As we conclude our trip to HITEC 2016 – the world’s largest hospitality technology show – we sat down with Adam Parsons, Finance Account Director, and a member of CSI globalVCard’s hospitality team. With his long background in hospitality prior to joining CSI, we asked Adam to share his experiences driving electronic payments in hospitality.
What is the single biggest challenge that financial executives in the hospitality industry face in the next 12 months?
I think one of the biggest challenges financial executives in hospitality are facing right now is ownership changes. With ownership changing hands, properties are running into challenges integrating their current systems with the new owners’ systems and the staff turnover that tends to occur at the same time can lead to gaps in knowledge or skills related to the current or new systems and processes.
One great thing about CSI globalVCard is our system integrates easily with any AP system, and we have dedicated hospitality-focused staff available to help ease the transition and to train any new employees so that the seamless workflow can continue uninterrupted throughout the transition.
Tell me about the latest innovations within CSI globalVCard.
One of our latest innovations is the completion of our Total AP platform. With globalVCard, we can truly process 100% of our customer’s payments through a single file upload. This saves our clients so much time when they can simply upload one payment file and pay all their vendors, whether through virtual credit card, ACH, check or global payments. This creates a seamless, streamlined accounts payable with easy reconciliation through multiple payment methods – saving time, energy and money for our clients.
When you onboard a new hospitality client, what is their biggest concern and how do you address it?
There are really two concerns I typically hear: one is vendor acceptance and the other is the amount of work involved in getting off the ground.
- Vendor Acceptance: The most common concern I hear is that they are skeptical their vendors will accept. However, our hands on approach typically results in 40-50% of vendors joining our program, blowing out the competition with an industry average of 10-15% acceptance. As an example, here’s a statement shared by a customer in one of our case studies: “I was so surprised that the CSI team achieved 50% enrollment during the initial campaign, and even more surprised that most vendors remain on the program because they immediately see the benefits.” One reason our acceptance is so successful is that we have a dedicated vendor enrollment team that consistently outperforms the industry.
- Workload: globalVCard is an easy to use payment program that is easy to learn. Everything is available 24/7 through the online portal. Once one of our new clients is on the program for a few months, they realize just how much time they are truly saving by eliminating paper checks.
What do you hear often as the number 1 praise for CSI from current customers?
Our customer service is second to none. In particular, one of the things the hospitality team does is introduce our new clients to every member of our hospitality team during our kickoff call. This ensures that even if that client’s account manager is not available, the client knows every other member of the team and is able to still secure immediate service or help. This provides a strong level of comfort for our clients as they know they are always well taken care of and that we are always available to help them should the need arise.
Watch this video to hear from our customers and discover why CSI globalVCard is the leading electronic payments provider for the hospitality industry.
About Adam:
Adam Parsons joined CSI in 2015 and has since then been responsible for all aspects of management and support of a portfolio of hotels and resorts from initial account set-up through vendor enrollment and account maintenance. Adam has brought significant insight into the hospitality industry to CSI through his background in service industries including hotels, salons and restaurants. Adam earned his MBA at Walsh College.
