Spenda Member Spotlight

Spenda Member Spotlight - Innovations in Australia’s payment subsectorTraditionally, businesses choose multiple software solutions to run each aspect of their business. However, these systems often don’t communicate well with each other and only partly eliminate the burden of manual data entry and human error. This approach may create business siloes or closed-off systems, making running a business more expensive and inefficient.Additionally, inefficiencies in payments practices impact many businesses across Australia and contribute to cash flow problems. Restricted cash flow means businesses need to cover the shortfall of working capital while waiting for payments to process and also harms growth in the long-term. Australia’s track-recordDespite innovations in the payment methods offered to consumers, the methods businesses pay each other has changed very little over the last 40 years. In Australia, late payments cost businesses approximately $77 billion per year. On top of this, at least 30 percent of late invoices are paid more than 30 days after invoice date, with the average sitting around 63 days - placing significant cash flow pressure on businesses. While new regulation and policy developments, such as the Payment Times Reporting Scheme, will help shift the long-term culture around business payments, we can also look towards fintech innovation and new payment solutions, like Spenda, that aim to help businesses address their cash flow challenges in the present. Using digital innovationSpenda started from the idea that if key decision-makers within a business setting gain a better understanding of the information that is presented to them, they are likely to make smarter and more informed decisions. This idea specifically centred around the way in which businesses trade with each other and how key information, such as quotes, invoices and payment notices, are transferred between both parties in a transaction. While Spenda may have started out as a pure Software as a Service (SaaS) business, over the past year, the company has transitioned into a B2B payment player. Its singular, connected solution aims to deliver applications to help businesses across the supply chain improve their operational efficiency, improve the payment process for B2B trade, reduce late payments, and integrate financial data for better reporting and decision making.

Spenda's userface on desktop and iPad

We asked Spenda’s Managing Director, Adrian Floate, about the journey and any challenges Spenda has faced along the way?“With any new product or solution, there is a lot you need to consider to make it successful. From the user journey, to legal requirements, financial regulations, compliance and then how to reach our target audience in the right way. It’s an ever-evolving journey that requires patience and determination. The key is to master resilience because you only fail if you give up.” 

Spenda’s Managing Director, Adrian Floate

We then spoke to Adrian about how Spenda plans to build upon its initial successes into the future:“Over the last six months, we’ve entered into key partnership agreements and acquisitions that enhance our payments capabilities and enable Spenda to seamlessly manage all business processes that take place before and after the payment event. Our aim has been to produce cutting-edge technology to streamline the sales transaction process for B2B trade and we’re now able to deliver financial services on more favourable terms for our customers.”“We are going through a very exciting growth phase at the moment and we have made a lot of progress in the last 12 month, especially in building our payment offering to support Australia's B2B market and change the way in which businesses trade and pay each other. In the immediate term, we are now consolidating what we have built, growing our team capabilities and continuing to perfect our software and payment solutions for our growing customer base.” If you are interested in learning more about Spenda, please visit www.spenda.co