Most public sector organisations are looking for ways to keep costs down, cut their debts and avoid the risk of financial insolvency. They’re dealing with tighter budgets and a heightened sense of accountability to taxpayers, with little room for error in terms of spending.
Add to that recent research which shows that 40% of county councils are unsure whether they will be able to balance their budget this year – with this expected to rise to 60% by 2025 – and the scale of the task at hand becomes clear.
Achieving more with less means consolidating core systems and trimming the fat wherever possible. Employee time has never been more valuable, which means finding ways to reduce manual processes and repetitive admin so that people can spend more time driving quality of service and customer satisfaction.
Here are a few expert tips that could support your organisation in navigating constraints and optimising spend over the coming year.
Make the most of automation
Automating reconciliations is one of the best ways to reduce the day-to-day administrative load on your staff and save valuable time. Hours previously spent on manual data entry, processing invoices, resolving discrepancies and chasing late payments can then be reinvested into more valuable, strategic tasks.
Integrating separate payment channels into your main finance system allows teams to see who has paid and who hasn’t, while gaining more control over cash flow across their entire system. This can be a huge help for lean accounting teams with fewer resources and little time.
Automated systems can also send reminders, track responses and even initiate follow-up actions without the need for human intervention. This speeds up the collection process and cuts the chances that an important action will go unchecked.
Payment software solutions can handle invoice receipt, validation and approval workflows, all of which drastically reduces the time it takes to process payments. That means quicker vendor payments and more seamless interactions across your supply chain.
Focus on customer experience
Whether it’s the public or private sector, people in today’s digital age have come to expect slick payment experiences as standard – and anything less can have a major impact on employee or customer engagement.
Slow legacy systems, limited payment options and incompatibility with preferred payment methods are all key factors that determine a good or bad experience. Failing to meet these basic expectations can also lead to issues with payment failures, arrears and increasing debt further down the line.
Frictionless payment software which allows you to accept debit, credit card and other payment options quickly and securely can bring greater customer satisfaction. Ideally, payments that can be easily integrated with your website, CRM or finance software, and that can scale seamlessly as you grow. More and more councils are sharing IT services across multiple authorities, so it makes sense to invest in a system that can support your entire network while saving on licence fees and hosting costs.
Not only does that create a better, more consistent customer experience across authorities, it also makes your budget go a lot further.
Don’t risk non-compliance
Aiming to do more with less shouldn’t lead to cutting corners. Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance regulations are continually changing, so it’s crucial to stay up to date on the latest guidelines to ensure you’ve got all bases covered.
Compliance can be a complex and resource-intensive process for any business handling payment data. If you’re struggling to manage the burden internally, it may be worth researching options to outsource the responsibility to a specialist payments partner. This ensures you’re in the best possible hands to deliver on your compliance obligations.
A reliable payment provider will handle data encryption, secure storage and transaction monitoring, so you won’t need to dedicate internal resources and descope the cost of PCI compliance. Not only does this save time and money, it also reduces the threat of data breaches and fines.