Mobile commerce is an industry that’s seeing a lot of movement in recent months, with mobile payment and billing solutions being introduced every day it seems. While benefits for consumers are apparent, what are the benefits on the other end of the spectrum- for bill issuers, banks and other financial companies?
A new whitepaper published by Paythru, a mobile payment solutions company, aims to answer that question in its report entitled “Are Mobile Payments the Answer to Getting the Bills Paid During a Downturn,” in which it discusses the many benefits mobile payments provide bill issuers and consumers alike during a down economy.
Paythru makes a case for using mobile payments to decrease costs for bill issuers, provide increased convenience and options for consumers and utilize the technology for better reminders and other aspects to promote more timely payments. Still, the whitepaper suggests some improvements needed in the industry to make long-term viability more feasible.
Micro-payments and the supporting technology are prohibiting large-scale mobile payment solutions, but the walls are rapidly being torn down to allow for increased security and infrastructure. Paythru explains the importance of payment methods being simple, quick and secure for wide-spread consumer adoption.
Being a mobile payment system provider themselves, Paythru lays out 10 criteria bill issuers should consider when reviewing partners;
- How secure is the system? Does it have all necessary levels of compliance? E.g. PCI DSS Level 1
- Does the system allow for both large and small payments?
- Is the system quick to integrate with legacy systems?
- Does the system provide detailed management information which allow communications to be tailored to respond to consumer behavior?
- Is the system flexible enough to allow for tailoring of timing of communications?
- Are charges for the use of the system transparent and affordable?
- How quickly is the mobile payment transferred to the bill issuer’s account?
- Does the system work on all mobile phones and with all bank accounts?
- Does the system ensure that no customer payment information is stored on their phone?
- Is the system simple and easy for customers to use?
We’ll undoubtedly see many mobile payment providers come out of the woodwork as the industry matures, but Paythru is hitting the trend head-on and is hoping to provide awareness of the cause on both levels- for consumers and for financial companies.
