Did you know that the earliest available account for credit reporting goes back to 1803 in England? While people around the world have been using credit in various forms throughout civilization, today’s use of credit cards is like nothing that has been seen before, especially integrated payments.
And, as a result, more and more people are relying on credit cards to do their daily purchasing.
If you’re store or business doesn’t accept credit cards yet, you’re simply missing out on sales. However, even if you accept credit cards, if you’re not using integrated payments, you’re still not using the best of the best when it comes to payment processing.
Keep reading below as we explain what integrated payments are, why you need them, and more.
What Are Integrated Payments?
Integrated payments are payments that are made with a credit card and processed automatically. Merchants don’t have to complete the time-consuming accounting process to accept card payments.
Instead of having to manually enter and reconcile card data, credit card processing is done right away with integrated payments so that you can make the payment protocol easier for you (as the merchant) and your customers.
A huge benefit of this type of payment processing is that at the point of sale, your customers will have an extremely easy time actually paying for what they want, which leads to a more positive experience overall.
How Do These Payments Work?
Credit card payments in general are much different than your traditional cash payment method.
Because of the different variables that make credit accounts differ from checking accounts, the method of processing the transaction and actually obtaining the money being paid relies on the bank. However, businesses still have to do their own accounting to keep track of where that money is and how much they actually have if they don’t use integrated payments.
The step-by-step process of a credit card transaction without integrated payments goes like this:
- Receive the order through an online portal or over the phone
- Enter the credit card number into the terminal
- Save the transaction receipt, print an invoice, and stape together
- Repeat steps 1-3 for each invoice throughout the day
- Match paper to electronic invoices and apply payments at the end of the day
- Adjust accounts receivable manually and update ledger to reflect all payments
How does this same process go with integrated payments? It’s actually much more simple with only the following 3 steps:
- Receive the order online, over the phone, in person, or on a mobile device
- Enter the card number directly into the accounting software
- Use integration to process the payment automatically
By understanding these processes, both the traditional way of processing credit card transactions and the integrated payment method, you can easily see which one is going to save businesses the most time. Integrated payments make financial transactions much faster, more accurate, and generally more simple.
How Would Integrated Payments Help Your Business?
Integrated payments will allow your business to become more efficient right away. There are other benefits, however, that also help to promote overall growth and success over the long term.
The first thing is that you’ll save so much time. Businesses that have to manage their finances manually can become overwhelmed. This is especially true if they have a lot of customers and a lot of orders to process. Not having to manually enter information will result in limited errors that need correction later on.
You can serve your customers better when you don’t have to spend so much time on books and accounting.
Second, you’ll get more cash flow. Moving money in and out of your business is not always as easy as it may seem, especially if you’re manually accounting payments on invoices. This can take several days to process and get back into your business account.
With integrated card processing, however, payments are automatic, so you can get that money posted to your business right at the point of sale. This makes managing finances overall much easier because you don’t have to wait, but it also will keep track of all of that information for you.
The third thing to consider is that you’ll have better security. Businesses that use integrated payments will work with a cloud-based payment gateway that is a more secure way of managing finances and is PCI compliant. In the event of a data breach, for example, credit card information will be safer and if there is a server failure, that same data will still be safe in the cloud.
What Do You Do to Get Started?
There are several things to consider before you can start using integrated payments. If you’ve never used it before or don’t accept credit cards yet, the process to get started is going to feel a little more complex.
However, even if you’re just updating your current payment processing system, the main things that you’ll want to consider as a business owner include:
- Compatibility with existing ERP partner or accounting software
- Compatability with online shopping cart
- PCI compliance
- Flat rate or interchange pricing options
- Encryption and tokenization tech
- Additional costs and fees
- General available features
- Customer support availability
Always look for an integrated payment provider that meets the requirements above. This will help you feel confident and comfortable with the entire automated payment process.
At Payline Data, we can give you information and assistance that will make all of this much easier. We are equipped with experts that will guide you through the process and help you obtain integrated payment processing for your business with ease.
Create a More Seamless User Experience Today
It’s clear that integrated payments are the way of the future, and if you’re not taking advantage of them yet, you’re simply falling behind.
However, we are here to make the process of transitioning to integrated payments easier for all business owners! Whether you’re an established business or a startup, we want to help you harness the power of automated payment processing today.
Get in touch with us to learn more about what we do at Payline Data and how we can help you get started.
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