Consumers’ needs are constantly changing, but one thing remains the same—they expect an outstanding user experience (UX) every step of the way, from customer support to online payments. When it comes to making payments online, customers want to pay their bills whenever and wherever they want, and on the device of their choice, without the hassle of roadblocks like a one-time registration. In fact, lack of exceptional UX in the payments industry can lead to reduced customer satisfaction, lower electronic payment adoption rates, and increased staff workloads.

As organizations become more familiar with the benefits of SaaS, or Software as a Service, the demand for this delivery model is growing. SaaS, a software model that can deliver automatic updates, enhancements and security patches without cumbersome updates or maintenance, lessens the burden on internal IT teams while allowing your organization to stay ahead of industry trends.  To take advantage of the growing client demand for this model, many software providers claim to deliver SaaS applications, when they are actually offering a traditional hosted or on-premises software solution with web-based access. This practice is known as cloudwashing.

If you have ever purchased software for your organization, you have likely heard the term SaaS, or Software as a Service, used to describe a variety of solutions. SaaS, or Software as a Service, is a licensing and delivery model that offers customers all the benefits of an application without requiring continuous software upkeep by in-house staff or a third party. SaaS applications deliver the latest and greatest through the Internet to a computer or mobile device.

For many utility companies, billing customers and collecting payments can be a challenge. Specifically, organizations struggle with keeping costs down and improving efficiencies as a result of:

• High costs associated with printing and mailing a large number of paper bills
• Significant amounts of time spent manually collecting and processing payments

A go-it-alone approach to healthcare payments does not work, especially in a climate where high-deductible health plans are the norm. No matter what industry you’re in, collecting payments for services performed can be challenging. On top of that, holding a growing number of outstanding invoices is detrimental to cash flow. Strong partner ecosytems in healthcare help reduce the risk of unpaid bills. The healthcare space is no stranger to unpaid bills, research shows that 137 million Americans struggle with medical debt. One of the most common reasons patients don’t pay their bills is that they were not offered enough payment options and could not afford to pay their entire bill at once.

In the insurance industry, there are several key challenges that organizations need to address to remain competitive and keep policyholder satisfaction high, such as:

• Improving policyholder retention and satisfaction
• Ensuring accurate account reconciliations
• Keeping up with innovation

In 2020, providing a great customer experience is about meeting customers' ever-changing expectations. Customer experience has become a primary differentiator for many companies, and this extends to the payment experience. Your customers want to be able to make payments any time, anywhere. Your organization should enable them to self-serve on the channels they use most often – whether that's online, over the phone, or even text.

Creating a positive user experience is about more than your customers – it’s about driving quantifiable business results for your organization. When it comes to online payment systems or Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) platforms, the user experience is one of the most important factors in encouraging customer engagement. And when an EBPP solution is not designed to deliver a positive user experience, the negative results of this can be widespread.

The primary challenge most organizations have when it comes to selecting an online payment system is that, on paper, many solutions look alike. They have similar features – omni-channel payment options, paperless billing, email notifications – and functionality. The problem with comparing online payment systems this way, however, is that a feature or function checklist doesn’t paint the full picture of a system’s performance.

When it comes to selecting an Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) platform for your organization, the list of criteria you can use to evaluate your options is seemingly endless. From product features, to customer experience and registration, to integration with software and electronic payment adoption rates – there are countless categories on which to base your decision.