Tag: NEWS & PRESS

Saltare is delighted to announce it has joined the Good Business Charter (GBC), an accreditation that seeks to raise the bar on business practices for employees, tax, the environment, customers and suppliers.

(September, 2022) Early Payments Fintech, Saltare, has joined the Good Business Charter (GBC) as part of its commitment to best business practices across the UK.

Joining enables Saltare to ensure it not only supports its employees through the Good Business Charter but also encourages its own customers to follow similar practices including paying suppliers promptly.

Chairman of the GBC board, Simon Fox said: “The Good Business Charter brings together 10 standards, most of which already exist, but in separate places. We have brought them together to give a coherent overall position for all businesses to aspire to. We believe that the GBC has enormous potential to change business practice for good. We hope that because of its simplicity and cost effectiveness, it will quickly gain support.”

Ant Persse, CEO of Saltare, says the code helps encourage prompt payments and strengthen supply chain relationships: “The Good Business Charter sets out clear pathways to ensure businesses across the UK respect and support each other and help create a natural incubator for success. Joining them was an important step for us both to demonstrate our own support for businesses and as a way to encourage those who work within our supply chain to do the same.”

The Good Business Charter offers a straightforward accreditation which recognises organisations that prioritise and care for their employees, the environment, customers and suppliers, whilst also paying their taxes in accordance with the law.

For more information on the Good Business Charterplease visit: https://www.goodbusinesscharter.com

We are happy to announce that we have partnered up with the Smart Manufacturing Alliance.

The Smart Manufacturing Alliance (SMA) is creating a world-class manufacturing cluster across Cambridgeshire & Peterborough. They are dedicated to helping manufacturers reach their full potential, harnessing the power of new technologies, and increasing opportunities for innovation and collaboration.

The SMA recently announced news of the partnership on their website:

The Smart Manufacturing Alliance will be helping manufacturers across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough take greater control of their cashflow through a new corporate partnership with payments specialist, Saltare. The partnership will also open up connections with the Office for the Small Business Commissioner thanks to Saltare’s close ties with the government’s fair payments body.

It is estimated that 82% of businesses fail not because of lack of profit, but through lack of cash. Yet, studies suggest UK SMEs are currently waiting on almost £200bn tied up in unpaid invoices.

Cashflow challenges could be hindering significant growth and investment in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough manufacturing. The Smart Manufacturing Alliance hopes that Saltare’s payment platforms will help businesses free up resources and invest more into innovation, job creation, and growth.

Saltare’s innovative digital products incentivise early payments and let both suppliers and customers know when invoices will be paid. This gives SMEs more certainty over their cashflow and strengthens relationships across the supply chain. All of this can be a lifeline to levelling up and supercharging growth.

Early Pay is one of Saltare’s latest tech-driven solutions that will improve the flow of cash to the entire supply chain. Early Pay gives buyers cash incentives to pay early and can integrate into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Once the buyer approves an invoice, Early Pay will notify the supplier and let them know when the invoice will be paid.

Saltare’s close ties to the Office of the Small Business Commissioner means Smart Manufacturing Alliance members can access additional content and advice around late payments. In time for the partnership launching, Alliance members can put their questions about fair payments to former Small Business Commissioner, Phillip King, via Saltare in an exclusive interview later this month.

Bob Hart, Programme Director at the Smart Manufacturing Alliance, said, “Giving our members quick and simple payment systems like Early Pay not only safeguards their cashflow, but could help them divert more resources into innovative projects, new tech and equipment, and create more opportunities for staff to develop their skillsets.

“We’re delighted to bring Saltare on board as a corporate partner for the Smart Manufacturing Alliance. There will be lots of advice to help our members secure payments on time, and keep their businesses running smoothly. The knock on effect along the supply chain will be a real boost for our local economy.”

Ant Persse, CEO of Saltare said, “We’re really pleased to be working with the Smart Manufacturing Alliance to support the sector. It’s our mission to change the mind-set of businesses once and for all, embracing a positive approach to payments to build stronger economies.

“Our tools bring the certainty of payment and cashflow to both ends of the supply chain. We’re excited to work even closer with manufacturers across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, supporting their business growth, and building a more resilient sector.”

To find out more about the benefits for members of the Smart Manufacturing Alliance, visit: www.sma-uk.co.uk/experts/saltare/

This article first appeared in LocalGov.

In the article, Anthony Persse FCICM discusses how ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) has become a major talking point on the agendas of private and public organisations, including local authorities. But what is ESG, and more importantly, how can local authorities, with the 100s of suppliers they interact with every day, use their procurement processes to deliver meaningful societal change?

ESG measures the sustainability of an organisation which, for local authorities, means its local community’s environmental, social and economic sustainability. Local authorities are working hard to reduce the impact of climate change and helping us all adopt greener and healthier living habits. They add social value through the services they provide, such as health and social care, and building local economies that support local residents. They also have a social responsibility to the local business community. They have a responsibility to cultivate good relationships with and between a diverse and inclusive range of local businesses, both large and small. Helping enterprises to succeed will in turn provide employment in the community over the longer term. And the local authorities’ governance ensures there are transparent processes and controls in place to deliver and demonstrate sound decision-making and value for money.

To provide the enormous range of products and services for which they are responsible, everything from highway maintenance to social care, local authorities employ a roster of suppliers. Last year they spent £64bn with third parties, £23.6bn (almost 40%) of which was spent with small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

SMEs are an essential part of our national and local economies and key to a thriving local community. They provide 60% of private-sector employment. Those employees stimulate a region’s economy and support the local authority by spending locally and reducing pollution and environmental impact by walking, cycling, or enjoying a shorter commute to work. SMEs are also highly committed to their local communities, using local suppliers, and supporting local charities. Despite all this, four-fifths of SMEs fail in the first year, and two-thirds in ten years.

SMEs are often sub-contracted by larger companies, many of whom are signatories to the Prompt Payment Code. Yet SMEs still wait on average 37 days, usually 60 days, and in some cases up to 120 days for payment, driving many into insolvency. Having survived the pandemic, they now face rising inflation and labour costs, coupled with the supply chain restrictions, which means they need more working capital to survive. It’s no surprise that the mental health of small business owners is now a concern.

So how can a local authority support its local small business community and deliver the ‘Social’ element of its ESG commitment? Perhaps the biggest impact anyone in the public sector can have in supporting local businesses is to pay those businesses on time. They can prevent businesses from failing and eliminate the stress of late payments by paying promptly or even early, creating a more vibrant local economy which is more sustainable and resilient. The CBI says instant payments could release £60bn in revenues for small businesses and stimulate 460,000 new jobs.

There are five steps a local authority can take to support its ESG agenda:

• Where possible actively choose to work with local suppliers that bring social value to their community by directly boosting local economies. Local SMEs often provide ESG value through their close community connections whilst also deliver both an equal quality of service and product.

• Explore new payment technologies to monitor payments. Digital systems provide oversight and governance for the authority and encourage larger sub-contractors of SMEs to pay on-time or early.

• Pay suppliers in 10 days or less and as part of the tendering process encourage large suppliers to do the same. Digital payment platforms are available that enable small suppliers to accept discounts for early payment. They also help SMEs focus on growing their business and their workforce rather than chasing late payments.

• Create supply chains which improve relationships between larger businesses and SMEs. Use digital payment technology platforms that enhance communications, help increase cash flow, and reduce the fear of losing future work by chasing payment too hard. Building sustainable long-term relationships will reduce business owners’ stress, improving their’s and ultimately their employee’s welfare.

• During the procurement process, encourage both large and smaller organisations to demonstrate a long-term commitment to the sustainability of the region. Smaller companies are more innovative and adapt more quickly to changes in sustainability targets. They can improve production and process efficiency and reduce their environmental footprint faster than larger firms. Large and small companies working together are likely to achieve far more social value than working alone.

If local authorities take these five steps, there are advantages for everyone: they will protect the health and welfare of local business owners and their employees; larger companies will be able to demonstrate greater social value through cooperation; and local authorities will be able to show they are delivering their ESG commitments for the environment, social good and governance.

Watch our short explainer video on how Early Pay works and how it can benefit your business.

Looking after your valuable supply chain is critical to everyone’s success. We can help you create a solid supply chain that is built on confidence and trust and enables you to become the customer of choice.

Early Pay is a quick and easy way to offer and facilitate early payments. You can provide peace of mind to your suppliers by delivering certainty of payments, whilst giving them the option to get paid sooner and in just three clicks!

Transform the way you pay and get in touch to arrange a demo today. And see just how early pay will deliver benefit to your business and your supply chain.

UK based Saltare, the Early Payment FinTech, has appointed its second commercial manager to grow customer base with a primary focus on enrolling larger corporations with extensive and diverse supply chains.

Chris Wilson, a former small business owner and leadership coach, joins Saltare after owning and running several businesses over the course of his career. Chris will bring valuable first-hand experience of managing business cashflow to the Saltare team, ensuring that customers feel supported by a team they can relate to.

This includes a comprehensive understanding of the challenges SMEs face when dealing with larger customers, ensuring Saltare’s tools can help larger corporations understand the benefits paying early can bring to their supply chains.

“Running a business is hard,” he explains. “It’s a 24/7 job and when you’re anxious about when money will arrive in your account it affects everything, from your sleep to the how effectively you can manage your business strategy. Saltare’s mission to bring cash flow certainty will have a significant effect on how larger businesses work with smaller suppliers.

“One of my first objectives will be working with some of the UK’s biggest companies and helping them understand why early payments can improve relationships within wider supply chains.”

Having worked in a range of industries including sales and lead generation, Chris previously specialised in helping businesses of all sizes engage with their customer base and wide supply chains helping them procure, support, and develop leads.

Ant Persse, CEO of Saltare said Chris’ expertise will support its mission to help businesses better engage with their supply chains: “Chris has incredible knowledge as to what it takes to run a small business and more importantly how big business can interact with smaller businesses to encourage stronger partnerships.”

“We’re delighted to have Chris join our team and help us introduce Saltare to a wider network of businesses to help boost supply chain relations and encourage early payments.”

Sharing Options:

A new digital based solution, Early Pay, designed to incentivise larger organisations and local authorities to pay their suppliers before an invoice is due and encourage stronger supply chain relations has been launched by UK Fintech, Saltare.

The new Early Pay solution works through a series of mutually beneficial discounts and offers. Once an invoice has been generated and shared with a buyer, the supplier is notified once it’s approved along with the exact date payment will be made. This increases certainty of prompt payment and reduces anxiety surrounding cashflow issues.

Additionally, at the point of approval, the buyer has the option to offer an early payment in exchange for a small discount. Suppliers in turn are given the flexibility as to whether or not to accept the offer in just three simple clicks.

The buyer benefits by strengthening its relationship with suppliers. The supplier benefits from the certainty of payment and more security in its cashflow, and a closer relationship with its buyer.

Thanks to its mobile native design, Early Pay can be accessed and managed across multiple devices and platforms and offers automated notifications and one click approvals through desktop, mobile and email.

The solution not only supports the practical nature of payments but also encourages a shift in attitude in payment culture. Previously, ‘late’ payers have been penalised with poor payment performance impacting their credit risk; Early Pay turns this thinking on its head by rewarding buyers who pay early and support their supply chain.

Additionally, Early Pay will integrate with suppliers of all sizes ensuring buyers aren’t limited to large-scale suppliers, ensuring a level playing field for thes UK’s burgeoning SME sector and wider supply chain.

Along with ease of use, Early Pay offers the supplier access to business-critical insights including payment trends and invoice logs, whilst for the buyer it offers supply data through a dedicated platform with the ability to generate quick and easy reports when needed.

Early Pay will also offer business the opportunity to boost ESG policies and adhere to the prompt payment code as part of the Governments initiatives to increase social value within the supply chain.

Saltare’s Chief Executive Anthony Persse said Early Pay will provide a valuable solution to both supplier and buyer at a critical time: “The UK SME sector is expanding at a rapid rate meaning the problem of late payments and cash tied up in invoices is only set to get bigger. Early Pay has been designed solely for the purpose of improving the rate at which payments are made, making SMEs feel more confident in their cashflow.

“It comes at a crucial juncture for UK businesses. With an estimated £200 billion tied up in unpaid invoices owed to SMEs and over 900,000 hours spent chasing payments, the solution aims to quell the fears of the 88% of SMEs who admit to on-going anxiety surrounding payments.”

Early Pay will integrate with any ERP or financial management system, reducing the strain on internal technical teams thanks to its ‘plug and play’ design.

Early Pay by Saltare is available globally for a wide range of public and private businesses.

(April, 2022) A new Bristol Fintech, Saltare, has opened its doors to help businesses across the UK to improve cashflow, strengthen supply chain relationships and give more certainty over their payments, through a series of innovative new products and a different way of thinking.

Saltare was born out of the knowledge that 82% of businesses fail not because of lack of profit, but through lack of cash. Yet, recent studies suggest UK SMEs are currently waiting on almost £200bn tied up in unpaid invoices, and the key to unlocking those payments could rest in incentivising larger organisations to pay early, and in giving them the tools and reasons for doing so.

The fintech is looking to make transformational change in how payments are made and received, developing digitally-based tools to encourage larger organisations to get money into the hands of their smaller suppliers more quickly, and benefit directly by doing so through discounts and other preferential terms.

In re-examining the customer/supplier relationship, the founder of Saltare – Chief Executive Anthony Persse – believes they can turn the late payment conversation on its head: “British business needs to be much more disruptive in its thinking if we are to make real, meaningful change,” Anthony explains.

“By shifting the debate away from the negative commentary around ‘late payment’ and moving it towards a more positive conversation about ‘early payment’, we will do much more than simply improve payment performance. We will help create more jobs, deliver greater levels of investment and generate deeper social value with long-term sustainability at a time when the country needs it most.”

The catalyst for change will be a suite of products that use intuitive, mobile-led technology to enable buyers to manage their entire supply chain in a way that works for them and their key suppliers – giving all parties greater choice, convenience, certainty and transparency. The tools Saltare is developing will especially look to address the needs of some of the more challenging sectors and industries, where big businesses or organisations have an extended supply chain. These range from public sector and local authority bodies through to retail and construction.

Anthony says that a good business can easily fail if they don’t have cash: “Our mission is to develop a series of tools that bring the certainty of payment, and the certainty of cashflow, that support both ends of the supply chain. Bigger than this, our mission is to change the mind-set of businesses once and for all, to embrace a new approach that is simple to make, and yet will have positive consequences for future generations.”

To support the launch, Saltare will announce a number of new senior appointments across its sales and marketing teams in the coming weeks.

The business is headquartered on the Cube M4 Business Park in Bristol.

Our NED Philip King wrote an opinion piece for the Director of Finance [Making the case for Early Payment – Director of Finance Online (dofonline.co.uk)] about making the case for Early Payment.

Getting paid on time can be a lifeline to levelling up and supercharging growth. Cash is like oxygen; the problem is that many businesses are still gasping for air. The challenge is well known, and the facts speak for themselves: an estimated £200bn is currently tied up in unpaid invoices and more than nine out of every ten small businesses is owed money beyond their agreed payment terms. Eight out of ten businesses that fail do so because they run out of cash, and that’s despite an estimated 900,000 hours that SMEs spend every day in chasing overdues.

But while the conversation has tended to focus on the damage caused by companies paying late, isn’t it about time that conversation was inverted, and we started talking about the benefits of paying early? Has the pandemic given us the opportunity and the appetite to challenge the status quo, to think differently, and be braver in the way we tackle the cashflow conundrum?

Invest and grow

It is easy to see why a small business supplier would benefit from being paid early. The certainty of cash in the bank breeds a confidence that makes a business more sustainable, that enables them not simply to survive, but also to grow, to invest in the people, processes and technology required to support their longer-term ambitions.

It is perhaps more difficult to see why a larger customer should part with their cash sooner than their stated terms. It is easy – and for some pressure groups convenient – to forget that these firms have responsibilities too, to their own employees and wider stakeholder groups, and have their own cashflow challenges to address.

But what if they could be persuaded that by paying their suppliers early, they would not only strengthen those supplier relationships but also enhance their own cash position rather than weaken it? And what if also they could be convinced that in paying their suppliers early, they not only support a growing UK economy, but could also bring about positive societal change?

Early payment may seem counter-intuitive but for customers and suppliers alike, it drives much-needed cash more quickly into the supply chain. It reduces the hours that small businesses spend in chasing payments, and larger businesses waste in fielding payment calls, bringing benefits to both parties in enabling managers or credit teams to focus on more valued-added activities. It enables customers to negotiate and agree better discounts with their suppliers, and in doing so benefit those suppliers who have even greater visibility and certainty of future business. Conversely, it makes the larger business – the buyer – the customer of choice and enables both entities to collaborate in developing new products and services knowing that the investment in time and resource will bring long-term benefit.

Societal benefits

Knowing not only that an invoice will be paid, but also when, similarly delivers wider, societal benefits. It has a direct impact on mental wellbeing, for example, reducing the stress and anxiety that many small business owners have in worrying about where the next penny is coming from. In doing so, it also gives customers the satisfaction of deliver a tangible ‘S’ in their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy, supporting the supply chain and doing social good.

There will be some, indeed many, who will take convincing that early payment is really a good thing. But if we are to really change the customer/supplier relationship, and remove the late payment scourge, then repeating the tired mantras of the past won’t get us to where we want to be. To change the world of payments, and transform the entire economic landscape, we need to be more radical, and give suppliers and customers the time, space and tools to breathe.