Curious about how businesses feel about digital data sharing? Dive into our latest research below.
Executive summary
This article reveals insights from hundreds of mid-market U.S. businesses, exploring their views on sharing financial data with banks.
As companies increasingly recognize the potential for operational efficiency gains, banks have a unique opportunity to align their services with these expectations, building trust and capturing lasting client loyalty. Here’s what our research uncovered and why these findings should matter to banks:
🤖 Manual processes are ripe for automation: A striking 98% of respondents still rely, at least in part, on manual data-sharing, highlighting a significant inefficiency gap that digital solutions could close.
✅ Strong awareness and strong willingness: 99% of businesses are familiar with digital data sharing, and 53% are open to providing their bank with ongoing access to their financial data. Businesses want their banks to understand them better—and that means smarter, data-driven banking relationships.
🔒 High trust, yet room to grow: Over 99% of respondents expressed moderate to high trust in their bank’s data security, with 77% rating it as high. Leveraging this trust could foster even stronger relationships and accelerate adoption.
🎁 Top incentives for adoption: Businesses prioritize strong data security, clear documentation, proactive relationship management, and financial incentives. By addressing these needs, banks can encourage clients to embrace digital data sharing, aligning services with what matters most to businesses.
Research methodology
Drawing insights from a survey of 500 finance professionals at mid-market businesses across the United States, our research captures perspectives from organizations with annual revenues ranging from $10 million to $1 billion. This cohort represents informed financial decision-makers with a comprehensive view of their organization’s financial processes, making their feedback particularly valuable for banks aiming to refine their services.
Insights into manual data sharing: Where businesses are missing out
💡Key takeaway: Nearly every business surveyed has shared financial documents with their bank manually.
An overwhelming 98% of businesses surveyed have used manual data-sharing methods with their bank. Here’s how often they’re doing it:
- Monthly: 39%
- Weekly: 26%
- Daily: 21%
This reliance is mainly driven by the need to perform crucial tasks, including establishing new payment methods (36%), reviewing business performance with their bank (35%), and managing complex cross-border transactions (34%). These processes often require significant time and effort, indicating a critical gap in efficiency that could be addressed through automation.
Methods of manual data sharing
Businesses employ a range of methods for manual data sharing, including:
📧 Email (46%)
📃 Banking app uploads (46%)
🛡️ Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) (39%)
🏦 Physical paper file submissions at branches (36%)
📬 Sending paper files through mail (34%)
These findings underscore a major inefficiency in current bank-client operations: businesses are burdened with repetitive data collection work that has the potential to be streamlined and automated. Such a reliance not only consumes valuable time but also introduces risks associated with human error and data inaccuracies.
For banks, this scenario presents a significant opportunity to reimagine the client experience. As businesses become increasingly aware of the time lost and the risks posed by manual processes, there is a growing demand for more efficient solutions.
But, how likely are mid-market customers to embrace these solutions?
Awareness of digital data sharing
💡Key takeaway: Businesses overwhelmingly understand what digital data sharing is and its potential to improve efficiency.
The concept of automatically (and digitally) sharing data—by securely connecting business accounting, bookkeeping, or ERP software (such as QuickBooks or Xero) directly to a bank—enables real-time access to financial information like invoices and payments. This eliminates the need for manual data transfers between clients and banks.
Notably, 99% of the businesses surveyed are familiar with this approach. Among those, 79% of companies with annual revenues between $100 million and $500 million reported being very familiar with this method. Overall, 42% of respondents have already adopted this streamlined process for sharing financial information with their banks.
Attitudes to digital data sharing
💡Key takeaway: Businesses demonstrate strong levels of trust in their banks and are open to granting continued access to their financial data.
Our research found that over half (53%) of businesses are willing to provide their bank with access to their financial data, either on an ongoing basis or for the full duration of their facility. A further 37% would be happy to do so on a one-off or occasional basis.
An impressive 99.6% of businesses also reported moderate to high trust in their bank’s ability to handle the data securely, with over three-quarters expressing high trust.
This level of confidence provides a robust foundation for banks to build upon. By fostering open communication about data security protocols and offering transparent data-sharing processes, banks can leverage this trust to encourage businesses to embrace digital data sharing and reap the benefits.
53% of businesses are open to providing their bank with ongoing access to their financial data.
The range of data that businesses are willing to share with their banks is remarkably diverse, incorporating everything from financial statements and tax returns to their accounts receivable ledger. This suggests that this factor does not notably impact their initial decision to disclose the information.
Once businesses embrace the idea of digital data sharing, they seem to have little preference regarding the types of data being shared.
Incentives that drive adoption
Our research identified several key factors that have the potential to further strengthen the adoption of digital data-sharing solutions among businesses. Among these, strong data security measures emerged as the most critical incentive, with 51% of respondents emphasizing the importance of safeguarding sensitive information.
Additionally, 44% highlighted the value of having detailed documentation and support from their banking institutions, which helps ease the transition and ensures that organizations feel confident in using these new processes. Proactive engagement from Relationship Managers also plays a vital role, as noted by 41% of participants, who appreciate personalized guidance throughout the implementation process.
Finally, financial incentives, also recognized by 41% of those surveyed, serve as a compelling motivator, encouraging businesses to embrace these innovative solutions for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. Together, these factors create a robust framework for banks looking to increase adoption of digital data sharing.
The strategic importance of digital data sharing
For banks, the transition from manual to digital (and automated) data sharing is more than a logistical upgrade—it’s a strategic opportunity.
The momentum is strong, as businesses increasingly see the value in automation. Our research reveals that 84% of businesses believe that the ability to automatically share financial data with their bank would improve their operational efficiency, reducing manual reporting and freeing up internal resources for higher-value tasks.
Moreover, when asked what factors most influenced their choice of a banking partner, the leading response was online banking features and technology. This indicates that strong digital capabilities have become essential for banks striving to be the primary bank of choice for businesses.
The transition to digital data sharing is central to positioning banks as trusted, forward-thinking financial partners. For banks, adopting automated data sharing offers an avenue to enhance service personalization, reduce onboarding and processing times, and simplify operational workflows for both parties.
These improvements align with client expectations, as businesses increasingly value convenience and speed from their financial service providers. By investing in secure, seamless digital data-sharing platforms, banks can improve customer satisfaction and boost retention rates.
This shift has the potential to fundamentally transform the way banks engage with businesses.
How Codat helps banks speed up digital data sharing adoption
Codat provides a simple, secure way to connect bankers to the financial data that lives in their customer’s accounting platform, ERP, and other financial software. Here’s how:
- Customers connect with a few clicks: Rather than spend hours compiling documents, businesses share their data directly to access credit and better banking services.
- Codat makes raw data usable: Codat extracts data in the format bankers need, such as financial statements, invoices, and accounts payable.
- Bankers understand customers at scale: Data collection and financial analysis processes that once took days now take minutes. Bankers have their time back to focus on growing customer relationships.
Get in touch with our team of specialists using the form below to see how Codat could help you grow deeper relationships with your clients.
