Do you make purchases on your desktop computer when you’re sitting in your office? Or do you shop via some app on your smartphone? When doing one, have you wondered why you can’t do it on the other device? Or has there been information on the other device you wish you had access to? Perhaps it is not so much the information but the functionality that you wish existed on both options.
That time may be coming. People who monitor the big tech and payment companies (Google, Apple, PayPal, etc.) have found that Google appears to be preparing its various Android apps to function on its Chrome operating system. This has many implications, but the one we think will impact public entities and higher education institutions the most is for making payments.
Public entities and higher ed facilities do not sell tangible products like clothing or furniture. When people make payments to these institutions it is for services. As user experience making digital payments becomes easier and safer, more payments will migrate to electronic means and away from cash and checks. This is great news as electronic transfers can be cheaper and easier.
This trend is not going away. It may not be the way organizations have “always done it”—meaning how they’ve received payments—but it will be the way you’ll want to do it and, likely someday, need to do it.
It’s time to look at your systems. Do they have the flexibility to add additional payment options (whether receipts or disbursements)? Are your constituents already asking if other payment options are available? The requests may come slowly at first, but you can be sure they will come.
Will you be ready?
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