Feeling the pinch: Why ethical, flexible payment solutions make all the difference

I think everyone is feeling the pinch of rapidly increasing prices of goods and services.

Unfortunately, like many countries, Australia is grappling with a cost of living crisis. This puts a strain on both citizens and government agencies. 

Citizens face financial hardship, leading to difficulties paying bills and accumulating debt. In turn, this also creates challenges for agencies in collecting revenue and managing debt.

Over the past few months, I’ve been involved in meeting with many key public sector thought leaders through a series of roundtables hosted by DXC to understand more deeply, the issues both citizens and public sector agencies are facing.

Citizens lack flexible options

Citizens often lack flexible payment options, like instalments, making it challenging to manage large bills. They struggle to see their payment history and manage upcoming payments. Additionally, citizens can't easily change payment amounts or schedules.

Public sector agencies technology can lack flexibility

Many key stakeholders advised that their current systems often lack flexibility for diverse payment options and instalment plans. Agencies are also struggling with communicating payment options and deadlines to citizens in an automated way. Moreover, existing systems may not provide the needed flexibility for managing complex payment scenarios.

Ensuring our solutions meet the challenge

DXC and Salesforce have aligned to ensure our public sector solutions can facilitate the nuances needed to manage financial hardship. We are helping agencies address the challenges outlined above by enabling flexible payment options, enhancing self-service options, streamlining communication, modernising systems, and improving data management.

With Salesforce Public Sector Solutions, citizens can easily set up payment plans and manage their instalments directly. They can also readily access their payment history and manage upcoming payments. Additionally, the solutions provide self-service options that allow users to manage their accounts and payments independently, reducing agency workload.

Furthermore, agencies can communicate payment options and deadlines to citizens effectively. The platform can adapt to changing needs and integrate with existing ERP systems like Oracle. Finally, Salesforce ensures secure and comprehensive data management, crucial for responsible revenue collection.

Here at DXC Technology, we believe the solution comes from thinking about the total payment and billing lifecycle and not just compliance once payment becomes a debt.

Government agencies must use strategies to support debt management and prevent prolonged debt cycles. There is an urgency for tailored solutions that address citizens' unique payment challenges.

Integrate technologies and bridge the gap

DXC together with Salesforce Public Sector Solutions can rapidly deploy digital and case management forms to administer and manage payment services. With many agencies utilising Oracle as their finance reconciliation system, DXC's broad expertise across Salesforce and Oracle platforms can help facilitate tailored mechanisms for payment plans, extensions and hardship arrangements that bridge the connections between public sector solutions and Oracle.

DXC has developed a sophisticated data model and solution where payments due are surfaced in Salesforce and mastered in Oracle, so they are readily visible in real-time to both citizens and employees performing other tasks in Salesforce, such as case management, request management or assessing licensing or permit applications.

Enabling payment plans

A key solution feature is setting up the payment plan – it identifies and presents invoices eligible for inclusion in a payment plan and allows citizens to select multiple invoices and nominate payment frequency from a configurable list of options.  Compliance windows, such as grace periods for payments due can also be applied.

Citizens can self-manage their payment plan and update payment amounts and dates. If advance payments are made, the system updates future instalments accordingly, reducing the load on resources and manual system updates.

In summary, the rising cost of living presents significant challenges for citizens and public sector agencies. By implementing Salesforce Public Sector Solutions, agencies can offer citizens flexible payment options, improve communication, and streamline collection processes. This leads to a more efficient and citizen-centric approach to revenue collection, even in challenging economic times.

Join our upcoming webinar

If you would like to learn more how DXC's Payment Solution Accelerator can help deliver a superior payment experience with flexible payment options, upfront installments and debt repayment plans, then join our upcoming webinar on November 14th.

Register here

Blog written by Naomi Wilson, Account Director, DXC Practice for Salesforce