Having an integrated payment solution is the process of connecting a payment solution to a particular software tool such as a CRM, accounting software, and ecommerce shopping cart, website platform, invoicing solution or an ERP just to name a few.

There are lots of benefits to setting up an integrated payment solution, like time savings, streamlining account setup and reduction in overall operating cost as a result. 

Let’s take a look at how this whole process works, what some of the costs and overall benefits are and how to go about setting up an integrated system.

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INTRO

So, If it’s a true integrated solution, the merchant account is directly connected to the software solution in question, through a payment gateway.

Having an integrated solution improves the payment collection process for the company and people using the software that holds the integration and before we jump into the demonstration it’s important to understand… 

I’ll go through a sample to show you the payment flow in a minute but first let’s look at

Integrated solution sample coming up in T-minus “X”  

Who is it for, who benefits from an integrated payment solution and generally who are the main players. 

Well, there’s 4 main parties involved and everyone benefits. Things get easier, more efficient and more secure with an integrated solution. 

The parties involved are: 

1. The software company (or the software tool) that has the integration.  (developers)  
2. The business who uses the software 
3. The integrated payment solution provider. This specifically is the payment gateway and the merchant account along with all the security and other technology that comes with it.
4. The customer of the business using the integrated solution (this would be the customer or the person making the payment who gets the experience that is set up by the other parties involved) 

if you are the software company, a programmer, or developer,  or the business using the software software, and you’re searching for a SPECIFIC integrated solution, check the links in the description for resources to get in touch with me or another team member who can help you find the right solution. 

Alright… here’s the example. 

— all the players… and the transaction flow… and how it all works. 

For this example let’s use a hypothetical accounting software called:  Hippo Tax

And the Company Using Hippo Tax:

Blue Shark Plumbing (also hypothetical and made up) 

So to map this out, let’s start with this payment payment scenario:

Blue Shark Plumbing accepts a payment and in a NON-integrated solution,  the payment comes directly  into the merchant account. 

It may come through a hosted payment page that’s part of the merchant account OR as a key-entered transaction via a virtual terminal… that part doesn’t matter… either way, it the payment goes ONLY to the merchant account. 

Then, for Blue Shark Plumbing, double entry has to take place because  ideally they’d like to have that payment logged in their Hippo Tax accounting software. 

So the only way to do that is by manual entry.

Thus, there’s a separation between the Hippo Tax software and the payment that came in as it was processed on a merchant account that Blue Shark Plumbing uses. 

On a side note:  It doesn’t matter if it’s accounting software or CRM software, if the payment solution is not connected and integrated to the software in question, there is going to be double entry.  Okay, so that’s an important element to the concept of what makes an integrated payment. 

All non-integrated solutions will require double entry because the software programs in question are not talking to each other. 

So by contrast, an integrated solution, takes this (double entry) separation and closes or entirely eliminates that double entry gap. 

It connects the payment solution to the software and reconciling the entire payment collection process becomes in most cases 100% automated. The payment will get registered as paid inside of the accounting software. 

So in our scenario here, with an  integrated payment solution scenario… 

Blue Shark starts using Hippo Tax exclusively to collect payments, because the merchant account is integrated on the “back end”. 

Blue Shark will use the Hippo Tax invoice links, hosted invoice pages, and virtual terminal environment. 

No more merchant account software will be used because Hippo Tax provides that.  

Additionally, the checkout experience for the end user (i.e. the customer making the payment) becomes simple, easy and because you as the business owner are using a software that has integrated payments, you can now control the payment experience to match the environment of your website!

So as a business owner, why is this important to know and understand? 

Every time there is a payment collected, there is a cost of processing it, whether it be time paid to staff, banking fees, or the electronic merchant account fee. 

The more efficient your software can be the better off you’ll be. 

Important to note. 

At the beginning of the video I mentioned that Integrated Payment Solutions are for invoice scenarios as we’ve outlined today, but it’s also applicable for CRM solutions like Keap,ActiveCampaign, Zoho Hubspot and more. 

If you’re a software developer and you’re at the point of considering an integrated solution for your software, as shown here today,  check the links in the description to schedule a exploratory call. 

There’s more than the obvious benefits that’s I’ve mentioned here today, you’ll want to take a look at what those types of programs entail.  

So an you can see, having an integrated payment solutions saves time and money while reducing and eliminating errors that may be a result of double entry. 

Payment security is a responsibility of every company that is accepting payments. 

Using a secure payment gateway with an integrated solution ensures cardholder data is safe during the transaction process.

If you learned something new today please consider giving this video a thumbs up and sharing it with a friend. 

And if you want more videos that outline payment page options just like these as well as well as helpful tips and tutorials related to payment processing, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any new videos when they’re posted. 

I publish tutorial style trainings, how-to videos, and informational videos that are on the topics of payment processing, Merchant accounts, invoicing and other software tools AND payment workflows that tie all of them together!

I’m Brian manning and I’ll see you next time.