Think back to a time in your life when you felt like you had more things to do than hours in the day to get them done. Overwhelmed? Exhausted? On your third, dare we say fourth, cup of coffee? Chances are, you are feeling that way on a regular basis. Being a business owner is as exhausting as it is rewarding.

You can’t make more time. But you can make the most of the time you have.

An easy (but impactful) place to start is with better payment tools. After all, payments are at the heart of any enterprise. Accepting and processing payments can be stressful, time-consuming and repetitive if not optimized. Taking an integrated approach may be just the cure to free you from administrative tasks and make room for strategic decisions.

We’ll discuss the pros and cons of integrated payments vs. non-integrated payments and what that means for you and your overall business operations. Read on to learn more about these topics:

  • What sets integrated payment processing apart
  • The cost of sticking with traditional payment processing
  • Integration is a win for you
What are integrated payments anyway?

You may be asking yourself what integrated payments are and what difference they really make. At a high level, an integrated payments solution merges a company’s credit card processing functionality with other existing software capabilities.

The cost of sticking with traditional payment processing

Why do you really need integrated payments? The short answer is to get paid faster and give your customers a more seamless experience — which will conveniently keep your business growing. It sounds like a no-brainer, but there’s much more to it than accepting a variety of payments.

If you currently have a run-of-the-mill, traditional payments setup, you may be dealing with a lot of time-consuming headaches day in and day out. Those issues can affect your bottom line.

How so? Take a look at some of these potential roadblocks.

Reclaim your time

Chances are, you probably don’t have much time to focus on innovation and growth when you’re dealing with slow processes and a full schedule. It’s a harsh reality for many businesses. The solution? Access to better tools frees you up from spending your own time.

With an integrated payments system, you get access to a myriad of benefits tailored to your business needs. This is especially important when it comes to things like equipping your staff to better serve your customers at every touchpoint possible.

Say goodbye to data security stress

IBM reports data breaches in the United States cost more than double the global average.

With our integrated system, you get advanced security features designed with PCI compliance support and breach protection in mind. A good payment processor will offer effective tools that protect your business’ data and customer credit card information. And there’s so much more. Look for these capabilities:

EMV® processing

Protects against counterfeit and stolen cards at point-of-sale thanks to an embedded chip

End-to-end encryption

Designed to render cardholder data and payment information unreadable, encrypted at the device

Tokenization

Replaces cardholder payment data with digital tokens, securely storing sensitive data

If you’re still not sure integrated payments are for you, that’s understandable. Picking a processor is a big commitment, and ensuring you’ve got the right one takes the utmost care. We’d love to connect and answer any lingering questions. Visit https://www.globalpayments.com/ to speak with one of our expert representatives.