Leveraging Fintech: How Digital Tools Can Contribute to Your Business Growth

Fintech has been making major changes in the business world recently — and that’s saying it simply. A term used to describe financial products and services that are digitized, fintech solutions broaden customer reach by giving consumers nearly unlimited access to online payment systems.

The digital tools that make up the fintech market are revolutionizing how customers pay, bank, and make financial decisions, empowering them to grow and contribute to the economy, even in uncertain times. To build and integrate these tools effectively, many businesses collaborate with a fintech software development company that delivers secure, scalable, and custom-tailored solutions for modern financial services. And the companies that leverage these solutions are poised to grow right along with the people they serve.

Experts expect fintech to reach a market size of $1.5 trillion in revenue by 2030 — five times the size of the market today. Actually, we think the growth and impact fintech will have on businesses and consumers is hard to quantify exactly. Billions of people remain unbanked and underbanked worldwide, and fintech’s digital nature has the ability to address this need while significantly changing the landscape as we know it.

Will you hop on board the fintech revolution? Below, we’ll provide an overview of popular fintech solutions and how they can benefit businesses worldwide.

What Is Fintech and Why Is It Essential for Business Growth?

“Fintech” refers to any app, software program, or technology that allows people and businesses to access, manage, or view their finances digitally. You can also use fintech services to make financial transactions. Basically, if you’ve used Venmo, PayPal, Chime,
SoFi, Robinhood, Coinbase, or even the mobile banking feature at your brick-and-mortar, you’ve interacted with a fintech solution.

Spurred by the 2008 financial crisis when people sought alternative solutions to traditional banking, and fueled by the creation of smartphones, the number of fintech products is increasing as businesses of all types leverage them in their operations. Fintech is more efficient, easy to use by people of various technical abilities, and vital for company growth.

Modern-day consumers want faster access to their money, and businesses that deliver on this demand will likely enjoy more loyal customers and greater revenues.

Fintech Tools That Drive Business Growth

Ready to modernize your tech stack? Let’s take a look at some of the primary digital tools that leverage fintech to drive business growth.

Point of Sale Financing Platforms: For Increased Sales and Average Order Value

Examples: Affirm, Finturf, Klarna

Point of sale (POS) financing is a major boon to businesses because it allows them to offer financing the moment a sale is made. People with limited financial means or imperfect credit histories can make large purchases and pay them back gradually over a longer period.

Point of Sale financing comes in different forms, including installment loans, low APR loans, lines of credit, and split payments. Merchants that offer POS financing give customers access to flexible payment options that break down financial barriers, enabling them to take on more projects, spend more, and finalize purchase decisions they’d be otherwise hesitant to make.

Digital Payment Solutions: For Faster Transactions and Enhance Customer Experience

Examples: PayPal, Apple Pay, Zelle

Another fintech trend includes the rise of digital payments, which allow people to pay and access their money using mobile wallets and digital payment apps like Apple Pay and Zelle. Many of these solutions also offer contactless payments, which grew in popularity following the pandemic and the demand for increased safety precautions.

Cryptocurrency and related products, like the Coinbase wallet, give people a way to make transactions directly without a bank while also prioritizing security using authentication and encryption methods.

Inventory Management Software: For Optimized Stock Control and Reduced Operational Costs

Examples: ZoHo, Fishbowl, Cin7

Inventory management software is software that tracks a company’s inventory and sales. When added to your tech stack, this type of fintech solution digitizes traditionally manual and time-consuming back-office operations that affect your bottom line.

Using inventory management software helps track inventory levels, automate order processing and fulfillment, and ensure accurate financial reporting. As a result, you can fill orders more easily, track sales numbers, and reduce operational costs that used to be associated with counting inventory.

E-Commerce Platforms: For Expanding Market Reach and Driving Online Sales

Examples: Shopify, WooCommerce, Square Online

As more consumers shop online, businesses must leverage tech tools that enable them to sell online. E-business and e-commerce platforms are now an established method of making sales, with more people choosing to purchase from retailers directly online rather than going to a traditional brick-and-mortar store.

The best e-commerce platforms offer marketing perks and web hosting features (the tool that actually puts your business online) in addition to payment processing availability. You should be able to accept a host of third-party payments using the system and it should leverage security and encryption features that protect customer data.

Automated Marketing Tools: For Targeted Campaigns and Increased Lead Conversion

Examples: MailChimp, Constant Contact, HubSpot

Automated marketing tools help companies segment their customers into specific groups based on their buying patterns, interests, or engagement history. For example, businesses that use these tools can send targeted email campaigns that advertise financing options to customers that “abandon” their cart without making a purchase.

Creating data-backed marketing funnels and targeted campaigns helps increase lead conversion as people are much more likely to respond to messages that speak to their needs in particular, as opposed to generalized messages that only resonate with part of the population.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software: For Improved Customer Retention

Examples: Salesfoce, Apptivo, Zendesk

The cornerstone of any successful business is the relationship with its customers. A customer relationship management (CRM) program is essential for storing and tracking essential customer data that helps you deliver on your promises. Depending on the tool, the CRM may also incorporate a suite of features that can tackle some of the automated marketing strategies mentioned above.

CRMs provide numerous benefits to companies, including:

• Offering better customer service by supplying data that helps personalize customer interactions.
• Streamlining sales processes to close deals faster.
• Reducing costs for businesses through automation, which also reduces human error.

Using these tools helps you generate customer loyalty because your business processes are more efficient, personalized, and accurate.

How to Choose the Right Digital Tools for Your Business

To choose the right digital tools for your business, start by conducting a needs assessment and determine what processes you can adjust for the biggest impact. Consider where your business may be falling short (payment inclusivity, marketing and new business generation, operational efficiency, etc.) and then prioritize the tools you know can help address them.

Also, think about how these fintech tools will integrate with your existing systems and the training that’ll be required to use them to their fullest potential. This ensures you’ll get the most return on your investment. Taking all these factors together will help you make an informed decision and help you define how you’ll measure how well the tool helps you achieve your growth goals.

Measuring the Impact of Digital Tools on Business Growth

Once you implement your digital tools, you should determine mechanisms to measure their impact. Some tools may be more useful than others; quantifying this will help you optimize your systems and spend more intentionally. The insights most impactful to your bottom line will be unique to your business, but you might consider tracking some of the following metrics:

• Operational efficiency metrics (time saved, cost savings, and automation rates, etc.).
• Employee engagement metrics
• Customer engagement metrics

You can also measure large-scale growth, including revenue growth, market share expansion, and profitability over time. Analyze these patterns before implementing the tools so you can establish a baseline for which you’ll compare each metric as you start to use the tools. This will give you a more accurate picture of their impact over time.

Conclusion

Fintech is helping many businesses grow much faster than ever before. Using fintech tools, businesses can broaden their customer bases, streamline their services, and grow their sales much faster. Consider how fintech can help your business expand into digital payments on online engagement, opening your business to wide segments of the population that would otherwise be excluded from many types of purchases.