In the past, processing our clients’ credit card payments was an expensive, labor-intensive chore. Since transitioning our credit card processing from Microsoft Dynamics GP to Acumatica, we’ve found the operation fast and easy.
Acumatica gives us more options, we no longer need to perform double entries, and we expect to pay at least a thousand dollars less per year in credit card processing fees.
Would you like to know how and why we switched the running of our own business from Microsoft Dynamics GP to Acumatica? Read about our transition.
Integrated Credit Card Processing and PCI Compliance
Previously, we used PayPal to accept credit card payments. That process demanded a substantial amount of manual data entry to get data into our Microsoft Dynamics GP system. Payment processing add-on apps are available for use with Dynamics GP. But because the underlying technology of Dynamics GP is over two decades old, the adaptation involved additional expense, time, and resources.
Here’s one instance in which Dynamics GP’s age is holding it back: PCI privacy regulations have been enacted, and that means that businesses are not allowed to store customers’ credit card specifics. Even though for most processes, Dynamics GP is still a very viable solution, Microsoft never updated the technology within the product to be able to accommodate the new PCI privacy regulations. So literally everything related to credit cards would have to reside outside of Dynamics GP with the ability to be able to pass “tokenized transactions.” Tokenized transactions means you don’t store credit card numbers. Instead, you store tokens, and those tokens are the key that opens up the credit card information. In contrast, Acumatica being a more recent platform has the capacity for PCI compliance built into the solution.
With both solutions, Dynamics GP and Acumatica, you will still need to add a “gateway service” to accept credit cards, and you will pay a per-transaction fee. But with Acumatica, the engine is already there, so we just need to add accessories. Dynamics GP doesn’t have the engine to add the features to.
You can add credit card processing with the new privacy compliance to Dynamics GP. But it is complicated because Microsoft didn’t design Dynamics GP that way.
At CAL Business Solutions, we explored Century Business Solutions and American Payment Solutions (APS) as “gateway services” to complement Acumatica. Both companies offer additional value-added services, including payment processing.
We chose American Payment Solutions. Now we can do everything we used to do in PayPal while saving our business a considerable amount of money. We had been paying $3,000 a year in credit card transaction fees; now, due to the efficiency of APS, we project yearly savings of least $1,000.
Not only will we save a significant amount of money, but we’ll save time as well. It’s no longer necessary to reenter data as we did with PayPal because APS is wholly integrated with Acumatica. We also save time with automated ACH transactions.
ACH Transfers Without Double Entry
An ACH transfer, which is a transfer of money between banks, involves no credit card fees. Previously, when we initiated an ACH payment within our banking system, we also had to create a journal entry in Dynamics GP. Now, with the Acumatica platform, there is no need to create a separate entry. The information in the ACH transactions is in Acumatica and is always up to date.
We still prefer most of our clients paying us via ACH or physical check to avoid the fees, but there are times when accepting credit cards is necessary and more efficient.
Click to Pay and Portals
One example of credit card payment being more efficient is when we ask for a small amount as a deposit before starting an upgrade. It is to our advantage as well as our client’s that we get paid right away so we can begin the work.
Acumatica allows us to put a “click to pay” link on our invoice so the client can securely enter their credit card information, and we can quickly get paid. The payment automatically comes into Acumatica without exposing personal data, and PCI compliance is met.
In the future, it may be possible to give customers the option to pay by credit card if they want to cover the fees themselves, but that is not yet available. With Acumatica, we can also accept payments via a secure customer portal. That is another impressive feature of Acumatica.
The Benefit of Modern Technology
We’ve worked with Microsoft Dynamics GP for many years. We still like it and will continue to support our Dynamics GP clients. But we are continually impressed by how much easier it is to work with a modern ERP solution built with the latest technology.
With Acumatica, we have improved our collections process with Acumatica AR statements, and we save 30+ hours a month with automated renewal billing. Because of Acumatica’s cloud-based access, responsive design, and mobile capabilities, it is much easier for our teams to work remotely anywhere, anytime.
If you would like to evaluate Acumatica and see what it can do for your business, contact our Acumatica experts at CAL Business Solutions. 860-485-0910 x4 or sales@calszone.com
By CAL Business Solutions, Acumatica and Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner, www.calszone.com
