Rethinking Payment Operations: A Smarter Path for Serving Commercial Clients

Payment Operations Are Under Pressure

As operational pressures mount—vendor exits, rising check fraud, tightening budgets, and staffing constraints—financial institutions are being pushed to make tough decisions about how they manage payment operations. What once felt stable and routine is now uncertain. Payment processing is no longer business as usual.

In this environment, many institutions are rethinking not just how they process payments, but who should handle which pieces—and whether their current approach can truly scale. That’s the theme behind the recent American Banker webinar featuring experts from CheckAlt and Iron Mountain: how to realign payment operations for greater flexibility, security, and resilience.

Watch the full webinar replay 

The Realignment Is Happening Now

This shift isn’t just about adopting new technology—it’s about rethinking how payment processing is structured, resourced, and delivered to commercial customers. Treasury leaders are asking:

• Should we continue managing receivables in-house?
• How do we scale without compromising service or security?
• Can we deliver better outcomes for our commercial clients while easing the burden on internal ops teams?

These are strategic questions. Institutions asking them now aren’t just reacting—they’re positioning themselves to lead.

Strategic Insights from Industry Experts

CheckAlt recently joined Iron Mountain for an American Banker webinar, "The Great Realignment: How Financial Institutions Are Rethinking Payment Processing."

This conversation explored how financial institutions can reassess their outsourcing models, balance efficiency with control, and better support commercial clients through smarter, more scalable receivables strategies.

Key takeaways included:

• Outsourcing Isn’t One-Size-Fits-All. Many institutions are moving to hybrid models—outsourcing lockbox, exception handling, or reconciliation, while maintaining oversight and customer relationships in-house.
• Checks Still Matter in Commercial Payments. Despite digital growth, checks remain prevalent in commercial receivables. The challenge is supporting them efficiently without draining resources or introducing risk.
• Reconciliation Is a Bottleneck. Commercial payments often involve remittance documents, loan references, or custom payment terms. Automation in reconciliation isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential for speed and accuracy.
• Flexibility Is the New Standard. The most resilient institutions are choosing partners who can flex with them—supporting outsourcing, SaaS, or hybrid models that align with internal teams and client demands.

Together with Iron Mountain, CheckAlt helps institutions rethink and realign their payment operations, offering scalable solutions that bridge legacy needs with digital transformation goals. From automating reconciliation to modernizing remittance capture, financial institutions are building resilience by embracing smarter technologies.

How CheckAlt Supports Commercial Payment Operations

CheckAlt’s flexible, scalable solutions are built to simplify receivables management while improving the experience for commercial customers. Powered by a modern software platform and a suite of APIs, our solutions are designed for easy integration, faster time-to-value, and scalable growth. Whether your institution needs to modernize its lockbox strategy, digitize check payments, enable secure online payment options, or streamline reconciliation—we can help:

• Traditional Lockbox and Catch! Electronic Lockbox processing
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to support in-house teams with modern tools
• API-enabled solutions for seamless integration into your existing treasury, core, or receivables systems
• Fast onboarding and scalable support for commercial volume and complexity
• Automation and reconciliation tools that reduce manual work and improve speed to deposit

Whether you’re processing utility payments, servicing loans, or managing B2B receivables, CheckAlt helps simplify and scale commercial payment operations.

It’s Time to Rethink How You Support Commercial Payments

Modernizing receivables doesn’t require an overhaul—it requires a smarter approach. One that balances internal priorities with the right external support to reduce friction, improve visibility, and scale with confidence.

As expectations grow and resources tighten, the way you manage payment operations matters more than ever. This realignment isn’t a trend—it’s a turning point.

Watch the full webinar replay to hear how other institutions are adapting. 
Contact CheckAlt to explore how we can help you realign.
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