As electronic payments become the norm for radio stations, considerations for how they integrate with traffic systems become more consequential. If these two things live in silos, it creates a lot of manual work for AR. Streamlining this saves time, accelerates funding and ensures accuracy.
Let’s dive into all the benefits of integrating electronic payments with your traffic system.
Realize These Benefits with Integrated Electronic Payments and Traffic
There are many advantages when payments and traffic unite.
Traffic System Automatically Push Invoices to the Electronic Payments Portal
Once your traffic system generates the advertising invoices, they push to your payments portal. If there was no integration, you have to find a workaround or have duplicate invoices, which could cause other problems. In this scenario, it’s one source of truth for your invoices and no extra work.
One System Login for Access to Everything Creates Efficiency
If payments and traffic remain separate, you’ll have to log into each and toggle back and forth. It may seem like a minor inconvenience. Over time, it adds to inefficiencies. When there’s an integration, it’s one sign-in to access account tools, reporting, billing and payment details.
AEs Can Assist with Collections with Real-Time, Accurate Information
If your sales team currently helps with collections, it’s much more cumbersome if payments and traffic aren’t connected. Typically, your AR team would need to run reports and provide them to sales. It’s time-intensive and not up-to-date.
Sellers can have a secure view of past-due invoices for their accounts when there is a connection. With a collections tool, they would be able to:
- Review outstanding amounts and their age.
- Access customer contact information and electronic payment enrollment status.
- Send a guest checkout
- Process a payment.
- Launch an email directly from the platform with a payment request.
Eliminated Duplicate Reconciliation Tasks Boost Productivity
Another pain point when systems lack integration is reconciliation. Your AR team may spend hours and hours each month in the traffic system to ensure payments are applied. When there’s an integration, this can often occur automatically. Think of the time savings this automation would provide!
Streamlined Workflows Lead to Faster Funding
The final benefit on the list is about getting paid quickly. Electronic payments, in general, speed this up compared to paper checks. However, a non-integrated workflow causes delays along the way associated with preparing invoices and receiving payments through a processor outside of your systems. The processor must clear payments, which could take days. Then, you have to enter information into your AR system for reconciliation.
Alternatively, integrated workflows are straightforward. Invoice generation and sending occur automatically. Customers can then pay in one click, and funding can be as fast as the next day. Getting paid faster can lead to more reliable cash flow.
Optimizing Revenue and Efficiency: Electronic Payments + Traffic
The benefits of integration range from improved productivity and efficiency to accelerated funding. All these things help you operate more effectively without added costs or delays. Linking traffic and payments is critical for radio stations that need to do more with less. We can help. Explore how our traffic systems connect with our payments platform, PayNow!
