ISVs want more from payment processors/acquirers. Research from The Strawhecker Group (TSG) previewed at RetailNOW 2023, based on a survey of ISV members of the Retail Solutions Provider Association (RSPA), revealed that 58% ISVs are dissatisfied with payment companies' lack of willingness to innovate and 50% are dissatisfied with friction when deploying solutions. Furthermore, unfortunately, 75% of ISVs are looking for new processing partners.
What’s Important in a Processor/Acquirer-ISV Relationship
The panel that followed TSG’s findings shed light on processor/acquirer relationships from the ISV’s perspective. Here’s what your ISV partners know:
- They hold a lot of chips: ISVs are a fast-growing distribution channel for processors/acquirers. Moreover, retention of the customers they bring to processors/acquirers is higher than accounts from inside sales.
- ISVs can make sure they’re a priority: ISVs don’t have to partner with a company that only considers them as a number. They will gravitate toward companies that give them the attention they deserve.
- They need transparency: Their relationships with their clients are impacted by onboarding processes, fees and costs, and price increase policies. Attrition due to these factors are deal-breakers for ISVs.
- ISVs want a partner that helps them grow: ISVs promote the processor/acquirer brand. The partners they prefer will do the same for them.
Are You Meeting Your ISV Partners’ Expectations?
While you control the terms of your ISV partner programs, keeping up with change that’s accelerating in the payments industry is more challenging. However, with lack of innovation topping ISV’s list of criticisms about their processor/acquirer partners, this is an issue that you need to address.
You can invest in developing new solutions and integrations on your own in an attempt to meet ISVs’ demands. However, with the explosion in the breadth of payment solutions over the past decade, from contactless payments to tap to mobile and continuing with a wide range of alternative payment options, the resources and costs required are likely prohibitive. Additionally, the time it would take to develop solutions or form partnerships and integrate solutions would put you behind competitors that can take them to market sooner. Also, the investment in expanding the payment methods and services you enable ISVs to provide to their customers must continue with maintenance, updates, and testing to ensure performance when changes occur.
Fortunately, partnering can help you deliver all of the payment solutions and innovations that will increase ISVs’ satisfaction with your partnership. A prime example is integrating with a Payment Platform as a Service (PPaaS). One integration gives you access to all the payment methods and services supported by the platform, including buy now, pay later (BNPL), QR code payments, peer-to-peer (P2P) services, and digital receipts. The platform approach also allows you to offer business applications, such as loyalty program management and customer relationship management (CRM) that help ISVs provide a total solution to their clients.
Additionally, it makes it easier for you to manage the solutions your ISV partners can offer to end users. You can provide them with a portal where they can review their options and add new payment services and business applications as they become available. You can also give ISVs the freedom to use a variety of devices supported by the platform for payments acceptance.
What’s Your Next Move?
Considering how important ISV relationships are to your business, forging stronger partnerships with these companies is necessary for growth. Assess the policies that govern your ISV partner program and the solutions and services you provide to identify gaps between what your partners want and what you deliver.
For more information on the Payments Platform as a Service approach, contact us.
