TECHNOLOGY
Businesswire | June 01, 2023
Weave , the all-in-one customer communication and engagement platform for small- and medium-sized businesses, today announces a slate of new features designed to enable more offices to leverage remote or hybrid staff including Softphones and several significant improvements to Weave’s mobile application. The new capabilities will enable teams to answer calls and communicate with patients from anywhere within the US and Canada, no matter if they’re in the office or outside of it.
Remote work has transformed nearly every industry and small business owners now require the freedom to answer calls from anywhere while working from multi-office locations, at home or on the go, to ultimately provide customers with the seamless experiences they expect. Flexibility is a priority for small business owners and Weave’s new capabilities enable businesses to provide employees with the ability to work remotely, gain access to larger employee candidate bases amid ongoing labor shortages, and deliver enhanced experiences to customers.
“The ability to take your work with you wherever you go is a powerful, necessary advantage in today’s work environments,” said Brett White, CEO of Weave. “Nearly 4 in 5 of our customers offer remote work in some capacity. Weave Softphones will not only provide business owners with increased flexibility, but will also open revenue opportunities for businesses to take advantage of new customer segments, expand employee talent, and facilitate remote office management.”
“Weave Softphones are a wonderful addition,” said Dr. Jeffrey Ellis, MD, Board Certified Dermatologist. “We are using them for our staff who work offsite, full-time or part time as it keeps them connected to the office in a much better way. My staff in the office also like it because it makes it much easier to call someone directly from the desktop app, and a headset is comfortable for anyone with neck pain.”
The release of Weave Softphones follows various new product and integration launches in recent months, including Online Bill Pay, Response Assistant, Bulk Texting, Online Scheduling & Text Connect, Insurance Verification, Phone Analytics, and more.
About Weave
Weave is the all-in-one customer communication and engagement platform for small- and medium-sized businesses. From the first phone call to the final invoice and every touchpoint in between, Weave connects the entire customer journey. Weave’s software solutions transform how local businesses attract, communicate with and engage customers to grow their business. Weave has set the bar for Utah startup achievement & work culture. In the past year, Weave has been named a G2 leader in Patient Engagement, Optometry, Dental Practice Management and Patient Relationship Management software.
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SMALL BUSINESS TRENDS
Globenewswire | June 02, 2023
Today, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice for America’s 33 million small businesses in President Biden’s Cabinet, opened a window for new applications for Small Business Lending Company (SBLC) licenses for the first time in over 40 years. New applicants may apply between June 1, 2023, and July 31, 2023.
SBA approves Small Business Lending Company Licenses for selected non-depository lenders to increase responsible small business lending. An SBLC license allows the lending organization to utilize government guarantees when underwriting small business loans to reduce the level of risk to the lender and cost to the borrower. As a result, SBLCs are positioned to write higher volumes of loans to small businesses than possible without a government guarantee. There are currently 14 SBLC licenses in the marketplace today. An SBA rule finalized last month lifted the moratorium on additional licenses. SBA will issue up to three new licenses to qualified lenders based on a review of applications received during this application window.
“The Biden-Harris Administration recognizes that small businesses are the drivers of our economy and that to participate in the opportunities created by the President’s Investing in America agenda, they need capital,” said Administrator Guzman. “The expansion of SBA’s loan programs will help ensure more borrowers can get funded through a broader network of lenders so they can help build a strengthened American economy that innovates, manufactures, and provides the products and services that make our lives better.”
New Application Criteria and Considerations for Applicants SBA will evaluate new SBLC applicants on a range of criteria, which include: • The lending policies of the proposed SBLC and their alignment with SBA’s mission; • Historical performance measures, such as default, purchase, and loss rate; • Whether the applicant is subject to any legal proceedings, enforcement action, order or agreement with a regulator or the presence of other related concerns; • Additional performance data associated with the applicant or its senior managers, along with other relevant information (such as SBA-observed gaps in small business lending not served by the existing 7(a) Lender population, including small-dollar lending and loans to underserved populations); • Affiliation with lenders or lender service providers previously sanctioned by SBA; • Adequate capital, fidelity insurance, and other regulatory requirements.
This announcement builds on SBA’s modernization of its loan programs, to streamline credit criteria and cut red tape for all lenders, including the over 1,700 depository banks and credit unions that made SBA loans the last fiscal year.
The expansion of SBLC also complements SBA’s May 1 informational notice outlining steps for Community Advantage Pilot Program lenders to transition to a new, Community Advantage SBLC license.
Currently, over 100 non-depository lenders participate in SBA’s flagship 7(a) Loan Program under the Community Advantage Pilot Program but only have temporary status. These lenders have shown higher rates of lending to small, minority-owned, women-owned, and veteran-owned businesses. Providing permanent status to these lenders, which include many Certified Development Companies and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), promises to expand their impact in underserved markets.
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration helps power the American dream of business ownership. As the only go-to resource and voice for small businesses backed by the strength of the federal government, the SBA empowers entrepreneurs and small business owners with the resources and support they need to start, grow, expand their businesses, or recover from a declared disaster. It delivers services through an extensive network of SBA field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations.
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TECHNOLOGY
PRnewswire | May 29, 2023
Widely used across retail, fashion and other industries around the world, BoxHero Inc. ("BoxHero") today announced its official launch in North America. An easy-to-use inventory management solution for small to medium-sized businesses and enterprises, BoxHero is compatible with both desktop and mobile use and verifies its global popularity in the top search results among "inventory management" apps on both Google Play and in the Apple Store.
Focusing its offline presence initially on the Southern California market, BoxHero seeks to generate awareness and connect with potential customers by attending networking events, hosting live demos and speaking at trade shows and panels, including an upcoming appearance at OKTA-LA, an annual event co-hosted by the The Overseas Korean Trade Association and LA Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Los Angeles.
Over the last five years, BoxHero has gained significant traction in light of growth and evolution within the traditional retail sector, pandemic disruptions to the supply chain, and recent inflationary trends. Currently, BoxHero has a presence in over 100 countries, with 200,000+ users and 20% of clients located in the American market. With BoxHero, U.S. and Canadian businesses can save money, time and frustration through real-time inventory visibility, management and analytics. And with its intuitive UI/UX design, the app allows first-time customers to begin the process with minimal effort, distinguishing it as the best inventory management app for novices and established users alike.
"BoxHero was built to solve essential issues in inventory management," explains Chief Strategy Officer Joy Kim. "One is the human error inherent to tracking inventory manually with tools like Excel, another the complexity and expense of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. As many small to medium business owners and inventory managers have found, some traditional and even digital tools are also incompatible with cloud-based mobile devices."
Among the numerous benefits of BoxHero, businesses can:
• See an overview of all inventory, customize and group attributes for each product, and supervise multiple stock locations at a glance
• Provide team members with multi-level access for real-time collaboration
• Import bulk data from Excel, export to Excel, and send PO/SO via email directly from the app to trading partners
• Integrate workflow by custom designing and printing barcode labels for merchandise
• Utilize financial reporting tools including P&L statements and purchase/sales reports
• Assess trends and patterns through data analytics to improve inventory planning and avoid understocks and overstocks
"The functionality of BoxHero is complemented by the elegance of simplicity, delivering a very focused suite of tools essential to inventory management," says BoxHero CEO Heehong Moon. "We are excited to officially offer our software solutions in the North American market to help a diversity of companies gain a competitive edge, save time, and maximize profits."
About BoxHero
BoxHero is an all-in-one inventory management solution for small to medium-sized businesses. The company was founded in 2018 and has grown its global user base to exceed 200,000+ across more than 100 countries. BoxHero is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store.
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