One of the most long-standing pain points plaguing government agencies is the customer experience. Payment processing is a critical touchpoint that directly impacts users, so it’s more important than ever to offer government payment portals that provide citizens a modern, seamless experience.
Even if government organizations attempt to streamline their payment processes, the options for doing so are limited. The hunt for secure government payment solutions can be a difficult one. To serve their constituents effectively, government agencies need a secure payment processing system designed to address their unique challenges.
The Need for Digital Government Payment Portal Solutions
According to a recent survey conducted on behalf of the American Bankers Association, 94% of consumers value the convenience of using credit cards for payments, and yet the Federal Reserve’s current payment study reveals that Americans mailed over 11.2 billion checks in 2021 alone.
Even with all those checks, people also prefer—and expect—modern government payment portal solutions, including options for credit cards, debit cards, autopay from their bank accounts, and mobile wallets.
Government agencies often use outdated practices, with slow processes and manual reconciliation on the back end. This results in more effort for constituents on the front end, and for some, this even means driving or walking to their local government office.
Government payment portals:
- Reduce hidden costs in administration, file storage, and more.
- Eliminate errors resulting from manual data entry.
- Significantly reduce costs to constituents (eliminating stamps, envelopes, transportation, etc.).
- Save time spent on reconciliation.
- Reduce the risk of payment fraud.
- Increase security.
Government employees need the right tools and technology to improve their processes and better serve the community, while citizens need options that simplify their payment experience.
Use cases that can benefit from implementing a digital payment platform include:
Taxes
A user-friendly interface, flexible payment options, and secure transactions protect sensitive data. Under the hood, agencies can monitor and manage tax collection to enhance data cohesion and operational efficiency.
Utilities
CORE’s automated EBPP platform makes it easier for citizens and businesses to pay for their utilities. Our government payment portal can manage recurring payments, send reminders, and provide multiple payment options to maximize convenience for every individual.
Permitting
Whether it is for land, zoning, signs, or building, government agencies need to handle payments with fees based on the type of permit or the size of a project. CORE makes it possible to automatically manage those payments.
Courts
Nobody likes having to pay a traffic ticket, fine, or penalty. But, offering multiple digital payment options and a 24/7 self-managed solution makes it a little less painfu and a lot more convenient.
Tags
Provide a self-service tag payment solution for citizens. Everyone appreciates the ability to skip the long wait in line to renew licenses and tags, and they’re always more likely to pay on time when there’s less of a scheduling hassle.
Recreation
From major community event planning to athletic programs, our government payment portal makes it painless for individuals to pay for special programs and sporting events using their mobile devices.
Each government agency department faces the impact of slow, manual processes and the potential for human error.
If you’re seeking electronic government payment solutions, you’ll find all the best options here at CORE—with options aplenty.
We’re going to break down the benefits, review top options for implementation, and discuss the reasons having a government payment portal for citizens will drastically improve their experience.
The Benefits of Government Payment Portals
With powerful advantages and varied implementation options, establishing a secure government payment portal can dramatically improve citizens’ experience.
Though they serve the public sector, government agencies share many of the same challenges as private businesses. At the same time, they also have unique requirements and responsibilities. For example, government agencies must be responsive to taxpayers who hold them accountable, an obligation not shared by private companies.
And while we know the solution you choose has to fit your specifications and integration needs, we also understand it is equally important to provide a stellar experience for your customers.
6 Key Benefits for Constituents
Your constituents increasingly expect modern, convenient interactions with state and local government agencies. To accommodate people’s needs, implement a secure payment portalthat is easy for citizens to use from any device and at any time.
The benefits for constituents include:
- Providing 24/7 accessibility: Constituents no longer have to make arrangements to make payments during office hours. Convenience means making payments anywhere—and anytime!
- Offering more timely assistance: Citizens who need in-person assistance no longer get lost in the shuffle. Government employees can give their full attention to those who need it most.
- Increasing public trust and confidence in an organization: Multiple payment options accessed via an easy-to-use user interface build the community’s trust and confidence in the agency. They associate a smooth experience with the agency’s efficient management of processes.
- Automating systems makes triggering payment reminders easy: Fewer missed payments are a plus for the agency and citizens alike. Government payment portals allow users to receive notifications to help them avoid missing a payment deadline.
- Protecting transactions with added security: Physical mail can get lost or stolen, but a secure payment portalprovides your constituents with private, encrypted transactions that protect personally identifiable data and financial information.
- Customizing payment plans: With a digital government payment portal, citizens can set up reliable recurring payments or installments so they never have to worry about being late for a payment.
6 Key Benefits for Government Organizations
Prioritizing the customer experience has several advantages for government agencies. In addition to improving the experience for constituents, digital government payment portals also offer organizations another set of benefits.
- Electronic payments take less time than waiting on paper checks to clear.
- Employees are freed up to focus on other initiatives.
- You can speed up the process without sacrificing security.
- Metrics and reporting allow for increased visibility.
- Reports allow you to forecast the future.
- There’s less room for error in accounting and reconciliation.
How These Benefits Impact Specific Government Roles
CORE’s government payment portal solutions uniquely enhance individual government entities in unique ways:
- Comptroller and Auditors: CORE’s solutions provide security through advanced data encryption, custom reporting and analytics, real-time audit trails, transparency, and compliance.
- IT Departments and CTOs: We help IT departments optimize technology resources to facilitate improved communication and collaboration, and we help CTOs improve organizational efficiency through strategic partnerships, research, and development initiatives.
- Treasurers and Clerks: CORE offers financial management for compliance and better processes while providing citizen payment solutions across all channels.
- City Council Members and Managers: We provide automated reconciliation, PCI-compliant software, and improved user experience.
- Community Event Managers: Our payment solutions support streamlined event payment processing, mobile ticket scans, and transaction security.
4 Secure Government Payment Portal Solutions
If you’re interested in implementing a customer payment portal for your government agency, the best options include a solution with these priorities:
- Automation helps government agencies provide fast, secure processing for constituents.
- Convenience lets constituents have a choice to pay online via mobile devices whenever and wherever they wish.
- Modern processes give citizens an easy-to-use interface and the option of using a browser-based payment portal or a mobile app for real-time transactions.
- Accuracy comes from CORE’s government payment portal, which validates payment data, prevents errors, and reconciles payments with ledger entries.
- Security from a PCI Level 1 encryption provides the highest level of data security encryption to protect sensitive citizen data.
Here are four of the best electronic government payment solutions for customer payment portals.
1. Sourcewell
Sourcewell is CORE’s solution partner for fee management and online payment portals, offering competitive purchasing power for government, education, and non-profit organizations. They provide products and services that include:
- Inbound revenue management
- Integrated POS system
- Citizen engagement
- Frictionless eCommerce
- Merchant services
- Payment processing
- Revenue automation
- Self-service digital payments
- Optimize inbound collections
- Bank reconciliation
- Analytics and reporting
This all-in-one, secure solution can offer the convenience and efficiency your organization needs.
2. EBPP
An EBPP customer portal is for electronic bill presentment and payment, and it’s a great way to reduce friction in the payments process. CORE’s EBPP solution provides an enriched self-service customer engagement platform.
It integrates fully with other billing systems and offers a convenience that other platforms struggle to match. You can offer a comprehensive range of payment channels, including (but not limited to):
- Online portals: Web-based platforms that facilitate digital access to billing, invoices, and payments online.
- IVR: Interactive Voice Response lets users interact with automated phone systems using voice commands.
- Mobile: Constituents can use mobile apps from payment platforms with convenient features like bill reminders, payment history, and secure processing.
- Text-2-Pay: SMS can facilitate secure payments in the form of responding to payment reminders, or prompts.
Rather than cluttering the system with 20 different payment options, CORE’s EBPP solution streamlines the process and makes it easy to gain visibility over all channels. This all-in-one hosting solution facilitates the security, seamless integration, and ease you’re looking for.
3. IVR
IVR stands for “interactive voice response,” which means it is an automated, over-the-phone payment processing system. CORE’s world-class, fully-hosted IVR reduces the strain on your staff that comes from a flood of calls. We provide multilingual real-time account data 24/7/365.
With CORE’s payment processing, you can send notifications to your constituents about payments due, subscription renewals, appointments, and other details.
4. Text-2-Pay
Text-2-Pay is a newer mobile payment processing solution that’s gaining a lot of traction. It works by texting a link to your customer’s mobile phone number, which takes them to a secure online payment portal.
CORE’s text message payment system helps citizens receive e-bills via text or email. Without requiring a credit card reader, organizations can allow users to make payments simply by responding to messages.
Find Government Payment Portal Solutions with CORE
Billing and payment are the most frequent customer touchpoints today for public sector organizations. Providing modern, streamlined, and secure payment processing solutions is more essential than ever. Customer payment portals are a way to bring added ease and accuracy to your system while improving the customer experience.
CORE is a leading government payment solution provider. We offer not only flexible payment options but also unparalleled security. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help elevate your organization’s billing systems.
