4 benefits of integrating payments with your software solution

Steven Velasquez, Senior Vice President and Head of Partner Business Development – Elavon

As the worlds of technology and financial services converge, providing your merchants and their end users with a connected buying experience is crucial to differentiating your software in an increasingly crowded and competitive market. ISVs are now able to integrate payments, financing, and a range of other products into their platforms to increase their revenues per merchants served.[1] Offering payment capabilities can mean new opportunities for you to expand your market share while staying focused on your business and core strengths.

Integrating payments means:

1. Providing a better end user experience
2. Streamlining your merchants’ business operations
3. Offering robust payment data security
4. Generating additional revenue and increasing valuation

Let’s take a closer look.

Providing a better end user experience

User demand for a seamless buying experience makes integrated payments a smart choice.

Your merchants’ end users expect to review detailed order information, enter payment information, complete the checkout process, and confirm their purchase all within one solution. Integrating payments means eliminating separate, and often, arduous processes – effectively cutting out the need to use a separate application to complete their purchase.

Streamlining your merchants’ business operations

When you integrate payments with your software solution, you provide your customers with more functionality to help them manage their day-to-day business operations.  Streamlining the payment process leads to your merchants getting paid quicker while reducing the time and expense associated with a manual process.

Many of your merchants have highly specialized expertise based on the verticals you serve. Eliminating the need to manage a complex financial process enables your merchants to focus on their core competencies. For example, many healthcare software companies reduce administrative work while restaurant ISVs take advantage of additional functionality to help manage inventory.

Offering robust payment data security

Data security can be a challenge for many businesses, regardless of size or industry.  Data breach costs rose from $3.86 million to $4.24 million – an increase of nearly 10% year over year. That’s the largest single year cost increase in the last seven years.[2]

Any merchant accepting payments must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). By partnering with a trusted payments provider, you can ensure transactions are secure through the entire transaction lifecycle. Advanced security features such as point-to-point encryption (P2PE) and tokenization can provide you, your merchants, and their customers with peace of mind.

Generating additional revenue and increasing valuation

Integrating payments means increasing your bottom line. The global ISV market size is expected to be worth around US$ 6,648.60Bn by 2031 from US$ 1,958.60Bn in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 12.99% during the forecast period 2021 to 2031.[3] By enabling payment functionality, you can generate additional revenue streams while providing more value to your merchants and their customers. You also develop a strong competitive differentiator that can set your software solution apart from the crowd.

Partnering for success

When you’re building the blueprint for your success, it’s critical to select a proven partner that can help you build your long-term strategy. Integrating payments is a win-win for you and your merchants. We can help. Backed by the strength and stability of U.S. Bank, we offer global payment expertise, so you can focus on expanding your business capabilities, increasing your revenue potential, and providing more value for your stakeholders. Let’s get started. 1-855-382-5534

[1] 2021 McKinsey Global Payments Report

[2] IBM Security – Cost of Data Breach Report 2021

[3] Marketresearch.biz