CSG Forte’s commitment to continuous improvement ensures partners are ready for the future of online payments among several industries, including healthcare providers.
When it comes to accepting secure online payments, uncertainty is the enemy of progress. For many organizations, the difference between thriving and merely surviving comes down to the reliability of their payment partner. And while payment processors come and go and industry shifts can upend businesses overnight, National Cash Management Systems (NCMS) founder Scott Lewis has long relied on CSG Forte as a constant in the often-unstable payments industry—delivering stability, innovation and peace of mind year after year.
The story of CSG Forte’s 26-year partnership with NCMS is proof that partnering with a secure online payments provider can transform how businesses operate, adapt and grow. Through market upheavals, regulatory changes and evolving customer expectations, CSG Forte has empowered NCMS to not only weather the storms but to accelerate growth and simplify complexity.
The NCMS and CSG Forte success story isn’t just about payment technology—it’s about trust, partnership and results. This article will explain how CSG Forte’s commitment to reliability and forward-thinking solutions help NCMS stand out in a competitive market. This includes one of NCMS’s customers that was able to triple monthly transaction totals, achieve a 125% increase in volume and deliver the kind of seamless payment experiences that today’s organizations demand.
CSG Forte: Stability and security that lasts
CSG Forte provides the backbone of NCMS’s payment operations with its secure, scalable payment platform that adapts to industry changes. When other processors faltered, Scott said, CSG Forte continued to deliver consistent reliability—helping NCMS and its clients avoid costly disruptions and focus on what matters most: their customers.
Key capabilities in the CSG Forte and NCMS partnership includes:
Single-source payment platform: CSG Forte’s all-in-one solution simplifies operations, reduces risk and streamlines compliance for partners like NCMS.
Continuous innovation: CSG Forte integrates new payment methods and technologies, ensuring partners stay ahead of industry trends and regulatory requirements.
Dedicated support: CSG Forte’s hands-on service helps partners resolve issues quickly and optimize their payment strategies for long-term success.
Navigating an unstable payments industry
NCMS’s experience reflects a common challenge: instability among payment processors. Frequent changes and failures forced merchants to juggle multiple providers, increasing complexity and risk. CSG Forte’s partnership with NCMS solved this problem by offering a stable, reliable platform that could grow with their business.
A modern, single-source platform in action
By leveraging CSG Forte’s technology and expertise, NCMS was able to:
Consolidate payment channels for greater efficiency.
Simplify onboarding and reporting for easier compliance.
Benefit from ongoing product improvements and responsive support.
This partnership empowered NCMS to deliver seamless, secure payment experiences to its clients while maintaining the flexibility to adapt as needs evolved.
Clear growth driven by CSG Forte
NCMS shared volume and revenue metrics from one of its merchant clients that accepts online healthcare payments. The impact of CSG Forte’s platform includes:
Average monthly transaction growth: from 40,820 in 2021 to 91,831 between 2021 and 2025.
Monthly transaction total increases: from $3.93 million to $12 million.
Continuous improvement:
~20% annual growth rate increase
125% increase in transaction volume
3X growth in monthly totals.
Why choose CSG Forte?
Reliability: CSG Forte’s platform delivers consistent, secure payment processing that partners can trust.
Innovation: Stay ahead with integrated solutions and new payment methods.
Support: Dedicated, hands-on service to simplify compliance and resolve issues quickly.
Growth: Proven results—partners see increased transaction volume, streamlined operations and lasting peace of mind.
The online payments landscape is known as one where the only certainty is constant change, and finding steadfast partners can seem elusive. That’s why the collaboration between NCMS and CSG Forte is particularly illustrative of the transformative power shared vision and commitment brings to a partnership. The shared journey is not just a story of improved payment operations; it’s a blueprint for organizations eager to embrace innovation without compromising reliability.
By combining cutting-edge technology with personalized service, CSG Forte and NCMS have built a partnership that not only meets today’s complex demands, but also anticipates the challenges merchants will face tomorrow. For organizations that aspire to minimize risk, maximize efficiency and drive sustainable growth, the choice of partner is more crucial now than ever before—and NCMS and CSG Forte demonstrate exactly what’s possible when trust and innovation converge.
Are you ready to redefine what’s possible in your payment partnership? Whether you’re looking to accept online healthcare payments or secure online payments in another industry, it’s time to take the first step. CSG Forte’s experts can guide you toward seamless transactions, robust support and future-ready solutions. So, reach out today; whether you’re seeking to streamline operations, safeguard your revenue or unlock new avenues for expansion, our team is here to empower your organization every step of the way.
Embedded Payments for ISVs: How to Monetize Payments Without the Risk
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If you’re an independent software vendor (ISV), payments are no longer a bolt-on feature. Customers expect to onboard, accept and reconcile payments without leaving your website or application. That’s why “embedded payments” has replaced simple gateway integrations: you’re not just processing transactions—you’re designing the entire money-movement experience, from sign-up to settlement.
Integrated vs. embedded: what ISVs really mean by “embedded payments”
Embedded payments are native payment experiences inside your software. Beyond taking a card, they often include automated onboarding (know your customer or KYC, and know your buyer or KYB), split payouts for service fees, risk controls and dashboards your customers actually use.
“Integrated” usually means you connect your app to a processor or gateway and offload the rest. “Embedded” extends into orchestration—how funds move among parties, how identities are verified, how disputes are handled and how the data shows up in your product reporting. If you operate a vertical SaaS or multi-sided marketplace, you almost certainly need embedded.
When platforms need more than a gateway, some of the common signals are:
You manage sub-accounts (franchises, locations, contractors, clinics).
You must split payouts or hold funds until milestones are met.
Your users demand white-labeled onboarding and unified reporting.
Evaluation criteria that actually predict success
Plenty of checklists exist, but three areas correlate best with ISV outcomes.
Onboarding speed & compliance: How quickly can a typical merchant get from “create account” to “take first payment”? Look for automated KYC/KYB, clear status webhooks and tiered underwriting so low-risk merchants move fast while higher-risk flows get escalated. Competitors spotlight fast launches and single integrations.
Risk & fraud controls you can tune: Vertical variance matters. A home-services marketplace needs different velocity checks than a point-of-sale ISV. Ask about account verification, support, tokenization and end-to-end encryption—core controls that reduce losses and scope without trashing the UX.
Revenue levers (fees, markups, value-add): Payments should be a profit contributor, not just table stakes. Evaluate your ability to add value—card-on-file durability via account updater, network tokens and smart retries—and price for it. Integrating account updating software keeps card data current to avoid involuntary churn; its tokenization explainer is a good primer for why this matters to auth rates and retention.
Build vs. partner: PFaaS as the fast path
You can assemble a payment stack yourself—gateway, acquirer relationships, compliance program, risk models, settlement ops—or partner with a payment facilitation-as-a-service (PFaaS) provider that brings the scaffolding. Owning everything can yield maximum control, but it also imports regulatory overhead, capital requirements and operational complexity. PFaaS lets you keep the customer experience and monetization strategy while offloading the hard parts of compliance, settlement and scheme-level nuance.
Competitors talk up “single global integration” and “go-live faster.” That’s valuable—but the difference shows up after launch, when your support team handles exceptions and your PMs need to add features without undertaking six-month projects. Look for clear and multi-functional APIs, vertical fit and hands-on solutioning rather than generic solutions.
How CSG Forte helps ISVs ship faster
Think about hosted when you need speed; APIs when you need control. CSG Forte offers hosted flows (like BillPay) to stand up clean experiences fast—helpful if you’re validating a motion or need a branded portal while your UX team finishes native flows. The clickable Modern Bill Pay demo shows what those experiences look like end-to-end. From there, APIs let you move deeper into embedded: white-label onboarding, account management and reporting.
CSG Forte: support that matches mid-market realities
If you sell to regulated or quasi-public sectors (e.g., utilities, municipalities, healthcare), your buyers prize reliability, reporting and compliance clarity. CSG Forte’s bill presentment content and support library skew practical, with specifics on encryption/tokenization and portal capabilities—useful for procurement and IT reviewers.
Ready to accelerate your ISV payments journey? Whether you’re looking to streamline onboarding, tighten risk controls or unlock new revenue streams, choosing the right partner can make all the difference. Reach out to the expert team at CSG Forte today to discover how our tailored solutions can help you launch faster, operate smarter and deliver the reliability your customers demand.
What Is Payment Facilitation and How Can It Help Your Business Scale?
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Imagine this scenario: Your software platform is thriving, attracting new customers every day. Your website analytics show rising engagement, lower bounce rates and strong interest in your product features. But when it comes time for users to pay, you notice a troubling trend—many abandon their carts at the payment stage. The culprit? A clunky, third-party payment form that disrupts the user experience and erodes trust.
As an independent software vendor (ISV), your platform’s growth depends on delivering seamless, trustworthy payment experiences. Yet, too often, legacy payment flows force your customers to abandon their carts—especially when redirected to unfamiliar third-party portals.
Embedding those payment processes directly within your software platform eliminates this friction and keeps users engaged, building trust and loyalty along the way. Whether you want full control and higher revenue share as a registered payment facilitator, or prefer a faster, low-lift launch with payment facilitation-as-a-service (PFaaS), read more to learn what to look for when considering taking on more of a payment facilitation role in your business and offer scalable, compliant payments.
Why embedded payments matter now: trends and industry drivers
Today’s customers expect instant, secure payments—without leaving your branded environment. ISVs across industries are modernizing with embedded payments to boost conversions and customer loyalty.
To meet these expectations, you must be able to onboard merchants in hours (not weeks), support multiple payment methods and simplify compliance requirements. Whether you’re in healthcare, property management, financial services or another industry, embedding payments within your platform is now a competitive necessity.
This surge in digital payment adoption is transforming industries. Healthcare providers want to offer patients easy, secure ways to pay for services online. Property managers need to streamline rent collection and automate recurring payments. ISVs are looking to reduce friction in subscription billing and renewals. Across the board, organizations are seeking to modernize payment acceptance and deliver a frictionless experience that keeps users coming back while maintaining nimble processes.
And they can’t do that with legacy billing and payment systems, which are often slow, expensive and difficult to integrate with modern platforms. These clunky platforms can create bottlenecks in onboarding and expose your business to compliance risks. This frustrates customers with confusing checkout flows and leads to those abandoned carts you’re trying to avoid.
Embedding payment facilitation services within your branded platform empowers delivery of a unified, branded experience—one that builds trust, accelerates onboarding and supports rapid growth.
How payment facilitators operate: essential functions, demystified
Payment facilitation is the natural evolution of embedded payments. Once ISVs are beyond simply accepting payments, CSG Forte allows you to gain ownership of the enrollment process and the power to underwrite merchants that meet your standards, while raising the revenue opportunity derived from this knowledge, strengthening loyalty and giving you control over the payment experience.
Whether you want to fully own payments or prefer a lighter operational lift, CSG Forte’s flexible models let you monetize transactions and deliver seamless flows—no matter your growth stage.
Traditional model:
Customers are redirected to a third-party payment site.
The payment experience feels disconnected from your brand.
Onboarding is slow, compliance is complex and revenue opportunities are limited.
PFaaS model:
CSG Forte handles the heavy lifting: merchant onboarding, compliance, risk management.
Your team focuses on product innovation and customer engagement.
Onboarding is slow, compliance is complex and revenue opportunities are limited.
Payment facilitator model:
Customers stay within your branded environment for the entire transaction.
You control the payment flow, user experience and branding.
Onboarding is fast, compliance is streamlined and your share in payment processing revenue is higher.
For ISVs and platforms evaluating embedded payment strategies, becoming a payment facilitator enables you to own the payment relationship, monetize transactions and deliver seamless payment flows. While there are less hands-on models that suit businesses seeking minimal operational responsibility, platforms ready to scale and differentiate should consider going the payment facilitation route. Whether choosing PFaaS as a steppingstone to full payment facilitation or jumping right in, choosing the right partner is how you make that leap—without the heavy lift.
Regulatory and compliance considerations for payment facilitators
Payments are complex and highly regulated. Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements are non-negotiable for payment facilitators. CSG Forte’s PFaaS offering handles compliance, merchant underwriting, transaction monitoring and fraud prevention. Our transparent fee structures and chargeback management tools help you scale confidently, knowing risk and compliance are covered.
As a payment facilitator, you’re responsible for consolidating payments across many sub-merchants. This means risk management becomes a top priority. CSG Forte’s platform is built to support this complexity, providing automated tools for compliance, fraud detection and regulatory reporting.
With CSG Forte, you don’t have to become a payments expert overnight. Our team guides you through every step, from initial setup to ongoing compliance. We handle the operational details, so you can focus on growing your business.
Merchant onboarding: Traditional payment models require each merchant to undergo a lengthy underwriting process, often taking weeks. As a payment facilitator, you can onboard merchants under your own brand in hours or days. CSG Forte’s platform automates underwriting, risk assessment and compliance checks, so you can scale faster and support more customers.
Transaction monitoring & fund movement: Payment facilitators oversee the flow of funds between customers and merchants, monitor transactions for fraud and ensure timely disbursement. CSG Forte’s infrastructure provides real-time monitoring, advanced fraud detection and automated fund movement, so you can deliver a secure, reliable payment experience.
Chargeback management: Handling chargebacks and disputes is a critical part of payment operations. CSG Forte’s platform includes built-in chargeback management tools, helping you minimize losses, resolve disputes efficiently and maintain operational stability.
Compliance & risk management: Operating as a payment facilitator means expanding your scope into a highly regulated space. PCI DSS compliance, KYC protocols and AML requirements are non-negotiable. CSG Forte’s PFaaS model shifts the security and compliance burdens off your shoulders; we handle merchant underwriting, transaction monitoring and fraud prevention on your behalf.
Benefits of becoming a payment facilitator
ISVs who embed payments with CSG Forte unlock new revenue streams—transaction fees, referral programs and value-added services. You’ll keep the entire customer journey within your software, reducing drop-offs and boosting conversions.
Our platform is built for scalability, letting you add payment methods and subscription billing without reengineering your core infrastructure. Stay competitive and future ready as payment technologies evolve, with strategic and financial advantages, including:
New revenue streams: Monetize every transaction, offer referral programs and introduce value-added services.
Improved user experience: Keep the payment process within your platform, reducing friction and boosting conversions.
Scalability: Easily add new payment methods—credit cards, ACH, digital wallets and subscription billing—without major infrastructure changes.
Operational efficiency: Automate onboarding, compliance and risk management, freeing your team to focus on innovation.
Competitive differentiation: Stand out in your market by offering seamless, branded payment experiences.
CSG Forte’s commitment: partnering for growth
At CSG Forte, we believe in partnership. Our team works closely with yours to understand and align with your goals, address your challenges and refine your growth strategy. Whether you’re ready to become a registered payment facilitator or want to start with PFaaS, we provide the expertise, technology and support you need to succeed. We also offer co-marketing opportunities, strategic guidance and ongoing operational support. Our goal is to help you launch, scale and differentiate your platform in a competitive market.
Ready to transform your platform’s payment experience? Connect with CSG Forte to explore the best path for your ISV—whether you want full payment facilitation or a fast, flexible PFaaS launch. You can also follow CSG Forte on LinkedIn for industry trends, product updates and best practices for embedded payments, and beyond.
How ISVs Can Unlock Revenue With Embedded Payments
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As more software platforms handle payment transactions, independent software vendors (ISVs) are discovering a powerful—and often untapped—revenue stream: embedded payments. Rather than sending users to a third-party payment portal, embedded payments allow customers to complete transactions directly within the software interface. It’s fast, intuitive and increasingly expected by today’s digital-first users.
Think of the everyday convenience of in-app purchases or paying a medical bill directly in a patient portal. That’s embedded payments in action—and it’s transforming how platforms operate across industries like healthcare, property management and retail.
Yet many ISVs still rely on outdated redirects or payment referral models—unwittingly giving away both revenue and control. By embedding payments, ISVs not only create a smoother experience for users but also open the door to a reliable stream of recurring income from transaction fees and value-added services.
In this blog, we’ll explore what embedded payments are, why they matter for ISVs and how platforms can monetize them effectively—at their own speed and on their own timeline, only taking on the heavy lift of becoming a registered payment facilitator when and if it becomes the right move for their business. We’ll also discuss what to look for in an embedded payments partner, and how to get started—smarter and faster.
What Are Embedded Payments?
Embedded payments refer to payment functions that are built into a non-payment application or software platform. End users pay directly within the app or software interface, without being redirected to an outside payment portal.
Examples of embedded payments:
Healthcare Patients: A patient logs into the portal to view medical records and can see an outstanding balance, then pay it directly within the portal without being redirected to a separate billing site.
Property Management Software: Tenants can pay rent directly within the tenant portal, streamlining the payment process for both residents and property managers. This not only eliminates the hassle of checks and manual payment tracking, but also integrates payment history, late fees and lease renewals into one centralized dashboard—making management more efficient and improving tenant satisfaction.
Government Services: Residents can pay taxes, fees or permit applications directly within government portals, improving accessibility and streamlining the user experience while enhancing operational efficiency for agencies.
The terms “embedded payments” and “integrated payments” are sometimes used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same. Integrated payments is a broader term that describes any payment functionality that is connected to a business’s core software systems. The payment system exchanges data with these systems to improve accuracy, simplify reconciliation and streamline workflows. But the payment interface might involve a separate window, a redirection or a clearly distinct module. The payer is aware of entering a payment zone and may feel uncertain about the security measures in place.
Why Embedded Payments Matter for ISVs
They help ISVs stand out in a crowded software market. By offering embedded payments, ISVs deliver a more seamless, full-service experience—attracting more merchant customers and outshining competitors that rely on separate payment systems.
They help retain merchants by improving the end-user experience. Embedded payments reduce friction for end users, leading to higher conversion rates, more on-time payments, and greater customer satisfaction and retention. Furthermore, embedded payments provide a feeling of security that portal redirects cannot. Redirecting users—especially less tech-savvy ones—to an unfamiliar checkout page with different branding can feel disjointed and raise security concerns. For Gen Z users accustomed to seamless digital experiences, redirects may seem outdated and damage trust in the platform. Security is the top payment concern influencing how consumers choose to pay online, endorsed by 60% of survey respondents.
Embedded payments deliver the smooth, secure experience today’s consumers expect. Happy merchants who experience the benefits of embedded payments are likely to continue using the ISV’s software platform.
They generate a new revenue stream from payments. Embedding payment processing allows ISVs to tap into transaction fees and related charges every time a payment is processed within their software solution. This recurring revenue stream can significantly contribute to the ISV’s overall earnings.
How ISVs Can Monetize Payments
ISVs can monetize payments in several ways:
Referral partnership: The ISV refers potential customers (merchants) to a payment processing provider in exchange for a commission or fee. In this model, the ISV doesn’t handle the payment processing directly. Instead, it leverages its network to bring new business to the payment provider. ISVs can focus on their core business while benefitting from moderate revenue potential through referral commissions.
Payment facilitation: Payment facilitation streamlines the entire transaction process—making payments faster, easier and more convenient for everyone involved. It covers everything from setting up and managing payment methods to processing payments, reconciling transactions and preventing fraud. The goal? To deliver secure, seamless and accessible payments for both individuals and businesses.
By acting as a payment facilitator and embedding payments, ISVs can earn a larger share of transaction revenue.
But how do payment facilitators make money through payment processing?
Transaction and subscription fees: Through embedded payments, payment facilitators unlock a new revenue stream—earning a share of every transaction processed on their platform. They generate approximately 66% of their revenue from payment processing, according to PYMNTS research.
Value-added services: ISVs can boost earnings by offering services that enhance the payment experience and open new revenue streams, such as Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments, surcharging programs (that pass credit card acceptance fees to cardholders), chargeback dispute management, fraud prevention, data analytics, reporting and more. Many executives estimated that their share of revenue would increase in the next year primarily due to an increase in value-added services.
Strong merchantretention: Platforms that provide comprehensive solutions—including embedded payments—offer greater value to merchants, boosting platform stickiness and long-term merchant retention.
Becoming a Payment Facilitator Can Be Complex and Expensive—But There’s a Workaround
All that extra revenue sounds terrific! So why aren’t more ISVs becoming payment facilitators? Because it demands major investments in time, money and dedicated resources, including:
Partnering with a sponsoring acquirer (and being vetted by the acquirer)
Obtaining Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) Level 1 certification
Legal and regulatory compliance [Know Your Customer (KYC), Anti Money Laundering, and other requirements]
Committing significant staffing and financial resources
Many independent software vendors would rather focus on developing and maintaining their software platforms—not processing payments. Almost a third (31%) of ISVs that don’t support payment acceptance identify security and risk management as the top reasons.
But there’s good news for ISVs. You can monetize embedded payments without the hefty investment and headaches of becoming a payment facilitator. How?
By taking advantage of payment facilitation as a service (PFaaS). PFaaS refers to a business model where a company such as CSG provides payment facilitiation services to other businesses on a fee-for-service basis. The ISV outsources its payment processing to a third-party provider, who manages payment processing on its behalf.
PFaaS is a turnkey solution that allows software platforms to embed payments and enjoy the revenue benefits of becoming a payment facilitator—without taking on the full regulatory, compliance and operational burdens.
With the right payments partner ISVs can monetize payments without:
Taking on the risk or compliance burdens of a full payment facilitator
Managing KYC, PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards and Nacha compliance
Handling chargebacks or regulatory audits
Maintaining a payment gateway and handling updates
Not all embedded payments partners are created equal. To simplify the process of adopting payment functionality, look for a partner that offers:
Industry flexibility: Choose a payments solution that can accommodate the specific requirements of different industries, ranging from healthcare and property management to education and field services.
Modularity: You should be able to choose which modules to include in your payment system. Your partner should allow you to embed solutions like recurring payments (autopay), text-to-pay, account verification, and automatic updates.
Built-in PCI compliance: The PCI council has strict rules for businesses that accept and process card payments. To protect cardholder data, businesses must:
Conduct routine network maintenance
Implement data encryption
Add security against malicious software
Restrict internal access to sensitive data
Select a payments partner that provides the highest level of PCI compliant infrastructure (Level 1), including secure firewalls and network configurations, encryption of cardholder data. For compliance with PCI, Nacha, industry-specific (e.g., Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA), and state-level data security requirements, look for modern security measures, including
PCI validated end-to-end encryption
Tokenization
Hosted payment pages
Choosing a partner that offers a PCI compliance program (including assistance with registration and validation and monthly vulnerability scans) simplifies the compliance process and avoids PCI non-compliance fees and risk exposure.
Fraud prevention tools: Fight fraud with automated account authentication that validates payment information before processing the payment.
Responsive customer support: Merchants must have swift, effective help when they encounter issues with their payment platform. Choose a payments partner that provides quality, consistent and knowledgeable support whenever merchants need it.
Rapid onboarding: Look for a partner who gets you up and running in days, not weeks.
A Smarter Path to Embedding Payments with CSG Forte
Embedded payments are more than a convenience for end-users—they’re a revenue stream for ISVs.
Ready to turn your software into a revenue-generating payments engine without adding more staff?
CSG Forte’s PFaaS partnership makes it simple and approachable. Flexible control payment processing allows you to choose your level of involvement and risk in the payment process.
You canwhite label a CSG Forte solution for seamless integration, fast onboarding, lowered risk and reliable payment processing. Let Forte handle the hard tasks—such as compliance, onboarding and maintenance—so you can focus on product development and growth.
Build or Partner? Embedded Payment Processing for ISVs
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“Why don’t we just build our own?”
A homegrown payment processing solution can seem appealing to independent software vendors (ISVs). Many ISVs consider building their own systems to lower costs, benefit from additional revenue share, customize the customer experience and maintain direct control over the entire transaction.
While the idea of developing an in-house solution is tempting, it can come with hidden baggage. The upfront savings aren’t always enough to offset the added risks and responsibilities assumed by ISVs that choose to process their own payments. On the other hand, partnering with a payments vendor offers ISVs plenty of advantages that might outweigh the allure of becoming a payment processor. How can you determine which option is right for you?
In this blog post, we’ll explore the factors ISVs need to assess when deciding whether to build or buy a payment processing solution.
What It Takes for ISVs to Process Payments
In addition to facilitating transactions, ISVs that build their own payment processing solutions are on the hook for several critical functions that aren’t readily visible. Managing risk and charge disputes, onboarding new clients, remaining legally compliant and preventing fraud all fall under the ISV’s purview. Mastery of the following roles is essential to creating a seamless and secure payment processing system:
Risk management: Performing due diligence is an essential first step in processing payments. Not all prospective clients have pure intent—verifying a merchant’s identity and having security checks in place helps insulate the business from risk. ISVs must be prepared to evaluate each application before accepting it.
Onboarding: Onboarding clients is a process in itself. Once a business is approved, providers must seamlessly integrate their system with the payment gateway before they can begin to process transactions. After the account is set up, they’ll need ongoing training and support to use the new platform effectively.
Dispute management: Transactions don’t always go according to plan. When customers have insufficient funds or contest a charge, payment processors must evaluate the likelihood of winning the dispute before accepting it or requesting additional documentation.
Fraud prevention: Cybersecurity is an ongoing job for payment processors. They must continuously monitor for unusual activity to predict and quickly detect fraud. For ISVs that process their own payments, fraud prevention is particularly important as they would be assuming full liability.
Compliance: Payment processing is a highly regulated industry. ISVs must understand and adhere to ereporting guidelines for card brands they acquire and banks they’re working with as sub-merchants to remain legally compliant.
Why ISVs Partner With a Payments Solutions Provider
Building a robust payment processing system from scratch is risky and resource-intensive, which is why many ISVs choose to outsource the entire cycle or parts of it they don’t want to handle in-house. But beyond managing the hidden headaches, there are additional benefits to trusting an experienced partner with payment processing:
Faster speed to market: Bringing in an external payment processor eliminates the learning curve for ISVs. They can execute efficiently and quickly integrate an ISV’s existing software with an API.
Reduced PCI-DSS and security exposure: If an ISV processes their own payments, they store sensitive payment data that opens them up to greater exposure. They are also subject to stringent PCI-DSS security standards. Working with a third-party absolves ISVs of this burden.
Better scalability: As the business grows and needs to process more transactions, an established payments partner can help ISVs adapt and scale more quickly and securely than reworking the system themselves.
Expertise and support: Some of the functions required to process payments—like underwriting and risk management—require expertise that many ISVs do not already have in-house. Instead of adding new talent to their teams, they can outsource these duties to an experienced partner that already has certifications and connections in place that would otherwise be time-consuming and costly to attain.
How to Know the Right Choice for You
Deciding whether to build or partner to integrate a payment processing solution is a complex decision that requires careful consideration. Each ISV must weigh the unique challenges and potential benefits of both options to determine the best path forward for their specific business needs.
ISVs can ask themselves the following questions to assess their preparedness for building a payment platform:
Readiness: What is the size and maturity of my business? Have I explored all my options related to optimizing payments and reducing processing costs?
Costs: Am I prepared to cover the additional costs required to build and maintain my own payment processing platform? What talent would I need to hire to have the necessary expertise in-house?
Time: How long will it take to become a payments processor? Can I afford to wait that long?
Risks: What is my risk tolerance, both for financial losses and reputational risks? Am I comfortable assuming liability as a payment processor?
Finding the answers to these questions will prepare you to take the next steps forward in building or buying a payment processing solution as an ISV.
Choose a Payments Partner That Can Grow With You
Ultimately, ISVs want to ensure the payments experience feels like a seamless part of their software, which might initially make building their own platform look like the best path. But the right payments partner can help ISVs achieve that—while also taking the strain of processing payments off their shoulders.
CSG Forte grows alongside your business. Whether you’re at a stage where you want to offer payment acceptance within your software or you’re ready to become a payment facilitator, CSG Forte’s flexible partner program is designed to scale to your needs. We make it easy to ramp up your offerings on an a-la-carte basis as your business grows, until you’re ready (or not) to take on the whole process.
Contact us today to discuss how our integrated payment solutions can support your goals, no matter where you are on your journey.
How To Choose a Payments Partner for ISVs
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Need to add a payments partner to your existing ecosystem? Or introduce the first one to your platform? There are plenty of options out there. But to keep it easy and keep costs down, you’ll have to find a reliable payments partner for easy integration.
Choosing the right payments partner is an important decision for independent software vendors (ISVs) aiming to improve the user experience and keep customers happy. A strong partnership leads to smoother transactions, fewer risks and greater trust. A weak one may breed confusion and frustration.
When selecting an integrated payments partner, there are many factors ISVs must weigh in their decision-making. We’ll focus on the most critical considerations to prioritize, and we’ll recommend four questions to ask any potential payments partner.
What Should ISVs Look for in a Payments Partner?
The payments partner you choose can be the difference between a streamlined integration and a protracted headache. Given the complexities involved, ISVs must carefully consider whether or not a partner aligns with their business needs. From APIs to developer support, ISVs should start by looking for these essential criteria when assessing potential payments partners.
One of the most critical aspects ISVs should evaluate is the quality and functionality of the payment partner’s APIs. A well-documented and flexible API means fewer roadblocks during implementation and a better ability to customize the user interface (UI). Presenting an intuitive UI becomes particularly useful in industries like government or healthcare, where there is a broad range of technological savvy amongst users.
ISVs should look for APIs that are fully controlled and fully developed, with the ability to capture information quickly and support the full lifecycle of the merchant journey—from onboarding to processing and refunding to disputing transactions. Having a robust API gives ISVs faster speed to market, freeing you up to focus on your core product.
Equally important is the availability and clarity of developer documentation.
Comprehensive, easy-to-understand documentation is essential for an ISV’s developers to implement and troubleshoot the new payment solution effectively. Detailed guides, code samples and FAQs can accelerate the integration process and minimize errors. When documentation is regularly updated, ISVs are always aware of new features, updates and best practices, keeping payment systems current and efficient.
Innovation Roadmap
Payment systems need to keep pace with changes in regulation, security and technology, That’s why you’ll want to know the development and innovation track the provider follows.
Make sure your payment partner’s product roadmap aligns with your industry-specific needs and emerging trends. A partner that demonstrates a clear understanding of your sector and is proactive in addressing future challenges will ensure long-term compatibility and success.
Look for payment providers that have consistently attained their roadmap goals, showcasing their ability to deliver on promises and keep pace with innovation. Strong customer testimonials are also key evidence of their effectiveness in real-world applications. Industry recognition and awards from respected payment research firms, too, can point to their reliability and forward-thinking approach.
Dedicated Technical Payment Expertise
Even with excellent APIs and documentation, having access to technical payments experts maximizes the benefits of a new payment solution for ISVs. It also ensures ISVs are adhering to industry standards and best practices, compliance regulations and niche functionality of the processing platform. A payments partner that provides personalized support can help resolve issues faster, minimize wasted time, tailor solutions to your specific needs, and inform you of new releases and their impact on your integration.
ISVs should look for a payments partner that solicits input from their clients and makes its experts accessible, helping them understand best practices for the platform. Dedicated support optimizes integration and reduces downtime, which helps ISVs and their users get the most value from the payments platform.
Flexible processing models
Finally, ISVs must consider the flexibility of a potential payment processing model. Can their partner support a quick, easy and hands-free referral partnership? Or equip them to support an embedded payments model that provides a great user experience and financial benefits? Your business needs will evolve over time, and your payments partner should be able to scale with you. Look for partners that offer scalable solutions, transparent pricing, robust partner-level research, and the ability to automate transaction and account management.
Flexibility in processing models ensures that as an ISV’s business grows, their payment solutions remain efficient and cost-effective, supporting expansion without unnecessary—or costly—complications.
4 Key Questions ISVs Should Ask When Choosing a Payments Partner
How can ISVs determine whether a payment service provider will check all the boxes?
Here are four essential questions ISVs should ask before signing on the dotted line:
1. What does the contractual agreement entail?
When you sign up with a new payments partner, is what you see what you get?
Understanding the complete terms of the contractual agreement is the first question to ask a provider. ISVs should inquire about the length of the contract, any automatic renewals and the flexibility to adjust terms as their business evolves.
2. What is the pricing structure?
Likewise, ISVs need to know a potential partner’s pricing and fee structure. What are the commission rates? Are there any additional fees or hidden costs that could impact the overall profitability of the partnership?
Compare the effective revenue share after accounting for all associated fees. This helps ISVs guarantee they are getting a fair deal and accurately predict the costs involved.
3. Do ISVs gain visibility into the onboarding process?
Efficient onboarding means faster speed to market and less stress for ISVs. Transparency expedites the process. How much visibility will the payment service provider offer?
ISVs should ask potential partners about the steps involved in onboarding new merchants and how long it typically takes. When an application is pending approval, will you know what’s going on behind the scenes? Or will miscommunication drag out the process, leaving money on the table and frustrating customers?
It’s important to understand how the payment service provider manages these stages to stand up new merchants with minimal delay. If an ISV can stay informed each step of the way, then can intervene when necessary to catch errors early and keep things moving.
4. How will ISVs realize their revenue?
ISVs need to understand the functional differences in the transaction processing offered by a payments partner. Ask to model scenarios based on how you intend to use the provider’s platform. Then you can determine how you can fully realize the revenue you expect.
Choose a Payments Partner You Can Trust
The payments partner you choose carries serious implications for your long-term business efficiency and growth. Transparency is the foundation of trust: Do you know if the provider will keep you informed every step of the way? When things go wrong, are you right on the front line, or the last to know? ISVs need to have confidence that the provider they choose will be a true partner.
Use an experienced payments partner that is not only easy to integrate with, but also easy to do business with. CSG Forte’s flexible processing models, comprehensive support and transparent pricing give ISVs a reliable partner that can adapt to your future needs.
Contact us to learn how we can help you achieve an easy integration and support your business growth.
The 5 Biggest Payment Processing Headaches for ISVs (and How to Relieve Them)
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As independent software vendors (ISVs) know too well, there is a lot more to offering payments than just accepting and processing them. Payment processing is fraught with complexities for ISVs that are trying to keep their customers happy. Besides the transactions, ISVs must figure out how disputes and chargebacks will be handled, for example, or how customers will be protected from fraud. These challenges can affect the overall customer experience (CX), making it essential for ISVs to find effective payment solutions to integrate into their software.
That’s why choosing the right payments partner is imperative for ISVs that want to alleviate those payment processing headaches. In fact, offering an easy-to-navigate, reliable and secure payments platform can turn what are often seen as challenges into seamless, customer-retaining experiences. Let’s unpack five common payments headaches and how to relieve them.
1. Onboarding
Headache: Ensuring new customers experience a smooth and efficient setup is crucial for building customer loyalty from the get-go. However, onboarding often involves numerous steps, including KYC (know your customer) compliance, data integration and system configuration. Any hiccups in this process can lead to frustration and even delay the customer’s ability to start accepting payments promptly.
Solution: A reliable payments partner can streamline the onboarding process by offering automated solutions that reduce manual effort and minimize errors. One example of such automation is the streamlined onboarding process with automated verifications. This system automatically verifies the identity of new customers using various databases and compliance checks, ensuring that the onboarding process is both secure and efficient. By leveraging advanced technologies and a well-defined onboarding strategy, an experienced and knowledgeable payments provider ensures that new merchants are up and running quickly and efficiently while protecting you by filtering bad actors.
2. Risk Management
Headache: ISVs must navigate a rapidly evolving landscape filled with potential threats. For example, an ISV might face penalties for non-compliance with PCI DSS regulations, which mandate security measures for handling cardholder data. Failure to comply could lead to hefty fines, increased audit requirements and even the loss of the ability to process credit card payments altogether. Failure to effectively manage these risks can result in financial losses, legal issues and damage to ISVs’ reputations.
Solution: The best payment partners offer comprehensive solutions that include real-time fraud detection, and compliance monitoring. These tools help ISVs protect their merchants and maintain a secure payment environment.
3. Dispute Management
Headache: Managing chargebacks and customer disputes can be time-consuming and complex. Disputes can also generate a lot of call center inquiries, which can strain company resources and impact the overall customer experience.
Solution: By providing streamlined dispute resolution processes and expert support, a great payment partner can help ISVs manage chargebacks more effectively and reduce the impact on their merchants. For example, their software might include automated chargeback management tools that notify the merchant of a dispute, allow the upload of necessary documentation, and assist by providing easy access to details and context to challenge the chargeback. Depending on the needs of the ISV and their own systems, having direct integration methods, such as REST API resources for disputes, can provide greater flexibility and scalability. This allows ISVs to focus on their core business activities while ensuring positive CX and improving retention.
4. Fraud Prevention
Headache: Fraud prevention is a top priority for ISVs, as fraudulent activities can result in significant financial losses and damage to their reputation. Implementing robust fraud prevention measures requires advanced technologies, continuous monitoring, and compliance knowledge. Some specific examples of fraud types ISVs need to watch out for include:
Card-not-present (CNP) fraud: This occurs when fraudsters use stolen credit card information to make purchases online or over the phone, without the physical card being present.
Chargeback fraud: Also known as “friendly fraud,” this happens when a customer disputes a legitimate transaction, often with the intention of getting goods or services for free.
Phishing scams: Fraudsters use deceptive emails or websites to trick individuals into providing sensitive information, such as login credentials or credit card numbers.
Account takeover (ATO): This involves fraudsters gaining unauthorized access to a user’s account, often through phishing or data breaches, and using it to make fraudulent transactions.
Identity theft: Criminals use stolen personal information to create fake accounts or make unauthorized transactions, posing as legitimate customers.
Solution: A payments provider that offers reliable fraud prevention solutions can help ISVs mitigate this risk. These solutions typically include machine learning algorithms, real-time transaction monitoring and multi-layered security protocols.
5. Customer Support
Headache: When merchants encounter issues with their payment platform, receiving inadequate support can exacerbate the problem, leading to frustration, delayed resolutions and potential financial losses. ISVs need the capabilities to provide swift and effective help when things go awry for their customers. Quick service restoration is imperative to keep any business running smoothly, and shortcomings in support can lead to interruptions in platform functionality, setting off a cascade of customer service issues.
Solution: ISVs must offer quality, consistent and knowledgeable customer service, provide comprehensive training materials and resources and implement a reliable system to track and resolve issues promptly. By ensuring that merchants have access to expert support whenever they need it, ISVs become a partner in improving customer satisfaction, thereby building loyalty and reducing operational disruptions.
Payment processing can be challenging for ISVs. But getting it correct is worth it—83% of ISVs said they’ll see an increased revenue share from payment acceptance over the next 12 months. By partnering with a reliable payment provider, ISVs can transform these headaches into seamless, customer-retaining experiences.
Looking to alleviate pain points in onboarding, risk, fraud, dispute and elsewhere? Contact an expert at CSG Forte to learn more about how we can help you enhance your payment processing capabilities and provide a seamless experience for your merchants.
Understanding 3 Types of Payment Processing Partners
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“Partners” can mean a lot of things in commerce and software. That’s certainly true of payment processing partners, and for businesses, it can get confusing exactly what a payment partnership is. What’s the difference between an ISO vs. ISV, for example?
Let’s say you want to offer ACH or credit/debit card processing to your customers, but you don’t have a payments solution of your own. You’ll likely need to enter into a partnership with a payment facilitator who does. A payment facilitator, or PayFac, is a vendor that provides the payment processing software and handles other services such as onboarding and underwriting merchants on the payment platform. The type of partnership you have with that provider, however, makes a huge difference in what you control and how it affects your revenue.
We’ll explain three main types of partnerships in payments: integrated partnerships, reseller partnerships and referral programs.
What Are Integrated Partnerships?
An integrated partnership is when you plug a payment processing provider’s software directly into the platform you offer merchants. This allows the merchants’ end-users to make payments within the partner’s solution without needing to leave your platform or application. This is the type of partnership we offer independent software vendors (ISVs), with CSG Forte as the embedded payment solution within their platform.
An ISV is a software company that builds a CRM (customer relationship management) platform, usually for a specific industry like property management or medical office management. When the ISV wants to enable their platform to take payments within the application, the ISV often integrates a payments platform. The ISV could select from different types of payment gateways to integrate, or it can hard-code to a payment gateway (like CSG Forte) in an exclusive partner relationship.
Advantages of Integrated Partnerships
Seamless user experience: End-users enjoy a smooth, uninterrupted workflow. How they make payments feels like how they handle other tasks on your platform—they don’t have to shift to a different site, application or channel.
Increased revenue: Independent software vendors who offer payments through their platforms have a marked revenue advantage over those that don’t. A PYMNTs.com survey found that 83% of ISVs said they’ll see an increased revenue share from payment acceptance over the next 12 months–a sign that ISVs show a high degree of trust toward the results they can get from partnering with payment providers.
Strong merchant retention: When ISVs can offer integrated payments, it bolsters their platform’s value and increases its “stickiness” for vendors.
Not all integrated partnerships are created equal, and ISVs that work with them have clear ideas on what makes them successful. In a survey by the Strawhecker Group (TSG), the three payment processer attributes that ISVs most often cited as important were:
Competitive economic split
Easy merchant onboarding
Quality customer support
What Are Reseller Partnerships?
In a reseller partnership, a company (the reseller) buys payment processing services from a payments provider and resells them to its customers. The reseller usually rebrands the services as its own, providing a turnkey solution to its customer base it wouldn’t otherwise offer. The reseller is often referred to as an independent sales organization (ISO).
The ISO model is a common starting point for businesses entering the payments space. These organizations may even begin as a small group of sales reps who join to sell point-of-sale devices for brick-and-mortar stores to use (which may or may not be integrated into a checkout application).
Advantages of Reseller Partnerships
Brand control: The reseller, or ISO, can market the payment services under its own brand, so it maintains direct control over the customer relationship.
Revenue generation: ISOs can set their own prices and margins, giving them more control over the potential profits they’d see from offering the payment services.
Turnkey solutions: It’s relatively quick to launch these capabilities once the business has selected the provider and then branded the solution.
With reseller partnerships, it’s important to note which aspects your business can control and which it can’t. ISOs are responsible for branding and marketing the payment services, for example. While they benefit from the payment provider’s product support, they have little to no influence over the product itself—its functionality, its user interface and other qualities of the actual payments software.
What Are Referral Partnership Programs?
Referral partnership programs involve referring potential customers to a payment processing provider in exchange for a commission or fee. The referring business doesn’t handle the payment processing directly. Instead, it leverages its network to bring new business to the provider.
Advantages of Referral Partnerships
Low overhead: Since there’s no need to manage the payment processing infrastructure, the referring partner bypasses the operational costs associated with that.
Commissions: Earning referral fees or commissions can be a lucrative revenue stream without the complexities of direct sales.
Focus on core business: Referral partners can keep focusing on their primary business while benefiting from additional income.
Entering a referral partnership program with a payments provider can be advantageous when you have a strong network of businesses that need payment solutions, but you don’t want to take on the cost and complexity of offering those solutions yourself.
Comparing the Payment Processing Partnerships
Another way to distinguish among partnership models is comparing how they leverage different strengths and fulfill different needs. We can look at three categories: the integration depth of the partner’s software, the revenue potential the partnership provides, and the nature of the relationship the business maintains with the end customer.
Integration Depth
Integrated partnerships: High degree of technical integration—embedded within the partner’s software
Reseller partnerships: Moderate level of integration—with rebranded services
Referral partnerships: Low to no integration—primarily based on lead generation
Revenue Potential
Integrated partnerships: High revenue potential through value-added services
Reseller partnerships: High revenue potential through markup on resold services
Referral partnerships: Moderate revenue potential through referral commissions
Customer Relationship
Integrated partnerships: Direct relationship with end-users, maintaining long-term engagement
Reseller partnerships: Direct relationship with customers, with control over branding and support
Referral partnerships: Indirect relationship, with the primary interaction handled by the payment provider
Choosing the Right Payment Processing Partner
Hopefully this clears up the (all too common) ISO vs. ISV confusion of terms. One thing to keep in mind: Businesses often start off with one type of partnership and mature into another one over time. They might begin by referring payment solutions, and then they eventually decide to offer them directly to customers in a white-label reseller model. ISVs might start off by integrating a payment provider’s software, then eventually embark on the journey toward becoming payment facilitators themselves to increase their revenue.
CSG Forte helps organizations of all kinds provide payment solutions in ways that meet their individual goals. Get a trusted vendor in your corner. Become a partner today.
How ISVs Can Retain Customers Through Effortless Experiences
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Everyone wants payments to be simpler. Consumers who make them. Merchants that accept and manage them. And integrated software vendors (ISVs) that offer them through their platforms.
But the “rules” for enabling simple payments are changing. ISVs will need to know how shifting trends in customer experience (CX) will influence their ability to retain customers.
In a recent webinar, a panel of CSG experts dissected five major shifts in CX that ISVs can capitalize on to deliver better customer journeys for merchants and end customers alike. “The State of the Customer Experience: How ISVs Can Create Effortless Experiences” was moderated by Liz Bauer, EVP and chief experience officer at CSG, and she was joined by these panelists:
Mark Smith, SVP of customer experience, CSG
Sukanya Madhavan, VP of product management and engineering, CSG Forte
Jeannette Mbungo, VP of payments operations, CSG Forte
Watch the full discussion here, or read on for a sneak peek.
EFFORTLESS IS THE NEW UNFORGETTABLE
The panelists discussed the concept of making customer experiences “forgettable”—which, to many organizations, sounds counterintuitive. Conventional wisdom was that organizations should aim for digital experiences that wow their audience, but that’s not what customers are necessarily asking for—certainly not customers who are just trying to make payments.
“The world we live in today, people like efficiency, and ease and speed,” Mark said. “They get to do the thing they were trying to do, and they almost don’t notice it. That’s the best kind of experience. That’s what customers love, and this search [by organizations] to try and overreach and deliver something incredibly special, that’s not where the money is in this market today.”
This means ISVs need to focus on providing frictionless and intuitive payment journeys that meet the customers’ needs and preferences. Whether it’s online, in store, contactless or omnichannel, the payment experience should be effortless and forgettable.
For the payments industry, Jeanette pointed to the importance of the onboarding experience—“the first meaningful interaction you have with the customer”—as a high-priority touchpoint. This means creating a smooth application process where customers can easily provide all the data that’s required of them. It should also be easy for ISVs to monitor and manage, with webhooks to get status updates on customers’ applications as they progress.
“So to me, that’s the first key milestone, if you will, that we need to pay attention to, and we are intentional about enabling our customers to provide that effortless and seamless onboarding experience,” Jeanette said.
DATA IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THE ACTION IT DRIVES
Collecting data is only step one. ISVs need to use data to understand their customers better, personalize their offerings and optimize their processes. Data can help ISVs identify pain points, opportunities, trends and behaviors that can inform their decisions and actions.
This means ISVs should not only look at the data, but also be able to use it to engage the customer intelligently throughout their journey.
“A simple example could be, if I am using contactless payments on a regular basis, show me only that as the first option for me to go in and finish the payment,” Sukanya said. She added that ISVs should leverage voice of the customer and customer advisory boards to gather the data and act on it, helping them continuously refine the payment experience.
In addition to personalizing the payments journey, data analytics can also help bolster payment data security. ISVs should be able to recognize patterns in the payments that are processed among their merchants and end customers.
“We know what our consumer patterns are and what merchant patterns are, so [we use] that data to detect any anomalies,” Sukanya said. “Typically, a business processes transactions less than $5000 on a regular basis. If I see a transaction over $15,000, that is an anomaly—send an alert asking for confirmation.” AI can also help predict fraud risks and help organizations be proactive in stopping fraud, she added.
OMNICHANNEL IS ABOUT QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY
It used to be, organizations felt pressure to offer as many communication channels as possible to satisfy as many customers as possible. This approach didn’t always account for which channels each customer actually wanted, and at what point in their journey.
Applying that to the merchant training journey, Jeanette said the key for ISVs is to not throw everything at the customer at once.
“It may make more sense to share a video or an article about how to handle disputes within your system maybe 30 days into your processing journey, versus [telling them on] day one: ‘Here are your credentials, here is how you work with disputes, here’s where you log in to pull reporting.’ That may be too much.”
In short, the goal is “to understand the customer journey and meet [customers] where they are in their journey to provide the optimal solution that aligns with their needs,” Jeannete added.
