Partner Corner: Help Your Members Do Business On The Go

ASSOCIATIONS NOW, November 2010 , Community now

Challenge: How can our association process credit card transactions in today's mobile world?

Solution: There are many solutions that enable you to process transactions on the go outside of the traditional brick-and-mortar and online scenarios.

When choosing a payment processor, look for one that offers the freedom to accept payments anywhere members do business with you, whether it's over the phone, at a tradeshow, or in a retail environment. Three popular solutions are web-based processing applications, mobile-handset applications, and touch-tone processing.

A web-based application will turn your computer into a point-of-sale terminal, using a portable card-swipe reader and an internet connection to accept payments. This is a low-cost solution ideal for small doctors' offices, accounting firms, and tradeshows.

Some of your members may benefit from using smartphones as a payment terminal. With an iPhone, BlackBerry, or any other smartphone, a compatible app can process payments immediately. Additionally, card readers can be added to a handset for card-swipe functionality.

Touch-tone processing is another popular way to do business on the go. You can process transactions by simply dialing a customer's credit card number from any touch-tone phone anywhere, anytime.

On-the-go payments processing is a valuable benefit for your members and an easy and efficient way to process transactions.

Jim Irish is a territory manager for proactive sales with Chase Paymentech, the ASAE-Endorsed credit card processing solution for associations. Email: jim.irish@chasepaymentech.com