Guest blog by Haley Lancaster, RevitPay
Guest blogs are written by contributors outside of HawkSoft. The participants' views are entirely their own and may not reflect the views of HawkSoft.
There is no single “best” way for every insurance agency to accept payments.
A personal lines agency processing a high volume of predictable consumer payments may have vastly different needs from a commercial agency collecting five- or six-figure premiums. A specialty agency may encounter different transaction patterns altogether. Even within the same agency, different clients and portions of the book may call for different workflows.
Yet payment systems are often evaluated as if every transaction should follow the same path.
Instead of starting with a payment product and fitting the agency around it, start with a different question: How do our clients pay us, what types and sizes of transactions are we processing, and what does our operation need from those funds?
Understanding the answers and finding a payment provider with the flexibility to meet diverse needs will help agencies build a payment strategy around how their business operates. Let’s discuss the important things to consider when evaluating whether a payment provider can truly support your agency’s workflows.
In this article:
For routine transactions, processing payments directly within an agency management system (AMS) can simplify the workflow. When payments are processed through an integration with an AMS like HawkSoft, transaction information can flow back into the management system, reducing manual posting and making reconciliation easier for staff.
But integration does not mean all payments must follow the same path.
A commercial client may be making a particularly large payment. A specialty account may create a less predictable transaction pattern. Certain clients may prefer different payment methods.
That changes the question agencies should ask when evaluating a payment provider.
Instead of only asking: "Does this provider integrate with our AMS?"
Consider asking: "Can this provider support the different ways our agency needs to collect, reconcile, and access payments?"
The goal should be integration when it makes sense and flexibility when the business requires something different.
A payment workflow that works well for a routine $500 transaction should not automatically be assumed to work the same way for a $20,000, $50,000, or $100,000 payment.
For agencies with sizable commercial or specialty accounts, larger transactions may simply be part of doing business. That makes it important for the payment setup to reflect how the agency actually processes payments.
Merchant account applications often consider factors such as estimated processing volume, processing history, and the nature of the business during underwriting. Accurately communicating expected transaction sizes and processing volume during onboarding can help ensure the account is structured around the agency’s actual payment activity.
Transaction size is only part of the picture. Commercial and specialty business can also involve different payment frequencies, client types, transaction patterns, and payment methods.
The important question is not whether an agency fits a particular risk label. It is whether the payment provider understands the agency’s business well enough to structure the account appropriately from the beginning.
Before choosing a provider, ask:
If $50,000 transactions are normal for your book, your provider should know that before the first $50,000 transaction is processed.
Flexibility starts before the first transaction. The more accurately a provider understands the agency’s book of business upfront, the better the payment setup can reflect how that agency operates.
Agencies naturally think about how payments are collected and reconciled. There is another question worth asking:
Once a payment is processed, when will the money be available?
Funding timing can have practical implications for cash flow, particularly for agencies processing larger transactions or managing diverse types of business.
Rather than assuming every transaction follows the same funding schedule, agencies should ask providers:
The goal is not simply to find the provider advertising the fastest funding. Agencies should understand when their money will be available, what can affect that timing, and whether the available options align with their cash-flow needs.
Consider an independent agency with a mix of personal, commercial, and specialty clients.
For routine transactions, the agency may want staff to collect payments directly within HawkSoft and have transaction information flow back into the management system for easier reconciliation.
Its commercial team, however, may routinely handle much larger premiums that require different considerations during account setup or collection. Certain clients may need different payment methods, and funding needs may vary between transactions.
Those requirements do not have to compete with one another.
Rather than forcing the entire book through one rigid process, the agency can find a payment provider that allows them to determine which workflow makes the most sense for each part of the business.
Before assuming a standard setup will fit your agency, ask providers about:
These questions shift the conversation away from simply comparing features and toward understanding how a provider will support the realities of your agency.
There does not need to be one payment workflow for every insurance agency, or even every payment within the same agency.
The right setup should reflect your actual book of business: how clients pay, how large transactions can be, whether commercial or specialty business creates additional considerations, and when your agency needs access to its funds.
Integrated when it fits. Flexible by design.RevitPay supports payments through a two-way HawkSoft integration while also providing broader payment workflows when an agency’s business calls for something different. |