UPDATED: Now that your business is ready to take payments, it’s time to think about how you’ll be processing payments. Alternatively, you might just want to change your current payment system. But how do you know which are the best payment processors for UK small businesses right now?

You’ll find that payment processors perform largely the same tasks, but it could be a single feature – or the cost – that’ll ultimately steer your final decision.

Knowing what’s on the market will help get you going, which is why we’ve compiled a list of the most widely recognised systems. But first: a quick definition.

Why getting up to speed on card payments is essential for SMEs – In this piece, in association with Boost Capital, we look at why card payment technology is crucial for small businesses to stay ahead of the curve

Setting up card payments for retail and online selling – Find out how to set up and get the most out of a POS system for your retail or hospitality business

What payment processor should I go for?

Let’s compare some of the best payment processors for UK small businesses on the market, focusing on cost, pros, cons and what kind of payments the system is best suited to.

Or, if you feel like you’re ready to decide, why not get quotes today? All you need to do is provide us with some basic info about your business in the form at the top of the page and we’ll match you with the best providers for your needs. 

WorldPay

What is it? WorldPay has specialist small business packages which you can fit to your requirements.

You can choose your equipment and pricing plan. You’ve got your pick of countertop card machines, portable card machines, mobile card machines and Pax terminals.

It can also take a variety of global payments. You can accept Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Diners’ Club International, Discover, China Union Pay, JCB and American Express (with a separate agreement).

How much does it cost? WorldPay offers the Simplicity Payment Gateway which can be bought as a standard package or a bespoke item:

Simplicity Payment Gateway (£19.95 a month)

It has:

• Free next business day settlement
• No set-up fee
• Visa Checkout
• PayPal
• Digital payment links
• Phone payments
• Standard fraud management tools
• Support service

Bespoke

Many of the features on the other package, plus:

• Lowest transaction fee based on volumes
• Bespoke set-up available
• Advanced fraud management tools
• 24/7 support line
• Fully customisable
• Account management

Pros: Strong customer reviews on TrustPilot, can deal with all types of different payments with one merchant ID.

Cons: Auto renewal can catch some customers out unless they write to WorldPay 30 days before contract end telling them they don’t want to renew, reports of pushy salespeople.

Best for: Medium-sized businesses with consistent transaction levels all year round or more established businesses with higher transaction volumes and more complex needs.

Compare payment processor quotes

Small Business Pro

What is it? Small Business Pro is an all-in-one solution for entrepreneurs, allowing you to take payments with some of the lowest rates on the market, organise your appointments and invoices – you’ll even have the chance of winning a £2,500 grant every month.

How much does it cost?

Small Business Pro has two packages depending on the size of your business:

Sole Trader
(excluding employment disputes)

£39.99 (including VAT) per month

1 to 30 employees
(including employment disputes)

£49.99 (including VAT) per month

Pros: Save over £30 per month with an all-in-one package.

Cons: Not suitable for businesses with over 30 employees.

Best for: Construction, healthcare and beauty, coaches and freelancers, hospitality, retail and market traders, taxis and driving instructors

Zettle

What is it? Zettle by PayPal (formerly iZettle) offers up a point of sale, card reader, invoicing and an ecommerce platform. Manage your inventory, send abandoned cart emails and get a better grasp of your performance with real-time sales analytics. It has the ability to generate sales reports, do inventory management and track staff performance.

How much does it cost?

Zettle Payment Terminal (£149 a month + VAT)

• All-in-one reader and POS service
• No monthly fee
• 1.75 per cent transaction fee

It has:

• Preloaded SIM card in case WiFi is unavailable. Mobile usage covered in original policy
• Terminal with built-in barcode scanner for speed and ease of transaction
• POS app which helps to manage inventory and print receipts
• Get bank deposits in 1-2 business days
• Accepts PayPal QRC, Payment Links, Apple Pay and Google Pay

Zettle Card Reader 2 (£59 + VAT)

• Card reader only
• No monthly fee
• 1.75 per cent transaction fee

It has:

• Payment data encryption
• Is tamper-proof
• Capabilities to work with a range of POS apps
• Integrates with platforms you may already use including Lightspeed, Quickbooks and BigCommerce
• 12-month warranty

Pros: This payment processing platform has no contract and the ability to integrate with Xero and Shopify. It’s also compatible with iOS and Android, accepting Samsung, Google and Apple Pay. It has a visually pleasing design and you get deposits to your bank account in one-two business days.

Cons: The only phone support is available 9am-5pm Monday to Friday.

Best for: Food and drink, retail, health and beauty and service-based businesses that run on multiple platforms.

Compare payment processor quotes

Square

What is it? With Square, you set up an account and buy a reader online or in-store. You’ve got the option to take payments in person, over the phone, by invoice or online. The basic version comes with free real-time analytics as well as inventory and location management.

How much does it cost?

• Chip and PIN, mobile and contactless payments in person: 1.5 per cent
• Manually entered transactions: 2.5 per cent
• Online payments with UK cards: 1.4 per cent + 25p
• Online payments with non-UK cards: 2.5 per cent + 25p

Pros: Square is an easy to use payment gateway with quick launch and a free magnetic stripe reader which accepts international cards. Invoicing and virtual terminal are also included. Integrate Xero and Synder, elect to get your money the next business day.

Cons: Reviews on Trustpilot reveal that customer service is poor

Best for: Small businesses with less consistent sales who want to start up quickly.

Compare payment processor quotes

Stripe

What is it? Stripe is a payment solution for online payments which is customisable with applications and third-party integrations.

How much does it cost? Depending on the size and sales volume of your business, you’ve got two options.

Standard

• UK cards: 1.5 per cent + 20p
• EU cards: 2.5 per cent + 20p
• Link cards: 1.2 per cent + 20p
• International cards: 3.25 per cent + 20p

Customised

You can design a custom package for your business if you have large payments volume or unique business needs. Base it on volume discounts, interchange pricing, multi-product discounts and country-specific rates.

Pros: It offers simplicity, with customised billing plans for membership and subscriptions, rolling bank transfers which can be made weekly or monthly depending on when you want to get paid. Stripe also offers integration with the mobile app, uses over 135 different currencies and customers don’t need a Stripe account in order to pay, so the process is seamless. There are no setup fees, monthly fees or hidden fees to worry about either.

Cons: The chargeback policy may lead to some aggravation. You’ll be charged £20 for any disputed transactions (from April 10, 2023).

Best for: Online businesses with access to a developer.

Compare payment processor quotes

GoCardless

What is it? Collect one-off or recurring payments with GoCardless, with a package specifically geared at small businesses.

How much does it cost?

Standard

• 1% + £/€0.20 per transaction
• 2% + £/€0.20 per transaction for international transactions

Advanced

• 1.25% + £/€0.20 per transaction
• 2.25% + £/€0.20 per transaction for international transactions

Pro

• 1.4% + £/€0.20 per transaction
• 2.4% + £/€0.20 per transaction for international transactions

Pros: Has integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and Salesforce, successfully collects 99 per cent of one-off payments and 97 per cent of recurring payments are collected first time, customisable packages, no set-up costs.

Cons: Takes a while for payments to clear, limits to how many currencies it can accept, can be difficult to track payments.

Best for: Small businesses looking for ease.

Compare payment processor quotes

Amazon Pay

What is it? I’m sure this payment system needs little explanation. Customers on Amazon Pay can make purchases using their Amazon account on eligible websites and apps and do their shopping by voice with Amazon Pay for Alexa Skills.

How much does it cost? If your monthly payment volume is under £50,000, your payment processing fee will be 2.7 per cent and the authorisation fee will be 30p per transaction.

If it’s over £50,000, then you can apply to Amazon for a payment volume discount.

Cross-border fees

Amazon Pay also charges cross-border fees for sales outside the UK of up to 1.5 per cent.

Amazon Pay cross-border fee

Currency conversion

Amazon charges a currency conversion set at 0.5 per cent above its bank’s wholesale exchange rate.

Chargeback dispute fee

If you dispute a chargeback claim not covered under Amazon’s payment protection policy, Amazon Pay charges a fixed fee of £14 + VAT to your merchant account.

Pros: Amazon Pay gets a huge boost from its name recognition – lots of people have an Amazon account. Shopping is quick and easy if the user is already logged in, but you can embed a “buy now” button on your site to make purchasing even easier. It’s also high security, offers merchant protection, and integrates with Shopify and BigCommerce

Cons: Amazon Pay can be quite a target for fraudsters. You may find your account being shut down without prior warning for security reasons, there’s no PayPal support and the transaction fee is pretty high.

Best for: Online retail businesses

Compare payment processor quotes

You can find the right card payments provider for you with takepayments.

Shopify Payments

What is it? Shopify Payments allows you to accept credit cards directly with Shopify in contactless, Chip and PIN or by swiping the customer’s card.

Offers online payments solutions and ecommerce as well as a point of sale system.

How much does it cost?

The standard prices are listed below. However, using Shopify Payments removes the commission Shopify takes on top of payment gateway fees. That’s 2 per cent on Basic, 1 per cent on Shopify and 0.5 per cent on Advanced.

Basic

• Monthly cost: £25 (£1 per month for the first three months)
• Online credit card transaction fees: 2 per cent +25p
• In-person credit card fees: 1.7 per cent + 0p in person

Shopify

• Monthly cost: £65 (£1 per month for the first three months)
• Online credit card transaction fees: 1.7 per cent + 25p
• In-person credit card fees: 1.6 per cent + 0p in person

Advanced

• Monthly cost: £344 (£1 per month for the first three months)
• Online credit card transaction fees: 1.5 per cent + 25p
• In-person credit card fees: 1.5 per cent + 0p in person

Pros: You can set up Shopify Payments instantly and try it out free for three days. Your customers can still pay through another payment system if they prefer. However, using Shopify Payments removes extra transaction fees.

Cons: Shopify also has chargeback fees of £10 per chargeback and, like Stripe, if the decision doesn’t go your way, you lose the fee.

Best for: Online retail businesses

Compare payment processor quotes

SumUp

What is it? SumUp offers card readers that can be used on-site or on the go.

How much does it cost?

No contract

Transaction fees of between 1.69 per cent and 2.5 per cent when you take a payment using a SumUp card reader but no monthly charges or contract.

• £0 monthly cost
• Card readers 1.69 per cent
• POS Lite 1.69 per cent
• Tap to pay on iPhone 1.69 per cent

SumUp One

Lower fees if you take out a cancel-anytime subscription plan.

• £19 monthly cost
• Card readers 0.79 per cent
• POS Lite 0.79 per cent
• Tap to pay on iPhone 0.79 per cent

POS Pro

• £49.99 monthly cost
• Card readers custom
• POS Lite custom
• Tap to pay on iPhone custom

Pros: SumUp’s offering has a fixed transaction rate which is lower than its competitors and no monthly fee. It also has paperless onboarding and no contractual obligations. The Air can process over 500 transactions on a single charge while the Solo card reader has unlimited mobile data and WiFi connectivity.

Cons: There’s no phone support on weekends or late evenings and their social media feeds have several complaints about poor customer service.

Best for: Remote businesses, such as freelance beauticians or food vans.

Compare payment processor quotes

Adyen

What is it? Adyen has the ability to take online payments and in-person with a POS system. If your customer is paying online, they can do so through the web, in-app, pay by link or subscription. It also has AI-powered fraud protection.

How much does it cost?

You’ll be charged a processing fee of €0.11 (10p) plus a fee depending on what payment method you use (MasterCard/Visa 0.3-0.4 per cent, American Express 3.95 per cent)  

Pros: Adyen has no monthly fee and no set-up, integration or closure fees.

Cons: With the fees it does charge, it’s expensive for businesses with lower volumes of sales. Plus, it’s no good for high-risk merchants (ones that get a significant number of chargebacks) as you’re more likely to get blocked. The system is not really designed for brand-new start-ups – you must a minimum of 1,000 transactions a month to keep your account in good standing. Reviews on TrustPilot say that the customer service is lacking.

Best for: Better for larger SMEs, not start-ups.

Compare payment processor quotes

Cybersource

What is it? Owned by Visa, Cybersource allows you to accept payments online, in-person and via mobile throughout the world. Automated screening helps you prevent fraud and Click to Pay allows customers to pay faster without account details or passwords, meaning more satisfied customers and a lower likelihood of abandoned carts.

How much does it cost?

Contact Cybersource directly to find out pricing.

Pros: Cybersource has payment acceptance in over 160 countries around the world in more than 50 currencies.  

Cons: Larger sales volumes incur larger fees and it’s available on a long contract. On top of that, you can’t access transactions that are more than six months old, no free trial.

Best for: More established small business who have developers.

Compare payment processor quotes

Opayo

What is it? Opayo (formerly Sage Pay) offers solutions for online payments, card terminals, phone and point of sale.

How much does it cost?

Pricing plans are split as follows:

Face-to-face payments

• Start Simple: No monthly fee and 1.75 per cent transaction fee, £29 one-off device fee
• Business Booster: From £15 per month for two card machines with a 0.99 per cent transaction fee
• Operate Smarter: £40 per month for tablet-sized terminal with a one per cent transaction fee
• Business Control: £62 per month with a 15.6″ talech Register touchscreen with a 1.2 per cent transaction fee

Payments online (also covers payments over the phone and by mail)

• Always Open – fixed: £25 per month, from 0.99 per cent transaction fee, no joining fee, 350 free transactions
• Always – Pay as you go: £0 with transaction fee from 1.99 per cent, £0.12 gateway click fee, £99 one-off joining fee
• Pros: No hidden fees, 24/7 telephone support available, quick to set up, strong customer service reviews on Trustpilot.

Cons: Opayo is more expensive than Sage Pay was.

Best for: Small businesses who want to go with a trusted name.

Compare payment processor quotes

Easily find the right card payments provider for you with takepayments.

Further reading on payments

Five tips to get started taking card payments
High risk merchant accounts: What you need to know
How to set up a POS system for your small business

The post Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best appeared first on Small Business UK.

Customer relationship management (CRM) systems help micro business owners to keep all of their communications together.

If you’re a small company or sole trader struggling under a growing mound of paperwork, any kind of streamlining is hugely appreciated. But it can be easy for a micro business to buy the wrong system, overloaded with features that they don’t need, draining their pockets unnecessarily.

To give you some steer, we’ve asked an expert what you should be looking for in a CRM as well looking at what’s available on the market right now.

What is a CRM?

A CRM is a customer relationship management system. It’s a technology that’s used to manage interactions with customers and potential customers. They can help increase sales, improve customer service and increase profitability.

It’s a more advanced solution to keeping information in spreadsheets, electronic documents, in a notepad or even in your head.

They collate data and turn them into actionable insights. Everyone in a business can update records and access this up-to-date information. On top of that, they often have contact management, lead management, sales forecasting, instant messaging between employees, email tracking and integration and file content sharing as well as dashboard-based analytics. Some premium services provide extra features.

You can get a desktop CRM which runs on a single computer, a client/server database stored on a server and normally self-hosted or a cloud system hosted by a third-party provider.

Small Business Pro allows you to build your own sales pipelines with our tool which has been specially tailored for small businesses – all at a fraction of the cost of other CRMs.

It will also help with the heavy lifting of taking payments, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

What should I be looking for in a CRM?

David Midgley is the director of Total Processing, explains the most important considerations to make when you’re shopping around.

If you’re a micro business looking for a CRM system, it’s likely you’ll be looking to improve the relationships you have with your existing customers as well as potential new customers. Through adding information to leads and existing customers, you can build and maintain quality relationships.

As a micro business, you’re looking to grow and you need a CRM system that will enable you to store data in an organised manner, even as you expand. As you expand, you’ll also need greater insights into your sales reporting. It’s important to know exactly where each lead stands in the sales funnel so that you can target them appropriately, whether this is through call, email or any other marketing method.

If you’re an e-commerce micro business, it’s advantageous to use a merchant provider that offers both a payment gateway and a great CRM system. You don’t just need a provider that can take secure payments; you need one that can provide reports and insights into your sales data, as well as in depth customer insights. This way you can use different targeting strategies for new customers, existing customer and loyal customers to upsell or retain.

A greater understanding of your commercial activity as well as your customer will enable growth.

If your CRM system is the same system that takes your online payments, you’ll want to ensure you check out their reviews for system failures and downtime. Downtime not only means that you can’t collect revenue, but it also means data cannot be recorded or it can even become lost during a system failure.

Take these vital factors into account when choosing your CRM system.

Cost-efficient

You’re a micro business; you don’t want to spend too much on a CRM system. Pick a reasonable budget and match your business needs to a CRM system that has the best features that meet your needs.

Some platforms have free trials so that you can decide whether you like it before you commit to purchase.

If you do go for it, make sure you know how the payment structure works. Some of them charge per user while others charge a fee for a certain number of users.

User-friendly interface that is easy to use

You’re new to CRM systems; you want one that is easy to use. It’s highly likely that in a micro business you’re extremely busy, which means you’ll want a system that you can use with ease. Remember you want a CRM system to streamline your day-to-day life, not complicate it.

Sales reporting and customer insights

Your business wouldn’t be running without sales or customers, so you really need to understand your data. Understanding your sales data not only highlights red flags, it also highlights opportunities. The more you know about your customers, the better you can meet their wants and needs as well as provide a positive experience for them.

Easy to integrate and offers integration with other tools

Later down the line, you’re going to be using a lot of tools – or maybe you are already. Your CRM system will be at the heart of everything you do, so ensure you choose one that connects to useful tools within your industry.

Good reviews

Reviews have become a huge considering factor for consumers and choosing a CRM system for business is no different. Don’t just listen to what the provider has to say about their company, take time to look at their reviews.

David Midgley is the director of Total Processing, a payment solution and CRM provider.

What CRM systems can I buy?

It’s a little more difficult to say as there isn’t a CRM specifically for micro businesses – though there are plenty out there for small businesses. The key is to minimise complexity so that you’re not spending money on features that you don’t need.

Prices listed are per month and billed annually. If you’re lucky, there might even be discounts on the standard packages when you’re doing your search.

Capsule

Pros:

• Office 365 integration
• Sales team can track bids, deals and proposals
• Mobile app for capturing new leads

Cons:

• Less functionality than other CRM systems
• Some issues with third-party integrations – not smooth in some cases
• Free plan is limited to 250 contacts

Capsule is a task manager as well as a CRM, so you can manage your sales pipeline and create reports. Its features allow you to track bids, deals and proposals too. On the personal management side of things, you can track tasks and emails, attach documents and share important bits of information with colleagues while the calendar allows you to create tasks.

It has a simple layout and design with emails attached to the contact card. It’s also customisable and comes with an app so you can use it on the go.

On the downside, some users have reported that there are issues with integrations – Mailchimp isn’t so smooth, for example.

Free (for up to two users): £0
Starter (per user, per month): £14
Growth (per user, per month): £27
Advanced (per user, per month): £42
Ultimate (per user, per month): £60

Packages are available on a 14-day free trial

Zoho

Pros:

• Integrates with G Suite and Office 365
• Can build apps for more customisation
• Strong email marketing features

Cons:

• Customer support sometimes use copy and paste messaging
• Limited email marketing templates
• Domain name verification is lengthy

Zoho is a CRM product which is highly customisable with apps. Apps span across sales and marketing, finance, email and collaboration, IT and help desk, human resources and custom solutions. G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 integration. Apps for Apple Watch.

Apps include:

• Invoicing
• Mobile device management
• Analytics

Zoho has social media integration and you can build apps that you need for your business. You’ve also got a 15-day free trial to test out the full version which is free for up to three users.

It scores 4.4/5 based on 4,571 reviews on Trustpilot. Some reviewers said that it was overly complicated and that the domain name verification process is a slog.

Standard (per user, per month): £12
Professional (per user, per month): £18
Enterprise (per user, per month): £35
Ultimate (per user, per month): £42

Pros:

• Tailored small business tool to build sales pipelines
• Send proposals and book meetings and appointments
• A fraction of the cost of other CRM platforms

Cons:

• Not suitable for businesses that have more than 30 employees
• Doesn’t integrate with Outlook or G Suite

Small Business Pro is an all-in-one solution for small business owners. For a fraction of the price of other CRM platforms, you’ll have access to our tailored small business tool where you can build sales pipelines. Say goodbye to lots of paperwork and admin and easily arrange meetings, send proposals, quotes and invoices and set reminders.

Small Business Pro’s CRM offering doesn’t exist as a standalone product. The prices below are for the full Small Business Pro membership, depending on the size of your business.

Sole trader: £39.99 per month
1 to 30 employees: £49.99 per month

HubSpot

Pros:

• AI tools for drafting prospecting emails, generating social copy, building a website and conducting company research
• Split deals won with deals lost
• Customisable per user

Cons:

• Reports of overpromising and underdelivering
• Trouble implementing ERP platforms
• Limited features as your company grows

This one is more directed at sales teams.

You’ve got a free version which can manage your pipeline with interactions being tracked automatically and displayed on one dashboard.

What’s more, you can split deals won from deals lost. Keeping up with matters in-house, HubSpot can be synced with Gmail or Outlook. You can make calls inside the CRM, as well as create and measure email templates.

The platform received 3.1/5 on Trustpilot based on 631 reviews.

Free (CMS, marketing, sales and more): £0  
CRM Suite Starter (for new customers): £18 a month
Starter (includes 1,000 contacts): starts at £17 a month
Professional (includes 1,000 contacts): starts at £702 a month

There are packages for larger teams and enterprises, but we’ve kept it simple with the individual and small business offerings.

Salesforce

Pros:

• Cloud-based CRM
• AI functionality
• 30-day free trial

Cons:

• Can be expensive
• Non-user-friendly UX
• Complaints of poor customer service post-sale

Salesforce is a cloud-based CRM with a dedicated small business package, – it comes with a customisable dashboard too.

It’s a good fit for businesses with scaling potential, with opportunities to up your sales, service and marketing offering as your business grows.

Can integrate Office 365, Google Apps and Quip for easy communication.

If you’re not sure, download the 30-day free trial which gives you access to the features on Sales Cloud’s Professional edition.

You’ve got a steep learning curve in picking up all of the features and deciding whether they were necessary for your business.

It scores 1.4/5 on Trustpilot based on 394 reviews. Complaints are about customer service and selling tactics.

Starter: £20 (per user, per month)

FreshBooks

Pros:

• Supportive onboarding process
• Comes free with Barclays Business Banking Account
• Multiple ways for clients to pay – Barclaycard, Stripe, PayPal

Cons:

• Only five billed clients allowed at a time on free version
• Helpline is open 8am-8pm EST which is 1pm-1am GMT – not great if you have an emergency during the earlier hours of the working day
• Problems reported with Making Tax Digital function

FreshBooks gives your clients multiple ways to pay with no hidden fees. Set up recurring billing, store credit card details and accept partial payments. Customers based overseas can pay in international currencies too.

You can track time from apps you already use such as Trello, asana and Basecamp. Use accounting goals and know the costs of running your business. There are also handy tools like logging photos of receipts and auto-categorisation of expenses into tax-friendly categories.

FreshBooks has a score of 3.4 out of 779 reviews on Trustpilot, but the British reviews appear to be largely positive.

Lite: £7.50 a month
Plus: £12.50 a month
Premium: £17.50 a month
Select: Bespoke

All packages come with a 30-day free trial

Teamleader

Pros:

• Bill clients directly on invoices
• Run sales forecasts
• Easy to create, send, monitor and manage proposals

Cons:

• Reports of integration issues
• Not the most straightforward software
• Less developed mobile app

Stay in touch with clients by creating website forms for them to contact you and book appointments with you. Do several invoices at once and check the payment status of your clients. Make payment easier by sending recurring invoices by email or post, sending late payment reminders if necessary.

Link your Gmail or Outlook email account as well as your accounting software.

Teamleader scores 4.2/5 on Trustpilot but the majority of reviews are in Dutch. There are more English reviews on g2.com.

Teamleader Focus (all prices below cover two users, but you can add more)

Go: €50 (£43) a month
Move: €66 (£57) a month
Boost: €90 (£78) a month

NetHunt

Pros:

• User-friendly interface
• Omni-channel customer communication
• 24/7 customer support

Cons:

• Customisation is limited
• Some features too basic
• Can’t split email threads

NetHunt is a Gmail-based CRM which can be used as a Chrome or Safari extension.

Features include customising your email campaigns, building reports and forecasts, tracking team and performance and automating routine tasks. It integrates with Gmail, G Suite, LinkedIn, Slack, Outlook and WhatsApp.  

Omni-channel communication with customers including emails, phone calls, online chats and social media. NetHunt also has sales pipelines to give you an overview of your sales process and see what works and what doesn’t.

It scored 4.3/5 on Trustpilot, but this is only based on nine reviews.

Basic: $24 (£19.50) a month
Basic Plus: $34 (£22.50) a month
Business: $48 (£39) a month
Business Plus: $68 (£55.50) a month
Advanced: $96 (£78.50) a month

14-day free trial

Insightly

Pros:

• Good for project management
• Integration with other applications
• Mobile-friendly features

Cons:

• Features limited on free version
• Interface outdated
• Could be a steep learning curve

Insightly focuses on project management – it can track project activity and performance and help you manage leads, customers, partners and suppliers. It also features workflow automation, relationship links and can convert closed deals to projects.

You’ve also got configurable reporting, social media integration and integration with other applications including Google Drive and the ability to take your work on the go with the mobile app.

It has a score of 3.2/5 on Trustpilot, based on only six reviews.

It may be worth forking out for one of the paid versions as the features are more limited on the free version. It allows up to two users, five email templates, up to 2,500 records, ten mass emails a day, two custom fields and custom page layouts.

Features in the more advanced versions include Google and Microsoft 365 integrations, the aforementioned Insightly mobile app and the ability to convert won opportunities into projects.

Free (up to two users)
Plus: $29 (£23) – 100,000 records
Professional: $49 (£34) – 250,000 records
Enterprise: $99 (£78) – unlimited records

SugarCRM

Pros:

• Can self-host if you have developers on-staff
• Mobile-friendly features
• Has unique features

Cons:

• Steep learning curve
• Pricey
• Difficulty in using certain features

SugarCRM has flexible solutions so that even as a small business, you can shape a suitable plan. It also has an AI-powered pipeline and analysis tools, with automation of certain processes to save you time.

SugarCRM scores 2.5/5 on Trustpilot, but reviews are mainly from businesses outside Great Britain.

A seven-day free trial will give you some more time to decide.

Essentials: £39
Advanced: £68
Premier: £108

Pipedrive

Pros:

• Highly customisable with apps
• Many integration opportunities including Slack, Trello and Mailchimp
• Drag-and-drop functionality make platform easy to use

Cons:

• Limited advanced customisation
• Functionality issues on advanced packages
• Phone support only available on Power and Enterprise accounts

Pipedrive is another sales-focused CRM, promising minimum input and maximum output. It has full email integration, easy import and export of data and an open API. Charges are made per seat rather than by user band.

Use customisable web forms to get leads into the CRM – see what stage your deals are at and how they can progress. What’s more, you can customise it with apps in Pipedrive Marketplace.

It has 4.5/5 on Trustpilot, based on 1,655 reviews.

Unsure? Experiment with Pipedrive’s features on its 14-day free trial.

Essential: £14.90
Advanced: £27.90
Professional: £49.90
Power: £64.90
Enterprise: £79.90

Apptivo

Pros:

• Has project management, invoicing and other capabilities
• Create custom fields for sales without restriction
• Lower cost than competitors

Cons:

• Slow operating speeds
• Limited customisation options
• Not enough support for complex issues

As well as CRM, Apptivo does project management, invoicing and other tasks. To broaden its functionality, it can be integrated with Google Apps, Dropbox, Office 365 and PayPal.

On the internal features, you can create email templates and send emails to contacts, creating targeted lists for mass email marketing. Team that with the mobile expense reporting and simple approval workflow tools to keep up your productivity.

Take control of your supply chain with supply chain management which has vendor tracking and inventory.

Like a couple of other CRMs, the software looks a bit dated.

It has scored 2.6/5 on Trustpilot based on six reviews – with no reviews above two stars.

On Apptivo, you’ve got a 30-day free trial and can switch between the Lite, Premium and Ultimate packages.

Lite: $8 (£6)
Premium: $12 (£9.75)
Ultimate: $20 (£16)
Enterprise: Bespoke (contact Apptivo)

Bitrix24

Pros:

• Group chat and instant messaging functions
• On-premise version available
• Website builder included

Cons:

• Free version doesn’t include all of platform’s features
• Mobile app not as developed as web version
• Steep learning curve

Bitrix24 has group chat and instant messaging, project management, online document storage and a social intranet. It’s a strong contender for collaborative features. You’ve also got support for repeat sales and sales automation.

The platform has a rating of 3.6/5 on Trustpilot based on 49 reviews.

Accept payments via Stripe, Braintree, Authorize.net and more. It can issue quotes too.

Free: £0
Basic: £36 per month
Standard: £74 per month
Professional: £149 per month
Enterprise: From £299 per month for 25 users

The post The best CRM system for your micro business appeared first on Small Business UK.

In an increasingly cashless society, if you don’t have card payment machines, you risk losing out on sales.

There are countless card machines for small businesses on the market today, and most enable you to take chip and PIN, contactless, and mobile payments.

But there are differences in features, fees and upfront costs which will make some more or less suitable for your business than others.

This article will break down the hardware and functionality of the best payment machines currently on the market to help you choose the one that’s right for you.

You can jump straight to a particular card machine or read on to find more info on the 10 (plus one bonus!) best card payment machines for small UK businesses in 2023.

40% of the UK’s micro businesses do not accept card payments – This is despite digital payments being the preferred way to pay for 47pc of shoppers

Card payment machines

1. SumUp Air
2. Zettle Reader 2
3. Square Reader
4. MyPOS Go
5. Dojo Go
6. Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere
7. TakePayments
8. Tyl (by Natwest)
9. Shopify
10. Tide Card Reader
11. Small Business Pro

With Small Business Pro, track your invoices as well as getting in-person and online transactions at one of the lowest rates on the market. It will also help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

How much does a typical card payment machine cost?

Card payment machine costs are made up of the cost of the device and the cost of payment processing fees.

Device cost

Mobile card readers generally cost between £15 and £30, countertop card machines cost between £150 and £200.

You can either buy the device outright or rent the device for a monthly cost. This changes from provider to provider.

How to optimise cash flow with cashless payments – The phrase ‘cash is king’ has never been truer, but how can small businesses like yours ensure a healthy inflow of money to cover costs and make profits?

Fees

Transaction fees are taken by your card payment provider as a percentage of every payment made through your card machine. They’re typically between 1.5 per cent and 2 per cent of the value of the transaction.

So, if the customer buys an item costing £25, and your transaction fee is 1.75 per cent, you’ll be charged around 43p by your card payment provider.

Card payment providers will also advertise a card not present (CNP) transaction. A CNP transaction occurs when neither the cardholder or their card are present for the transaction – in other words, an online or phone payment, or a recurring payment.

CNP fees are usually around 2.5 per cent. They’re higher for the simple reason that there’s a greater risk of fraud during these kinds of payments.

Countertop vs portable vs mobile card readers

There are three types of card payment machine: countertop, portable, and mobile.

Countertop card machines are designed to be used at designated till points in your store. Although they don’t offer any portability, they’re usually very reliable in terms of their connectivity. They’re best for businesses with a fixed payment point such as a grocery or small retailer.

Portable credit card machines are battery-powered devices that use Wi-Fi to take card payments anywhere on your site. They’re best for cafes and restaurants.

Mobile card readers are even more compact, battery-powered devices that use a GPRS (3G or 4G) signal to take card payments wherever you are. They also usually have Wi-Fi functionality as well. They’re great for pop up shops, markets, festivals, street food vans – anywhere really.

This article will predominantly focus on mobile card readers, as they’re the most affordable and offer the most flexibility to growing small businesses.

Most of the providers below also sell other hardware such as charging docks, receipt printers, countertop systems and tills.

You only need the card payment device to start taking payments, but these items allow you to enhance your POS system as your business grows.

8 payment systems for festivals, pop-ups and street food markets – Take a look at this rundown of payment systems that are ideal for festivals, street food markets, pop-ups and promotional events

Card payment machines – the options

The 10 card payment machines below are great options for small businesses, offering competitive fees and great features.

SumUp Air Card Reader

Thanks to its ease of use and practicality, this stylish and lightweight portable card reader is currently one of the popular card readers for small businesses.

It’s easy to set up and start using. All you need to do to start accepting contactless, chip and PIN, and mobile payments from all major providers is to pair the device with your smartphone, which takes minutes.

You can then start using the SumUp Air anywhere with Wi-Fi or data coverage, and it can process 500 transactions on a single charge – at 12 hours, it’s probably the best battery life on the market.

Available for a one-off cost of just £39, and with a reduced 1.69 per cent transaction fee, it’s also very affordable. And they have also sped up the length of time for payments to appear in your account to just one day.

You also get access to a handy smartphone app, with a dashboard that allows you to view your product catalogue, track sales, and send digital receipts.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Zettle Reader 2

The Zettle Reader 2 is another lightweight (just 130g) device that you can pair with your Apple or Android smartphone and start using within minutes using the Zettle app.

It accepts all major debit and credit card payment types and has a decent eight-hour battery life – though this only lasts for around 100 transactions, which is no match for SumUp’s 500.

Where the Zettle Reader 2 really seeks to differentiate itself is in its focus on security. Claiming to be one of the safest card readers on the market, Zettle’s tamper-proof device adheres to the highest industry standards, and is fully encrypted by HSMs cryptographic servers.

And if you do spot a suspicious charge, Zettle’s transaction protection covers up to £250 in chargebacks per month.

As with the SumUp Air, there are no monthly fees – you just pay a flat rate per transaction, though at 1.75 per cent, this is slightly higher than its rival.

But at £59 + VAT, the Zettle Reader 2 is dearer than the SumUp Air, and the in-dock charger will cost another £39 + VAT on top.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Square Reader

The Square Reader is the most sleek, simple and affordable card reader on the market. This appropriately square-shaped device costs just £19 + VAT, much lower than competitors.

And weighing in at just 56g, it’s not just the price that’s low. All you have to do is sync it to your phone via Bluetooth and start selling. You can then monitor and manage all your sales from Square’s free app. All funds are deposited the next working day.

Nifty features include specially-designed POS dashboards for restaurants, restaurants and mobile businesses who need to make appointments, such as hairdressers or masseurs.

And Square also has a whole arsenal of other payments kit you can buy to create a full POS setup including terminals, registers, and other hardware and accessories.

Square is offering new customers a reduced 1.5 per cent transaction for the timebeing.

And businesses that take more than £200,000 a year in card sales pay a lower transaction fee.

Compare card payment machine quotes

myPOS Go

Weighing 180g, its design isn’t as sleek and stylish as rivals, but under the hood, myPOS Go 2 is another highly functional and compact mobile card reader.

The device costs £39 + VAT and its transaction fee is just 1.10 per cent + 7p and can be much lower (depending on the amount you’re taking).

The Linux-driven myPOS Go 2 card reader has several other features that set it apart from competitors. You get a free e-money merchant account, with a dedicated IBAN in 14 currencies, making it easy to take international payments.

6 of the best payment systems for accepting US dollars – If you have a lot of customers Stateside, you’ll want them to be able to pay in US dollars. We look at the best payment systems for USD

Unlike the days you might have to wait with other providers, card payments are settled in your account in less than three seconds, and you get instant access to funds via your free VISA business card.

We also like the multi-operator mode, which allows you to monitor individual staff performance and split tips accordingly.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Dojo Go

Dojo Go describes itself as the “ultimate all-rounder”, a small business card machine that’s just as handy as a mobile (operating on 3G/4G connectivity) and a portable (using Wi-Fi) device.

Dojo Go’s big selling point is its speed: the company claims its device can take card payments in around two seconds – nearly 60 per cent faster than the industry average. And you can keep track of all those payments in real time using the Dojo Go app.

Dojo is supremely confident in its product – so much so that, if you’re switching from an existing provider, it will pay your exit fees up to a value of £3,000. (You have to share your recent statements with another provider with Dojo before it decides on the transfer value.)

We also admire Dojo’s help and support, which is available 24 hours a day. And if you can’t get things fixed over the phone, Dojo can take over your device remotely to investigate.

All payments are transferred in your account at 10am the next working day, which it claims is faster than any other provider as standard.

There are two tiers of transaction fees: 1.4 per cent + 5p per transaction plus £20 per month terminal rental, if your annual card turnover is below £150,000; if you’re above £150,000 then your credit and debit card rate and the monthly terminal rental fee are negotiable.

Pro tip: Dojo sets a minimum £24.95 monthly charge for customers who have not taken card payments before, which is the minimum cost you must pay in transaction fees each month – even if you have zero takings. This is on top of the monthly £20 terminal rental. After six months, the contract flips to monthly rolling.

Because you’re tied into a six-month contract if your card turnover is below £150,000, Dojo Go is better for scaling small businesses with consistently high monthly takings.

And, if your business needs cash quickly, Dojo offers a merchant cash advance powered by YouLend, which is repaid through a percentage of your card takings. Dojo charges a fixed one-off fee for this cash facility.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere

Barclaycard Smartpay Anywhere is aimed at hospitality and retail businesses, with the “app” turning it into a POS solution. It does not connect with cash drawers, or barcode scanners – but does connect to wireless printers and an app and web portal.

It has next-working-day settlement and, in addition to the standard Mastercard and Visa, accepts Amex and Diners Club (Discover).

The transaction fee is 1.6 per cent, among the lowest of any major provider.

It’s also powered by a feature filled app as well as access to a web portal providing real time data and insight into your business performance. If you need support there is a 24/7 customer support team, and it is PCI compliant without fees or the need for attestation.

However, unlike some rivals, when applying for Smartpay Anywhere, you have to go through an online vetting process checking financial and borrowing history to be approved for a device, which Barclays says ensures the device is suitable for your business before you pay for it.

The pros are that it’s a compact and affordable card reader at £29 + VAT with low transaction fees and payments settled the next business day.

Compare card payment machine quotes

TakePayments

Stockport-based TakePayments has provided card terminals and online payment solutions for over 30 years. It is one of the fastest-growing card payment companies in the UK with over 70,000 customers.

A fast and reliable Android terminal that lets you take both card and cash payments.

Some key features include:

• Speedy 4G and WiFi connection
• Stock and pricing management from the device
• Ability to split payments
• Detailed transaction reporting to see how your business is performing
• Access to a Management Portal to handle your business remotely

takepaymentsplus pricing: £25 + VAT monthly (18-month contract)

Or, if you’re just looking to take payments quickly, their A920Pro card machine and DX8000 terminal take only four simple steps to set up. Stay connected with 4G and WiFi, and accept Apple and Google Pay as standard.

Terminal rental from £15 + VAT.

The transaction fee based on business turnover and the CNP (card not present) fee is dependent on payment acquirer.

Own POS system

TakePayments uses its own EPOS system called tPOS, which cannot be downloaded onto an iPad or other tablet and has its own tablet register.

tPOS is available in two forms, Counter and Complete. Plus, their dedicated team will provide full training and customer support seven days a week.

tPOS starts from £45 a month.

Some key features include:

• Product management and stock inventory
• Ability to split payments and serve multiple customers at once
• Fixed discounts and offers
• Ability to add notes and configure orders
• Enhanced reporting

Get a quote with takepayments now

Tyl (by NatWest) Clover Flex

Weighing in at 453 grams, Tyl’s Clover Flex card reader is at the chunkier end of the mobile card reader market.

Although it still utilises Wi-Fi and 4G, allowing you to use it anywhere, it’s still significantly heavier than the other devices, which does affect its portability.

However, more does in this case mean more. The Clover Flex acts as an all-in-one POS system that allows you to both take payments and manage your business from one device, including inventory and customer management, itemised receipts and more.

It has a decent eight-hour battery life and a high-res 5’’ touchscreen, which enables you to use a variety of the 150 apps on the Clover App Market. However, while it’s handy to have this functionality in one place, we’d wager most people don’t mind switching to their phone for these functions if it means having a smaller device.

Also, it’s not the most affordable option for small businesses. You’ll pay £16.99 per month for the 4G mobile version before transaction fees are even factored into the equation. The transaction fee is a flat 1.5 per cent on all cards, excluding American Express.

However, NatWest is offering to waive hire fees for new customers for three months, once they commit to a 12-month contract.

Tyl is also waiving its monthly fees on its e-commerce gateway for 12 months, up until the end of December 2023. Normally, it charges £14.95 + VAT per month.

4G usage is charged up to £9.99 + VAT per month depending on how much you use.

Clover Flex is better for larger small businesses with a large, consistent sales volume.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Shopify WisePad 3 Reader

Although only available for Shopify customers, we think it’s worth highlighting Shopify’s WisePad 3 Reader.

It’s lightweight (130 grams) and accepts all major payment cards and types. You have to subscribe to Shopify though to be able to use it and it only works with an iPad or through your iPhone.

Shopify subscriptions

Shopify has three subscription levels for its Wisepad 3 card reader: Basic, Shopify and Advanced. Basic costs £25 a month, Shopify £65 per month, and Advanced £344 a month. All are billed annually.

Basic (£25pm)

Credit card rates

• 2% + 25p online
• 1.7% + 0p in person

What’s included in Basic

• Basic reports
• Up to 1,000 inventory locations
• 2 staff accounts

Shopify (£65pm)

Credit card rates

• 1.7% +25p online
• 1.6% + 0p in person

What’s included in Shopify

• Professional reports
• Up to 1,000 inventory locations
• 5 staff accounts

Advanced (£344pm)

Credit card rates

• 1.5% + 25p online
• 1.5% + 0p in person

What’s included in Advanced

• Custom report builder
• Up to 1,000 inventory locations
• 15 staff accounts

However, there is no contractual obligation you have to sign with Shopify, so you are not tied in for months or years. Plus there is a 14-day free trial period for you to try out the Wisepad 3 card reader.

There are also slick add-ons to the Shopify Wisepad 3, including a tablet stand (£120), a barcode scanner (£199) and a Bluetooth receipt printer (£259).

However, with a £49 purchase price (compared with, say, £39 for the SumUp Air card reader), plus monthly subscription fees, Shopify Wisepad 3 works out as one of the most expensive readers on the market.

That said, if already use Shopify as your POS system, this would be a no-brainer.

Compare card payment machine quotes

Tide Card Reader

The Tide Card Reader is designed for mobility, so you can use it for in-store or on-the-go transactions. It is your ticket to seamless payments, anytime, anywhere.

With Tide Card reader, you can accept card and mobile payments on the go with no monthly contracts and minimal transaction fees. You also have unlimited 4G data, eliminating the need for Bluetooth connectivity. With a lifetime of free 4G connectivity and compatibility with Visa, Mastercard, ApplePay, and GooglePay, it’s time to unlock a new level of payment convenience.

The device has a one-off cost of £49 + VAT with a transaction fee of 1.50 per cent.

Small Business Pro

And finally… we can’t forget our very own payment processor, which forms part of our Small Business Pro membership. 

How much does it cost? 

WisePad 3 terminal (£49 one off cost) OR WisePOS E (£179.00 one off cost) + monthly membership fee (£39.99 sole traders and £49.99 for businesses) 

• All-in-one reader and POS service 
• Monthly subscription cost (£39.99 for sole traders and £49.99 for businesses) 
• From 1.25 per cent transaction fees for standard cards, premium cards (such as corporate cards) are 2.25 per cent

It has: 

• No monthly payment fees 
• No minimum spend amounts 
• Built-in fraud detection 
• PCI compliant 
• Integrated with customer management tool to monitor transactions 
• Bank deposits in 3 business days 

Pros: Our transaction fee is the lowest on the market for any payment facilitator starting from 1.25 per cent. 

Cons: It’s not available as a standalone payments service, so you’ll need to purchase a monthly membership from us. 

Best for: Food and drink, retail, health and beauty and service-based businesses that are looking to streamline multiple tools and platforms.

Which is the best card payment device?

By now you’ve either discovered the card reader that’s right for your business, or you’ve left bamboozled by a dizzying range of different card payment machines, fee structures and additional features.

If it’s the latter, don’t worry. For most small businesses, we’d recommend SumUp. It’s an affordable device with one of the lowest transaction fees on the market, and as it’s a flat rate, it’s predictable and transparent. We were also impressed by its long battery life, which can process more than 500 payments on a single charge.

MyPOS Go also really stands out to us as another great option for small businesses. As well as very competitive transaction fees, it has great added features like multi-operator mode, which make it a great choice for cafes and restaurants. It’s also great that you can access funds instantly.

That said, we’ve selected all the above card payment machines for their flexibility, simplicity and practicality, and each one would be a great option for your small business. Happy selling.

Need a card payment device quote?

Want to compare prices from all the best card payment devices we’ve listed above? Why not use our free comparison tool to be matched with the most suitable provider for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate card payment provider.

Further reading

Best payment processors for UK small businesses – 11 of the best – What’s the best payment system for your small business? 11 of the best payment processors for UK SMEs reviewed

The post 10 card payment machines ideal for small business appeared first on Small Business UK.

As anyone who frequents any website online will already know, chatbots are already being used by a host of brands to assist a customer with any queries they might have.

And chatbots have a lot going for them. They’re multilingual, can work around the clock 24/7 and can serve an infinite number of customers at once across multiple platforms. They’re also very good at automating routine tasks, such as booking in appointments and reservations.

If a customer has a query and it’s a frequently asked question (FAQ), the the bot will direct the browser to the answer already stated on the website, freeing time for customer service staff. The improved response time and efficiency can in turn also help improve customer satisfaction.

Even the government is getting in on the act, with Rishi Sunak planning on launching an AI chatbot to help the public pay taxes and access pensions on the Gov.uk website, using tech from ChatGPT’s OpenAI.

But it’s not all good news, of course. Before businesses rush to implement chatbots on their website, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is warning of an increased security risk to business operations. Early studies suggest chatbots are more prone to performing harmful tasks by hackers, such as making unauthorised transactions.

“Whilst it’s been beneficial for individuals and businesses – from the implementation of customer service chatbots to content creation – it also poses dangers, such as producing biased or false information,” Dr Marc Warner, CEO of AI consultancy firm Faculty, warns.

Warner says AI chatbots should be overseen by humans and should supplement human activity, not replace it, in order to limit its susceptibility to misinformation and abuse.

How AI is transforming chatbots

Software companies such as Amazon, OpenAI, Microsoft and Google may be launching AI chatbot platforms now, but live chat platforms such as Zendesk have been around since 2007.

However, whereas live chat platforms have previously gone so far as to greet an enquirer before relying on a customer service professional to deal with the task, now AI chatbots are able to see through a whole query in a human-like manner – and do this with multiple customers at the same time. They can also learn from their experiences, getting better at their replies and flagging customer pain points if an issue is being raised repeatedly.

Top chatbots for business

Ada

A (very) multilingual chatbot (Ada supports over 50 languages in all), Ada can provide customer support on channels such as Facebook and WhatsApp. You can build the bot, which is built on large language models (LLM) without any prior coding knowledge.

IBM Watson

As well as recommending additional topics to its knowledge base so it can improve future interactions, Watson from IBM alerts a business to where it needs more training on topics of its existing knowledge base.

Intercom Fin

Built on Chat GPT, Fin uses a business’s knowledge base to answer customer queries. When it doesn’t understand a request, it will ask questions back to the customer. If it’s still struggling, it will alert a member of staff to help. All its interactions are stored and can be viewed by a human at any time.

Salesforce Einstein

Salesforce Einstein can help with marketing, sales and customer service. In terms of the latter, the chatbot can help by surfacing relevant information during customer support interactions and automating summaries of resolutions.

Tidio Lyro

Lyro from Tidio is a customer-facing chatbot that can get to work conversing with customers straight away. It can answer FAQs competently in a human-like way, and if it can’t answer a query, it will direct to a customer service member of staff and flag this to your business as something to add to its knowledge base.

WP-Chatbot

WP-Chatbot allows businesses to have a live chat added to their WordPress website. As it’s a widget, it’s very easy to install and is compatible with all versions of WordPress and hundreds of its themes, plugins and e-commerce platforms. It provides constant support, even if there are no customer service staff available.

Zendesk Answer Bot

Zendesk has been in the live chat game since 2007 and Answer Bot is the latest of its AI offerings. With Zendesk’s advanced AI add-on, its bots will give suggestions, insights and uses deep learning to understand customer intent. For anything it has trouble with, it will direct to a live agent.

More on chatbots

How UK consumers feel about AI and chatbots in customer service – The UK is lagging behind other countries in making it easy for customers to interact with large organisations, says research from Avaya

Chatbots in the future of customer service – For human agents, working in tandem with generative AI chatbots empowers them with the right tools they need to deliver exceptional customer service, says Jordi Ferrer, vice-president and general manager at ServiceNow.

The post Benefits of chatbots for your business appeared first on Small Business UK.

Small businesses can define the cheapest card payment machines in a few different ways: by card reader price, subscription or monthly fees, and more.

Transaction fees can’t be forgotten here. If you process a high volume of sales, those transaction costs are going to add up. This is especially true for subscription services, digital downloads, online dropshipping and other high-volume businesses.

To help keep your costs down, here are some of the cheapest card readers on the market.

>See also: How to start a dropshipping business – What is dropshipping, what are the advantages and how do you start a dropshipping business?

SB Pro 

https://smallbusiness.co.uk/business-pro/

Transaction fee: From 1.25 per cent per transaction

Small Business Pro is our new monthly membership for businesses, offering a range of tools to help you run your business better. A core part of the package is our low-cost payment solution (powered by Stripe), which offers online and in-person transactions. Plus, you can track your customer history and invoices.

Features

• No minimum spend amounts 
• Built-in fraud detection 
• PCI compliant 
• Integrated with customer management tool to monitor transactions
• Bank deposits in three business days

Our very own payment processor forms part of our Small Business Pro membership. Small Business Pro costs £39.99 per month for sole traders and £49.99 for businesses.

It comes with WisePad 3 Terminal (£49 one-off cost) or WisePOS E (£179 one-off cost), plus the monthly membership fee. 

Revolut

https://www.revolut.com/business/revolut-reader/

Transaction fee: 0.8 per cent +2p (UK consumer cards) – 2.6 per cent + 2p (international and commercial cards)

Features

• Create your own catalogue, which sits in the Revolut app
• Access funds the next day

Revolut Reader costs £49

MyPOS

https://www.mypos.com/en-gb

Transaction fee: 1.10 per cent – 2.85 per cent + 7p transaction

Features

• Integrated SIM card gives you 3G/4G connectivity
• Send digital receipts – email or SMS
• Instant payment settlement
• Get e-money and IBAN account in over 14 currencies

Price of card reader from £39

Dojo Go  

https://dojo.tech/

Transaction fee: From 1.4 per cent + 5p transaction rate

Features

• Next working day terminal delivery
• Next-day transfers
• Instant fraud detection
• 24-hour card machine replacement

Can get first three months free if you have turnover of £150,000. Terminal fee is £20 per month.  

Tyl by NatWest 

https://www.tylbynatwest.com/

Transaction fee: 1.5 per cent (excluding Amex)

Features

• No charges for international card payments
• No fees on refunds
• No extra payments on authorisation fee
• Link with your accountancy package

Various devices starting at £9.99 per month. Your choice of device is free for first three months.

Barclaycard Anywhere

https://www.barclaycard.co.uk/business/accepting-payments/card-readers/pay-as-you-go

Transaction fee: 1.6 per cent per transaction

Features

• Could cover up to £3,000 of your exit fees from your current provider
• Up to 700 sales a day on a full charge
• Get paid the next day
• Get a free Freshbooks account

The terminal has a one-off cost of £29.

SumUp

https://www.sumup.com/en-gb/

Transaction fee: From 0.99 per cent

Features

• Available with a free business account as your payout account
• With this account, you’ll receive each sale within one day for a limited time
• Free bank transfers

A SumUp Air card reader costs anywhere from £0-£49 per month.

Square

https://squareup.com/gb/en/payments

Transaction fee: 1.75 per cent in-person payment

Features

• Accept Apple Pay and Google Pay
• No charge for payment dispute management
• Two-year warranty
• Bluetooth-enabled

The Square card reader is £19

Zettle  

https://www.zettle.com/gb

Transaction fee: 1.75 per cent per transaction (including Amex)

Features

• Create and sell gift cards
• Point of sale integrations
• Use PayPal debit card anywhere that MasterCard is accepted
• Cashback on eligible purchases

The Zettle card reader starts from £29 (£59 for each additional card reader)

More on card payments

10 card payment machines ideal for small business – Featuring the SumUp Air, Zettle 2, and Square, we break down the fees and functions of the best card payment machines for UK small businesses

Five tips to get started taking card payments – Andy Macauley, chief operating officer of Handepay, gives some concise pointers to taking card payments

How to take a card payment over the phone using a virtual terminal – If you have a telephone, an internet connection, a merchant account, and a virtual terminal, you can start taking payments over the phone today

The post Cheapest card payment machines appeared first on Small Business UK.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is increasingly taking centre stage within business strategies. As customers demand a more personalised and meaningful experience with brands, managing and meeting customer expectations for small businesses has never been more important.

A robust CRM strategy can be a key driver of business success, helping small businesses to manage customer engagement, as well as prospects. It is no longer enough to simply provide a useful product or an innovative service. Businesses looking to grow and compete effectively must consistently deliver a tailored customer experience to drive customer satisfaction and loyalty. 

The common misconception that CRM is only needed for larger businesses should be scrapped. Excellent customer engagement and customer service for any business size today is a huge growth driver and demands a more strategic and sophisticated approach. This is not manageable through the simple recording of leads and contacts on a spreadsheet but needs a software tool to help.

Sales pipeline – the small business guide – In this guide, you’ll find out what a sales pipeline is, how to set one up and how to manage it – with tips from the experts

Getting started

Digitisation of any part of a business should first start with assessing business goals. This is no different for CRM and customer engagement. Business owners should have these firmly in mind to enable them to select the right tool(s) from the right vendor. Having a strategic approach can directly impact a company’s ability to grow.

Questions small businesses need to ask when it comes to CRM include:

• Does your business wish to manage its leads more effectively?
• Do you wish to scale quickly?
• Do you want to drive better engagement with your customer base?
• Do you want to improve customer service?
• Do you want to make it easier to manage prospects and customers in the field?
• Does you want the CRM system to integrate with other tools used?

Any number of these aspects could be goals, and these are just a few examples to consider when looking to implement a CRM solution. CRM software, implemented correctly, will help to improve lead generation, and increase customer retention, hugely increasing the potential for business growth.

Mapping goals to the tool and the vendor will help to ensure the maximum business value is driven from your use of CRM and the right partner is in place to provide this for the long term.

The best CRM system for your micro business – A customer relationship management (CRM) system can really help your micro business to grow. We take a look at key features and platforms

Questions to think about finding a CRM supplier

Once business goals have been established, you can think about vendors and what they are offering. The mapping exercise should lead companies to considerations which can include many aspects that can impact growth:

• Price: What is the initial cost of the tool and how often does the vendor tend to evaluate and potentially increase pricing? Are additional costs incurred for scaling? If so, how will this be impacted, based on business goals? This will give a more thorough idea of the investment required
• Implementation: As companies can have limited or no IT staff, how simple is the tool to implement? How easy is it to integrate with other tools used by the business? How easy is it then to integrate with other tools in the future? How quickly can the solution be implemented and ready for use?
• Ease of use and adoption: How simple is it to use? Does it require any heavy training or is it intuitive enough to be used without this as soon as it is implemented?
• Functionality and innovation: Does the tool contain all the functionality required to achieve goals cited by the business? Is the vendor innovative and does it regularly update its tools to improve its CRM solution?
• Maintenance: How much additional resource may be required (internal or external) to maintain the product and customise if needed in future? Is resource available from the provider or its partners easily?
• Privacy: As privacy continues to rise up on the agenda, does the provider ensure customer details are kept private and secure and are not sold on to advertisers?
• Reliability: How robust is the provider? Has it had any significant service downtimes or failures?
• Scalability: Does the vendor offer complementary tools to help a business grow? Can it handle growth at scale? What is the process to “upgrade” for more sophisticated functionality as business needs change?
• Cultural fit: How aligned are company values with those of the vendor’s? This is a factor which is growing in importance when considering long term partners for growth
• Mobility: Is the solution available on mobile devices and does it offer the same user experience as on the desktop? Does it have additional mobile features to enhance the
• experience when in the field?

‘The right CRM can bring together all the facets of customer operations into a single view’

Driving growth

Customers essentially hold the power to whether a business succeeds or fails, and underestimating the importance of an ongoing customer management strategy will see businesses fall short on meeting expectations.

Once the right solution is up and running, businesses can now look to drive return on investment and dramatically enhance all aspects of customer experience.

CRM can play a key role in driving business growth, allowing operations to improve and customer relationships to be enhanced. However, as a business grows, this process can become more complex to handle, but tools are there to help.

The right CRM can bring together all the facets of customer operations into a single view, to enable businesses to have a more accurate understanding of the customer’s journey. These insights help them attract and retain customers, ultimately growing the business. 

This is not a one-off task, but an ongoing process which requires continuous reviews and updates to remain on track to meet goals. Customer preferences and needs are ever-changing and the process of nurturing a retained relationship built on trust and understanding requires a concerted and ongoing approach to drive growth.

How CRM works in detail

A business should develop a strong understanding of its customer base and who they are trying to reach in order to grow. Using CRM to analyse customer behaviour is a good place to start, helping to construct customer profiles.

CRM starts with the very first touch point, and often, this will be with a website of the business. A clear and easy to navigate website is essential, providing the customer with what they need by stepping into their shoes and understanding their needs.

Identifying and acting on customer triggers by offering them easy access, for example using live chats to allow customers to ask questions and receive prompt responses, is an essential part of a successful CRM strategy.

This will also allow businesses to give a tailored and personalised service as they build up data and knowledge of what a customer likes, dislikes and any issues they may be facing. Chatbots are a great way to do this and allow businesses to be reachable around the clock without impacting resource. Simple enquiries can be smoothly and quickly handled with more complex enquiries handed off to a human to handle within normal operating hours.

Creating customer loyalty and advocacy

It is much more costly to secure new customers than it is to grow business with existing customers, but businesses need to focus on both in order to maximise growth. Customer engagement, consisting of actively interacting with audiences, can help to bring in new opportunities while cementing existing relationships. Ultimately, this is how businesses will develop healthy and long-lasting relationships, building a customer base that is made up of advocates who promote a business as well as loyal, returning customers.

For any business, CRM needs to involve more than simply managing leads and contacts through a spreadsheet. Being able to view and understand entire customer journeys can bring insights into aspects such as customer behaviour and buying patterns to drive growth.

Implementing a CRM for any business can also help organise contacts, leads and deals, but in addition can automate time-consuming processes such as data entry, and instead focus more business attention on forming strategies and interacting with customers.

Using AI in customer relationship management

Technology developments such as AI can be helpful to enhance data analysis, forecasting and much more. It can provide further insights into customer preferences and demands and can automate tasks and responses to decrease response time to customers and to enable businesses to manage customer relationships more effectively. Many providers will already have AI embedded in CRM to offer such functionality seamlessly.

Especially for those with a small sales team, productivity needs to stay streamlined. This way, all their time and effort is spent on where it matters the most—delivering a stellar customer experience, and building brand loyalty.

Customer engagement will not be a one-size-fits all approach, nor will it remain consistent throughout a business’s journey. As the customer base grows, needs and expectations will develop; the business should be able to adapt easily and quickly through its software solution to take advantage of these changing needs.

Small businesses can use CRM technology to accurately track transactions and orders, enhance communication with clients by providing immediate feedback if requested, ensuring a smooth and responsive interaction. It can help drive further engagement through, for example, email marketing campaigns incorporating personalised triggers such as flagging abandoned shopping carts from online stores or sending related-product information based on sales histories.

The importance of employee experience

Ensuring that a team is well looked after and equipped to be on hand to help customers should not be forgotten. Employee experience will have a direct impact on customer experience, so ensuring the basics are looked after and employees are not overlooked is vital.

For example, user friendly software can assist operations teams in keeping track of sales and deliveries, allowing them to follow up with ease. It can help employees reach their goals more easily.

All employees, not just those who are customer facing, play a critical role in helping a business grow effectively, and keeping a consistent culture and ensuring employees have the right focus and tools to achieve their goals is essential.

Business resilience

During tough times, it is the people as well as software solutions that can help to keep an organisation thriving, both in terms of customers and employees. Focused employees using the right CRM or customer experience solution can find new paths for growth, based on informed data-based insights. These can also help a business pivot fast and be flexible and agile enough to take advantage of new opportunities or to change direction based on customer demand. All of these have even more importance during unstable economic times.

The most resilient businesses will be those with clear goals on which their focus and solutions are mapped around. Customer experience is such a critical aspect today, especially in crowded markets, and can no longer be an afterthought. CRM is an essential component for small businesses to drive business growth for the long-term.

Software such as our own Zoho Bigin is designed for SMEs. Created to include relevant features and the ability to scale at a reasonable cost, it encapsulates the CRM needs of small businesses. When ready for the next stage of growth, small businesses can easily migrate across to Zoho CRM, to access deeper functionality to meet ongoing customer and prospect requirements.

Suvish Viswanathan is marketing director of Zoho Europe

More on small business sales

How to create a successful sales strategy – With the right strategy, every lead can be a potential opportunity to propel your business. Tom Luke, founder and CEO of Closers Ace, shares his six steps for a successful sales strategy

The post Key ways small businesses can use a CRM system for growth appeared first on Small Business UK.

Business technology providers including Sage, Shopify and Zoom have written to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt calling for increased tax breaks for spending on digital services.

The companies say that implementing tax breaks for digital services would “empower” small and medium-sized enterprises and help them to leverage artificial intelligence to improve overall productivity – a key Government concern.

Without action, warns the letter, Britain’s global competitiveness will be harmed along with any aspirations to become a science and technology superpower.

The best CRM system for your micro business – A customer relationship management (CRM) system can really help your micro business to grow. We take a look at key features and platforms

“Falling behind on digital adoption also means falling behind on the coming wave of AI deployment across the economy,” said the letter, seen by the Financial Times, which was sent to Mr Hunt on Friday.

“Unless we can correct this, economic growth, competitiveness, and the ability to become a science and technology superpower is at risk,” it added.

Small businesses should be allowed to claim up to 140 per cent on the first £50,000 they spend on “productivity enhancing” digital services, along with an extra 40 per cent deduction against a business’s corporation tax bill, compared to how they can write off business expenses right now.

Avoid these AI risks in your business – Generative AI has its uses in business but getting it wrong can be damaging. Katherine Evans explores the potential pitfalls

Support could take the form of a scheme similar to Australia’s small business technology investment boost, which offers companies with an annual turnover of less than A$50 million (£26 million) an additional 20 per cent deduction on technology expenditure.

According to Sage, small businesses unlocking the full benefits of technology could add an extra £232 billion of value to the UK economy, almost doubling the value of tech use to £448 billion annually.

However, the most significant barrier to tech adoption for small businesses is cost, according to Sage, with 41 per cent of SMEs concerned about adopting new tech due to cash flow pressure.

More on small business technology

7 top tips for saving on energy bills using IT – here are seven tips for companies and staff to keep energy bills down, while continuing to innovate with IT

The post Call for increased tax breaks for spending on digital services appeared first on Small Business UK.

This might sound strange, but there are lessons we can take from epidemiology about how we might tackle the growing cybercrime epidemic.

We all wash our hands to prevent the spread of germs. It comes naturally to us as a precaution. We are taught the importance of it from a young age given that good basic hygiene is crucial in containing the spread of potential viruses or bacteria.

Now cyber criminals aren’t germs, but their successful stings on businesses do encourage further activity. So, in a way, if we can halt their progress, we can dampen the proliferation of the crime.

And just like handwashing, more than 80 per cent of cybercrimes can be prevented through simple cyber hygiene.

Now insurance is important of course. But if we can cater to the cause and the symptoms together, it’s more effective for everyone. Plus, we know that some major systemic attacks wouldn’t be covered, so prevention remains crucial.

In September, we launched a free interactive tool to help SMEs assess their cybersecurity and plug any identified gaps. It’s easily found by searching ‘ABI cyber tool’. Since we launched, we’ve had hundreds of businesses take the test and through analysis of their answers we’ve uncovered the five most common cyber shortcomings:

1. Bosses lack control over remote devices. It’s important that if you need to, you can locate, control and wipe a device remotely. This can be enabled through simple and free-to-download apps, so it’s easy to do.
2. Businesses don’t kick the tyres on their disaster recovery plans. Even if businesses do have a plan for a cyber incident, they often don’t keep it up to date or test it. Yet there are free government exercises you can follow to do so.
3. They don’t talk about cyber. Not that it’s taboo, but you can’t assume your employees are up to speed on cyber-crime trends. There’s free training from the National Cyber Security Centre that you can run regularly to keep your teams vigilant to the latest threats.
4. Loose protocols on access. Who has access to what levels of software and data is not a decision to be made lightly. This applies to past employees as much as it does to current staff.
5. Weak IP. I don’t mean intellectual property here, but Internet Protocol address, which can provide a way in for cyber criminals if it has undiscovered vulnerabilities. Yet there are free online tools to test the address and fix any issues.

I think you’ll spot a theme running through the above – that there are loads of free tools available to tackle basic cybersecurity. It’s just about knowing what you need. So, I recommend that you find three minutes to use our cyber safety tool and discover your own top five ‘cyber shortcomings’ along with the associated solutions that will help make your business more secure.

Mark Shepherd is head of general insurance policy at the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Further reading

How to provide cybersecurity training for your home workers – Find out what cybersecurity training information to include, how to deliver it and what follow-up resources to provide for your home workers

How to choose a cybersecurity solution for your small business – The frequency of cyberattacks is rising, with 39 per cent of businesses reporting cybersecurity breaches over the last 12 months

Cyber security and data protection for SMEs – a podcast with the experts – In this episode, the UK Domain share a podcast of their latest webinar, helping small firms get to grips with cyber security and data protection

The post 5 cyber hygiene mistakes most businesses make appeared first on Small Business UK.

UPDATED: Choosing a point of sale (POS) system is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a small business owner.

It can make a real difference to how much time you spend on processing sales, replenishing stock and even training your staff.

But different systems suit different businesses. Some might be looking at sector-specific features while others might be focusing on price.

Make sure you know the needs of your business and research accordingly. And don’t rush it – you don’t want to be stuck with a fleet of machines that are of no use to you.

Have a think about your needs as a growing business too, and if the POS system you have your eye on will meet these new demands.

With Small Business Pro, track your invoices as well as getting in-person and online transactions at one of the lowest rates on the market. It will also help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

So, whether you’re replacing your current POS system or buying a new one altogether, here’s what you should consider as well as a bit of inspiration from fellow small businesses.

Case study information correct at time of original publication.

Case Study: Mark Rea, owner of Rea Lewis Hair & Beauty

Appearance was key in choosing a POS system for salon owner Mark Rea. He explains how My Business Hub helps him give better customer service.

We first introduced My Business Hub by Worldpay in March 2017, and we have recently purchased a second device to help meet the needs of our busy business.

Worldpay offers a range of accessible price points for their POS, which meet the needs of your business. For the price you pay for the Business Hub, it is worth every penny – instead of spending hours working out how much money you have earned that day, you can just log on, have a look and it’s all there.

Lessening the burden

The most important thing for me was finding a smart point of sale that would go beyond simply taking payments. I was looking for a system that would help reduce the daily administrative burden that comes with running a business.

Before, I had to calculate manually how much I had taken each day. With My Business Hub, I have a single view of cash and card transactions at the touch of a button.

A specific consideration for my business was appearance. In our industry, looks matter, so having a slick and modern system fits in well with the look and feel of my salon.

My Business Hub does everything a small business owner needs. It cuts down on paperwork by automating the reconciliation of cash and card payments.

Better customer service

It also features a detachable Android tablet, offering the flexibility to serve customers from anywhere in the salon. This flexibility means I can spend more time with customers, enhancing the overall experience, while also helping to reduce queues at busy times.

Ultimately these were the things that most influenced my decision, as it leaves me with more time to get back to what I love: spending time with clients and growing my business.

Top tips for buying a POS system

Sean Julliard, researcher at business solutions specialist Expert Market, offers his advice on finding the right POS system for you.

For small businesses, having a POS system boosts credibility. You can’t expect to be treated seriously if you’re trading out of a money box.

The bottom line is that it helps you to run your business more efficiently. You can process sales faster, manage stock lists from the back end, look at sales reports, assess customer buying habits and review staff performance.

If you’re feeling stuck, here’s what you need to know about buying a POS system.

What to keep in mind when you’re researching

The first consideration you should make is what kind of system you want: a countertop or a tablet system.

A countertop would be ideal for someone in the retail sector – a shop where people are coming up to the counter to pay.

Meanwhile, a tablet system gives you the flexibility to move around the counter. You can browse products online with the customers or you can take orders at the table, for example. If you’re a market trader or a food truck, you simply can’t accommodate a large countertop system.

They’re often cheaper but not quite as robust as a countertop system. For most small businesses I’d say that the tablet system makes more sense.

In terms of capabilities, you can find a countertop or tablet system which has more or less the same functionality.

Even if you’re keeping costs down, it doesn’t mean you should skimp on features. You want to be looking at a POS system which has tools and features specific to your industry.

For example, restaurants will want to have an EPoS system that has table management, opening tabs, splitting bills.

The above video from Expert Market explains a bit more about what a EPoS system is and how they work.

After that, you’re looking at whether you want a cloud-based system. The cost you pay for the monthly software subscription is an extra charge, but it means it will give you more information such as inventory and sales records –  as that’s kept online and you can access it any time from your mobile or your computer at home.

Think about integration as well. What accessories do you want with your POS system? Most businesses will want a card machine and a receipt printer. Those who choose a countertop system with a touch screen might also want a keyboard for taking things like email addresses.

Keeping track of costs

I do think price is a huge consideration for small businesses.

As a rough guide, for a countertop system, you’re looking at around £1,680-£2,760 to buy outright. The tablet or iPad system will cost you £313-£1,143, according to mobiletransaction.org.

Most businesses would choose to lease or rent a system.

With the rental, it’s obviously more expensive because you’re not buying the system outright but the advantage with renting is that if anything goes wrong in that time, the supplier will take it and fix it free of charge. That can be a good way of keeping your overheads down and covering yourself for anything that might go wrong with the machine further down the line.

A countertop system can be leased for around £18-£165 a month (according to Expert Market) while the lease for a tablet would work out about £50 a month.

If you can afford the upfront sum, it pays to do that in the long run because you’re going to end up paying less.

What I would say is that you don’t need a dedicated POS tablet – if you’re a trader you can download an app and run it on your tablet. There’s nothing special about these POS tablets.

It’s also important to factor in the cost of the aforementioned accessories early on. If cost is an issue for you, you don’t want to buy a POS system and spend an extra £160+ on accessories.

You can get a barcode scanner for £60, a rental card machine starting at around £20 a month (plus fees), on top of that you’re paying your transaction fees and your merchant account fees.

Your receipt printer is usually part of the package but if it’s not, you’re looking at between £40 and £120. Most machines will come with a receipt printer so look out for that when you’re buying too.

“Don’t be pushed to go above what you’re willing to spend because you will no doubt find an option that is suitable for your business at your chosen price point”

What about refurbished systems?

Refurbed systems aren’t available through the big players, so you’ll have to go through an independent trader. You’re probably going to get it for between half and two-thirds of the original price.

With a countertop system, for example, you’d be paying £1,200 but refurbed you’d be paying £700-£800. They can be a good option for small businesses.

That said, they won’t come with the same level of support as they would if you buy or rent from a big-name supplier. There is an inherent risk when buying a refurb system that it’s outdated or that it breaks further down the line. But they’re certainly something to consider if you’re looking to keep your costs down.

Where to get them

I’d recommend going with a reputable supplier because there are good options out there; they’re not all going to rip you off.

If you’re looking to buy a new system, don’t go to eBay. You may be able to get a refurb, but again, there’s no guarantee of history, so you are running a risk by doing that.

Adapting your POS system to your growing business

If you’re a business that’s looking to grow in the next few years, you’ll have to take into account the scalability of the system.

With Zettle, you can just keep adding iPads as and when you need. You’ll have one account within their app and if you need additional points of sale, you can add another tablet and have access to the same kind of information.

In that respect, cloud-based systems are fantastic and easy to scale. It means that you’ve got one central reference point and you can just keep adding POS systems as and when you need them.

Overall, I’d advise looking to a dedicated small business merchant supplier – they deal with small businesses on a daily basis and they know what their price points are. Don’t be pushed to go above what you’re willing to spend because you will no doubt find an option that is suitable for your business at your chosen price point.

Case Study: Victoria Burden – owner of V-Ate/Witham and Blues

Victoria Burden, owner of American diners V-Ate and Witham and Blues, explains how using the Clover POS system has revolutionised the way her businesses are run.

We’ve had our POS system in for almost two years, starting with it in Witham and Blues then introducing it to V-Ate.

One thing we struggled with on the old POS system was having to go to the customer, take the order, and either having to enter that in at the till or go to the kitchen.

Having the hand-held devices means that we can be at the table while taking an order – it’s a talking point, you know. I’ve seen other ones on the market, but because this one looked a little bit iPad-y, they interest the customers more.

I’m a bit of a chatterbox, especially when it comes to customers – with this system I can just press ‘fire’ and the order might even come out while I’m still at the table. Customers go, ‘How has that happened? It’s like magic!’

The system is broken down by apps including register, tables, inventory and reporting. You can restrict who sees what, so younger front of house staff can only see what they need, for example.

It just changes how your business and customer service work.

What we wanted from our POS system

One of the main things we were looking for is something that is easy for staff to get the hang of. We’ve got nearly 14 staff here and in this industry you normally have a high turnover, including a lot of school leavers and students back from university or going off to university.

We can’t have staff doing anything naughty with it, either. For example, you can only put a card payment through once. It’s constantly checking on you – even if someone pays for one lot and then pays for something else afterwards the machine will ask if it’s a duplicate payment.

Record-keeping was an important factor for us too. On this system we can find whoever took the last order and I can go into the app and see how things are going.

I’ve been in America on holiday before and I can look back at takings to see if the restaurants have had a good night. I can ask for the story behind the refund if I see one. You’ve got a little window on your business, whether you’re there or not.

If the customer doesn’t have the receipt, you can ask for the last four digits of their payment card and find an order to refund or discount an item.

Our accountants can look into it as well. They can just login and find what they need which saves us having to send paperwork and look into it ourselves.

It’s opened us up to doing more than we thought we could with a POS system.

“It just changes how your business and customer service works”

Dealing with problems

The only limitation with the POS is how good your internet supply is. If you’re really out in the sticks somewhere then it won’t work so well, but that would be the limitation with any POS system.

Clover are so good. They’ll ring us and tell us there’s a problem with one of our terminals before we even know about it. It’s such a reliable system that doesn’t cause us any problems.

We pay less than £90 a month at each restaurant for the system. It’s very cheap for what you get.

Case Study: Nick Gowler – owner of Cambridge Event Bars

Cambridge Event Bars provides bar solutions for festivals, corporate and large events. Owner Nick Gowler tells us how using refurbished POS models from Lolly meets the needs of his business.

We half-introduced our POS system to Cambridge Event Bars two years ago, bringing in four systems to replace our then- POS – these are much better. Before, we were using a standard cash bills system.

Key considerations

I looked at the transportability of POS systems as well as checking if they would lose power. I wanted to know whether they would carry on working at places like festivals where the power goes in and out.

Accountability of cash failings was also important – if there are cash errors I want it to be easier to find them, looking back in the history to see what went wrong.

It’s a very fast system, easy to use and quick to understand on the programming side of things. It has sped up our turnover times immensely.

Going second-hand

When we were originally searching, we were looking for iPad-based systems – but we couldn’t really find anything that worked for us and in doing that we came across the MyPos system. It’s kind of what we were looking for – a very simple interface that lets you take as much or as little away from it as you wanted.

We went for the second-hand unit as a lot of our tills get broken on an annual basis. For us to have a new till system and to see one of our staff drop it or for it to get chucked in the back of a van would be awful.

The refurb units haven’t been through a lot – they might’ve just been sitting in a coffee shop for a while.

They [the units] came from Lolly – they contacted us initially about having this new till system. We couldn’t quite justify the amount of money per till based on how we were using it at the time. Then we asked them if they had any refurbed units coming through and they had just started bringing them in – that worked perfectly for us. A refurb is around £300 cheaper than brand new.

The staff took to it very quickly and it was very simple to use.

It basically tells you what to do and it can encourage staff to ask about things like double measures, mixers, age verification – you can program all of these questions in.

Advice for other small businesses

I’d say don’t rush into anything – look at what you actually need a POS system to do and research what’s out there because there are a lot of systems which are very similar.

The Lolly system is like some of the others, but it’s got a couple of things that pop out. It can be a standalone unit, it doesn’t have to connect to a wider system. The tills operate for eight hours without any power in them so there’s no interruption in service.

We’ve been using them for two years, running into our third now.

Lolly would be a good match whatever size we grew to. We’d look at adding more systems and a battery-operated system. Having internet available is important as we do a lot of our work in fields.

Case Study: Jake Hardy – owner of Number Six

Jake Hardy owns London-based men’s fashion retailer, Number Six. He says that his Vend POS system is like having an extra pair of hands in-store.

Fitting an EPoS system was pretty much the first thing I did when I took over the business in 2013. The previous owner wasn’t that tech savvy and had been tracking all the stock on an Excel spreadsheet – who knows how accurate that was and how many hours a week he was wasting with it.

It was immediately obvious the amount of time and effort we’d be saving if we automated everything and used an EPoS system. My previous experience was also in e-commerce, so I’d seen the first-hand benefits that retail technology could have when it came to time savings and sales insights.

Stock, integration, affordability

We were using Magento for our e-commerce at the time, and we needed to make sure we wouldn’t be losing any stock between the selling terminals. We also needed something that could provide an insightful overview of all of our stock, so we could see what we had to work with and effectively plan our in-store sales strategy.

There are quite a few options out there so it’s worth knowing exactly what you’ll need from your EPoS before you start looking. For us, we knew that we needed a system that would integrate well with other software and services.

And we obviously needed something that was affordable, which led us down the monthly subscription path. Vend starts from £49 a month and can be run on an existing iPad or laptop.

Vend has been great on many levels, and in some ways, it has acted like an additional full-time employee at the store.

The biggest advantage of the platform has been its sales reporting and analytics. Vend tracks every sale in real time, which allows us to view overall sales throughout the day or week. From here we can identify what is selling well and what isn’t and tweak our stock accordingly, helping us to make sure the shop floor is working to its full potential.

Helping a growing business

Since we fitted the system five years ago it has continued to serve us well, growing and adapting with us. There are constant software updates that add in extra functionality. For example, Vend recently introduced an AI assistant called Dott, that now gives us recommendations on what we could be doing differently to maximise sales.

The system is also fully scalable, meaning we can effortlessly load up new tills if we need, so we’ll never outgrow it. We recently set up a sister store called 101 Studio, and we knew from the start we’d be using Vend.

“Vend has been great on many levels, and in some ways, it has acted like an additional full-time employee at the store”

As with Number Six five years beforehand, the set up was super straightforward and we were up and running and ready to get selling in no time.

Jasmyn Philippa Hunter – e-commerce and operations at Time and Tide

Time and Tide sell household décor with a relaxed feel. Jasmyn Philippa Hunter tells of how her Intelligent Retail POS system helps her keep track of her stock which, in turn, makes her feel more relaxed.

Testimonials were important when we were looking at POS systems. Heavy consideration was also put into the features and benefits of each and how they performed in the retail marketplace.

Important factors such as access to support services, reporting, set-up, whether there was limitation on product creation as well as ease of use/navigation ultimately led to our decision.

At that point, Intelligent Retail had won a number of awards including Best SME Retailer and Best Supply Chain Integration.

Taking stock of what we have

From the head office, stores can have different minimum/maximum quantities a well as individual pricing on items to account for regional variation – for a company such as us, who have several stores, this is a useful tool to have in our armoury.

The import wizard also makes adding products simple with over 2000 products input in one go while images are formatted to size.

Reporting in Excel or PDF format from replenishment to goods received and sales reports, there is a wealth of reporting at your disposal with the option of re-ordering through purchase order function all controlled within head office.

Live stock by line has been a huge transformation for a company operating in several locations, meaning that regardless of location, all stores are selling items at the correct price as well as having the ability to sell from another location so as to secure the customer purchase.

Obviously, hand in hand with this comes greater stock control, meaning less money tied up in excess stock.

Finally, ease of use and navigation applied to every aspect, from order to set-up of products to shop floor selling. Our employees are aged from 17 to 50+, and as such it was imperative that staff were able to work the till and feel confident and comfortable while doing so.

This was our biggest challenge. At roll-out,  we were given insightful and thorough training to guide us through each scenario that could be faced. I would say this is an ongoing project that has brought our team closer together, with staff able to support one another.

Rolling out to new stores

Since then, we have seamlessly rolled the system out to each new store we open, with shop floor staff as well as the management team finding it an invaluable tool which gives an accurate daily picture of the business which, when used to its full potential, can see a positive impact on not only customer service, but also profit.

We have enjoyed using the platform so much, that we also opted to take advantage of the interface to website function, and recently launched a brand-new website through our EPoS company.

We are able to manage all aspects of the product portfolio from one simple area, saving us money by providing centralised stock control, reporting, product management, fulfilment and finances. As a result, we are able to deliver a consistent, high-quality service to our customers while selling more than ever before.

Price-wise, it would have been an approximate £25,000 project at the time for five stores, with ongoing licence costs as well as website costs and additional licence fees as more stores opened.

POS system companies we mentioned in this article

Small Business Pro

Zettle

Clover

Lolly

Vend

Intelligent Retail

Worldpay

Other POS system companies we didn’t mention in this article

Epos Now

Lightspeed

TouchBistro

Square

Shopify

SumUp

Fondy ePOS

TakePayments

airpos

saledock

The post The essential guide to point of sale (POS) systems appeared first on Small Business UK.

If your small firm demands heavy phone use from you and your employees, a business mobile deal could be worth your while.

Moving away from traditional landline phones will also prepare you for the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) switch-off – where analogue lines switch to digital – in December 2025.

Prices are rising with inflation which should hopefully slow in the coming months. The good news for you is that new customers tend to get the best rate so do shop around.

What is a business mobile and should I consider?

In short, a business phone is a mobile phone that’s used for work. You didn’t need us to tell you that. But it’s important to note that business phones are paid and expensed by you as the employer.

Contracts will be different, but should have features that are specific to you as a business owner or to your employees. A business mobile contract will offer certain protections such as priority repairs, roaming, insurance and an extended warranty. This is all to minimise disruption and downtime for your business. It’s worth noting that VAT can be reclaimed for VAT-registered businesses which could serve to cut your costs.

However, your business phone contract will likely be more expensive than a personal phone contract because business owners’ needs are more complex. Get clued up on how each business mobile deal will factor into your firm’s budget before you commit.

Mobile plans are usually broken down by business size (i.e. how many employees you have) but they can also be categorised by what features they offer.

We spoke to Kristian Torode, director and co-founder of Crystaline, about what areas you should be focusing on when looking for the best mobile deal.

Communication and data

When selecting the right mobile set up for your employees, it’s important to assess their communication habits and data needs. Choose a package that aligns with their usage, whether it’s more calls, texts or data usage. If they frequently use data-intensive apps or remote work tools, opt for packages with generous data limits. This is particularly important if your team is often on the go and will need access to these apps when Wi-Fi isn’t available. Most networks now offer unlimited packages to suit those that need it.

Scalability

It’s also important to consider scalability. The best packages are flexible and can be easily scaled up or down as your business grows or changes. If your employees travel or work internationally, choose a plan that offers cost-effective roaming and international calling options.

Coverage

Finally, it’s important to check coverage in your area. There’s no point in selecting a comprehensive, scalable package if coverage is unavailable in your geographical area. For instance, is 5G availability a real advantage right now or just a nice-to-have for the future? Reliable connectivity is vital for uninterrupted communication and to make employees’ lives easier, not harder.

Use a mobile coverage checker, such as this one on the Ofcom website: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/advice/ofcom-checker

Compare small business mobile deals

We’ve done some research to give you a glimpse into what business deals from the UK’s largest providers look like.

Vodafone

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/business

Features:

• Add-ons include one net anywhere – a single phone number that looks like a landline
• Four-hour replacement for lost, damaged or stolen phones
• PayPal point of sale device in your pocket
• ‘Cost-effective’ advice to legal and HR experts
• Instant access to technical support for your handset
• Intelligent Wi-Fi
• Good for roaming
• Powered by 100 per cent renewable electricity
• eSIM technology

Scalable? Yes
Pay as you Go option? No

Pricing

Vodafone has plans for varying numbers of employees, but we’ll stick with fewer than ten employees (microbusiness).

Vodafone 5G Unlimited Mobile plans

Unlimited data on 24-month plans, optional entertainment packages

From £25 a month

Red Plans (SIM only)

Variety of 24-month, 12-month and 30-day plans. Option to start off on zero and travel up to next cost-effective plan, with unlimited calls in the UK and Europe.

From £11.67 per month

Business Freedom

Comes with 4G working for your employees as standard. Worry-free roaming with a Business Traveller add-on. Individual or shared data plans.

Bespoke pricing

Business Evolve

Select what works for your business new and add new options as you need them.

Bespoke pricing

O2

https://www.o2.co.uk/business

Features

• Bolt-ons for extra minutes, messages and data
• Can add or remove features every 30 days
• Connect for free at O2 WiFi hotspots
• Daily offers with O2 Priority
• Set a spending cap

Scalable? Yes
Pay as you Go option? No

Pricing

Small business tariffs

5G included, minutes and texts included, 6G of data, can be rolled over. Upgrade as often as you like.

Bespoke pricing (separate phone lines for under or over ten employees)

SIM only tariffs for up to nine people

Flexible data depending on your business’ needs, roaming in Europe, upgrade from three months onwards

Bespoke pricing (separate phone lines for under or over ten employees)

Sharer tariffs for ten or more employees

Share data allowance among employees, data rollover if you haven’t used it, spread the cost of devices, roaming in Europe, simple and clear invoice

Bespoke pricing (separate phone lines for under or over ten employees)

EE

https://business.ee.co.uk/?s_cid=eeb_switch_to_small_business

Features

• Stay connected, even if you go over your data allowance
• EE benefits (depending on which plan you choose) – annual check-up, extended warranty
• Inclusive extras – Roam abroad, Apple Music, TNT sports, Entertainment Pass, Microsoft 365 Personal and 500 minutes calls to Europe from the UK
• Full insurance or damage insurance

Scalable? Yes
Pay as you Go option? Yes, PAYU

Pricing

PAYU (Pay as you Use)

No inclusions, monthly calls billed in arrears, can only be used in the UK and won’t make international calls, including Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Daily spend cap of £2 is in place. 30-day data add-on will be needed if you want to use data on PAYU. A 12-month minimum data connection applies. Limit of five SIMs per account.

Monthly subscription charge of £1.25. International SMS messages can be sent but at a charge of 38p per text. Calls are 59p + VAT per minute.

SIM only

Unlimited minutes and text, fast 5G speeds, optional extras

Phone SIMs: from £15 a month
Data only SIMs: from £7 a month

Monthly contract

Price varies depending on handset

Three

https://www.three.co.uk/business

Features

• Promise to beat biggest competitors’ prices
• 99 per cent UK coverage
• Customer success managers for account holders
• Adaptable multi-SIM plans
• No restriction on data, speed, calls or texts

Scalable? Yes
Pay as you Go option? No

Pricing

SIM only – Boundless

5G-ready SIMs, personal hotspot, simple switching, unlimited data

From £7.50 a month

SIM only – Three Business Adapt

Up to 250 unlimited SIMs, no roaming charges in Europe, analytics on your mobile usage and spend.

From £120 a month

Normal business SIM only

Unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, personal hotspot

From £6 a month (24-month deal)

Business phones on monthly contract

Contracts of varying length from £40 a month  

Tesco Mobile

https://www.tescomobile.com/business

Features

• Promises to save 40 per cent on your mobile bill
• 99 per cent UK coverage
• Collect Clubcard points
• Business support worth £216 per year
• Templates, guides, videos and tools, whatever stage of your business you’re at
• Advice on how to keep on top of ESG
• Approved document templates that you can customise

Scalable? Yes
Pay as you Go option? Yes, on SIM only   

SIM only PAYG

Pay using Rocket Packs (all 5G-ready), deals including 20GB-100GB, top up monthly or set recurring payment, track using Tesco Mobile app.

From £10 a month

SIM only pay monthly

Unlimited minutes and texts, works on 4G and 5G, EU roaming for all of 2023

From £7.50 a month

Pay monthly phone contracts

Varying prices depending on the handset

Switching business mobile contract

You might be considering a switch because of problems with your network or your tariff, or you’ve simply found a better deal with another provider.

The first thing you want to do is make sure you’re actually eligible to switch network and that there’s coverage in your area under your new network. Next, scan your contract for early termination fees as this could be an unnecessary sting – especially if you’re close to the end of your current contract.

It’s also best to stick with your current phone number for the sake of your clients and other contacts. For this, you’ll need to get a PAC [code] from your current provider.

Read more on essential business services

Best UK business phone and broadband deals – how to choose – You need to understand your business and its internet needs before deciding on the best broadband and phone deal for you, says Nathan Hill-Haimes

5 of the best phone systems for your remote workers – With more firms working remotely, business owners are reviewing their phone system. We talk you through some of the best ones around

Best small business energy brokers and switching services – Energy brokers help 60% of businesses switch contracts for cheaper fixed deals. But with 3,000 energy brokers to choose from, we profile five of the best

The post Best mobile deals for small businesses appeared first on Small Business UK.

Card has now very definitely become the preferred method of payment for most consumers.

And with payment processors taking a cut of every card payment your small business receives, finding a cheap merchant service is vital if you want to keep margins low.

But it’s not as simple as hunting for the lowest transaction fee – various factors contribute to the overall cost of merchant services.

Below, we demystify merchant services costs and compare the cheapest merchant services for small businesses to help you find the best option for your particular needs.

What is a merchant service?

A merchant services provider is responsible for processing electronic payment transactions, giving your business everything it needs to safely and securely receive credit and debit card payments.

Whether you want to take payments in person, online, or over the phone, you’ll need to pay for merchant services.

Small Business Pro allows you to build your own sales pipelines with our tool which has been specially tailored for small businesses – all at a fraction of the cost of other CRMs.

It will also help with the heavy lifting of taking payments, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more about Small Business Pro here.

Merchant services fees

The various fees and pricing structures used by merchant services can be bewildering. But don’t worry, we’re going to break down the main ones you’ll encounter so you can ensure you’re getting good value from your provider.

Transaction fee

• Transaction fee – charged for every card payment you take. It actually breaks down into three separate fees (interchange, assessment, and processor markup), though as a customer, you’ll generally see it advertised as a percentage of each transaction.
• Card-Not-Present fee is another type of transaction fee for online or phone payments. It’s a slightly higher percentage of each payment due to the increased risk of fraud.

Flat fees

• Monthly processor fee – regular charge for using the service
• PCI compliance fee – a fee for remaining compliant with the Payment Card Industry standards

Incidental fees

• Chargeback fee – charged in the event of a transaction reversal/refund to a customer’s account
• Contract termination fee – charged in the event that you wish to exit your contract early

You may be in a position to negotiate your rate on certain fees, though this is generally only available to high-earning businesses on tiered models.

Related: 5 ways to reduce your merchant processing fees

Merchant services pricing models

There are four main pricing models used by merchant services providers:

• Flat rate – one basic flat rate covering all fees and other markups regardless of sales volume. Cost-per-transaction is usually higher than other models, but the predictable and transparent fees makes it a great option for smaller businesses
• Contract with tiered pricing – cost-per-transaction is lower the higher your sales volume or monthly takings. Thresholds vary by provider, but the lowest rates are usually only available to larger businesses with a very high turnover
• Interchange plus – the provider charges the interchange fees plus a markup. Probably the most predictable and most competitive pricing model available depending on your sales
• Monthly subscription – charges a membership fee which grants you access to lower or even zero transaction fees. Can be the cheapest option, but only as long as the total spent on fees with another provider would otherwise be higher than the subscription cost

What are the cheapest merchant services for small businesses?

One of the biggest challenges in comparing merchant services providers directly is their differing fees and pricing models. That’s why we’ve chosen to compare providers by giving an example for each pricing model.

Flat fee

Smaller businesses with low, unpredictable monthly takings love challenger merchant services like SumUp and Square because they’re not tied into a contract and the transaction fee is charged at a flat rate with no hidden fees.

This means you’re not paying unnecessary monthly fees if business is down, and you can easily work out monthly costs. However, once your takings start to increase, transaction fees of 1.69%+ no longer represent great value.

Subscription/Contract

WorldPay’s monthly subscription model offers flexible payment plans that make it great for small established businesses – like hairdressers and restaurants – with predictable monthly takings.

Its monthly fees are designed to simplify charges and cover all standard fees. However, as you can see, fees are a lot higher than the likes of SumUp and Square. This is because they give customers access to more sophisticated security, reporting, and other features.

WorldPay’s contracts are now managed by US financial technology company FIS. Monthly costs are variable depending on the size of your business, but we’ve included it as an example of the competitive transaction fees you can access with a contract.

Interchange Plus

Adyen uses the interchange rate, the fee paid between banks for the acceptance of card transactions, to determine costs. These vary enormously by region and payment type, but means the cost of each payment can be calculated exactly, giving you full transparency of each transaction.

It charges no monthly fees or set-up fees, but it does have a minimum invoice of €100 (£83) per month depending on transaction volume and region.

Which merchant service is right for me?

The best way to find the cheapest merchant service for your business is to do thorough research, compare providers, and establish how their particular fee structure would work with your business setup.

Or, if you’re ready to start comparing merchant services, simply fill in the form above to get quotes from top providers?

Companies mentioned in this article

SumUp
Square
Worldpay from FIS
Adyen

Further Resources

Global payment services for small businesses – An explainer on the best international payment solutions for small businesses that allow you to avoid higher fees when trading internationally.

What is a merchant account and how do you open one? – This article explains everything from costs to getting set up, so you can find the best merchant account for your needs.

Taking payments online for e-commerce businesses – What are the easiest and most affordable options for small businesses?

The post How to find the cheapest merchant services for your small business appeared first on Small Business UK.

In large businesses, Human Resources (HR) plays a vital role in managing and getting the best out of employees. But for many small businesses and start-ups, taking on even more staff to look after your existing staff is neither affordable nor practical.

However, a complete absence of HR can lead to lost talent, underperforming employees, resentment, and a poor company culture.

That’s where HR support services for small businesses come in. Combining software with expert advice and support, hiring an HR services company can reduce time-consuming admin, boost productivity and job satisfaction amongst your staff, and free you up to focus on growing your business.

Below, we explain the key benefits of HR services for small businesses.

Save money

HR software generally costs between a few quid a month to a few hundred quid a month. As you usually pay per employee, you know that you’re only paying for what you need, and, when you consider that the average salary of an HR executive is £30,300 a year in the UK, you’re looking at a major cost saving by outsourcing your HR requirements instead of hiring someone permanent.

Less directly, better HR improves employee retention, which saves on recruitment costs; it can perform multiple functions simultaneously while reducing human error, which saves on admin costs; and it can help you stay compliant, which avoids legal fees and penalties (more on all these below).

With Small Business Pro you can save over £30 a month. Small Business Pro will help with the heavy lifting of managing customers, taking payments, insurance, finance and HR, plus you’ll get a host of personal wellbeing benefits.

You can find out more here.

Save time

HR services significantly reduce the administrative workload of you and your staff. Tedious, and time-consuming tasks are made significantly easier by having multiple functions and all employee data centralised in one easily accessible system. And as everything is in one place, from leave and absence to expenses, disciplinary, and more, you don’t have to waste time switching between different platforms.

For example, your support company can set-up HR software to simplify and speed up your payroll process by automatically exporting all your essential payroll data and uploading it in a usable form into your payroll system.

What’s more, you can create multiple user accounts and set permissions, meaning each member of staff is able to login, find any data they need, submit requests, and take care of their own HR admin. Any requests will automatically go to the relevant party, and senior team members don’t have to spend their precious time doing things that could easily be done by their direct report.

Improve employee performance and retention

Ensuring your employees are both happy and productive is vital, but finding the time to do it alongside everything else can be challenging.

A support company can also align your HR software so that you can create onboarding plans to help new employees get settled in and get clear outline expectations, so that they know what’s expected of them and can have a positive impact on your business from day one.

They can also adjust the software to allow managers to easily set KPIs and objectives, arrange regular 1-2-1s and appraisals, and monitor performance, which ensures everyone stays on track with personal and business goals.This can foster a culture of feedback, which improves transparency, boosts team morale and recognises excellent work.

Likewise, allowing the entire team to see in detail how their activities contribute to the wider commercial objectives of the business gives them a sense of purpose and satisfaction.

They can also create development plans, learning resources, and training modules within the software that everyone can access, which gives employees the tools to keep learning and improving autonomously during their time at your company. More engaged, more highly skilled employees are more likely to stick around and help your start-up or SME grow.

Stay compliant

Staying on top of legislation can be a challenge, but failing to do so can be costly. Your HR software should meet the highest security standards of GDPR compliance and allow you to adjust the privacy and sharing settings so that you can control who has access to what information.

Additionally, most HR support service providers offer outsourced support from experts, so you know you’re in safe hands when it comes to those tricker or more complex legal and employment challenges.

By helping you to stay on the right side of data protection regulation, a safe and secure HR system reduces the chance of a data leak resulting in crippling GDPR fines and reputational damage.

Likewise, properly set-up HR software makes it easy to manage and track holiday requests and entitlement, and as it keeps a record of employee responsibilities, disciplinary, and performance matters, it can help you to avoid falling foul of employment law and can provide evidence in your favour if something does go wrong.

Next steps

HR support services can take the headache out of many of those day-to-day aspects of running your business that are absolutely essential but often challenging or tedious. Their expert help can help your team perform multiple functions and centralise employee records in one place, which will save you time and money. It can also improve your company culture, and ensure everyone is recognised for good work and held to account when they need to improve.

The best thing is, it’s much more affordable than a full-time HR employee, can work round the clock, and doesn’t need to be praised, disciplined, or given any holiday.

Want to compare prices from all the best HR services providers? Why not use our free comparison tool to be matched with the most suitable company for your needs.

Simply fill in our free quote-finding form, and answer a few questions about your business (it takes less than a minute). We’ll match you with the most appropriate HR support and software provider.

Further reading on HR

Six HR mistakes start-ups make and how to avoid them – A guide that will help you make sure you get your HR right from the get-go.

Small business HR checklist – covering the most important things to consider when you are setting up for the first time.

How to ensure that your HR software implementation is a success – some pointers to follow if you want your new HR system to be well-received within your company.

The post HR support services for small business: What are the benefits? appeared first on Small Business UK.

Your business and phone broadband will allow you to get online, download and upload large files quickly and enable the day-to-day running of your business.

Business broadband is different to domestic broadband in the sense it offers faster speeds, more security and comes with dedicated customer support.

Here, we’ve highlighted just some (there are many more around) deals which specialise in small businesses – looking specifically at price, features and customer reviews.

Business Broadband Suppliers

1. Vodafone
2. Virgin Media Business
3. BT
4. Sky Connect
5. Zen
6. TalkTalk Business
7. bOnline
8. XLN
9. Onebill
10. Trooli

Switching broadband provider is trickier than switching other services as you may have to physically switch to a different network. With that in mind, we’ve asked the experts what you should be factoring in when you choose business broadband and some of the best providers in the UK market.

Speed

Speed is all-important in your broadband decision making. Broadband packages for business are much faster than home broadband solutions and also provide greater choice; you can opt for either ADSL or fibre and can even choose a leased line. Leased broadband is a business option for a faster connection where you won’t share your bandwidth with anyone else. This dedicated line will ensure your connection runs at the speed you want.

It can be tempting to opt for the highest speeds available, with some providers offering up to 900mbps (that’s megabits per second), but it is worth being mindful that coverage may be limited. Most providers have an online tool which will tell you how good coverage will be in your postcode area before you commit to anything.

Then you need to choose between fibre and standard broadband. But which one should you go for? “Small businesses should be looking to choose ultrafast, fibre broadband to meet their everyday needs,” Alasdair Wright, chief marketing officer at Broadway Partners, tells Small Business. “Fibre is capable of transmitting data much faster than traditional copper connections. Fast broadband speeds are essential for businesses who need to download large files, access cloud platforms and jump from one video call to the next.

“Fibre connections are far more secure as their optical signals are harder to intercept than traditional electric transmissions, so businesses can be reassured their data is protected and they aren’t at risk of an attack or breach.”

Stability is also key, wherever your business is based: “Whilst small businesses have differing workspaces, stability and coverage should be a strong consideration for all,” Wright explains. “Home-based businesses will want assurance that their connection won’t drop out throughout the day, whereas those in larger office spaces will also need to ensure coverage is maintained across the entire space. It’s also important to think about how the installation of broadband may affect the business.”

Wright also advises us to think about installation. Quick and easy installation is best for minimal disruption and fibre broadband only takes a couple of hours to install, for example.

The level of broadband comes into play too. “Just as mobile broadband is working its way through to 5G, home/office WiFi is also progressing with greater speeds than ever before, also supporting more devices than ever before and with a signal power beaming directly to devices for maximum efficiency. Most new routers on fibre networks come with 6.0 as standard for ultimate reliability,” he says.

What broadband options are available for my business? – Here, we look at what types of internet connection you can choose for your company

How you connect

Take how you connect into consideration. Basic broadband connects through the asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) and uses the existing phone line infrastructure known as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to connect to the internet. But BT, who owns and runs the PSTN, is switching off the network from December 31, 2025. “So, if you’re planning on making the switch in the next couple of years, opting for a broadband connection that connects using fibre optic cables, such as full fibre broadband, offers you a futureproofed service,” said Kristian Torode, director and co-founder of Crystaline.

Dynamic or static IP

You are likely to be familiar with dynamic IP addresses as these form the basis of home broadband services. A dynamic IP address changes frequently, meaning that you are not assigned a specific IP address. While this solution is fine for smaller, simple business operations, those which are more complex or have specific needs may find that a fixed IP address becomes a necessity. Such requirements include running CCTV systems, servers for websites, email management or the need to access a desktop remotely.

There are some disadvantages to static IP addresses though, most notably, the increased security risk from cyberattacks. Because the IP address remains constant, it is much easier to track the computer which is linked to it, making it a prime target for hackers. It is also more difficult to change a static IP address once it has been assigned. For most businesses, the pros of switching to a fixed IP address outweigh the cons, it will just require more emphasis on IT security and protection.

Customer support

Having a business continuity plan in place is essential for managing the unexpected, and this includes what to do in the event of an IT failure. Ensuring that you opt for a phone and broadband provider with a good track record of customer service is essential, so that you can rest assured that help will be on hand if you need it.

Most business packages will provide enhanced support teams, and some will provide 24/7 availability, through a combination of phone, email and live chat facilities.

If your business requires a certain level of response or you need to place a limit on downtime periods, it is worth considering implementing an SLA (Service Level Agreement) with your chosen provider. This will ensure that you are able to maintain a connection even if there is a fault with their broadband. A smart move would be to opt for a package which offers 4G as an automatic back-up, giving you continued coverage in the event of complete broadband failure.

Note when customer service hours operate. If you run a restaurant, for example, a provider which only offers customer service during standard business hours isn’t going to be able to help in a crisis.

Reviews

Customer service is a vital component of your broadband package, but you should factor in how the whole shebang shapes up.

Torode added that it’s a good idea to look out for awards to back up providers’ claims of excellence. If they’ve got recent awards from the likes of Uswitch, Expert Reviews and Choose, that’s a positive sign.

“It’s also worth looking at customer review websites like Trustpilot, to see how each provider ranks for customer service,” he said. “It’s all very well having a broadband connection with a low price point, but if the provider doesn’t respond quickly in the event of a connectivity issue, it might be worth paying that little bit more for a better quality of service.”

Rural broadband: how to improve your speed – Rural broadband is agonisingly slow and small business owners are getting fed up. Here are some ways to perk up your internet speeds

What’s the best broadband for my business?

Now that you have a better understanding of what to look for, the next step is to consider how your business type may affect your decision.

“It’s important to calculate what your usage is going to look like,” Torode adds. “If you’re a small business with just a few devices, your data needs will be significantly less than a larger office with hundreds of connected devices, which might be best suited to an unlimited data package.”

Below are some example businesses to give you an idea of what you’ll need.

Home-based business

A small home-based business is likely to need a stable internet connection, particularly if conference calls are a frequent occurrence. If usage is fairly low and limited to browsing and emailing, then an ADSL line is likely to be sufficient. For more frequent conference calling or if there are multiple devices used in the household, a fibre optic solution will provide a faster, more stable connection.

Small retailer

For small retailers, salons and shops who are only using the internet to process card transactions and send emails, an ADSL line is likely to be the most cost-effective option. If music is likely to be streamed into the shop, it is worth opting for unlimited downloads to avoid any additional charges.

Cafe and restaurant

For cafes and restaurants, fibre optic broadband with unlimited downloads is a must have to ensure customers can enjoy hassle-free usage of the WiFi; this is now an essential selling-point as many more freelancers and remote employees opt to work from coffee shops and similar venues. This will ensure multiple people can use the internet at any time, providing both customers and staff with a reliable and fit for purpose solution.

Small office

Small offices would also be wise to opt for fibre optic broadband with unlimited downloads and for those with multiple employees, additional phone lines and a static IP address. Where growth is expected, it is also important to opt for solutions which can easily be scaled up and down as business dictates.

Larger office

Larger offices are likely to need a leased line or ethernet solution to help service the needs of multiple users, maintain a high-speed service and support remote servers, conference calls and other essential business functions.

Broadband providers

Now, on to the real stuff. Here’s a breakdown of business broadband providers in the UK and what their offerings look like.

Bear in mind that prices will exclude VAT and contract lengths will be 12, 18 or 24 months. Plus, the Trustpilot score for the larger companies may also cover their broader offering such as TV and phone.

Vodafone

Fibre or broadband: Fibre broadband

Upload/download speed:Download speed up to 76mbps; 18mbps upload speed

Dynamic or static IP: Static

Customer service: Phone – Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm; live chat – Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm

Trustpilot score: 4

Pricing: 36-month plans from £20.50 a month – plus VAT.

The phone network has made something of a name for itself in the broadband world. It has a minimum speed guarantee and if that speed isn’t satisfied, you can leave your contract early with no termination fee. The service offers 14-day returns with no cancellation fee. A hub will be sent to you that you can plug in and use straight away.

Virgin Media Business

Fibre or broadband:Fibre

Upload/download speeds: Up to 1000mbps download speed; up to 50mbps upload speed

Dynamic or static IP: Either

Customer service: Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm

Trustpilot score: 1.1

Pricing:

Voom 400: £33 – up to 400mbps download speed and up to 40mbps upload speed

Voom 600: £42 – up to 600mbps download speed and up to 50mbps upload speed

Voom 800: £51 – up to 800mbps download speed and up to 50mbps upload speed

Voom Gig1: £60 – up to 1000mbps download speed and up to 50mbps upload speed

All contracts are 24 months and exclude VAT.

Virgin Media Business claims that its broadband offering is 99.9 per cent reliable and 13 times faster than BT and Sky’s widely available offerings. While the technician sets up you up, you can get online straight away with Instant Connect, powered by a 4G start-up dongle.

BT

Fibre or broadband: Either

Upload/download speeds: Up to 900mbps downloads; up to 104mbps uploads

Dynamic or static IP: Static

Customer service: Telephone support Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm

Trustpilot score: 1.7

Pricing:

Broadband Essential – £25.95 – 76mbps of downloads, 19mbps of upload.

Broadband Enhanced – £27.95 – 76mbps of downloads, 19mbps of upload.
Broadband and Phone Line Essential – £27.95 – up to 900mbps download, 104mbps upload.
Broadband and Phone Line Enhanced – £33.95 – up to 900mbps upload and 104mbps upload.

All contracts are 24 months and prices exclude VAT.

BT has teamed up with phone provider EE to give customers wider access to services. Some hardware is available in the packages above, but you can also purchase the BT Business Hub, Complete Wi-Fi, Hybrid and Digital phone line separately.

All the packages come with minimum speed guarantee, guest WiFi, content controls and web protect.

Sky Connect

Fibre or broadband: Either

Upload/download speeds: Download speeds of up to 500mbps; upload speeds of up to 60mbps

Dynamic or static IP: Static

Customer service: 24/7 support

Trustpilot score: 1.6

Pricing:

Essential – £27.95 – 76mbps download, 19mbps upload
Pro – £37.95 – 150mbps download, 28mbps upload
Plus – £47.95 – 500mbps download, 60mbps upload

All of the above are 24-month contracts. There’s also a £79 4G installation fee on Pro and Max packages. Full fibre is available to 9 per cent of all UK businesses.

Sky offers a fixed price package during your contract plus a 30-day money back guarantee. It comes with a 4G automatic back-up as standard.

As for your phone, Sky has a VoiceEdge service which diverts calls to another number or passes calls to someone else if you can’t pick up on the Pro package and has two lines and three-way calls with Plus.

Zen

Fibre or broadband: Either

Upload/download speeds: Average 67mbps download; average upload speed of 18mbps

Dynamic or static IP: Static

Customer service: Telephone support 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday; 9am to 5pm at weekends

Trustpilot score: 4.2

Pricing:

Business Full Fibre 100 – £35 plus £25 activation fee

Business Full Fibre 300 – £40 plus £25 activation fee

Business Full Fibre 500 – £45 plus £25 activation fee

Business Full Fibre 900 – £50 plus £25 activation fee

All contacts are 24 months and prices exclude VAT.

Zen’s packages are specifically made for small businesses. It comes with a free Fritz!Box router and it’s a Which? Recommended Provider for 2022.

TalkTalk Business

Fibre/normal broadband: Either

Download and upload speeds: Dedicated leased lines have scalable speeds up to 10gbps or up to 900mbps on full-fibre

Dynamic or static IP: Either

Customer service: Monday to Sunday, 8am to 6pm

Trustpilot score: 4.8

Pricing:

Simply Business Broadband – £16.95 a month – up to 17mb/s download and 1 mb/s upload

Complete Business Broadband – £22.95 a month – up to 17mb/s download and 1 mb/s upload

Simply Business Fibre – £23.95 a month – 76mb/s download and 18mb/s upload

Complete Business Fibre – £29.95 a month – 76mb/s download and 18mb/s upload

All contracts are 24 months and prices exclude VAT.

TalkTalk has a ‘market-leading’ service level agreement as well as offering 12 or 18-month contracts with free static or dynamic IP.

TalkTalk runs a business referral scheme where you’ll both get up to in £200 Amazon vouchers for a referral.

bOnline

Fibre/broadband: Either

Upload/download speeds: Up to 76mbps for downloads; up to 19mbps for uploads

Dynamic or static IP: Static

Customer service: Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm; Saturday 10am to 2pm

Trustpilot score: 4.6

Pricing:

Unlimited business broadband – £21.95 a month, speed up to 24mbps, unlimited downloads and a wireless router.

Unlimited Business Fibre 76mbps – £26.95 a month (reverts to £29.95 after six months) – speed up to 76mbps, line rental and unlimited downloads.

Supersaver bundle – £32.90 a month (price reverts to £36.90 after 12 months) – unlimited downloads, digital phone line with features including voicemail to email.

All the above are 12-month contracts and exclude VAT.

Small business specialists bOnline have a price match guarantee and you get a free wireless router. It uses the BT Openreach network but charges customers less. Line rental included is also included in the above prices.

If standard packages don’t suit, you can create a bespoke solution from 50+ features to fit your business needs.

XLN

Fibre or broadband: Either

Upload/download speeds: Up to 76mbps

Dynamic or static IP: Static

Customer service: 8:30am to 6pm Monday to Thursday; 8:30am to 7pm Friday; 10am to 2pm Saturday

Trustpilot score: 4.2

Pricing:

Broadband and phone – £27.95 per month – 18-month contract

Superfast broadband and phone from £29.95 per month – 18-month contract

Free public WiFi service – from £15 per month 18-month contract – lets customers surf for free, no set-up cost, no password sharing, simple guest registration

Prices above exclude VAT.

XLN works exclusively with small businesses and also uses BT Openreach as well as TalkTalk business networks to provide its services. Line rental, unlimited UK calls and a free plug and play router (£9.99 P&P) is included in both packages.

Onebill

Fibre/normal broadband: Either

Upload/download speeds: Up to 80mbps

Dynamic or static IP: Dynamic

Customer service: Monday to Friday 8:30am to 6pm; Saturday 10am to 2pm

Trustpilot score: 4.2

Pricing:

Broadband and phone – £20.95 per month, speeds up to 80 mbps, 18-month contract

Essential Fibre and phone – £25.95 per month, speeds up to 80 mbps, 18-month contract

Onebill is another provider for small businesses, promising simple fixed pricing.

Trooli

Fibre/normal broadband: Fibre

Upload/download speeds: Upload and download speeds of up to 900mbps

Dynamic or static IP: Static

Customer service: Monday to Friday 8:30am to 6pm, Saturday to Sunday and bank holidays 9am to 5pm

Trustpilot score: 4.3

Pricing:

Boost 300 – Targeted at small businesses working from home. 300mbps upload and download speed. One static IP address with chance to upgrade to five. Unlimited data. £50 a month.

Boost 500 – Ideal for SMEs transferring files regularly. 500mbps upload and 500mbps download speed. Upload and download large files in seconds. One static IP address with chance to upgrade to five. £65 a month.

Boost 900 – Ideal for businesses who want to maximise efficiency. Everything on other packages but with fastest speeds available. 900mbps upload and download speed. One static IP address with chance to do up to five. £90 a month.

Trooli is a business provider that has been around for 20 years. It offers fast file transfers, unlimited data and a network that’s reliable 99.9 per cent of the time.

Obtain several quotes for your business broadband

In summary, while there are a variety of different business phone and broadband packages on offer, understanding your business and your usage needs will help to cut through the clutter and identify the best solutions for your individual requirements. Remember to obtain several quotes from different providers before deciding and reach out to your networks to see if others have had positive or negative experiences with your preferred providers prior to signing on the dotted line.

Nathan Hill-Haimes is founder of Amvia, a privately-owned, voice, data and cloud application provider based in Sheffield, which supplies services to companies of all sizes.

More on broadband for business

Why your business should switch to a broadband-based phone network – Analogue phone systems are increasingly being replaced by smarter broadband based networks – here’s why you should consider switching

The post Best UK business phone and broadband deals – how to choose appeared first on Small Business UK.

One way to support your remote workers is a company-wide phone system.

It makes sense for you as a business owner too. As of December 2025, landlines will become inactive as part of the PSTN switch-off, as will other fixed lines such as your broadband.

Phone systems can either be in the form of a cloud based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or VoIP private branch exchange (PBX). The VoIP PBX is a more modern version of the traditional PBX, using your broadband or data connection to receive calls. As there’s no hardware to install, it’s cheaper than the traditional version. VoIP gives you a higher quality of phone call and is free across multiple sites.

Cloud based VoIPs are another consideration and tend to be more flexible than a PBX system.

VoIPs are at times more expensive. They’re often determined by the number of employees who use it, as you’ll see in a minute. That said, it will still be generally cheaper than landline and these systems have more features than your standard phone.

Why should I upgrade my phone system?

There are huge advantages in everyone having the same system, especially when they’re working remotely. It’s easy to forward calls – it can done by name rather than wracking your brain trying to remember someone’s extension number. It’s flexible too, allowing your employees to take their calls wherever they go.

Take a look at some of the features that you can expect to find on your phone system.

Auto attendant: A digital receptionist which lets callers connect with the right person or department. Alternatively, you can set an after-hours message (outside business hours), set scripts and have your calls connect after a certain number of rings

Business SMS: Some systems have business SMS. With this you can send texts to staff and marketing texts to customers, as well as follow-up SMS surveys. What’s more, you can send someone a text using email to SMS functionality, giving you the direct communication of SMS without all of the faff of typing on your phone.

>See also: Six tips to small business success in SMS marketing

Call queuing: Queue up callers rather than missing important conversations. You’ll recognise a call queue from ringing up other businesses and customer service lines. It’ll play ‘on hold’ music and/or a repeated message to let the caller know that they’re in a queue and in what position. Other perks include automating how long a customer is on hold before being transferred to voicemail and managing queues from multiple devices. Companies with several departments have the option of defining multiple destinations for callers.

Online faxing: Online faxing is cheaper than its traditional counterpart. Platforms allow you to send multiple faxes being sent at the same time and as documents go directly to the recipient, it’s a more private way to send than traditional faxes that can be seen by the whole office.

Video calls and conferencing: If you want to use slides or other images while you chat (or you’re just missing your colleagues), you can opt for video calls. If it’s a conference, you’ll be able to record it for future playback.

Voicemail to email: This function records a voicemail, transcribes it and sends it to the recipient’s email address. You may receive an email with the recording attached, saved to your voicemail inbox (with or without a notification email). The voicemail file will include the time and date as well as caller ID info.

Which phone system should I use for my remote workers?

Below is a brief round-up of phone systems you could incorporate into your team’s day-to-day working.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is one of the most widely used co-working platforms on the market. It’s a VoIP PBX system, which can be used with a headset, a device or an IP phone.

Put contacts on speed dial, put them into easy-to-find groups, a history of your previous calls, block callers, automatically forward them if you’re doing a presentation or a meeting. You can also set options of what will happen if a call goes unanswered and configure voicemail.

Pricing

Microsoft Teams free: £0; Microsoft 365 Business Essentials: £3.30 per user per month; Microsoft 365 Business Basic: £4.90 per user per month; Microsoft Business Standard: £10.30 per user per month.

RingCentral

On RingCentral, you can easily add users and lines as your business grows. You can also set up visual voicemail, voicemail to email, internet fax, paging and answering rules as well as automatic voicemail transcription.

Pricing

Essentials: £7.99 monthly per user; Standard: £14.99 monthly per user; Premium: £19.99 monthly per user; Ultimate: £24.99 monthly per user.

Dialpad

Dialpad comes with unlimited calling and unlimited video meetings. But it’s best known for AI-powered call and voicemail transcriptions. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 integrations round off the package, making it easier to use among a wider range of small businesses.

Pricing

Standard: £12 per user per month; Pro: £20 per user per month. There’s also the offer of a free trial for 14 days.

bOnline

With bOnline, you can establish your business with a local phone number, wherever you’re based. On top of that, bOnline has voicemail greetings, call reports, HD voice calls, voicemail to email, call queue and business hours call routing.  

Pricing

Starter: £6 per user per month; Unlimited Calling: £13.95 per user per month; Unlimited Calling (includes a desk phone): £15.50 per user per month

Call recording, HD video conferencing and CRM integration add-ons are available for £5 a month each.

VoIPstudio

VoIPstudio is a lower-cost option, with call recording, conference calling, IVR and call routing, free number porting and on-hold music. What’s more, you can choose a local number from a list of countries and cities, plus toll-free numbers that customers can call you on free of charge.

It integrates with Zapier, salesforce, Microsoft Office 365, Zoho and more.

Pricing

Pay-as-you-go: £3.99 per user per month – better if you mostly take inbound calls

2K bundle: £13.99 per user per month. Get 2,000 minutes per user per month to over 45 countries with one inbound number per user.   

A 30-day free trial is available on both packages.

All clients get all features from the off, with no upgrades or tiered features.

Which phone system should I use for my remote workers?

Choosing which system to use is really down to features and cost. If you’ve got fewer employees, you could look at one of the more expensive packages. If your business is international, your main focus should be a service which provides international calls. If you’re unsure, do a free trial before you commit.

Read more

Five telephone best practice tips for small businesses – Here, Carl Di Cicco looks at five top tips for businesses on how they can improve their phone practice

Why your business should switch to a broadband-based phone network – Analogue phone systems are increasingly being replaced by smarter broadband based networks – here’s why you should consider switching

Best UK business phone and broadband deals – how to choose – You need to understand your business and its internet needs before deciding on the best broadband and phone deal for you

The post 5 of the best phone systems for your remote workers appeared first on Small Business UK.