Driven by the technology that shapes citizens’ daily lives—whether through online transactions, mobile devices, or efficient customer service across multiple channels—the private sector is increasingly influencing how individuals expect to interact with their local government agencies.

In today’s technology-driven world, citizens expect simplicity and convenience in all aspects of life, and their interactions with their local government organizations are not an exception. A recent study by the Springbrook Research Institute, which surveyed nearly 1,000 people about their experiences with local government online services, found that an overwhelming 98% of U.S. citizens believe their government should prioritize delivering top-tier user experiences.

This is especially true for mundane tasks like paying bills, where citizens prefer the ease and efficiency of online transactions. In fact, 71% of those surveyed indicate that their ideal method of payment is online or through an app, and 63% have already made payments through a website. Whether paying for utilities, licenses, permits, or other government services, citizens want the convenience of paying with just a few clicks, the flexibility to pay across multiple devices, and the ease of accessing their account information and billing history. 

However, despite the adoption of online payment solutions by many organizations, only 37 out of 991 survey respondents reported being satisfied with the payment options offered by their local government. Their feedback suggests significant room for improvement: citizens are looking for easier navigation (46%), better access to their account data and billing history (43%), and better payment options (40%).

Improvements Citizens Want to See in Local Government Payment Solutions

The private sector has set a high bar with instant, convenient online access. When government solutions fail to meet these expectations, citizen satisfaction declines. As Springbrook Research Institute Director Steve Lundin outlined, “If you’re expecting one or two clicks to get you where you want to go because that’s what you’re seeing elsewhere, and you go to a site that looks like it was designed in 1998, you can begrudgingly suffer through it, you pay it, but you’re just not going to be happy.” 

“If you’re expecting one or two clicks to get you where you want to go because that’s what you’re seeing elsewhere, and you go to a site that looks like it was designed in 1998, you can begrudgingly suffer through it, you pay it, but you’re just not going to be happy.” 

Steve Lundin 

Director, Springbrook Research Institute

When asked which services they would like to see, 44% of residents pointed to billing solutions, highlighting the need for improvements in payment processes. According to Lundin, how citizens feel about routine, non-optional services like paying bills, can be indicative of their overall satisfaction with how a government organization is serving its residents.

Outdated billing systems not only affect citizen satisfaction but also create frustrations and inefficiencies within the organization. Older systems usually require extensive manual processing, diverting time and energy from more important tasks and projects. When a billing platform is cumbersome or requires extensive manual entry, human errors and cases of missing information become more common as staff try to keep up with transactions. Additionally, outdated systems pose cybersecurity risks, lacking the advanced protections offered by modern, cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions. Outdated solutions are also raising important cybersecurity concerns, as they do not offer the state-of-the-art protection of that modern, cloud-based SaaS solutions are known for.

But where outdated solutions fall short, modern payment systems offer local government organizations opportunities to streamline their payment processes, improve their collection rate, reduce customer service costs, and boost citizen satisfaction.  

How Modern Payment Solutions Help

Improving Your Collection Rate

Many local government organizations continue to struggle with late or delinquent payments. This challenge not only delays critical revenue, but adds to your team’s workload as well, as tracking down and managing these overdue accounts often requires significant effort. Considering that incoming payments are a main source of revenue for many government organizations, delayed or missed payments can put a significant strain on the any organization’s budget. 

Modern payment solutions, such as Xpress Bill Pay, can help improve collection rate by offering easy, convenient payment solutions for citizens via credit, debit, or check. When payments are easy to make, citizens are more likely to follow through. Self-service options, such as an online portal available 24/7, allows residents to make payments when it is the most convenient, whether that is late at night when the kids are already asleep or during the weekend. Not being dependent on an agency’s opening hours provides them with the flexibility they need to pay their bills on their own schedule. 

Meeting citizens on their preferred payment platforms can also have a significant impact on your organization’s collection rate. For example, citizens who are often on the go may find it difficult to stop by a physical payment location or access the payment portal on a laptop, but they can easily make payments through a mobile app. Offering multiple payment options—whether online, via mobile, at a payment pad in a government building, by phone, or through text—makes it more likely that citizens will submit payments on time.

It is also important to remember that not all late or delinquent payers are citizens who struggle financially. Some simply forget to pay their bills. Leading solutions, such as Xpress Bill Pay, address this challenge by offering residents features such as scheduled one-time payments and auto-pay settings, ensuring that bills are paid on time with minimal effort.

Reducing Customer Service Costs

While serving citizens can be highly rewarding, one of the most difficult aspects of government work is fielding payment-related calls. These calls not only consume valuable time that could be redirected to higher priority tasks but can negatively impact team morale and even accelerate staff burnout. When your organization relies on outdated payment methods, customer service costs increase, requiring staff to manage in-person payments, handle phone transactions, and assist citizens with navigating cumbersome payment platforms. 

Modern payment solutions shift more responsibility to consumers and help free your staff for higher leverage projects.  With a wide range of self-service tools offered by leading providers, citizens are empowered to pay bills on their own terms without ever needing to contact a government employee. User-friendly, intuitive platforms significantly reduce the likelihood of citizens needing assistance with their payments, while automated messages via text, email, or phone provide citizens with key information about their account without any staff involvement.

State-of-the-art payment platforms, such as Xpress Bill Pay, also offer robust user portals that give citizens access to critical account information, including their current balance and detailed graphs showing up to 12 months of previous utility usage. 

With meter readings, a detailed breakdown of charges, and important announcements all available online, citizens have around the clock access to all the information they need and can sign up for paperless billing with confidence. Users can even print or download 24 months of payments history and manage multiple utility accounts under a single login. 

Simplifying Payment Collection

While most online payment solutions are designed with user convenience in mind, vendors don’t always fully consider their software’s impact on back-office processes. But leading providers, including Xpress Bill Pay, ensure that their solutions not only improve the payment experience for citizens, but also streamline collections for your staff. 

Modern platforms empower you to trade cumbersome, time-consuming processes for low-maintenance payment solutions and manage all payment types from a single, user-friendly interface, whether charges are for utilities, licenses, permits, or other government services. Top software vendors understand that reducing the learning curve is critical for a successful software rollout and deliver an intuitive interface that allows government finance departments like yours to seamlessly transition to new technology.  

One of the main benefits of modern payment solutions is their ability to reduce staff workloads by making payment collection fast, easy, and, for the most part, automated. They cut manual entry with automated payment processing and offer a wide range of shortcuts to simplify your team’s work. They contribute to successful data governance by limiting human errors associated with manual entry and ensuring that all account information is complete and accurate. 

Customized to Your Needs

Modern payment solutions give you full control of your payment processes and allow you to customize every step to meet your unique needs. For example, you can set an unlimited number of payment types to meet a wide range of payment needs. You can also create individual user accounts for your team, making it easy to track which employee processed each payment. Your team can even make changes in a consumer’s account on their behalf when necessary.  

Leading-edge solutions also include a built-in forms builder, empowering your team to create custom forms for any department or service and make online payments available for a wide range of miscellaneous receivables. With drag-and-drop fields, multiple field types, and customizable branding, these tools are user-friendly for non-developers. They even include advanced features, such as conditional formatting, calculations, and receipting multiple fees on a single platform.

Fully Integrating Payments

Many payment solutions claim to be integrated, but it is important to understand that not all integrations are created equal. Whether all modules are integrated with your existing financial software or only a portion can be the difference between a seamless, streamlined process and a fragmented payment collection experience that requires app-switching and time-consuming reconciliations. 

Leading payment solutions, such as Xpress Bill Pay, are built to streamline your back-office processes by seamlessly integrating with your entire software ecosystem, including your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, utility billing software, and more. With real-time integrations and bill display, your transactions are posted immediately to your billing software and your citizen’s payment portal, providing instant access to the most up-to-date information for both you and your residents.

Streamlining Bank Reconciliations

Cutting-edge payment solutions also simplify bank reconciliations by grouping payments the same way they deposit to your bank. Instead of seeing lump-sum daily totals, reports generated in your account align with your bank reconciliation process and the deposits listed on your bank statements. Software like Xpress Bill Pay empowers you to set separate deposit groupings for each merchant account, including electronic checks, enabling you to match deposits individually to bank statements and your general ledger. You can even drill down to the transaction level should you need additional detail if needed. 

With advanced API, leading payment gateways can be connected to a wide range of systems and receive payments through a single application for sports registration, building permits, fire department services, and more. By integrating with your ERP software, Xpress Bill Pay can provide access to payment information from applications that are not directly integrated with your ERP within your general ledger.

Integrated solutions also make it easier to receive payments through various channels. For instance, Xpress Bill Pay integrates four major bill pay consolidators FISGlobal, ACI, iPay, and Fiserv, allowing you to receive electronic payments made through your residents’ online bank accounts. Instead of waiting for printed checks to arrive by mail, Xpress Bill Pay receives these transactions electronically and makes them available in your ERP application.  If residents choose to pay by check, features like Remote Deposit allow you to convert paper checks to electronic debit transactions using a check scanner. Additionally, Lockbox services are available if you prefer to outsource check conversion.

Integration can also make the payment process more convenient for your residents. With features such as Business License Export, citizens are empowered to link their business license account to their payment account, allowing them to manage all payments in one place. With an Accounts Receivable Export, they can even link their accounts receivable account to the billing platform and make payments using the same login. 

Protecting Your Transactions

Last but certainly not least, with advanced payment solutions, cybersecurity is not just an afterthought. Leading platforms are built with cybersecurity in mind to protect your data and transactions from unauthorized access. 

These solutions not only minimize security and personal credit card handling risks for your staff, but they also employ the same technology used by top online banking and financial institutions, capable of withstanding sophisticated cybersecurity threats. With NACHA and Level 1 PCI compliance, infrastructure hosted in state-of-the-art data centers, and Transport Level Security (TLS), you can trust that your financial information is encrypted and secure.

Creating seamless, secure payment processes that are convenient for both citizens and government staff is not easy. But modern payment systems, such as Xpress Bill Pay, offer powerful, intuitive, and fully integrated solutions that streamline your billing process and help you exceed citizen expectations. 

They empower you to easily manage payments from utility bills to licenses and permits through a single, user-friendly application integrated with your billing software and meet your citizens on their preferred payment platforms, whether that is an online portal, mobile application, payment pad, phone call, or text message.

Learn how Xpress Bill Pay can help you tackle your most pressing billing challenges and bottlenecks. Join the 1,000 agencies that run on Xpress Bill Pay solutions!

Call us at (800) 768-7295 to get started today.