Mastercard announces new offerings to help small businesses digitally enhance operations

By Pavithra R

Mastercard has announced the addition of new offerings with Microsoft, QuickBooks and Zoho to its suite of U.S. small business benefits.

The move comes at a time when small businesses continue to move their operations online and look to access digital tools to future-proof their business in response to the pandemic. According to a Mastercard survey, 76% of SMBs in North America suggest the pandemic prompted them to make their business more digital, yet 64% say they are challenged to transform digitally.

The new offerings are available across Mastercard BusinessCard and World Elite Mastercard for Business in the U.S., SMBs can drive awareness of their business online with Microsoft Advertising, digitally manage payroll and access HR support through QuickBooks Online Payroll, and engage with their customers through Zoho’s marketing capabilities. Beginning April 1st Mastercard small business cardholders can enjoy new benefits and access to the tools and solutions to help grow their business and digitally transform.

“Now more than ever, having a digitally-led approach is critical for small business owners. Mastercard remains committed to helping provide small businesses the solutions required to meet the needs of the evolving consumer and operate in our digital world. Together with our partners, we are delivering a solid foundation of digital offerings and tools for our small business cardholders that help them sustain their business today and accelerate their growth tomorrow,” said Chiro Aikat, EVP of Products & Innovation in North America for Mastercard.

Besides new offerings, Mastercard’s small business value proposition continues to provide seamless digital resources and partner discounts including:

• Salesforce’s customer relationship management solution Salesforce Essentials, an all-in-one app that includes sales and customer support tools built specifically for companies of their size,
• Intuit’s QuickBooks and TurboTax discounts,
• access to a 24/7 Business Assistant, Mastercard ID Theft Protection,
• Mastercard Easy Savings, and
• Mastercard Receipt Management powered by Itemize.

“Many businesses have experienced an accelerated digital transition this past year, and they are now exposed to an array of tools that can help them grow and promote their businesses across digital marketing channels—web, social, email, events and more. We are thrilled to partner with Mastercard to offer our social media management tool and end-to-end digital marketing platform—Zoho Social and Zoho Marketing Plus—so that small businesses can fast-track their growth,” said Raju Vegesna, Chief Evangelist at Zoho.