As consumer demand for a more personalized shopping experience increases, merchants need software that does more than accept payments. Payments solutions need to provide tools that improve operations with technologies that recognize customers, base recommendations on past purchases, and generate relevant offers. To scale their business, merchants need a holistic solution for managing omnichannel shopping experiences, including online, in-store, and mobile.
As an ISV strategizing to meet this market demand, you face the question of build vs. buy. However, with the speed of change, the breadth of merchant demands, and the work required to stay current with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), developing new apps and features isn’t practical for many ISVs. On the other hand, “buying” has its own challenges. With this option, you need to find solutions that meet your clients’ needs, forge partnerships that expand functionality, and invest time and resources into integration.
Along with your clients, you need a better way to meet the needs of an increasingly digital and sophisticated shopper that expects a truly connected and personalized experience.
The Solution: Integration with a Payment Processing Platform
ISVs will find the answer to the build vs. buy question by working with a payments partner that understands the payments industry and does the heavy lifting for you. A payments company that works with ISVs and app developers can create an array of options for merchants. Then, when you integrate with that company’s payment processing platform, you can provide those products and services to your clients.
For example, Elavon integrates with gateway solutions and a variety of business applications, such as Sage 50, Microsoft 365, -commerce site building platforms, cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP), and point-of-sale (POS) software. As a result, you can provide your clients new time-saving capabilities, such as payroll, invoicing, employee scheduling, and inventory management.
You can also leverage relationships your payment partner has developed with fintechs and banks to offer embedded finance, so your clients can offer loans, insurance, investments, or other banking-as-a-service (BaaS) features. Working with a partner that has thousands of payments connections means offering vertical-specific solutions that meet the unique needs of restaurants, retailers, financial services companies, healthcare providers, entertainment venues, or other businesses.
The Benefits of Integration with a Payment Processing Platform
With a partner that actively fosters relationships with ISV and app developers, you can offer more functionality to your clients with just a single integration with the payment processing platform. However, you’ll gain even more advantages that help you grow your business:
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- Enhanced value proposition – Offering your clients all the functionality they need to run their businesses from one seamlessly integrated solution will increase the value you provide.
- Stickier relationships – Tailoring solutions to your clients’ specific needs by choosing apps integrated with your partner’s payment processing platform will help you ensure greater satisfaction and, as a result, increased customer retention.
- Greater agility – As your payments partner forms new partnerships, you have access to new solutions you can offer your clients. This makes it easier to keep up with industry trends and changes in consumer behaviors and preferences.
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Meet Demands, the Smart Way
Change is given in consumer-facing industries, and it has accelerated since more consumers are engaging with businesses digitally. To stay competitive, your clients need new capabilities now. Taking time to develop new apps or features, form your own partnerships, and successfully integrate your solution with a strategic partner’s solution is a slow and labor-intensive process. However, integrating with your partner’s payment processing platform decreases the time to market for the total, full-featured solutions your clients need.
Contact your payments partner to explore the options available to you to build in-demand holistic solutions that will help you grow your business.
