Cash flow is king for tech savvy small businesses.

Andover, Basingstoke, Bournemouth, Bromsgrove, Camberley, Canterbury, Chatham, Dartford, Eastcote, Evesham, Exeter, Gosport, Havant, High Wycombe, Newhaven, Northfleet, Romsey, Southampton, Swindon, Tewkesbury, Tilbury, Waterlooville, Weymouth, Winchester, Chepstow

According to payment systems provider Sage Pay, nearly two-thirds of UK businesses experience late payments of 90 days or more, with invoices worth £55bn ($91.5bn; 66.5bn euros) remaining unpaid or outstanding. Thousands of small firms even go bust each year purely because the cash flow dries up, not because there's anything wrong with the underlying business.

The good news is that a host of new software platforms are helping to ameliorate the problem. Take Basware and Tradeshift, for example, which enable companies to issue or pay invoices securely via the cloud. The advent of cloud computing has made such technology much more accessible to small businesses. The cloud has also brought down the cost. In the past, a small business would have to pay for software and hardware upfront and then incur costs maintaining them.

Despite the advances, some are still reluctant to dive in. According to Sage, 67% of small businesses say they prefer paper invoicing.
The FSB has called on local enterprise partnerships - between local authorities and businesses - to help, by providing more technology training and support for SMEs. It's also published best-practice guidelines on how to use technology.

* Content taken from BBC news article.