Accounts Receivable: a claim against a debtor, carried on open account, usually limited to debts due from the sale of goods and services (from dictionary.com)
It’s a given: a business offers a product or service, compensation must be collected from the customer. In the past, bills would be mailed, checks written and mailed back, and the accounts receivables department is happy. But with today’s instant-access technology, that method is virtually gone.
One popular method today involves merely picking up the phone, tapping a few numbers or saying a few words, and voila! Account settled.
Otherwise known as Interactive Voice Response, or IVR, this method of collecting payments from customers has become a mainstay in the business industry.
“With IVR, if a customer has a bill to pay, they can call in and pay it from anywhere at any time without having to speak to a live representative,” said iCheckGateway.com’s vice president Chris Hall. “IVR is ideal for a variety of industry types. It has been proven to be very efficient for utility providers, municipalities, doctors offices, dentist offices, landscapers, property managers, and more.”
Different deployments offer a variety of ways a customer can interact with IVR. iCheckGateway.com offers plenty of options: from the basic payment-only option to more advanced, data-driven versions.
A basic call to a merchant’s unique IVR number would begin with a query asking if the caller desires to initiate payment via a bank account withdrawal or a credit card. Easy-to-understand prompts guide the customer through a straightforward, streamlined experience.
“Advanced versions of IVR are fully customizable to meet a merchant’s specific needs,” Hall said. “It is all according to how much data they want to collect while the payer is on the phone call. Merchants can even upload invoices so when the customer is on the phone, the IVR system will know exactly how much they owe.”
As an iCheckGateway.com client, all payments (including IVR) flow securely into the Online Terminal, allowing for efficient reporting and records keeping.
“Our IVR feature implements the high security standards we are known for, including data encryption,” Hall said. “When the customer enters their payment data via IVR, iCheckGateway.com securely processes the transaction and sensitive payment data is encrypted. iCheckGateway.com is also PCI-compliant.”
Support for English and Spanish are available by default, but additional language support can be added as needed.
To learn more about IVR and the myriad of iCheckGateway.com’s technology-driven solutions, including custom payment portals, QuickBooks Plugin, check verification, email invoicing, recurring billing and more, click here.
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