Lending

New Barclays online banking dashboard ties up third-party apps with real-time finances

A new Barclays online banking tool could give small business ownersfasterinsight to critical companydata, asthe lender announces acollaboration with a number of third-party business appproviders.

The ‘smartBusiness Dashboard? will allow founders to import their everyday business data from external tools onto a single customisable dashboard on their banking app or web browser, rather than opening each toolindividually.

To arm its half a million small business customers with the new capabilities, Barclays has collaborated with a range of app providers, such asintuit Quickbooks andoffice 365.

Using APIs (application programme interfaces) from each provider, the tools which allow access between applications and programs, business owners will be able to see all finances and business information, such as bookkeeping, sales analytics and staff data, side by side in a single web tab.

The collaboration between a high street lender with third-party providers is a first for the finance sector, and represents a greater use of technology to simplify business banking.

It alsofollows newsof a further 54 Barclays branch closures, after the bank claimed it was responding to a shift in how customers wanted to bank.

Upon the launch of the new Barclays online banking tool, Ian Rand, CEO of Barclays Business Banking, said it would enable small business owners to streamlinedaily company operations.

?Busy business owners shouldnt have to spend time sorting through different spreadsheets, reports or switching between apps. Weve created a tool to give businesses time back and this is an efficient way to run and grow their business, Rand said in a statement.

The tool had already been piloted by Barclays, with one founder giving a positive testimonial.