While optimized businesses bank online for time- and cost-savings, many realize additional ways to run even more effectively.

"Many of our customers bank online daily, and the number of customers banking online grows annually," said Kristin Nendza, support specialist at Leaders Bank. In fact, online banking is the third-most performed Internet transaction (Nielsen Online).

"Online banking's functionality and flexibility help our customers manage better. It has always been a key component of our custom solutions," said Jim Lynch, president and CEO of Leaders Bank.

Consider ACH uses for business owners and entrepreneurs: processing payroll, paying bills and controlling exactly when funds disburse. "Customers enjoy having control here, versus paying bills at a site pulling money from their account," Nendza said.

An updated Leaders feature is the customizable alert system. A customer can receive an email if an account balance goes below a specified amount, or notification can be sent during banking-page login. "Alert templates are established, such as for incoming wire transfers, but there are many functionalities for which a customer can receive alerts," added Nendza.

For auditing purposes, businesses often utilize dual-authorization transactions. "You can give one user the ability to set up a wire without the ability to transmit, and another user the ability to send it," Nendza explained.

With Positive Pay, if checks presented to the bank don't match a customer's list of issued checks, the customer is notified to halt or approve payment.

Leaders maintains focus on advanced security. "We can set up individual users within a company-wide login, with user-specific security questions," Nendza noted. Questions are encompassed in the bank's multi-factor authentification (MFA), of which Leaders employs the highest level. "It first examines an IP address; if a customer registers questions on a business-located computer, but tries to access the account elsewhere, MFA prompts them to answer those questions. That's the first key to ensure they don't just have login information, but also proven authorization."