Small businesses have long treated cash flow management as an afterthought, tallying expenses after the money is gone. Now, financial platforms are folding payments, payroll, credit and lending into one system that can see money moving both ways — and predict where it is headed.

That shift puts software providers in direct competition with banks for small-business credit. Intuit Inc. says its view of both sides of the ledger, paired with AI pushing finance toward automation, gives it an edge traditional lenders cannot match, according to Todd Denbo (pictured), senior vice president of lending and commercial leader of Money at Intuit.

“We can see the expenses you’ve got queued up,” Denbo said. “For us, we can effectively predict that you’re going to have a cash flow shortage. That’s why we’ve got our lending businesses as well, so we can proactively offer lines of credit or a term loan to bridge that gap.”

Denbo spoke with theCUBE’s Alison Kosik and Christophe Bertrand at Intuit Connect, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how Intuit uses real-time financial data and AI to help small businesses manage cash flow and automate financial tasks. (* Disclosure below.)