Datatel Releases Video on Where Payment Friction Occurs

Datatel, a provider of IVR Payments and secure payment automation technology, has released a new executive video titled "Where Money Gets Stuck," which explores an often-overlooked issue in revenue performance. The video highlights the operational journey between a customer's decision to pay and the point when the organization actually receives the money, revealing that financial performance metrics like receivables, collections, and days outstanding do not always capture the full picture.

According to the release, executives commonly monitor these metrics to understand financial performance. However, these measures do not always show what happens earlier in the payment journey. The video focuses on this gap, explaining that customers may be ready and willing to pay but encounter friction due to business-hour restrictions, difficult payment experiences, employee involvement, manual processes, or disconnected systems. In many cases, this friction does not create an obvious technical failure. A customer may simply delay the payment, abandon the process temporarily, or require additional assistance.

The result is that revenue can move more slowly, even though the underlying payment systems appear to be functioning correctly. Barnard Crespi, a key figure at Datatel, emphasized that good payment modernization should begin with understanding the payment flow.

To help executive teams examine payment performance from the customer's perspective, Datatel has released a new video. The video encourages leaders to follow one common payment journey from beginning to end, asking where the customer starts, where friction appears, when employees become involved, where information moves manually, how many systems participate in the process, and what happens after a transaction is completed. This approach is central to the Payment Flow Intelligence Framework™, which focuses on understanding how money moves before organizations attempt to optimize individual payment technologies or channels.

The broader objective is revenue preservation. When a customer is ready to pay, organizations should make it as easy, secure, and immediate as reasonably possible to complete that payment. Reducing unnecessary distance between customer intent and realized revenue can help organizations identify operational friction that conventional financial reporting may not expose.

Executives interested in examining their own payment journey can also schedule a "How Money Flows" Executive Session, designed to help leadership teams follow a common payment flow and identify where unnecessary friction may exist. The session is available at calendly.com/bcrespi/how-money-flows-call-barnard-crespi-30.

Datatel, founded over 25 years ago, specializes in secure payment infrastructure, IVR payment technology, and PCI compliance advisory services. The company helps reduce the risks associated with handling payment card data and ensures payment transactions remain isolated, secure, and compliant. Datatel's solutions are used by healthcare providers, utilities, financial services organizations, and government agencies across North America.