What is Integrated Payment Processing?
Integrated payment processing solutions offer your business the ability to combine payment processing features with other tools you currently use. This means you can integrate payment functions with your accounting system or other business applications, such as your current customer relationship management (CRM) system, in order to eliminate duplicate data entry, streamline accounting processes, and increase accuracy and efficiency.
Why Should You Care?
Manual entry and reconciliation of payments is cumbersome and increases the possibility for error. It is inefficient, and wastes valuable time and energy on the entry of redundant data into multiple systems. Cross-platform reconciliation can be difficult to perform and makes comprehensive reporting nearly impossible.
With integrated payment processing, you will:
- Eliminate human errors associated with manual payment entry.
- Reduce staff time spent on redundant data entry and reconciliation.
- Automate the verification of credit card information and electronic payments.
- Increase financial visibility and reporting accuracy.
- Improve cash flow and reduce payment processing speed.
- Recognize important security benefits and ensure compliance with PCI security standards for informational storage and encryption.
Considerations
The benefits of integrated payment processing are easy to recognize; however, many vendors offer solutions which only address portions of the payments process which can make comprehensive integration appear more complicated than it should be.
You may find that certain service providers require that businesses use one particular vendor for processing credit card and merchant payments, while others allow businesses to choose their own options. Some service providers also offer solutions which only integrate with a very specific set of business applications or software solutions, or which only accept a limited variety of payment types. This makes it difficult for businesses to implement a truly integrated payment processing solution without additional expense.
The ideal service provider will offer a fully integrated payment processing solution – one which works with the systems and software your business already has in place. This should include, at minimum, the integration of your accounting software, CRM system, and other business-critical applications. An ideal solution will also allow you to accept all methods of payment you currently process, with the option to include additional forms (such as mobile payment) in the future.
Many of the services marketed as integrated payment processing options really only offer point-to-point solutions, which is why FTNI is dedicated to providing a truly comprehensive service designed to fit your organization’s needs. Our integrated payment processing solutions offer incredible scalability and customization – allowing for full and complete integration of your accounting and business applications.
Please contact us if you have any questions about payment processing or your needs.
Originally published August 28, 2014
