During the last decade, higher education has made a lot of progress in automating eCommerce transactions, gaining the benefits of greater efficiency and improved student satisfaction. However, billing and payments for contract accounts (third-party payments, contract payments, sponsor payments, or whatever you call them) are still, by and large, processed manually. They’re like student payments were ten years ago. Manual. Off-line. Messy. Fortunately, there is new momentum and growing interest in automating contract payments. Consider these points:
- Contract payers are strategic partners. Contract accounts are major accounts. These business relationships represent an opportunity to generate incremental revenue at a time when most institutions are looking for new funding sources. Nurturing your major accounts is smart business. They will only grow in importance during the coming years.
- Contract accounts are complex. Most schools I’ve talked to handle their contract payments as the exception, not the rule. They use manual systems rife with paper files, “off-line” spreadsheets, and challenging reconciliation procedures. If your contract accounts are difficult for you to manage, imagine how frustrating they must be to your students’ sponsors.
- Contract payments have PCI implications. Dependence on manual, paper-intensive processes generally has a negative impact on PCI compliance. The basic rule is: Where there are manual payments, there are spreadsheets … and where there are spreadsheets, there are data security issues and higher potential risk.
Bottom line, your contract accounts can have a big impact on both cash-flow and work flow. Contract payments are the next frontier of business office automation. Treat your sponsors like partners, not payers, and by helping them you’ll help yourself.