Posted by Link4 Team on 02/11/2020
One of 4 Solutions to Help Small Business Recover from COVID
There is so much happening in our Community at the moment, and supporting each other in these times has never been more important. Xccelerate2020, a program from the Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA) for supporting entrepreneurs and start-up businesses’ growth, had a theme this year for helping small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) bounce back from the impacts of the coronavirus.
Being a business built around supporting SMEs to manage their financial processes and technology, the theme of Xccelerate2020 fits well with our values and goals, as we give SMEs a way to seamlessly transfer invoices electronically.
This gave us an opportunity to be a part of such a great program and grow our awareness further to reach additional small businesses that could benefit from using eInvoicing as part of their transaction processes.
Among us in the Xccelerate2020 program, were many valuable start-ups that shared a similar vision and made it much more valuable to be a part of. The judges from Xccelerate2020 were overwhelmed with the value each of the start-ups had and decided to extend their support to not just one but four different businesses.
Link4 was among the 4 that got recognised as a service that can help businesses recover quicker from COVID-19 and is now working with X15 Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBA dedicated to supporting digital innovators. Working closely with them has been a great way to develop and grow our business in a way that can be sustainable and long-term. While also focusing on how to support businesses that are recovering from the global pandemic.
Xccelerate2020 gave us exposure to new SMEs who are now using our service. Since July, we have gained more support, including from government bodies and we continue to help as many SMEs as we can so that everyone can share the benefits of using eInvoicing.
Why is it Important?
Most entrepreneurs and small businesses come across a common issue, that’s sending and receiving invoices. Traditionally, sending an invoice would require a printed copy to be posted to the receiver which can be tedious and take time to deliver.
On average, it costs around $40 in Australia to send a traditional invoice and $30 to receive one. Even PDFs cost around $27 to receive. These are expenses that most SMEs do not consider in their financial planning. eInvoicing, on the other hand, will help SMEs avoid this issue and cut their invoicing costs by around 80%.
Being an SME, it can be hard to gain equity and most are cash flow constrained, especially family-run businesses that personally use their own money to support their business. It therefore would be in their best interest to explore the benefits of eInvoicing to support them. Link4 is here to make that process easier and, as a Freemium solution, it won’t cost them to try it out.
