How FinTechs View Integrated Receivables In 2020

FinTechs are watching the latest trends in integrated receivables as a new year begins.

The first trend that DadeSystems has noticed is that the cost of processing payments is rising, and that is for a few reasons, according to Chief Marketing Officer Tom Berdan. He told PYMNTS in an interview that it is “more expensive to bill and collect payments today than it has been in the past” — even for paper-based payments.

At the same time, a shift to electronic payments causes more reconciliation challenges, so companies are spending more time reconciling and processing them than they do even for paper payments. If they don’t use automation, companies dedicate more people to the reconciliation challenge — but automation can significantly help.

The second trend the FinTech has noticed is that payers are seeking many different payment options. Berdan said payment portals are “becoming more commonplace” for payers to make payments to their suppliers. These types of technologies provide a better customer experience to the payer.

After all, the payers can log into the portal, see open invoices, and make or schedule payments when they want. The biller, or the corporation that is receiving the payment, attains many benefits from a payment portal.

“It reduces their cost of payments significantly,” Berdan said, as each payment that comes through the portal is essentially reconciled, and the payment flows directly to the biller.

And, when users log into portals as payers, they can see open invoices, so they aren’t calling a biller about, say, a misplaced invoice. Instead, the payment portal provides 24/7 access to that information for the payer, who can also schedule and make payments. As a result, that technology will drive down the cost of processing payments.

The third trend the company sees is increased use of mobile technology in collecting payments and an innovation that Berdan called almost a “pop-up point of sale.”

The company, in one case, has a customer that is a manufacturer in the lumber supply business and must periodically set up a temporary location at the construction site of a new housing development.

The company might have a representative there for a couple of weeks, or maybe once a week, who is collecting payments by using mobile technology. Before the customer used mobile, they didn’t have any technology; they didn’t have a physical structure with a telephone line and all those capabilities. Now, they take a picture of the check.

With automation and the latest technological advances, FinTechs can help companies lower the cost per payment and improve customer service or the customer experience as a whole.