Your role in facilitating quick, thorough and successful implementation of your automated payments system

As financial controller of your organisation, it’s in your best interests to get your new automated payments system implemented quickly. That way, you can start earning a return on investment straight away by immediately reducing payments-related administrative costs, improving inbound cash flow and ultimately boosting your organisation's bottom line profitability.

The best way to ensuring a quick, thorough and successful implementation of your new automated payments system is to work in collaboration with your IT department and Ezidebit. But first, get yourself feeling confident about your role in the implementation proceedings by familiarising yourself with what your role will entail before, during and after implementation day. Your role in facilitating quick, thorough and successful implementation of your automated payments system Project management: it's easier than you think.

We have 17 years of experience implementing Ezidebit automated payments systems into countless organisations from across a range of industries. With this experience behind us, we can confidently tell you that implementing your new Ezidebit automated payments system will be much easier than you expect! You personally will not need to do any of the technical side of implementation – all of that happens behind the scenes at Ezidebit in consultation with your IT department.

Your role as project manager is to oversee and communicate implementation timeframes and impacts to key stakeholders, manage your customers' expectations, keep your budget on track and flag any potential impacts that you think we need to be aware of. This is all standard project management diligence that you probably already apply to your business-as-usual work every day.

Managing customer expectations: communicate early, openly and regularly.

Your customers are probably already paying their insurance, telecommunications and other utilities by direct debit so paying your organisation in the same way won't be a new concept for them. In fact, your customers are highly likely to positively embrace your new direct debit payment method as a more convenient and cash flow friendly option for themselves, too. However, even if you expect your customers to welcome the shift to direct debit payments, it's still important that you actively manage their expectations and ensure that they're prepared for the change ahead of time. It’s good stakeholder management to keep everyone who will be impacted by the change well-informed – and the key to this is early, open and regular communication. In particular, make sure your customers know:

• That your organisation will be switching to direct debit on X date.
• The benefits that direct debit will bring for them, such as added payment convenience.
• What they need to do to get up and running with your new direct debit payment method, such as filling out and returning any forms.
• The name, phone number and email address of the appropriate contact within your organisation who can answer any questions they may have.
• Achieving long-term success: train your staff.
• Your staff are a crucial factor in achieving a successful implementation and return on investment of your new automated payments system in the long-term. As the chief administrators of your new automated payments system, it’s essential that their user experience is pleasant and efficient – otherwise you run the risk of your new solution falling down as a result of incorrect execution by staff.
• Make sure your staff are ready to positively embrace your new automated payments system by sending them through your provider's training sessions before implementation day and refreshing them again afterwards.

Start preparing your implementation checklist right now!

Preparing a comprehensive implementation checklist in consultation with your IT department and Ezidebit will enable you to facilitate a quick, thorough and successful implementation of your new Ezidebit automated payments system. In fact, you can start preparing your implementation checklist right now! Set up an implementation call with Ezidebit and your IT department today.