Introducing mobility technology can be a freeing choice. No longer tethered, you are free to take your business to nearly anywhere you would like. Whether it is walking the aisles to seek customer interaction, or strolling up to diners to mingle, having mobile technology in place ensures that you can do this without missing anything important. This is where a mobile business payment system can help.
An often overlooked aspect of using a mobile business approach in business is the mobile business payment system. Cash drawers are too heavy to hit the road with you, and will place you at risk of being robbed or experiencing a break-in. Credit card terminals, long a standard piece of equipment for many businesses, can only go as far as the cords that keep them connected.
So how does a business with its eye on full mobility address the problem of payment acceptance? Equipping yourself with flexible options is a start, but what about security and usability? Also, can your mobile payment option seamlessly integrate into your POS software? These questions serve to form a foundation of an effective and responsive mobile payment solution, which can be further enhanced by developing a foundation of knowledge around a few key items.
A Mobile Business Payment System Requires a Mobile Technology Backbone
The ability to accept payments from anywhere your business operates, whether from an aisle or a street corner, is becoming the default expectation of consumers. But in order to accomplish this level of payment flexibility, you must have in place a foundation of tech that is conducive to the successful integration of a mobile business payment system.
Having a POS platform in place that includes the integration of mobile payments is the ideal scenario. The data you obtain during a transaction can easily be stored and reported against, saving you valuable time and effort. You also achieve granular controls and monitoring for improved product inventory, the generation of predictive statistics, and the ability to automate most aspects of staff management and customer rewards programs.
Adaptable Payment Option Architecture Aids in Attracting Customers
A key characteristic of introducing mobile payment options is the ability to engage with customers anytime, anywhere. Opening the doors on both additional payment options and the ability to accept payments in-person or from an app is game-changing. When mobile devices are introduced as part of this new payment strategy, your staff gains the freedom to move around your business.
They can engage the customers on their own turf, removing the need for a customer to seek out staff for assistance. Also, staff can perform the previously time-consuming actions of checking product inventory, searching for alternative products, or drop shipping out of stock items to the customer’s doorstep, all without the need to leave the customer alone. This next level of customer service you can provide will improve customer retention.
This also presents you with the opportunity to engage in an omni-channel business model. QSRs, cafes, and restaurants can allow its customers to place orders and pay for them via an app. Retailers can present their inventory online and allow customers to place orders for pickup or shipping long after you turned off the lights for the night. The increased payment options you can offer eliminates the worry about losing a sale because of a payment method you cannot support.
Wading Through the Glut of Payment Processors
This is perhaps the most costly and least understood of a mobile business payment system across the board. Payment processors are rarely fully transparent about all of the terms and conditions you have signed up for until a violation or an excess has occurred. This leads to cost overruns, makes budgets and financial projections useless, and can hamper your ability to grow.
When you make the decision to turn to a mobile payment solution, you must have a payment processor that is flexible in terms and in payment types they will process. For example, running a cafe in an area where potential clients largely rely on tap-to-pay cards and mobile wallets will have a difficult time if the payment processor is not able to accept these payments. As the technology around payment types evolves, so must you.
Using a Mobile Business Payment System to Optimize Processes
Leveraging the options that mobile payments will present to your business will lead to deeper levels of optimization and a clearer picture around where your revenue is going. The devices required to accept mobile payments provide you with flexible options in all areas of your business. This provides you with valuable information that can be used to make pinpoint improvements in your revenue stream.
POS solutions that offer mobile functionalities will provide you with an app. As we touched on earlier, this app can be used for customer service interactions. But what about internal processes? How can mobile payment apps allow you to put into place stricter controls around accounting, inventory, or payroll? This gets accomplished through two key features: accessibility and data.
Any apps that are a part of your POS mobility solution will provide access to your business beyond customer interactions. Staff can easily view or request changes to their schedules. Your staff can also submit time tracking information, or easily make tax withholding changes. You gain a one-stop tool for devising updated product inventory strategies, thanks to sales reports that are accessed by a few finger taps on a screen.
Letting the Experts Drive Your Business Mobile Payment System
The evidence is growing that mobile payment acceptance will give you important enhancements that step beyond just payments. While this is not exclusive to all-inclusive POS solutions, the simple fact is that integrating a POS system that already has features to support mobile payments will give you some distinct advantages.
Getting the most out of a mobile-friendly POS system will require an intense review of all areas of your business. This quickly becomes too complicated for it to be a do-it-yourself project, which is why asking for help from an experienced POS partner is vital to success. It is important that the POS expert you choose have experience in your business sector, and can present demonstrated knowledge around available mobile POS solutions.
Making a move into the mobility features that are now available in POS solutions requires expert guidance to ensure all areas of your business are covered. The way talech uses demonstrated success to identify and develop a modern, feature-rich POS solution allows you to rest easy and leave the driving to us. Sign up today for a free demo to see how talech can guide you along the path to mobility.