One of many sectors that got severely affected by the COVID19 outbreak is education. Maintenance of social distance and the virus made it impossible for students as well as teachers to attend schools physically. But we live in the digital era after all. Many schools, colleges, tuitions started opting for online classrooms and made experts say that virtual classrooms are the next ‘Big One’ for the education sector.
Though virtual classrooms gave some peace of mind to students and parents, there are more than one difficulty faced by the management, be it school, college, or private tuition. One of which is fee collection (or overall payment transactions). When there is no possibility to attend classes physically, making fees payment physically by cash or by cheque is next to impossible. But then again, as aforementioned, the ‘Digital Era’, came to the rescue. Because, if you have already embraced digitization for smooth education delivery, why not use the same for payment practices?
So, what are the available options for the education sector that can be considered as best practices? To do this, first, let’s visit some pain points.
For years, nearly all educational sector follow manual process systems due to an obvious lack of other options, be it student data collection, assignments review, or our main focus for this article, ‘Fees acceptance’.
All of these processes were/ some still are paper-based and require manual processing. Manual processing can sometimes lead to mistakes, errors, and in the worst case, fraud. Paper processing is difficult to keep track of and there is always a risk of papers getting lost or deteriorate. It is a multistep process requiring the time and efforts of many entities involved that makes it very time-consuming. Sometimes due to various reasons, like working parents, it becomes tedious for them to make fee payments during school hours. And as aforementioned, there is also the risk of money loss, manual mistakes, fraud, and other security concerns.
But fortunately, in this digital era, the school management has also recognized the need to switch to digitizations. Today many educational systems have implemented digital infrastructure. But still, there is little awareness about accepting online fee payments.
What are the benefits of accepting online payments?
Security – One of the main concerns of manual payment processing is errors and the risk of fraud. Online payment acceptance is secure and safe. As per the government’s and RBI’s security standards, it is mandatory for payment processors to obtain and follow certain security standards and guidelines. Some of these are PCI DSS standard, 3DS, etc. With all these regulations, parents can make online fee transactions knowing that the transfer will be safe and secure.
Convenience – Nowadays anyone and everyone have mobile phones at arm’s length. Online payments can be done via mobile device at any time from anywhere as per the parent’s convenience, making it a time-saving process.
On-the-spot payments – Online payments are fast, quick and the transfer is done from bank to bank.
Keeping tracks – another problem with manual processes is keeping records safe and intact. Digital payment acceptance not only offers digital records but also enables transaction analysis.
User friendly – People are getting comfortable with online payments. Most of the online payment applications are easily available on the play store and are extremely easy to use.
So, what are the options to choose from?
Choosing an online payment acceptance option for your educational institute can be a tedious task. You have to take into consideration many things, like customization, your fees infrastructure, needed payment modes, etc.
Or you can opt for Lyra’s online payment processing solutions.
Lyra offers innovative and effortlessly seamless online payment processing solutions. One of which is, ‘Lyra WhatsApp Payment Solution’.
Why Lyra WhatsApp payment Solution?
Lyra’s WhatsApp Payment Solution is a simple yet innovative online payment acceptance solution that uses A popular and renowned WhatsApp messenger to collect online payments. Under the direct partnership for payments with WhatsApp, this solution reduces the time taken to complete end-to-end processes.
Here are the benefits of the WhatsApp Payment Solution –
Simple and easy to use- WhatsApp PAyment Solution is extremely easy to use and it offers seamless on-the-spot payments. Here is how it works.
Ease of transaction – Nowadays many educational institutes contact parents and students via WhatsApp, many of them use WhatsApp messenger to keep parents updated about student’s progress, important notices, and students to update and inform about the assignments, notices, etc. Parents, as well as students, are used to handle WhatsApp on daily basis and that makes it easier to use as a fee payment collection.
Security – Lyra’s WhatsApp Payment Solution is a direct payment method. WhatsApp communication is always encrypted and Lyra enables secure payment as this solution is PCI DSS compliant and follows all the security guidelines stated by the government and RBI.
No sharing, more caring – WIth Lyra WhatsApp Payment Solution, parents don’t have to enter or share their personal details. Payment via WhatsApp is similar to sending a message in the form of a link, so they also don’t have to share their BAnk details like IFSC code, card number, etc.
Fully digitized process – With WhatsApp Payment Solution you will be able to send payment orders without any manual intervention reducing the chances of errors. This is a completely digital process from a payment order to getting a successful transaction notification.
Multiple payment options – Lyra offers multiple popular payment options including net banking, card payments, mobile wallets, UPI, etc.
WhatsApp Payment solution does not need any additional application for performing transactions. The whole process takes place in the WhatsApp application itself.
Nowadays, many educational institutes make a group chat with parents or students in the same class, level. With Lyra’s specially designed API, educational institutes can send bulk payment orders and save time.
Also, as the payment order is in the form of the message, with a specially designed API, institutes can customize the messages offering a unique and personalized experience.
Lyra’s WhatsApp Payment Solution comes with a dashboard with a clear view of all transactions and a facility to generate day-to-day transaction reports.
Lyra offers the quickest onboarding along with fraud detection and chargeback handling. So, what are you waiting for? Know all about WhatsApp Payment Solution.
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