Navigating the Complexities of Payment Processing: Why Your Business Needs a Consulting Firm 

Navigating the complexities of payment processing involves more than just sending money from customer to business. It requires complex technology that’s constantly evolving.

When choosing a consultant, look for a track record of success. Ask for a portfolio and list of brands they’ve worked with. Then, contact those businesses to find out how satisfied they were with the results.

Cost-Effectiveness

With the growth of e-commerce and high customer demand for online payment options, payment processing has become a high-priority concern for businesses. This process involves approving and settling non-cash payments, such as credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, and international ACH transactions.

To meet this increasing demand, businesses must offer maximum flexibility and strong security standards when accepting payments. This is made possible by leveraging a reliable and cost-effective payment processor.

Many credit card processing consultants offer to negotiate with their client’s credit card processors on behalf of the business to secure lower rates and fees. However, this can be costly in the long run as most unaffiliated credit card processing consultants are paid a percentage of the savings they generate for their clients monthly for their contract term.

Because of this, they are incentivized to produce large amounts of savings for their clients rather than working on smaller projects with more minor results. As a result, their work is often inefficient and lacks creativity.

Time-Saving

As the pace of innovation in payments continues to accelerate, businesses are suffocated by the number of new systems and commercial contracts they must deploy and manage. This is a big problem because it deprives them of time they could be used to make real progress on optimizing their payments operations.

The good news is that working with a payment consulting firm can be a great way to cut through this complexity. A consulting firm can help you tame your payments data, extract valuable insights and turn them into a decisive strategic advantage that supports a better customer experience and drives business growth.

A good consulting firm can also save you money. Most consultants work with many clients and can be more cost-effective than bringing in a salaried employee with the same skillset.

Insightful Solutions

While a payment processing transaction may seem simple to the customer (swiping their card at a POS or clicking “pay now” on an online checkout), several steps and triggers occur behind the scenes to complete the transaction. A consulting firm can help you understand these steps and how they work, which will allow you to better prepare for accepting payments in the future.

Whether credit cards, debit cards, mobile wallets, e-wallets, or cryptocurrency, modern customers have become accustomed to a seamless, convenient, and secure online payment experience. As a result, businesses need to ensure they can meet these expectations with high levels of security and exceptional customer service.

Often, this means taking a granular approach to optimize their payments operation and investing in point solutions that address specific schemes or compliance obligations. While this can provide short-term gains, it can also create a complex landscape that’s difficult to manage and ultimately limits the ability to extract valuable insights. By working with a consulting firm, you can ensure that your payment processing is as simplified as possible.

Independence

Often, businesses looking to grow their payment operations tend to adopt a more tactical than holistic approach. They find new technology and solutions marketed as solving specific challenges or opportunities; then, they deploy those systems without considering the broader impact on their business.

As a result, many payment operations become suffocated in complexity. The more systems a business requires to integrate, the harder it is to eke out even minor improvements across their business.

This is particularly true when reducing a business’s credit card processing costs. Unaffiliated consultants that aren’t tied to processors can provide unbiased guidance when lowering a client’s unavoidable interchange fees. In contrast, affiliated consultants generate income by referring clients to particular credit card processors, creating an inherent bias toward the processors they promote. They also charge a higher rate for their services. This means they’ll keep more of the savings they can produce for their clients. This model isn’t sustainable for consultants seeking to build long-term client relationships.

Creativity

Many steps are involved in business-to-business (B2B) transactions, from showcasing products to shipping bulky merchandise. However, one of the most crucial is collecting payment after a customer buys your goods. This is why businesses need to have a solid B2B payments strategy in place.

Consulting firms follow an established procedure when delivering their services to clients. They first publish research and hold conferences; then, they use their network of contacts to find potential clients that could benefit from their guidance – turning those relationships into sales by giving a presentation or speaking at an event.

Then, throughout a project, consultants work closely with a point person the client assigns to coordinate with them. This isn’t typically a C-suite executive but an employee who works with them daily. This approach helps maintain consistency and reduce risk for the client. It also limits the time senior executives must spend on a project, allowing them to focus more on other projects. In short, it’s a win-win for everyone involved.