As we undertake extensive research on digital banking platforms, we have compiled this preamble report to our series, Small Business Digital Banking Platforms: 2025 XCelent Awards, Powered by VendorMatch.

Forces similar to those impacting retail digital banking are converging to set a new bar in small business digital banking. Digital banking platform (DBP) vendors are responding with innovative new offerings to meet these needs. Choosing a new DBP today will be far more impactful on an institution’s future success than in years past. Celent observes that offerings are increasingly focused on customer engagement, open banking, and more refined personalization. Over the next few years, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will trigger significant additional transformation in this solution space. Celent finds that pacesetters in small business digital banking are swiftly achieving new levels of customer engagement by delivering financial workflow efficiency tools and data analytics. Over the next few years, generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) will trigger significant additional transformation.