How Businesses Can Stay Lean and Agile With Cash Flow Visibility

Today’s economy may be presenting new challenges for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Still, these businesses have shown us time and time again that they have an innate ability to innovate, adapt and persist in every environment.

How do successful businesses stay resilient? They leverage strategic financial tools to build stability, sustain and grow their businesses. In fact, as I talk to SMBs, there is a consistent message: teams that are in command of their financial situation position themselves to both weather economic shifts and to capitalize on new opportunities.

This backdrop is why we are seeing leaders not only automating their financial operations, but they’re also increasingly looking to technology to give them control and intelligent insights of their cash flow. So that they can make more informed and strategic business decisions as they grow.

Below are three ways I’ve seen businesses use automation to get control of their cash flow, turning manual processes into more strategic work.

Strategy 1: Take command of your payment processes

As businesses grow, whether they’re handling international payments or just domestic ones, managing payments can quickly become complicated. Bringing those processes together in one place can cut through that complexity and make things run more efficiently.

Take apparel company Bombas as an example. Over the past few years, they’ve expanded beyond socks into new product lines and surpassed 200 million donated items as part of their mission. Along the way, they’ve also reworked how their payments operate, and it’s made a noticeable difference.

By simplifying workflows, Bombas gained clearer visibility and control over their cash flow. Their team can now assign approvers across multiple vendors at once, track approvals at every step and monitor how long it takes to pay each bill.

That kind of visibility goes beyond just improving efficiency. It gives finance teams a better handle on what’s coming next, making it easier to plan ahead. Bombas, for example, uses this insight to project spending and keep a close eye on bills due within specific windows, like the next seven days.

The bigger takeaway for leadership is that payment operations aren’t just back-office tasks. When they’re streamlined and transparent, they become a strategic tool, helping teams operate more smoothly day to day while also making smarter decisions about cash flow.

Strategy 2: Automate for scale

As a business grows, finance processes have to grow with it.

Rubino & Co., an accounting firm in the Washington, D.C., metro area, turned to automation to help support future business expansion. Rubino began in government contracting and has evolved across industries, including trade associations, philanthropic organizations and for-profits. Building its practice around an integrated financial software platform, the firm created a scalable solution that accommodates growth without adding to administrative burden.

When firms inherit manual workflows from new clients, it reduces the time they can spend on higher‑value advisory work. Rubino’s client base, which includes medical practices, biotech companies and e-commerce businesses, shows how widely those issues can show up across sectors.

The firm’s client advisory services (CAS) group was initially developed for smaller clients without in-house accounting staff, and it now serves a broad spectrum. Many challenges stemmed from the same underlying issues with new clients: slow and inaccurate recording, duplicated effort, cumbersome approval processes and documentation gaps tied to manual workflows.

Automation is most valuable when it supports scale without adding friction. The goal is not simply to move faster, but to build financial processes that are better equipped to support long-term growth.

Strategy 3: Leverage cash flow insights

Organizations that effectively track, optimize and communicate their financial impact have a significant competitive advantage.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP), a non-profit with a mission to ensure no children experience bedlessness, leverages technology to give it the real-time cash flow insights that has helped the organization scale from less than $1 million in donations in 2019 to $25 million in 2024.

As their donations have grown, so too have the requests from donors to know how that money is being channeled to communities in need. The organization’s financial platform has strengthened relationships with corporate donors through detailed impact reporting powered by real-time cash flow visibility and tracking capabilities.

When a corporation makes a large donation, SHP can show exactly how every dollar was spent and the specific impact it had — how many beds were built, which communities were served, how many volunteers participated.

This transparency has become increasingly valuable as corporate social responsibility programs evolve. Companies now seek compelling stories about their philanthropic impact, and granular cash flow data helps them demonstrate real-world results to both employees and customers.

Today, thriving often comes down to whether an organization has complete control and visibility of its cash flow. By modernizing payment processes, remaining thoughtful about scalability and leveraging real-time financial insights, businesses can create the foundation needed to grow with confidence.

These strategies not only improve operational efficiency but also free up valuable resources so your teams can focus on what matters most: delivering value to your customers and and making a meaningful impact in your community.

Today’s economy may be presenting new challenges for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). Still, these businesses have shown us time and time again that they have an innate ability to innovate, adapt and persist in every environment.

How do successful businesses stay resilient? They leverage strategic financial tools to build stability, sustain and grow their businesses. In fact, as I talk to SMBs, there is a consistent message: teams that are in command of their financial situation position themselves to both weather economic shifts and to capitalize on new opportunities.

This backdrop is why we are seeing leaders not only automating their financial operations, but they’re also increasingly looking to technology to give them control and intelligent insights of their cash flow. So that they can make more informed and strategic business decisions as they grow.