Sports fans are constantly talking about the goat. No matter the game, no matter the era, there’s always one. No, the goat isn’t a mascot, it’s an acronym that stands for the Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.).
Everyone has their opinion on the G.O.A.T.s in the sports world, but to Jenni Smith of Oklahoma Electric Cooperative, NISC’s Multi-Channel Messenger Payments functionality is the G.O.A.T. of all NISC Solutions.
During the 2024 NISC Member Information Conference (MIC), Smith joined NISC’s Vice President of Product Management, Jason Bartsch, at the Utility Industry Outlook session to share her perspective on Messenger payments and what it took to get the solution up and running. Smith said implementing the process went so smoothly, she wanted to provide the team with a gift…a golden necklace that read “G.O.A.T.”
“We’re crowning you the G.O.A.T.,” Smith said. “This is for the team. We wanted to make sure everyone knew how impressed we were and how easy it was.”
What makes Messenger payments the G.O.A.T.? For Smith, the solution is effective at providing an integrated, secure way to take phone payments, but the process of getting it up and running is what earned the title.
“I will say it was the easiest implementation with any NISC product in my 22 years of working with NISC,” Smith said. “It is not complicated at all. We’ve had no issues. We’ve had no problems. It was as simple as could be.”
NISC has officially integrated interactive voice response (IVR) payment functionality within Multi-Channel Messenger, expanding existing payment options through the SmartHub app and SmartHub on the web. Adding IVR payment functionality to Multi-Channel Messenger will allow for greater flexibility and additional options with the solution as well as streamline payment channels for both NISC and its Members.
“We’ve been working really hard to migrate all of our Members from Secure Payments to Multi-Channel Messenger for inbound IVR payments,” said Amber Wesche, NISC Product Manager. “Today, we have about 350 sites live. In August of 2024, we processed over $65 million in payments. It’s no longer new. It’s no longer in beta, and we’re actively reaching out to every single Member to migrate by the end of the year.”
Oklahoma Electric Cooperative had been taking IVR payments through a third-party that charged a credit card fee for every member making a phone payment with a credit card. Having heard about Multi-Channel Messenger through her work with NISC’s Large Utility Advisory Committee, she reached out to the Messenger team and began the implementation process.
“We basically made a phone call, had two meetings, blinked and it was over,” Smith said. “I highly recommend it.”
Aside from additional functionality and a combined solution, a critical aspect of moving the Secure Payments functionality into Multi-Channel Messenger is security. Multi-Channel Messenger Payments provides enhanced protection for credit card data processing, reducing Payment Card Industry (PCI) scope and risk for NISC and its Members.
“With this move to Multi-Channel Messenger, we’re going directly to the processor, reducing our PCI scope and risk,” Wesche said. “This is why we’re being aggressive with getting all NISC Members, regardless of industry, moved to Multi-Channel Messenger quickly.”
For Members that have not migrated to Multi-Channel Messenger, NISC wants to get a migration date on the calendar for you by the end of 2024. Please fill out the form below to secure a migration date as soon as possible.