BlueSnap’s All-in-One Integrated Payments Solution for platforms was able to fully support SchoolsBuddy and its clients in a way many other payment solutions had not been able to.
BlueSnap Has Education Experience Other Providers Lack
SchoolsBuddy’s robust solution needed to account for the variety of payments challenges schools face, and they found that other payment providers often weren’t able to find a way to deal with those challenges.
For example, David Higginson, International Sales Director for SchoolsBuddy, recalls one payment processing provider that didn’t include “Education” as one of the options for business type on their form. SchoolsBuddy clients had to select and fill out items that weren’t pertinent to them, creating headaches for everyone involved.
According to Higginson, BlueSnap’s understanding of how schools operate is what makes BlueSnap such a good partner: “BlueSnap can handle those sorts of things, being able to solve those problems and basically, having a human understanding, rather than a very rigid, rules-based, ‘this doesn’t fit’ structure.”
BlueSnap’s education sector experience showed SchoolsBuddy that they didn’t have to suffer by working with payment companies that don’t understand their clients’ needs.
BlueSnap’s Onboarding Is Quick and Efficient
Before coming to BlueSnap, SchoolsBuddy found other providers took weeks to onboard a single client. According to Higginson, SchoolsBuddy experienced other issues like inconsistent payout schedules and reporting issues. Schools had issues with things like setting up payments to go to an account that was in their local authority’s name instead of the school’s name; other payments providers couldn’t work with schools on common situations like this, resulting in frustration.
“What we could never understand was, ‘You do payments, we do education. You’re our partner, we’re giving you clients, why can’t you make them live? That’s your specialty, right? That’s why we come to you,’” says Higginson. “Thankfully, BlueSnap can do that.”
When BlueSnap stepped in, they were able to begin onboarding SchoolsBuddy’s clients immediately, having them set up and ready to begin processing payments within a matter of days, sometimes within just 24 hours. Because of BlueSnap’s experience with schools and global banking relationships, schools’ payment acceptance systems could be up and running quickly.
Even in situations where schools need to accept specific alternative payment methods, such as a school in Germany that required Sofort, BlueSnap can meet those needs and can onboard them seamlessly without extra work on the school’s part.
BlueSnap Understands and Supports Global Compliance
With BlueSnap, SchoolsBuddy can easily ensure their clients are compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a security standard required for any organization that accepts card payments. Institutions that use SchoolsBuddy to accept card payments for afterschool activities, school trips, meals, etc., must be PCI DSS-compliant.
While the ease of accepting card payments for activities and fees via SchoolsBuddy is appealing for many clients, SchoolsBuddy’s previous payment providers put the burden of PCI compliance on the schools. Many of SchoolsBuddy’s clients do not have the resources or expertise to handle PCI compliance independently.
BlueSnap takes on that responsibility for SchoolsBuddy and their clients. The All-in-One Payment Platform is compliant with Level 1 PCI-DSS, the highest standard of PCI compliance. Schools processing payments with SchoolsBuddy on BlueSnap do not have to worry about PCI compliance, and SchoolsBuddy can be confident that every precaution is being taken to protect customer data.
