Online banking systems provide template technology that allows you to store a list of payments that you make on a regular basis (e.g. payroll or payment to suppliers). Each time you need to make payment you load the template, amend any amounts to be paid and process the payments with a few clicks.

You can use templates to quickly process:

• cost of sales items such as materials, inventory, services
• contractors
• employee pays
• Internet connection fees
• mobile phone, telephone and facsimile charges
• yellow pages directory listing
• insurance premiums
• couriers
• stationary account
• postage account
• etc…

You can set-up templates to have majority of your payments processed in one online banking transaction.

It may be possible to pay all or most of your bills at once, depending on your business size and whether or not your suppliers accept Direct Crediting to their bank account. If you are able to use a feature often called ‘pay others’ or ‘pay third parties’ in your Internet banking system then you should be able to do this. It is very rare these days that a vendor will only accept a cheque or cash, so it is possible that the majority of your payment processing could be achieved in one online template transaction.

There may be other positive flow-on effects.

More predictable cashflow, not having to wait on vendors to bank the cheques you write them are examples pf how using templates can help you in ways other than saving time. Many of the Internet banking systems have a particularly handy feature that allows you to print out your list of payments on one sheet of paper, which is great if you don’t like too much paper about the office.

There are costs too.

Like all technology there is the investment of your time upfront to understand the system, however, that cost should pay be repaid quickly. Template charges may also apply.