Why do Health Clubs Outsource?

Making clear choices when deciding to use a payment management company.

We all make choices in the services we choose to handle ourselves, versus having someone else do them for us. It usually comes down to our available time, or someone else having better expertise in a particular service area, or even whether we want to risk doing it ourselves with the consequence of something going wrong. Let’s face it: We’re all short on time and we all want more security in our business so that we’ll have less to worry about at the end of the day. All businesses generally outsource so many services these days such as office cleaning, phone and Internet, etc. So, why wouldn’t health clubs outsource their payment management?

When it comes to security, we all want to remove financial risks that could potentially jeopardize our business. Maintaining an onsite server that contains all of your members’ data is where a payment management company helps you sleep better at night (literally). At times this can be 24/7 maintenance. You can ill-afford any stoppage of business when a server goes down in the middle of the night. What this means for you is that your members’ financial data is in a safer environment: The data is backed up in case the payment management company’s server goes down; the payment management company has the personnel with technical expertise to quickly resolve any issue; and it has the financial resources to maintain the equipment.

In addition, the customized programming and maintenance of software, including “real time” upgrades add value. This is especially true in keeping current with technology and PCI compliance standards. Overall, it’s more cost effective for health clubs to outsource with a payment management company when you factor in all of these variables.

Is it really worth the time and effort for health clubs to do their own in-house payment management? By outsourcing, you’re adding efficiencies to your club through systemizing your business structure and gaining more time to maximize your efforts. More importantly, outsourcing creates security by reducing risks.

Key Outsource Benefits:

• Freeing up internal resources and lowering operational costs.
• More time and greater flexibility to focus on your core business.
• Removing the liability of storing financial data files at your business site.
• Reduced risk from a PCI DSS compliant data infrastructure: financial data security, disaster recovery, data management and meeting the changing PCI regulatory requirements.
• Access to latest online software that organizes member data, check-in, point of sale, scheduling, reporting and marketing.
• Third party follow-up on members’ late payments to resolve payment problems and increase on-time payments.

Stephen Wilson is the marketing manager at ASF Payment Solutions and a 20-year veteran of marketing and advertising. His focus on branding and strategic communications in the health and wellness industry for over 20 years has earned him numerous accreditations and awards on national marketing and advertising campaigns. For more information, e-mail steve.wilson@asfpaymentsolutions.com, or visit www.asfpaymentsolutions.com to learn more about products and services.