Forte Payment Systems®, a CSG® (NASDAQ: CSGS) company, today announced a strategic partnership with Accela, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions for government, to provide a powerful payments processing engine for Accela’s SaaS solutions. Together, the two organizations will streamline processes for residents, contractors, and government agencies, leveraging a best-in-breed, integrated solution for online and in-office transactions.
Governments must navigate new business and citizen needs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. As work-from-home mandates for citizen and agency employees have complicated team workflows for accepting paper or in-person payments, online transactions have become an absolute requirement. Agencies are also under pressure to keep costs low while also providing robust online services for transactions related to regulatory processes and business growth opportunities.
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This partnership will empower government agencies to refine otherwise cumbersome manual processes for evolving regulatory and business procedures. Accela customers leveraging this integration will gain value with a partner like Forte that can serve as a gateway for 90 percent of online payment processors. Moreover, this partnership provides a cost-competitive solution that enables customers to process service and convenience fees.
“Forte has a long history of delivering innovative solutions to help manage customers’ payments processing needs,” said Jeff Thorness, head of payments solutions, CSG. “The ability to partner and integrate with Accela’s SaaS solutions will give government agencies the ability to benefit from an end-to-end dual partnership that simplifies and increases business operation efficiencies.”
Together, the two organizations will help state and local government agencies modernize its service delivery, provide flexibility and scalability of their operations, and reduce network costs through the deployment of a cloud-based full-stack payments solution with:
- End-to-End Payments Capabilities: A fully integrated, end-to-end online and in-office payments module with EMV chip transaction certified payment devices.
- Reduced Payments Complexities: With Forte’s single integration and advanced payment routing capabilities, Accela customers can choose from many of the top credit card issuers and ACH/EFT originating financial institutions across North America.
- Data Transparency: The Forte/Accela integration gives government staff real-time insights into payment transactions both online and in-office, leveraging the latest Payment Card Industry security requirements including EMV Chip certified terminals which include end-to-end encryption for swipe transactions.
- Seamless User Experiences: Government agencies can now provide their contractors, developers, and residents a more seamless payment experience across agency departments that guarantees a superior level of convenience, efficiency, and transparency.
“Today’s customers are demanding more secure, compliant digital payment and card processing capabilities as more transactions take place online,” said Tom Nieto, chief operating officer, Accela. “Forte has a deep understanding of the vast complexities and nuances of the government payment landscape as the leading expert in the space. With this partnership, we’re proud to offer our customers an end-to-end solution with a dedicated government support team and robust APIs to help better meet their needs.”
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