When it comes to managing the financial end of a business, less is more. No business owner wants to handle more financial logistics than necessary, especially since complicated payment systems can negatively impact a customer’s experience! That’s where payment integration comes in: a way to connect business payments and associated software seamlessly. Below, we’ll explain what this term means and why it has the potential to improve your business dramatically.
Integrated payment systems refer to connecting a payment platform to all the other software used by a business. In other words, the payment platforms are compatible and seamlessly work with all other critical systems. Since payment structures and required software vary between companies, there is no “set” structure of an integrated payment system–each design is independent and unique.
For example, a business uses integrated payments if it uses an accounting service, like Intuit, which relies on an internal payment gateway system that passes along each transaction to that accounting software automatically. Any automatic transfer of funds or encrypted data likely involves a payment integration system. The best model for your business will depend on the type and size of the company; for example, there are optimized options specific to payment processing for restaurants.
Integrated payment systems usually rely on a payment gateway (e.g., Accredited Interchange) to manage customers’ credit card payments.
In a few quick steps, these gateway services can:
Payment gateway integration is usually the first step towards creating a more robust and efficient payment integration system.
For the most trustworthy payment processing, businesses can use payment processing companies or an ISO (Independent Sales Organization) to help oversee the seamless integration of all of these services. Investing in an integrated payment solution may seem like an unnecessary fee, but it can save you money over time.
Here are some reasons you should consider investing in a payment integration system:
When you invest in an integrated payment system, you eliminate several time-consuming administrative and data input processes that can bog down business operations and cost you in the long run.
When one system manages your data, you won’t have to worry about cross-referencing transactions on various platforms (e.g., accounting software), verifying analytics, or checking on demographics. Using multiple resources to find this information is incredibly time-consuming and likely requires more support and costly skills!
As your systems become integrated, security usually increases because of fewer opportunities for errors or unnoticed breaches. Security is primarily owed to the reduction of manual data entry. ISO payment integration relies on efficient payment gateway systems that use trustworthy tactics like tokenization and end-to-end encryption to process data. Ultimately this helps your business maintain PCI compliance, which protects your data and customers from security lapses.
Ensuring that data is correct and verified is a crucial part of earning your clients’ trust. It also just means fewer headaches for any business owner! When your payment data is routed directly from the point-of-service charge to the system that handles back-end accounting, you’ll save time. You won’t need to constantly double-check to ensure any double transactions, calculation transfer mistakes, or transfer errors.
Data is power. With access to your audience demographics, you can cater to customers depending on product preferences, profiles, or cost ranges. You could also assimilate this data into your marketing efforts to create targeted advertisements.
Last but not least, investing in payment integration can help simplify your taxes come April 15th. Taxes can be highly time-consuming for business owners, so don’t underestimate the value of this perk! When you route data to accounting software, you or your accountants will spend way less time organizing and verifying information when it comes time to file.
Developing an integrated payment system starts by investing in a trustworthy payment processing company like Accredited Interchange.
Consider your needs and goals concerning your business. Your goals should reflect the nature of your business, the kind of optimization you want, and how payment integration could improve your bottom line. Also, consider how to boost your security or establish a more loyal customer base. Then reach out to our expert payment processing team to help you get there!