Barclays to help UK SMEs to grow

Barclays is to launch a new service for small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. SmartBusiness, an online data service, will enable businesses to analyse data, identify trends and compare themselves with other businesses in their region.

Over 500,000 businesses will be able to have access to the service, which is set to launch in May as part of Barclay’s online banking service.

Beneficial

The service comes just as research by OnePoll showed that over half (56 per cent) of SMEs rarely or infrequently check their data, whilst three per cent have never checked it at all.

Whilst research showed that 44 per cent of SMEs do check their data daily or weekly, 33 per cent said that they are occupied by other tasks, 22 per cent do not have enough time to do so, and 15 per cent have never even thought to check their company’s data.

Barclay’s SmartBusiness will be beneficial to small and medium-sized companies that do not have a team dedicated to analysing company data.

Using the service, SMEs can easily keep track of their performance and view the behaviour and spending habits of their customers.

Choice

Discussing the new service, Barclays Head of Information Peter Simon said that it can really help businesses to “grow their bottom line, make informed choices, and tailor services for their customers.”

“We believe that providing personalised, timely and relevant information to customers alongside banking will offer them even more choice, and this is a major focus for Barclays as we develop new digital services,” he added.