Innovating for your success: Q1 Product updates and 2025 roadmap.
Q1 Product updates
Bi-lingual Direct Debit letters (Welsh)
In February we released a new feature in the Direct Debit Portal. The update introduced 'Step 3' correspondence preferences during the Direct Debit creation process in the Client Portal. This feature allows clients to select their correspondence language, with Welsh as the first additional language option.
Payment Gateway
We’ve made several updates to enhance the customer and client experience within the Payment Gateway. Clients can now request changes to the gateway setup to remove the 'Finish' button. This update ensures that a transaction response is sent automatically to the client upon success, eliminating the need for the customer to manually click 'Finish.'
Branded Gateway
We've also introduced several key updates to the Branded Gateway platform aimed at enhancing the customer experience and improving payment success rates.
One of the changes involved an update to the field order on the 'Make a Payment' screen, where the fields were reorganised to display Service, Amount, and Customer Reference. This adjustment was designed to make the payment process more intuitive for customers.
We also launched personalised guidance messages to help customers find their reference number. After selecting the service, an editable sentence box appeared below the 'Customer Reference' field.
The message was personalised based on the scheme code and service chosen, with the ability to add a custom sentence (up to 150 characters).
These updates were intended to reduce errors, lower dropout rates, and increase payment success.
What's coming in 2025?
New Payment App
You asked and we listened! This year, we're launching Allpayments, a brand-new native mobile app for iOS and Android designed to revolutionise the bill payment experience.
Allpayments offers significant benefits, including faster and more reliable payments thanks to its API-driven architecture. The redesigned, intuitive interface simplifies payment management, saving you time and reducing frustration. Enhanced security features protect your financial information, while convenient features like "Pay Again," recent transaction views, and Google/Apple Pay integration (where available) give you more ways to manage your payments.
Bi-lingual letters - future releases
We have exciting updates coming for bilingual communications. This year, we’ll be adding bilingual emails and the ability to regenerate correspondences in the client’s preferred language. Customers will also be able to update their language preferences in the Manage Direct Debit settings. This update will also include bilingual Migration and Advance Notice letters.
Payment holidays - Phase 1
Our first phase of Payment Holidays will roll out in Q2, featuring several key improvements. Clients will be able to export, import, submit, and approve Payment Holidays. A new notification banner will be visible on the Schedule Detail Page, indicating when a Payment Holiday is in effect. Additionally, clients will have the ability to cancel a Payment Holiday if the notification period has not been reached. An audit trail will also be available to track Payment Holiday activities.
Payment holidays - Phase 2
Later in the year, we’ll introduce additional features for Payment Holidays, including bilingual correspondence and the ability to add Payment Holidays directly when Direct Debit mandates are created. Clients will also be able to add individual Payment Holidays to live Direct Debit schedules via the UI, and extra filtering options will be available when exporting files for import. Bulk cancellation of Payment Holidays will also be supported.
Launch of new Prepaid platform across all products
This year, allpay are launching the new Prepaid platform with partners, Enfuce. This will be available for use across all Prepaid products including General Spend and Banking lite. Our new Prepaid solution will be managed directly through the Payments Hub.
