In Plooto’s survey of 500+ SMBs and financial professionals, Canadians showed they’re optimistic about what’s ahead and are backing that optimism with action toward growth. More than 80% of respondents expect the economy to remain stable or improve in 2025, and their top plans are investing in areas that will help them scale: expanding marketing (32%), hiring more staff (29%), upgrading equipment (22%), and implementing technology that makes it all possible (49%).
My advice to business owners and operators is don’t get left behind; follow their lead. A good place to start is using technology that will give you hours and energy back to invest in business growth – it enables everything else. Businesses are already using tools like AI to automate the most tedious tasks, like making payments (26%) and financial reconciliation (23%). More than half of businesses (60%) will increase their use of fintech in 2025, illustrating the significant role technology will play in enabling these optimists to focus on growth-driving areas.
If you’re not already managing financial processes with technology, you’re leaving hours on the table. For many businesses, automating payment processing and reconciliation is the first step because of the immediate impact. Automation quickly transforms financial operations by eliminating manual and pervasive processes, eliminating data entry errors, improving cash flow management, and supporting stronger vendor and customer relationships.
Read our full report on Why – and where – businesses are betting big next year to learn more about where your peers and competitors are investing next year and what you need to do to keep pace.
John McLane
Chief Executive Officer of Plooto
John McLane serves as Chief Executive Officer of Plooto, a leading payments automation solution serving over 10,000 North American businesses. With more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software spanning private equity, finance, strategy and operations, McLane boasts a wealth of knowledge on scaling fintech companies through rapid growth stages. Before joining Plooto, he served as COO Americas of Trustly. During his tenure there, McLane led operations as the company grew revenue by over 30x, reached profitability, and established itself as the North American market leader. McLane joined Plooto in September 2024, an exciting chapter for the company as it focuses on providing the most efficient, easiest to use AP & AR automation to thousands more Canadian SMBs.
