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0Финансовые технологии и их влияние на финансовое управление в малом бизнесе: вызовы и возможности
Лобынцев Павел Сергеевич
бакалавр экономики, основатель ООО «ПРО Бюджет», pavel@probudgetllc.com
В статье рассмотрены дефиниции финансовых технологий. Сделан вывод о том, что финансовые технологии могут и должны быть постоянным элементом бизнес-активности небольших компаний. Ключевыми барьерами для имплементации финансовых технологий малыми предприятиями выступает неустойчивость их положения и недостаточность финансовых средств для цифровизации бизнеса. Выявлены виды технологий FinTech для малого бизнеса; рассмотрены направления внедрения финансовых технологий в работу малого предприятия - страхование и управление капиталом, управление бизнес-процессами, процесс оплаты, транзакции, кредитование, финансирование, бухгалтерский учет.
Ключевые слова: fintech, финансовые технологии, малый бизнес, финансовое управление, ERP, OLAP, BPM, CRM, цифровизация
The modern socio-economic system of a country is in urgent need of building and implementing an integrative model of SME development in the context of the "digital" agenda and the introduction of financial innovations [4, p. 58]. Nevertheless, as we see in practice, the introduction of financial innovation technologies takes place only in large companies, while small businesses, struggling to maintain their profitability, are disregarding financial innovations. In the short term, the refusal to "digitize" small business is very much allowing saving some financial resources, but in the long term sticking to traditions does nothing more except aggravating the already vulnerable position of small enterprises. This, in fact, explains the relevance of the chosen research topic.
The development of a special branch of financial hardware and software technologies used for the effectivization of business activities has led to the emergence of a new industry and a new terminological concept named FinTech. According to L. K. Ulybina and A. K. Bogatyreva, financial technologies can be defined as "companies, startups that complement and sell improved financial services" [8, p. 234]. [8, c. 234]. E. M. Grigoriadi suggests the following definition: a set of industries and companies "that use technology and innovation in order to be able to compete with traditional financial organizations represented by banks and financial market intermediaries" [2, p. 196]. [2, c. 196]. In a broad sense, according to the author, the term "FinTech" can refer to both startups and large established enterprises engaged in the improvement and optimisation of financial services processes [2, p. 196]. On the other hand, many studies define FinTech as the application of innovative technologies to provide financial services or any activity related to the financial aspect of the functioning of an individual or enterprise.
FinTech is gradually becoming one of the most promising and socially important industries. The global financial sector is estimated to be worth US$26.5 trillion in 2022, with FinTech accounting for US$187 billion and one of the largest products of the field being digital payments, representing 25% of the FinTech market.
The growth of the industry can also be seen in terms of the total amount of profit generated by FinTech companies (Figure 1):
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
Figure 1 - Profit of fintech companies, 2017-2022, USD billion. Note: the source from which the information comes from is the own development [12]
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As noted above, FinTech most often involves the activities of large, including transnational corporations, while small businesses are frequently unable to integrate innovative financial technologies into their daily activities. Ignorance and insufficient digital literacy are another reason why small business executives ignore financial technologies. Nevertheless, foreign experience shows that those innovations can and should become a permanent element of business activities of small companies.
Globally, small businesses represent 90% of the total and account for 50% of employment. In the U.S., 99.9% of businesses are small (33,185,550 small businesses). Of these, 98% have fewer than 100 employees and 89% have fewer than 20 employees, with small businesses accounting for 46.8% of U.S. jobs. In total, small businesses employ 61.2 million Americans [13]. Therefore, small business is an essential component of the entrepreneurial system.
Small business enterprises are a critical sector of the market economy [7]: they make a tangible contribution to the acceleration of macroeconomic dynamics, contribute to the development of the labor market, as well as the economy and society as a whole. Compared to medium and large enterprises, small business has a number of advantages: (1) the ability to respond quickly to market changes, (2) narrow specialization and the opportunity for development in those sectors of the national economy, which a priori are not suitable for large businesses; (3) a high level of adaptability to local specifics; (4) flexibility, efficiency, readiness for innovation; (5) the obvious personal interest of small business owners in achieving success [5, p. 30]. All these advantages, on the one hand, contribute to the introduction of innovative financial instruments in the activities of a small company, but, on the other hand, there are also a number of serious barriers to the implementation of those technologies: the unstable position of small businesses; insufficient financial resources and problems in attracting external sources of funding. The informatisation project of any organization is a costly undertaking, so the owners of small companies consciously avoid "digitization" of the financial aspect of their activities. The situation is complicated by unfavorable factors associated with the peculiarities of the geopolitical situation and its negative impact on technology transfer from outside the country [1, p. 77].
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FinTech for
small businesses
Software as a service (saas)
Platform as a service (paas)
small business access to the software application via the Internet; software development, licensing and updating is the responsibility of a third-party contractor
providing small businesses with hardware infrastructure (servers, networks and devices), or renting virtual servers on someone else's equipment
includes SAAS and operating system/integrated service with interface
small businesses get access to everything -hardware and software, support, and a business process management system
Figure 2 - Types of FinTech technologies for small businesses Note: source - own development based on [5, p. 31]; [2, p. 197]
Let us consider in more detail the key financial technologies that can be implemented by small businesses. In addition, it is necessary to analyze the specifics of the organization of internal financial control systems in small businesses, because such systems
have their own features compared to those used in larger businesses [3, p. 27]. It should be noted that the introduction of information technology in the field of financial management of small business puts in the forefront the analysis of business processes and their management, forecasting and information and analytical support of financial decision-making at the center [5, p. 30-31]. Financial technologies for small business can be implemented in the following variants (Figure 2).
These types of financial technologies have transformed processes such as online payments, online transfers, currency exchange, the use of cloud-based cash registers and smart terminals; small businesses have also gained online lending and access to digital investment platforms. Moreover, small business managers received tools for capital management: so-called robo-advising, financial planning programmes and applications, social trading, algorithmic stock trading, target savings services [2, p. 197]. In general, all areas of activity, in which innovative technologies are applied in financial management of small businesses, can be presented as follows (Figure 3):
Figure 3 - Directions for introducing financial technologies in the work of a small enterprise
Note: source - own development
FinTech tools do definitely simplify financial management for small businesses. Specialized accounting software and mobile applications allow business owners to track expenses, process invoices and monitor income and expenses in real time [10]. In addition, accounting automation allows to automate financial procedures, save time costs and reduce the number of errors generated due to the so-called "human factor".
First of all, it should be noted that FinTech has changed the way small businesses accept payments. Mobile wallets, con-tactless payments and online payment gateways are far from being examples of digital online payment technologies that have radically changed the transaction process.
Modern Point-of-Sale Systems (POS) offer small businesses an extended list of functions: inventory management, customer communication management (CRM systems) and financial and other data analysis.
The financial management of a small company is closely related to the management of its inventory and resources, which is particularly evident in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) tools. ERP system is a common transactional platform designed to perform calculations on various business processes. All information about the transactions made is summarized in a single database,
where, in turn, it is transferred to higher-level systems or used for compilation of reports [6, p. 32-33].
Among other things, small businesses can apply OLAP-systems (online analytical processing — analytical processing of information in real time). Thanks to these systems, the management of a small company can generate trends and diagrams, visualize patterns, and compile statistical data on financial flows in an easy-to-view form. Based on high-quality and error-free reports, the manager of a small company will make more informed and accurate financial decisions, which will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the quality of management as a whole.
According to the researchers, the top level of classification of types of financial management tools is occupied by BPM and CRM systems (business process management and customer relationship management, respectively). Such programmes perform a wide range of functions and are generally described as analytical applications. These systems are used to determine the financial performance of a company, perform financial analysis, and optimize business processes. BPM allows the full cycle of financial management — from formulation of small business financial strategy, planning, current monitoring to corrective action and overall assessment of the effectiveness of financial decisions [11 ].
A BPM system can be a very useful tool for a small company. As noted above, the market position of a small business can be very volatile, and one or more poor financial decisions can lead to irreparable, dramatic consequences for the company. Small business owners typically do not have substantial financial reserves to cover losses and expenses associated with previously unsustainable financial management measures. BPM, in its turn, allows small business managers to formulate several scenarios of events development in case of taking this or that measure, as well as in the situation of absence of measures, to compare key indicators from carrying out these or those measures, to calculate potential profit or loss, to model business processes. BPM-systems involve the use of regression and time series methods, which allow to understand changes in the financial trajectories of the business depending on the introduction of proposed financial and non-financial measures.
The internet of things (loT) technologies that are gaining popularity today are not directly related to FinTech, but nevertheless they also affect the financial management of small businesses. loT technologies involve the use of sensors installed directly at production sites in order to collect, accumulate and broadcast data on various process parameters. The data is transmitted to the company's servers or to the cloud, from which it is subsequently processed, monitored and stored. Sensors of the Internet of Things can have a variety of functionality: infrared sensors, counters, ultrasonic sensors, motion sensors, alarm sensors, fire safety sensors, failure and accident sensors. These technologies belong to the M2M (machine-to-machine) class; thanks to them, digital platforms receive information directly from production, which subsequently provides a holistic view of the relationship between production parameters and financial dynamics of the enterprise [6, p. 34].
Thus, this study leads to the following conclusions:
- Financial technology (FinTech) is a set of industries and companies that offer technologies and innovations for providing financial services or conducting any activity related to the financial aspect of an individual or business. FinTech most often affects the operations of large corporations, while small businesses often lack the ability to incorporate innovative financial technologies into their daily activities. Nevertheless, financial technology can and should be a regular part of the business activities of smaller companies.
- Small businesses are an important sector of the market economy: they make a tangible contribution to the acceleration of mac-roeconomic dynamics and contribute to the development of the
economy and society as a whole. The key barriers to the implementation of financial technologies by small businesses are their unstable position and insufficient financial resources for digitalisa-tion of their business.
- Among the types of FinTech technologies for small businesses, the following should be noted: saas (software as a service), iaas (infrastructure as a service), paas (platform as a service), eaas (everything as a service). Areas of financial technology implementation in small business operations are insurance and capital management, business process management, payment process, transactions, lending, financing, and accounting.
- FinTech has fundamentally changed the transaction process. Modern Point-of-Sale Systems (POS) offer small businesses an expanded list of functions: inventory management, customer communication management (CRM systems) and financial flow analysis.
- In my opinion, the most promising tools for financial management are the following: ERP-systems (transactional platforms for making calculations on various business processes), OLAP-systems (an analytical tool for processing information in real time), BPM and CRM systems (business process management and customer relationship management).
- The gaining popularity of Internet of Things (loT) technologies is not included in the field of FinTech, but nevertheless, it also affects the financial management processes of small businesses.
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Financial technologies and their impact on financial management in small
businesses: challenges and opportunities Lobyntsev P.S.
PRO Budget LLC
JEL classification: G20, G24, G28, H25, H30, H60, H72, H81, K22, K34
The article presents several approaches to the definitions of financial technologies. It is concluded that financial technologies can be a permanent element of the business activity of a small business. The key barriers to the implementation of financial technologies by small businesses are their instable position on the market and insufficient financial resources for digitalization. Types of FinTech technologies for small businesses have been identified; the directions of introducing financial technologies into the work of a small enterprise are considered - insurance and capital management, business process management, payment process, transactions, lending, financing, accounting. Keywords: fintech, financial technology, small business, financial management, ERP, OLAP, BPM, CRM, digitization
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