A Guide to Facilitating Payments and Keeping Your Business Afloat During a Global Crisis
The new and stringent measures placed on the public in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 have left business owners struggling as they are faced with a new reality. Navigating your business during a time of difficulty can present many unexpected and unpredictable challenges.
Lockdowns, social distancing orders, and remote business operations have caused a major disruption in the way we conduct business.
In a time when in-person payments are not a viable option, your business can still remain afloat, and even successful, through a relationship with a payment facilitator that can weather the storm with you.
We’ve compiled a guide to facilitating payments during a time of global crisis to highlight the measures and tools you can implement in order to keep your business running:
Take Your Payment Processing Seriously
In an effort to contain the spread of harmful pathogens, the use of cash will be discouraged; therefore, businesses should expect a sharp rise in the volume of ACH and credit card payments.
Due to a significant reduction in face-to-face transactions, the need for alternative payment collection methods without physical contact is crucial, and may mean your business will have to change some of its processes. Remote payment processing via multiple channels will be imperative to the survival of your business, as many industries are making the transition to telework. The operations of telemedicine, government agencies, and utility companies will all require the ability to bill and process contactless payments.
During this time, it will also prove vital to have the ability to accept all major payment types efficiently with a single online platform in place of in-person transactions.
Implement Remote Payment Processing Tools
It is important that your business is partnered with a payment processor that can provide all the tools you need to process remote payments securely. These tools should be built into the solution and can be integrated with your business software so that you can accept multi-channel payments. The service and support offered by your payments provider will be instrumental in the survival of your business.
Some of these critical solutions include:
This ensures that you can meet your customers’ preferred payment methods securely and remotely—whether ACH, credit, debit, or remote deposit.
Many customers are opting for mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Wallet, so it is important that you can accept these contactless options.
These pages equip you to accept online payments securely, and give customers options on how to fill out their card information and submit online payments.
Shopping cart integration and eCommerce solutions will be necessary for shoppers to browse your products and purchase items from your website.
View our product catalog Payments as a Platform® Features and Services
Reduce Potential for Fraud
Many companies have no other choice at this time but to move their businesses online. While this is a necessary move, it can potentially leave their businesses to be more susceptible to threats. Hackers and cybercriminals will find new ways to take advantage of sensitive financial data as all businesses operate solely on the internet.
In fact, CNBC reported that the year-over-year increase of attempted online payment fraud reached 73% in 2019. It is expected to grow even more due to the coronavirus.
While consumers are protected against fraudulent credit card purchases, merchants are often left to cover those costs and are susceptible to possible fees if they do not have the right security measures in place.
To protect your business, ensure your payment processor is equipped with built-in security functions and fraud prevention, including:
- End-to-end encryption
- Tokenization
- Digital identification verification
- IP-based access restrictions
Automate Payments
During a crisis, the economy will see a significant reduction in many industries that involve recreational spending, such as travel, entertainment, and hospitality. This means that most payment activity will be directed towards payment processing required to simply “keep the lights on,” so to speak.
However, with more people staying in their homes due to social distancing orders, many are turning to subscription services and will rely on remote payments to pay for streaming services, bills, utilities, and monthly expenses.
It is ideal to use recurring payments in these scenarios, as they automate on-time payments while reducing the amount of communication needed during potential employee absences. You can still maintain a healthy billing and revenue cycle by automating functions such as invoicing via email and text.
Partner with a Payment Processing Provider
It’s crucial that you partner with a payment processing provider equipped to help your business remain operational. They should have the industry expertise to help you navigate the transition to remote payments and be able to provide you with the right tools to accomplish this quickly and easily— before your bottom line suffers.
Your provider should offer real security functions, real savings, and real value. A worthwhile payment processing provider gives your business access to expert customer service and technical support, which is invaluable when navigating times of uncertainty.
Protect Your Business in Times of Crisis
Remote payment processing is what can keep a business open, even when the doors must remain closed. When faced with a pandemic situation, it is imperative that you have the right tools at your disposal that can keep you afloat even while your normal day-to-day operation has been turned on its head.
It is imperative that your business partners with a payments provider that has the solution you need to make it through these difficult times. For more information on remote payment processing and what merchants can do to combat the effects of a global crisis, contact the experts at OmniFund today
