As we communicate with our clients, we learn more and more about how they integrate our business prepaid cards into their operational day to day.

Businesses are creating budgets for employees by funding their business prepaid cards daily, weekly or monthly.  Once spending has occurred the staff member has to submit a report with the corresponding receipts in order to have the card reloaded.  Cardholders have a website they can access for transaction detail, which can be printed and turned in.

Once approved, the employer can log in to the admin site to reload the card right away.

This system of checks and balances provides a simple method the employer can use to ensure that they get the information needed to keep their books straight, while providing the employee with a way of paying for the things they need to do their job.  Both employee and employer benefit overall by avoiding having to pay out of pocket and waiting for expense reimbursement.

Click here to learn more about the PEX Card Service! Post a comment and tell us what you think.

Labels: Case Studies, PEX Experiences, SMB Tips

Every manager or business owner has their own style of managing cash flow and keeping employees on budget. Some prefer managing cash on a day to day basis, while others prefer a more hands off approach and to look at numbers monthly. Either way, reloadable prepaid cards for business make the cash management process for crews in the field much more efficient than petty cash or credit cards.

One customer in particular is the day to day sort of manager. He likes to fund his PEX Account with about $5,000 at a time, which is enough to fund his crews' needs for five to ten days. His guys move from one place to the next daily so they are always on the go. Anticipating that each crew will need an average of $500 per week, he budgets the accounts accordingly.

Certain cards have automatic card reload features activated, so that every morning cards are topped up with funds and are ready for use that day. If there is spending, our system tops the card back up to the amount pre-determined amount automatically during the night so its ready for another day out in the field. The owner doesn't have to worry about doing it because it is automated.

Every few days the owner reviews account balances and spending to make certain nobody is running low and to see where his guys have been spending the night, purchasing supplies, buying gas and eating food. All the information is available from one place online and it takes no time to review the account details.

Reloadable prepaid cards for business have made it simple for this particular company. We are happy he chose to use them for his business!

Check us out: PEXCard.com

Labels: Case Studies, PEX Experiences, SMB Tips

Companies that put their people in the field know all too well that dealing with expenses can be a hassle. For some, employees are asked to pay out of pocket and submit expense reports, for others you can issue cash or a corporate credit card. But in all these cases, the expense situation is still a drain on time and resources no matter what.

We are focusing on creating programs to ease the burdens of expense management for companies that put folks into the field, which is why we started the first reloadable prepaid debit card for business. The positive feedback we get from customers has been overwhelming and it is a great validation that the service is useful to people. We love hearing that.

The common feedback thread we get from companies is we are saving them time. Managing expenses through reloadable prepaid debit cards limits how much time they spend worrying about how to get money to people in the field who are traveling far from home. All they have to do is login, select the cardholder who needs money, add money through our QuickFund feature and log out. The operation takes less than :30.

Because all the transactions appear instantly, as they occur, the company can keep tabs on spending immediately. If they want to update their accounting software before the receipts come in, they can do that too. The process is handled more smoothly and an accurate cash position is always on hand.

Give it a try!

http://www.pexcard.com

Labels: SMB Tips

On February 24th I appeared as a guest on Anita Campbell's internet radio show / podcast called Small Business Trend Wire. The title of the show is "Control Employee Expenses and Reimbursement: PEX Card" - it can be found at this link.

Please take a moment to read the show notes and listen to the show. At the bottom of the page there is a red and yellow box, click on the play button in the yellow portion and the embedded player will start the episode (make sure your sound is turned up).

Anita is a great host and she has become a known entity in the business of small business marketing, blogging, and advice - so it was an honor being part of her show. Anita is also well known for her blog, called Small Business Trends, where several writers come up with good content read by a very active community that comments and adds additional value.

Given that this edition of her show focused solely on introducing our service to the community, it gave us a chance to get into the details about how things work, who we are and why we are different from traditional banking cards.

If you have a chance - please take a moment to listen!

Thank you!

Labels: PEX Card News, PEX Experiences, SMB Tips

Over the last several weeks we've been hearing more about abrupt changes to credit lines on business credit cards. Since last Fall, conversation in the press has circled around the effect the credit crunch is having on consumer credit card accounts relative to purchasing power and commercial loans but now it is affecting business credit card accounts too. Companies are finding it difficult to conduct normal daily spending activity and they are unpleasantly surprised when cards suddenly stop working mid-month without warning.

Companies in most industries are being hit hard by bank tightening. When credit limits are suddenly imposed or lowered without advanced notice, reaching newly imposed limits is problematic because all cards are blocked from further use until the bill is paid. This is disruptive especially for companies with employees that are in the field spending ad hoc for supplies, fuel and other business expenses.

New credit limits reported are lower than what companies spend monthly irregardless of clean credit and payment history. If limits are lower than the amounts companies need to operate at a bare minimum, credit cards will quickly lose their value as an effective payment tool in business. The card industry has proven to us that card spending is more efficient, can minimize risks of managing cash and can streamline check or cash operations through simple distribution, especially compared with cash and checks.

Companies are being forced to look for alternatives and they are finding the PEX Card Service. We designed the service to put businesses back in control of their cards. Using our administrative web site, corporate admins can view employee spending in aggregate, and can determine when, where and how employees use company cards. Each prepaid debit card has an adjustable balance for budgeting, individualized spending and funding rules for control, and reporting of up to the minute transactions for transparency and immediate cash position. Companies account for this as a cash account, appearing as an asset on the books, not as a liability. Funds in the account are prepaid, so credit limits are self managed. Funds can be transferred electronically to and from company checking accounts for maximum flexibility.

As conditions force change in the way business is conducted, it is good having access to tools that fit the times. Even though credit might be tight, companies can still benefit from using cards to keep their books straight, keep employees on budget, lower bookkeeping costs and maximize any access early payment benefits vendors may offer for paying with plastic.

Labels: Accounting, Budgeting, expense management, PEX Experiences, SMB Tips

When describing the PEX Card Service, one of the biggest challenges is communicating differentiating factors effectively. People are familiar with credit cards, they understand debit or check cards, those who have worked in large companies know what a p-card is. When it comes to our service - we are a blend of all of the above so it takes a moment to realize that there are distinct differences which we created to service small to medium businesses (SMB).

Here are a few of the basics:

1) Prepaid, not credit or debit. Credit cards have an underlying credit line. Each card can be set with an indivudal limit but nothing prevents the cardholder from spending all of it in one go.

Debit cards are linked to checking accounts. Funds are deposited into the account and cards issued share the balance. To issue cards, most banks require that employees sign signature cards authorizing use and also providing check-writing authority. In this case there are multiple access points to deposited funds - other cards, ATMs and checks.

Prepaid cards are independent of credit lines and checking accounts. Cards are reloadable for ongoing use, there is no ATM access, no checks and no credit lines, making the service accessible to businesses that want to control employee use.

2) We segregate all balances - there is a main corporate balance created with a deposit from the company's corporate checking account. Admins disburse funds to cards as necessary to create individual budgets per cardholder. Because all the balances are separate, individual card spending will have no effect on other cardholders.

3) Spend rules are available to automate spend monitoring. Admins can setup card-use profiles according to job function and necessity. Merchant category spend rules automatically block or authorize transactions at approved locations only. Daily spend limits regulate how quickly a cardholder can spend through a budget. For example, a card may have $2,500, be allowed to spend at travel-related locations (airline tickets, taxis, etc.) but has a daily budget of $250 per day for a five day trip.

4) Automated account top ups minimize the frequency of top up requests from cardholders. Certain individuals can be setup to start each day, week or month with a specific budget. Others can be set so that once their balance is low they can have funds added to a max amount as necessary.

5) We post all activity in real time to provide the most up-to-the-minute information on cash position. All spends, transaction holds, etc appear as they occur so an admin can tell what is going on with employee cards and funds on deposit.

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One of the most important startups should do from the earliest point on is clarify the differentiating factors of their service and make them really simple for people to understand. Investors, potential customers and employees need to know what they are getting involved with and have the key points down so they can spread the word.

Labels: PEX Experiences, SMB Tips

A Business Continuity Plan (BCP), sometimes referred to as or combined with a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP), is the process you will use to restore critical business functions for a determined period of time. In other words, how are you going to stay in business in the event of a disaster?

It seems silly to plan for a disaster, especially if you aren’t located near tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes. But even man-made ‘disasters’ can interrupt your business operations…..fires, chemical spills, power blackouts…..

Spend five minutes searching the Internet and you can find piles of information about plans, as well as templates, to get you started. Don’t be discouraged after reading articles about risk assessments and planning committees….there is an entire industry around disaster recovery and, like any other process, it can get very detailed. This is a short article to get you started thinking about the kinds of questions you must document the answers for…. http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Business-Continuity-Plan.

While doing research for our DCP, we noticed that many plans didn't address the customer. Keep your customer contact information current, save a copy of it off-site and include your key accounts in your binder. Communication is important across the board, so don’t limit your status updates to just your employees and vendors, let your customers know too!

Labels: Business Process, PEX Experiences, SMB Tips

When it comes to marketing an online service, running several test paths simultaneously and being vigilant about analyzing results are the most important tactics small businesses can take to develop long term plans.   When SMBs don't have access to market research, trying things out on a small scale serves as an initial sales effort while also building valuable research data used through the next testing cycles.  Eventually patterns and customer profile will begin to emerge and an understanding of how to evolve marketing with changing times and cycles will take root. 

Labels: Marketing, PEX Experiences, SMB Tips