For years, pundits and prognosticators have predicted the end of times for checks and cash in consumer transactions. However, the reality has been that checks and cash, while declining in use, are still hanging on at the register with checks even in use for some online transactions. Recently, the restaurant industry has started to lead what may be a transition to a cashless society.
According to a July 30th New York Times article, salad chain Sweetgreen recently stopped accepting cash at several of its 48 restaurants. The chain, which had seen a decrease of cash transactions from 40% to less than 10% over the past nine years, braced for pushback to this new tactic. However, the result is that “barely anyone noticed” the change, and there was no social media backlash or reduction in patronage. As more companies move to transition their billing and invoicing processes to digital delivery and online payment processing, consumers have demonstrated that they are embracing digital payment options. While Sweetgreen’s avoidance of cash or Starbucks use of mobile apps for payments doesn’t signal a watershed moment in a move to a cashless society, it is indicative of consumer comfort levels and the increased willingness of consumers to move towards a more frictionless experience. This is very important in the real of B2C billing and payment processing, as customers increasingly draw their reference points and expectations from their interactions in other settings.
As businesses (billers in particular) look to address the growing demand for online customer interactions, customer experience management, coupled with the ability of businesses to understand and meet customer expectations, should be the driving forces as businesses transform the way they interact with their customers. Businesses must improve their technological capabilities and business processes in order to achieve this lofty goal, but in many cases they aren’t equipped to make this transition. Businesses should decide whether or not they want to take on the challenge of developing and hosting these capabilities (instead of focusing on their core competencies) or work with Hosted Managed Services providers who can help navigate the complex waters of communicating with their customers in the rapidly evolving world of Customer Communications Management.
DataOceans offers hosted customer communications management solutions that help companies across multiple industries improve existing customer communications, including billing and invoicing for print, portal, tablet and phone deliveries. These newly transformed customer communications can be implemented in as little as 90 days without significant involvement of client IT resources and offer interactive experiences, personalization, and highly-targeted ads with a focus on increasing revenue and decreasing costs. Request a demo to learn how we can help your business.
