Gigi Beyene, senior vice president of integrated payments at Nuvei, told PYMNTS that the role of independent software vendors (ISVs) has evolved over the years, and more changes are on the way.
ISVs trace their roots back to the 1960s, and over the next few decades have become essential in providing software solutions for specific industries, such as practice management in dental and medical settings and front- and back-office solutions in restaurants. I made it possible.
Along the way, ISVs are building a loyal customer base, and a natural expansion will include payments, especially embedded payments, Beyene said.
By helping their clients integrate payments into their products and services, ISVs increase their (and their merchant clients') sales momentum and strengthen their relationships with their companies. This integration also helps accelerate revenue for both ISVs and their clients by providing a seamless payment experience that significantly increases sales and customer retention.
As Beyene told PYMNTS, “Unified payments have increased operational efficiency, reduced costs, and changed the narrative for merchants.”
Things to consider
To firmly embed embedded payments, ISVs should consider their own options when considering partnerships with payment providers. One of the most immediate considerations is finding a provider that offers integrated solutions that work across a wide range of processing platforms. Optionality is also important, as ISVs and their partners need to be able to support traditional card payment options, alternative payment methods, and mobile options.
“We need solutions that support all of these environments,” he said, moving merchants outside the scope of the payments card industry's risks as payment links, hosted payment pages, and commerce move to integrated omnichannel. It said it has a simple integration point tied to a gateway solution that can be used to setting. Cross-channel commerce, by combining mobile and digital options with in-store shopping, can very quickly boost a merchant's revenue by a high-single-digit percentage, Beyen said.
Beyond the integration itself, there should be a strong selection of other features for merchants, such as recurring billing, tokenization, automatic account updates, and currency conversion.
“All of these capabilities need to be available because each ISV represents a different use case with each merchant and MCC code,” said Beyene.
ISVs also often bring in multiple merchants at any given time, helping them build their customer base, so onboarding needs to be seamless and quick. For example, Nuvei offers his AppLink Web API that connects directly to automated underwriting robots so sellers can be approved and paid within his 24 hours.
“The onboarding process is your first touch point with your processing partner, so it needs to be good,” he said.
When asked by PYMNTS how the role of ISVs will evolve and change in the coming years, Beyen said that banking as a service, card issuance, and deferred payments, along with business finance and lending, remain largely unexplored. He said it is a growing market for development.
“These embedded finance solutions benefit merchants of all types, including small businesses, B2B, and B2C companies. And embedded finance can be a distinct differentiator for many ISVs. ” he said.
For ISVs, if moving into payments and embedded finance is seen as the first step in the payments space, evolving into a “payments specialist” will be the next logical step.
To future-proof their businesses, Beyene said ISVs need to “think about payments as a core element of their business and its services.”
Once viewed as a cost center to be managed, payments are now an opportunity to generate revenue.
“Reliance on payments is an important factor,” he said.
