90 Minds Community

@Jerry Norman  The US is way behind on electronic payments.  Banks have requested that several of my customers use ACH and positive pay for checks.  My recommendation is use ACH because it is more secure and saves labor, postage, stationary, toner, etc costs. 

When I did the Intacct classroom training, there were several Europeans in the class.   When we started the section on check printing they mentioned that they don't use checks in Europe... everything is electronic payment... the South Africans in the class said the same.  

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Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Chauffeur, Chef, and Personal Assistant to Sprinkles
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Also, Intacct has off-the-shelf multi-currency, and it is a global product, whereas Sage 100 is mostly used only in the US.  My guess is the percentage of global Intacct users are not printing checks.  Intacct consultants please let us know what reality is!

Intacct use to use an American Express third-party add-on for ACH payments. the AMEX partnership was discontinued a few years ago so I am not sure if there is another third party used for ACH payments or if it has been built into the product now.

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Chauffeur, Chef, and Personal Assistant to Sprinkles
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 10-08-2025 17:45
From: Doug Higgs
Subject: Payment Trends for SMBs

@Jerry Norman  The US is way behind on electronic payments.  Banks have requested that several of my customers use ACH and positive pay for checks.  My recommendation is use ACH because it is more secure and saves labor, postage, stationary, toner, etc costs. 

When I did the Intacct classroom training, there were several Europeans in the class.   When we started the section on check printing they mentioned that they don't use checks in Europe... everything is electronic payment... the South Africans in the class said the same.  

------------------------------
Doug Higgs
Midwest Commerce Solutions, Inc
(312) 315-0960
Chauffeur, Chef, and Personal Assistant to Sprinkles

I see more questions about the topic of ACH and accepting credit cards. I've stepped back from enthusiastically endorsing one provider over another because it seems like if you blink you miss a strategy change at your favorite payments provider ( or if they are independent they get acquired ).

My positioning tends to be one more of providing information than in urging a client to move toward ACH or payment automation. It's simply a case of "one size does not fit all" when dealing with customers.

Some customers want to meet with you monthly. These are great.
Some will meet - if prompted - but there's little to no followup from them ( radio silence until you suggest meeting again )
Some just want to pop in and pull the "street box" to announce there is a fire that needs a response
And some you only hear from because a problem has gone from a 1 alarm to a second alarm fire

My sense is that as consultants there are different roles that customers want us to play - and for the proactive types as described above we provide as much information as possible and let them make the decision.

I use 90 Minds to take the current pulse of what's working and what's not working because I think with AI unless we add our "special sauce" that customers really won't have any reason to come to (PAY)  us when they can ask Chat GPT for a list of the top 3 AP Automation tools along with links to feedback on discussion forums outlining what people say about the tools.

I see more questions about the topic of ACH and accepting credit cards. I've stepped back from enthusiastically endorsing one provider over another because it seems like if you blink you miss a strategy change at your favorite payments provider ( or if they are independent they get acquired ).

My positioning tends to be one more of providing information than in urging a client to move toward ACH or payment automation. It's simply a case of "one size does not fit all" when dealing with customers.

Some customers want to meet with you monthly. These are great.
Some will meet - if prompted - but there's little to no followup from them ( radio silence until you suggest meeting again )
Some just want to pop in and pull the "street box" to announce there is a fire that needs a response
And some you only hear from because a problem has gone from a 1 alarm to a second alarm fire

My sense is that as consultants there are different roles that customers want us to play - and for the proactive types as described above we provide as much information as possible and let them make the decision.

I use 90 Minds to take the current pulse of what's working and what's not working because I think with AI unless we add our "special sauce" that customers really won't have any reason to come to (PAY)  us when they can ask Chat GPT for a list of the top 3 AP Automation tools along with links to feedback on discussion forums outlining what people say about the tools.

Great observations, all! The comments so far confirm that I haven't been missing something substantial.

I agree with Wayne's general sense in consulting. There's a fine line between consulting and education sometimes. Educating customers about functional changes in the ERP area and why they're happening is part of what we do. If they show no interest today, fine, but I want to understand why. I'll bring up the category (not vendors) again later, perhaps in response to issues they have, simply because their situations can change. But you can only lead the horse to the watering hole ...

As Beth pointed out, too many customers find themselves needing wanting something new, like expense mgt, but don't bother to check with us because they think we "only know Sage." I try to change that perception through education ... but wow, that is a tough row.

I think it is worth noting that there is more uptake in these payment options among Acumatica, Intacct, and Netsuite customers than Sage 100. Some of this is explainable by the fact Sage 100 has smaller customers than those other 3. BUT I think some of this difference is because Sage 100 customer management is not (yet) open to changes in how they do business. This is worth thinking about.

I see more questions about the topic of ACH and accepting credit cards. I've stepped back from enthusiastically endorsing one provider over another because it seems like if you blink you miss a strategy change at your favorite payments provider ( or if they are independent they get acquired ).

My positioning tends to be one more of providing information than in urging a client to move toward ACH or payment automation. It's simply a case of "one size does not fit all" when dealing with customers.

Some customers want to meet with you monthly. These are great.
Some will meet - if prompted - but there's little to no followup from them ( radio silence until you suggest meeting again )
Some just want to pop in and pull the "street box" to announce there is a fire that needs a response
And some you only hear from because a problem has gone from a 1 alarm to a second alarm fire

My sense is that as consultants there are different roles that customers want us to play - and for the proactive types as described above we provide as much information as possible and let them make the decision.

I use 90 Minds to take the current pulse of what's working and what's not working because I think with AI unless we add our "special sauce" that customers really won't have any reason to come to (PAY)  us when they can ask Chat GPT for a list of the top 3 AP Automation tools along with links to feedback on discussion forums outlining what people say about the tools.

Some of the reason for the discrepancy might be because Sage 100 users have been on their system for 20 years while Acumatica and the rest are relative newcomers so that companies adopting these newer systems are likely more educated on what's available. This will change as the Sage 100 base of end users retires or gets bought out.

Great observations, all! The comments so far confirm that I haven't been missing something substantial.

I agree with Wayne's general sense in consulting. There's a fine line between consulting and education sometimes. Educating customers about functional changes in the ERP area and why they're happening is part of what we do. If they show no interest today, fine, but I want to understand why. I'll bring up the category (not vendors) again later, perhaps in response to issues they have, simply because their situations can change. But you can only lead the horse to the watering hole ...

As Beth pointed out, too many customers find themselves needing wanting something new, like expense mgt, but don't bother to check with us because they think we "only know Sage." I try to change that perception through education ... but wow, that is a tough row.

I think it is worth noting that there is more uptake in these payment options among Acumatica, Intacct, and Netsuite customers than Sage 100. Some of this is explainable by the fact Sage 100 has smaller customers than those other 3. BUT I think some of this difference is because Sage 100 customer management is not (yet) open to changes in how they do business. This is worth thinking about.

I see more questions about the topic of ACH and accepting credit cards. I've stepped back from enthusiastically endorsing one provider over another because it seems like if you blink you miss a strategy change at your favorite payments provider ( or if they are independent they get acquired ).

My positioning tends to be one more of providing information than in urging a client to move toward ACH or payment automation. It's simply a case of "one size does not fit all" when dealing with customers.

Some customers want to meet with you monthly. These are great.
Some will meet - if prompted - but there's little to no followup from them ( radio silence until you suggest meeting again )
Some just want to pop in and pull the "street box" to announce there is a fire that needs a response
And some you only hear from because a problem has gone from a 1 alarm to a second alarm fire

My sense is that as consultants there are different roles that customers want us to play - and for the proactive types as described above we provide as much information as possible and let them make the decision.

I use 90 Minds to take the current pulse of what's working and what's not working because I think with AI unless we add our "special sauce" that customers really won't have any reason to come to (PAY)  us when they can ask Chat GPT for a list of the top 3 AP Automation tools along with links to feedback on discussion forums outlining what people say about the tools.

Great observations, all! The comments so far confirm that I haven't been missing something substantial.

I agree with Wayne's general sense in consulting. There's a fine line between consulting and education sometimes. Educating customers about functional changes in the ERP area and why they're happening is part of what we do. If they show no interest today, fine, but I want to understand why. I'll bring up the category (not vendors) again later, perhaps in response to issues they have, simply because their situations can change. But you can only lead the horse to the watering hole ...

As Beth pointed out, too many customers find themselves needing wanting something new, like expense mgt, but don't bother to check with us because they think we "only know Sage." I try to change that perception through education ... but wow, that is a tough row.

I think it is worth noting that there is more uptake in these payment options among Acumatica, Intacct, and Netsuite customers than Sage 100. Some of this is explainable by the fact Sage 100 has smaller customers than those other 3. BUT I think some of this difference is because Sage 100 customer management is not (yet) open to changes in how they do business. This is worth thinking about.

I see more questions about the topic of ACH and accepting credit cards. I've stepped back from enthusiastically endorsing one provider over another because it seems like if you blink you miss a strategy change at your favorite payments provider ( or if they are independent they get acquired ).

My positioning tends to be one more of providing information than in urging a client to move toward ACH or payment automation. It's simply a case of "one size does not fit all" when dealing with customers.

Some customers want to meet with you monthly. These are great.
Some will meet - if prompted - but there's little to no followup from them ( radio silence until you suggest meeting again )
Some just want to pop in and pull the "street box" to announce there is a fire that needs a response
And some you only hear from because a problem has gone from a 1 alarm to a second alarm fire

My sense is that as consultants there are different roles that customers want us to play - and for the proactive types as described above we provide as much information as possible and let them make the decision.

I use 90 Minds to take the current pulse of what's working and what's not working because I think with AI unless we add our "special sauce" that customers really won't have any reason to come to (PAY)  us when they can ask Chat GPT for a list of the top 3 AP Automation tools along with links to feedback on discussion forums outlining what people say about the tools.