Suomi.fi payments have made online transactions smoother and brought relief to Traficom's financial management.
Maaria Toikka, who works as a digital services developer at Traficom, has been satisfied with the Suomi.fi payment service provided by the State Treasury. Online payments have promoted the agency's goal of digitizing Finland, achieved cost savings, and made managing things online smoother.
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom is best known to Finns as where they go to for driver's licenses and registrations. In addition to serving citizens, they service businesses, transportation operators and companies in the communications and telecommunications industry. The new agency's operating concept is to participate in building a digital Finland.
One step in digitization has been the transition of many services to require online payment, e.g registration takes place only after payment.
"Suomi.fi payments have been a smooth way for our customers to handle online payments. The difference is amazing, when comparing to previously when vehicle registrations had to be done either at the inspection office or at the insurance company's counter. Now they can be done from the couch in a minute or two. Online payments has been one of the reasons for the change." explains Maaria.
A centralized service makes the job easier
Suomi.fi payments were introduced in cooperation with the State Treasury and Paytrail back in the 2017 pilot phase. According to Maaria, Suomi.fi payments have made Traficom's financial management's work smoother.
"Now we don't have to agree separately with each bank on payment transaction matters, since the State Treasury has managed the background agreements centrally. The financial administration's work has been made easier with the help of the Merchant panel offered by Paytrail. Payments are paid out to us weekly and the data can also be exported to Excel, so reporting has become easier," mentions Maaria.
"This has also been of great importance for customer service, because now you can check the customer's payment status from the Merchant panel," continues Toikka.
Cost benefit for society as a whole
Previously, for some services a paper invoice was mailed.
"With the service, the sending of paper invoices has decreased, which is both an environmental act and a cost saving. Digitization brings a cost benefit to society," shares Maaria.
"Money is deposited into the agency's account with faster through the payment service," explains Maaria. Which is also an advantage.
Although, according to Toika, the implementation of new ICT projects always involves challenges, overall the implementation of the Suomi.fi payment services went well. At the moment, using the service does not require much effort from Traficom.
"In retrospect, the implementation went well. The coooperation with the State Treasury and Paytrail was rewarding and very smooth. At the moment, there's not much left to do, it runs in the background, as it should," concludes Maaria.
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