That took some doing. Indeed, it was awkward and time-consuming, and it offered up altogether too many opportunities for error. And if you did go astray, finding the error was like searching for a snowflake in an avalanche. Now the latest spawn of the electronic age, the virtual bank, has taken things farther down the road to real efficiency for small and mid-sized businesses. As yet, only a handful of virtual banks target the business market.
New competitors pop up on the Web every month, however, with no end in sight.
The innovations of the virtual bank are simple, and they make it clear why business owners use the service. In plain English, you connect to your bank via your Web browser, using special software such as Quicken or Microsoft Money. This access to real-time information gives you the ability to better manage your business cash. Then you can wait until the last minute to transfer those funds back into your business account to meet payroll. And you don't have to sacrifice safety to take advantage of all these services.