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Insights and Expertise

The power of partnerships in payments

tion within their product offering. By partnering with a
payment company, ISVs can leverage an established infra-
structure that has been rigorously tested and proven in
the market.

This allows them to focus on their core competencies,
enhancing the customer experience while offering their
clients a seamless, reliable payment solution. It's secure
hosted payments fields built by them. Our research also
found that across the UK and Europe, over a third of small
businesses are interested in financing their needs via an
integrated offer from their SaaS provider.

Furthermore, these partnerships often include support
and resources that help ISVs integrate and manage the
By Paul Clarke payment systems more effectively, ensuring that they can
deliver a superior service to their end customers. Compa-
Cashflows nies want it, and it's here for them.

s the UK fintech industry begins to emerge Why might companies be reluctant to partner up?
from a period of economic downturn, and with
the new government pledging to "embrace" the Despite the clear benefits and advantages, some compa-
A fintech sector, with its potential to deliver near- nies could be hesitant to partner up, possibly due to con-
ly £330 billion/$420.7 billion (see https://bit.ly/41K2WaL) cerns or perceptions about the complexity. Additionally,
over the next five years, the timing is prime for businesses by embedding payments into their offering, they might
to explore new partnerships, particularly in the payments fear losing control over the payments process. However,
sector. I'd argue that these concerns are often based on misunder-
standings, and here's why.
One of the most advantageous alliances is between inde-
pendent software vendors (ISVs) and innovative payments Firstly, ISVs won't build their own payment software from
companies, embedding services that benefit the end user. scratch – that would be too costly and time consuming,
But it is not just consumers that benefit from seamless and with serious ramifications if they got anything wrong.
secure customer experiences that are now expected. Instead, they have a choice between embedding a third-
party payments solution or foregoing one completely.
Payments can be a daunting place, but ISVs can feel the
benefit too, deepening engagement, fostering return cus- Some ISVs may be wary of integrating payments, believ-
tomers and ultimately, helping them grow and their com- ing it to be a liability best left up to their customers to
munities to thrive. This isn't a concept; it's fact. Cashflows' handle, but many will have to look at the various vendors
research found that 70 percent of small businesses want of embedded payments, some of which will be more will-
this. ing than others to work closely with ISVs and evolve their
relationship over time.
But what are some of the other benefits of these collabora-
tions? Let's explore the infinite possibilities in the UK as Concerns about ownership are also largely unfounded.
well as in the United States and other global markets. While it is true that using a third-party provider means
that the payment infrastructure is externally managed,
Reduce time, complexity, costs – and add value this does not translate to a loss of control over the cus-
tomer experience.
Integrating or embedding payments into a product is
typically a complex and resource-intensive task. For ISVs, Actually, on the contrary, partnering with a specialist can
the world of payments can be a daunting prospect. The enhance the customer experience by ensuring that the
process requires substantial investment in both time and payment process is smooth, secure and reliable – and it
capital, not to mention the need for specialized knowledge offers more control around designing and inputting into
in payment technologies and regulatory compliance. the checkout experience. ISVs retain full control over
how they integrate and present the payment functional-
However, it doesn't have to be this way. In fact, ISVs don't ity within their own products, allowing them to maintain
often realize the benefits of integrating a payment solu- their brand identity and user experience.

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