As businesses close the book on traditional paper-based transactions (pun intended), the decision to move to an Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) provider is not one to make hastily. Although this move is typically predicated upon the directives of the CFO and the Finance team, there are typically 3 important guidelines one should be focusing on when selecting the best provider path.
Integration Expertise
You’ve built up a lot of data and surely have multiple systems in play comprising your entire business process’s eco-system. The right provider should have a variety of integrations pre-built or a master team of system integrators to make these systems play nicely and connect your data smoothly within the platform.
Customer Service
A payment platform only provides true value when it is focused on customer service. Although it is more common in today’s digital age for many consumers to embrace new tools and services with great willingness and enthusiasm, there will always be a certain amount of people who prefer to use cash or pay bills through traditional payment channels like over the phone.
An electronic bill presentment and payment solution should deliver a simple yet streamlined user payment experience to more sophisticated users, but also support those users who prefer the comfort of familiarity. Too much flash – not enough cash (brought back in-house) is a huge potential problem if you pick the wrong solution. To avoid this, follow the fact that all your customers will eventually be exposed to your payments process and that it is paramount to make sure the experience your platform delivers is consistent and frictionless across various points of engagement. Furthermore, the EBPP platform should offer customers the right level of support in the event that confusion or user issues arise.
Multichannel Payment Options
With new advancements in technology occurring at accelerated rates these days, it’s essential that your EBPP platform has a solution to support all emerging communication channels and has a simple yet intuitive presence in those engagement points. Empowering customers with multiple options to conveniently pay their bills is no longer an added enhancement, but an expectation. Pick a platform that can support not only traditional channels of web, phone and walk-in payment transactions but also provide the options for the sophisticated users who demand to pay by text, chat, social media, Apple Pay, Android Pay, etc…
Compass Payments Suite
Learn more about our Pay By Phone solution, the Compass Payments Suite.