. There are hundreds of plug-and-play process templates available in its free gallery. 

What’s really helpful for marketing and sales is that you can design these workflows to kick off as soon as someone fills out a form, or reaches out by phone, email or SMS.

They’ve really made it as easy as possible for people to configure their workflows without writing a line of code. 

Intuitive doesn’t even begin to describe how helpful Pipefy is for first-time users. It’s always suggesting the next step.

Plus, your customers and clients can create and track requests without being a Pipefy user, which is great for collaboration with clients and other stakeholders. 

Other helpful features include:

  • Reporting dashboards
  • Native integration with Slack and GitHub
  • API access
  • Self-service portals and forms
  • SLA and deadline tracking

Pipefy offers a free trial of their paid plans and a free version for up to five people. To really take advantage of this awesome tool, I recommend one of the paid plans:

  • Business: $18/month per user
  • Enterprise: $30/month per user
  • Unlimited: contact sales

If you like the idea of moving cards through a pipeline, this is a great product. You can start small and gradually automate every one of your processes with Pipefy. 

Easy to build, easy to adjust, Pipefy is perfect for the continuously improving agile workflow. If your teams are happy running Kanban, look no further than Pipefy.

#3 – Creatio Studio — Best Low-Code Solution

Creatio Studio gives you the best of both worlds in terms of power and learning curve. Non-technical users will find the platform just about as easy to use as any popular BPM software, but there’s no ceiling to what they can do if they are willing to learn.

The free version of Creatio Studio works for business process modeling, allowing teams to diagram workflows in a collaborative setting. View, comment, and edit the designs in real time, and save everything to a process library for easy access.

To manage, monitor, and automate processes, you’ll need the Creatio Studio Enterprise. With it, you can design workflows and business applications of any complexity.

Think of building with blocks rather than writing code. Creatio compares it to building with LEGO—you don’t have to make the parts so much as select what you want and snap it together.

There are hundreds of ready-to-use templates in the Creatio marketplace to help you get started. As you design and refine processes within the visual design builder, Creatio automatically generates the corresponding business logic.

It’s a great product that straddles the divide between technical and non-technical users. Creatio is constantly suggesting actions and helping users double-check their work. 

In addition to helping people design exactly what they need, Creatio Studio comes with:

  • Role-based access control
  • Interactive dashboards
  • API access
  • No-code data migration
  • One-click pdf documentation
  • AI and machine learning tools

Creatio Studio is free for an unlimited number of users and Creatio Studio Enterprise starts at $25/month per user.

Shortlist the free version of Creatio if you are just starting to think about business process management. It will help you get off on the right foot at no cost.

If, on the other hand, you are hitting the limits of your current BPM software, Creatio Studio Enterprise is one of the most capable, affordable options available.

Although many low-code platforms are built for general use, Creatio was originally founded as bpm’online in 2011. Every aspect of the design has BPM in mind, which lowers the learning curve tremendously for non-IT users.

#4 – Tallyfy — Best for Automating Recurring Processes

Tallyfy gets away from the idea of flowcharts. Instead of shapes and arrows to guide your design process, Tallyfy keeps everything in something they call a blueprint.

There are pre-made blueprints you can use for marketing, finance, sales, HR, and more. Once you have designed a blueprint, you can use it over and over again. 

In the example below, you can see a blueprint that captures the entire onboarding journey.

Blueprints are easy to customize without code. Point and click to add new tasks to blueprints. Within tasks, you can set required fields and add drop down menus that will pull the names of employees, customers, and projects from connected databases. 

When you go to launch these blueprints, end-users love how easy it is to complete each task.

Managers can view progress at a glance or drill down into specific tasks. Clients who need to approve a request or sign off at a particular step will just see that.

Working off blueprints, it’s incredibly easy to set up and automate recurring processes. Quickly create a library of blueprints that suit your needs, and continuously improve each step. Turn all of your recurring processes into error-free workflows that save time and eliminate stress.

After launching your automated processes, Tallyfy’s process monitoring capabilities help you keep track of all your flows in real time. Some of the highlights include:

  • Powerful search and filtering
  • Custom process views
  • Role-based access control
  • Audit trails
  • Commenting
  • Issue flagging

Having commenting and issue flagging as separate features is so important for surfacing problems quickly. 

How many times does a red alert get buried for a few hours among the constant flow of @mentions and comments? With easy opportunities to flag problems, companies never let an employee, client, or goal fall through the cracks again.

You get two months of Tallyfy free if you sign an annual contract for any of their three pricing tiers:

  • Tallyfy Docs: starting at $42/month, includes 10 members
  • Tallyfy Basic: starting at $100/month, includes 8 members
  • Tallyfy Pro: starting at $100/month, includes 4 members

The way their tiers break down is really easy, though it looks a little unusual at first. Docs lets you create read-only blueprints, Basic lets you launch blueprints as a process, and Pro lets you add automation.

If you need additional users, the added cost increases at each tier, from $4/user with Docs, to $12.50 with Basic, and $25 with Pro.

They offer a free 14-day trial, if you want to see what Tallyfy is all about. I really recommend the blueprint-style BPM software to any business that has repetitive tasks they need to get right every time.

#5 – Zoho Creator — Best for Customizable Workflows

Zoho Creator is a low-code application development platform that can be used to create a wide range of customizable business process workflows. 

Unlike Creatio Studio, Zoho Creator wasn’t born as a BPM tool. Think of it as a blank slate with an intuitive toolkit that allows companies to create everything from serverless apps to full-blown, totally specialized ERP software.

The reason companies are finding success with Zoho Creator in the BPM space is that it comes loaded with tools to build out customized workflows. 

Between the templates and the drag-and-drop platform, everyone with a few weeks of Zoho Creator under their belt will think they’re a developer.

There’s nothing dazzling about the UI, but it’s easily navigable and you can build out really sophisticated apps to automate your business processes.

Zoho is really great at guiding users through each step, whether they are trying to set up a simple payment process, or design a mobile app for their office.

To really handle the complex tasks, users will have to familiarize themselves with Zoho’s proprietary language, Deluge, which is short for Data Enriched Language for the Universal Grid Environment. 

It’s a mouthful to say, but in terms of building out custom scripts quickly, Deluge is a huge step in the right direction.An HR manager with no code experience will be able to automate a recruitment application. A sales rep can build a system to track leads automatically using Deluge.

With other platforms, end-users are at the mercy of their automated workflows and have little ability to make changes to the system. With Zoho, they can keep control and ensure that their workflows are designed according to best practices and current challenges.

For their part, technically gifted users will love Zoho Creator because they can add logic and function to their applications without having to wrestle with conventional tools. 

Some of the other features that help you get off the ground quickly include:

  • 50 ready-to-use apps
  • Schema builder
  • Developer sandbox
  • Payment gateway integration
  • Audit trail
  • Automated application backup

Pricing is remarkable, considering how powerful the platform is. 

  • Basic: $10/month per user
  • Premium: $20/month per user
  • Ultimate: $35/month per user

The Basic tier is quite robust, though you are limited to building 3 apps. You get more apps and greater functionality at the Premium and Ultimate tiers.

You can certainly manage simple workflows with Zoho Creator, but I wouldn’t make this your first pick for that reason. It’s just too powerful to justify using when you have Orchestly and Pipefy available.

Choose Zoho Creator if lighter tools aren’t meeting your BPM needs.

Summary

There is no reason to fly blind. Get immediate insight and oversight of all your business processes with an appropriate BPM solution.

If you are just starting out, I really recommend Orchestly for and Tallyfy.

If you have simple automation and workflow goals, go with Orchestly and see how far it gets you. For many companies, it’s going to be enough to better manage all of their operations.

Tallyfy is going to knock out repetitive tasks really quickly with the workflow automation tools. Blueprint your processes and then manage them with little oversight.

For agile teams, especially those working within a Kanban or Scrum process framework, I would definitely check out Pipefy. It’s built for agility. Make adjustments on the fly and monitor performance to continually evolve better processes.

Between Creatio Studio and Zoho Creator, the two low-code options on this list of best BPM software, the choice ultimately comes down to what your users like. 

Judging from reviews, lots of new users are falling in love with Zoho’s Deluge scripting language. If that’s the case, you may want to consider implementing Creator and other products from Zoho, like their CRM, which also rely on Deluge.

If someone is looking for a more traditional take on highly-customizable BPM software, I’d point you to Creatio Studio.

The post Best Business Process Management Software appeared first on Neil Patel.

A Guide To Credit Card Debt

A Guide To Credit Card Debt

When speaking about charge card financial obligation, the results of financial obligation rely on such aspects as the resources of lending funds, the function for which loaning is done, the conditions under which the financial debt is drifted, the quantity of the existing financial obligation, the rate of interest, the kinds of financing utilized and also the basic financial problem of the area.

The results of residential loaning are fairly various from those of international loaning. In inner loaning, there is no rise in the complete amount of sources offered for the usage. Loaning from economic establishments is just a transfer of sources from exclusive to federal government usage.

The results of financial debt likewise depend on the objective for which the financial obligation is developed. The greater the passion price for loaning funds, the more powerful the pull on funds from contending financial investments.

A major diversion of funds from limited ventures would certainly have a tendency to create the latter’s failing and also this, subsequently, would certainly influence manufacturing as well as various other financial procedures, like market value and also rate of interest. This will certainly have a tendency to urge the acquisition of their safeties if the monetary organizations obtain tax obligation exceptions for their car loans.

The impacts of residential loaning are fairly various from those of international loaning. The impacts of financial debt additionally depend on the function for which the financial obligation is produced. The greater the rate of interest price for loaning funds, the more powerful the pull on funds from contending financial investments.

The post A Guide To Credit Card Debt appeared first on ROI Credit Builders.

Financial on the web Today

Financial online Today

Currently, most financial institutions in creating as well as established nations permit their consumers to do their financial on the web. Web financial changes tiresome jobs like composing and also sending out checks as well as individual banking-in of loan with a cashier or maker. With the development of innovation and also net financial facilities, the majority of on the internet financial sites are backed up with reputable and also trustworthy systems that assists maintain consumers’ accounts and also details away from harmful programs as well as spying eyes.
As well as obviously, when you pick to do your financial online, you’re checking out a financial institution that is open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. This indicates, you can essentially execute deals with the electronic banking site anytime and also anywhere you desire without the inconvenience of driving to the financial institution, locating a garage, marking time, awaiting your turn. Electronic banking successfully changes a job that typically takes around 1 hr right into a 2 min job!
Electronic Fund Transfers (EFT) depend a whole lot of a kind of net financial modern technology that makes use of things like codes, PINs (Personal Identification Numbers). In order to access your web financial account, you are released pins as well as codes to assist the web financial system validate the verification as well as identify of the login. Some incoming funds transfer done with an internet financial internet site needs scans of trademarks for the police officer to validate your recognition.
With electronic banking, you can additionally accredit or terminate straight debits or perhaps accredit a straight withdrawal from your make up expenses like insurance coverage costs, home loans, and also energy expenses. If there’s something awry with your net financial account, the remarkable point is that you can see as well as validate these purchases all entirely on the internet so that you are alerted.
If the web financial center is not for you, you can constantly pay expenses or do purchases with the phone. By logging in to the web financial account, you can move funds from your financial savings or inspecting account to your debit card as well as make use of the debit card at vendor counters for your acquisitions.
In this difficult as well as active contemporary globe, electronic banking appears to be the response to our financial headaches.

With the development of innovation and also net financial facilities, many on-line financial sites are backed up with reputable and also trusted systems that assists maintain clients’ accounts as well as details away from harmful programs and also spying eyes.
As well as of program, when you select to do your financial on the web, you’re looking at a financial institution that is open 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. In order to access your web financial account, you are provided pins and also codes to assist the net financial system confirm the verification and also identify of the login. If the net financial center is not for you, you can constantly pay expenses or carry out deals with the phone. By logging in to the net financial account, you can move funds from your cost savings or examining account to your debit card and also make use of the debit card at seller counters for your acquisitions.

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Tiqets | Backend, Front-End, Data | Amsterdam | Full-Time | ONSITE | https://www.tiqets.com

Tiqets is revolutionizing the way people buy tickets to culture and attractions in cities all over the world. Our technology allows users to easily browse and book tickets to the best attractions in seconds, meaning customers can enter museums, zoos, theme parks and more, simply by showing their smartphones.

We started our journey about 5 years ago, and have been successful in gaining a major position in this rapidly expanding and evolving market. The main office with about 140 people from 20+ nationalities is in Amsterdam, but we have feet on the ground all over the world.

Our stack includes Python, Postgres, AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Redis, Ansible, React, Swift, Kotlin. Also see https://stackshare.io/tiqets/tiqets. We care about both stable and new technology, as well as building an excellent product that our customers and partners love, as smart and fast as possible. There is no silver bullet, we learn, build and grow together.

We have several tech positions open, on different levels, i.e. Backend, Front-end, Head of Development, and Data Engineering. Check out https://tiqets.homerun.co/?tags%5B%5D=department%2CTech or email at jobs AT tiqets.com for more info.