A recent report by ACI Worldwide found that, as a whole, consumers in the United States pay nearly 15 billion bills every year—spending almost 4 trillion dollars in the process. While roughly 56 percent of those bills are paid online, consumers’ payment methods of choice encompass everything from cash and checks to credit card and recurring payments.
As consumers’ preferences regarding payments have evolved over the years, self-service payment solutions, including bill payment kiosks, have emerged and proven to be successful across multiple industries—from utility providers and local governments, to colleges and universities. As businesses and organizations continue to implement and utilize these self-service payment solutions more regularly, kiosk manufacturers are following suit and making payment kiosks a priority. In fact, according to the 2020 Kiosk Marketplace Census Report, bill payment upgrades were the leading software upgrades made by kiosk manufacturers in 2019.
Regardless of whether you’re looking to implement self-service bill payment solutions in the near future or further down the road, familiarize yourself with these basics of a bill payment kiosk.
What Is a Bill Payment Kiosk?
Bill payment kiosks offer a secure transactional solution through which users can make payments for various products and services through specified payment methods, some of which include cash, coins, credit and debit cards, and even checks. While the concept of a payment kiosk is seemingly straightforward, the functionalities of payment kiosks can vary based on the businesses and organizations deploying them and their unique use cases.
How Are They Used?
Designed to simplify the payment process across numerous industries, some of the most common applications for bill payment kiosks include college tuition payment, utility bill payment, and rent payment. Due to their unattended nature, bill payment kiosks provide a flexible platform that benefits both kiosk users and the organizations deploying them. Users are able to make payments at the time, and with the payment method, that is most convenient for them, while the organizations responsible for actually deploying the payment kiosks are able to utilize the self-service solutions to effectively extend their reach and the locations of their services.
How Do They Work?
When it comes to accepting payments from users, bill payment kiosks can be designed to incorporate a variety of different hardware components—from pin pads and bill and coin acceptors, to card dispensers, printers, and scanners. While there’s no denying the important role that hardware plays in a bill payment kiosk deployment, the payment software is an equally important piece of the finished solution. Since the software aspect is often unique to each organization who chooses to deploy a bill payment kiosk, software development kits (SDKs), which allow for rapid development of custom transactional applications, are especially useful. Equipped with custom reports and the ability to support multiple different payment methods, bill payment SDKs enable kiosk deployers across all verticals to create an easy-to-use transactional application—and are often pre-certified for integration with many payment processors and devices.
Regardless of the industry in which you operate, as consumers’ payment preferences continue to evolve, bill payment kiosk systems offer a self-service solution that is both convenient and secure. To learn more about Meridian’s bill payment kiosk hardware and software development kit, visit www.meridiankiosks.com/solutions/bill-payment-kiosks/ or give us a call at 866-454-6757.