ISOs and ISVs face a range of technical challenges that impede their ability to efficiently onboard, underwrite, assess risk, and monitor merchants. These challenges are primarily a result of clunky processing technology. In fact, most legacy processors are currently running on infrastructure that was built before the internet was invented.
Most legacy processors are currently running on infrastructure that was built before the internet was invented.
In a market where merchants expect fast and easy payments, the time required for ISOs and ISVs to complete arcane onboarding processes can cost sales and delay revenue recognition. Many feel incapable of improving the process because they’re stuck with antiquated management tools from the major processors.
Luckily, there are some promising solutions on the horizon, but let’s talk about why classic processing is so inefficient first.
The Biggest Inefficiencies of Classic Processing Services
One of the biggest challenges to merchant onboarding is the fact that there’s no standardized process for merchant onboarding.
It starts with the fact that merchant applications often arrive incomplete. Onboarding is still a mostly manual process, so small details like a missing contact name or a blank EIN number can ripple into days of delays.
Incomplete applications lead to follow-up calls to gather the missing info after submitting the application. Which is a terrible experience for a merchant who wants a one-and-done solution to their onboarding.
When your business finally gets the info it needs, underwriting can begin. For payment resellers, handling a broad range of risk profiles is important. But this often requires partnering with multiple processors with different appetites for risk—each with slightly different merchant requirements. Which likely means contacting your prospective merchant again with an application.
Once that’s done, it’s time to start the risk assessment process. Many ISOs and ISVs set up broad rules for disqualifying merchants to save time—but these rules leave money on the table. And it can be a poor experience for a merchant who just got through what they perceive as an arduous application process to be rejected.
Many ISOs and ISVs set up broad rules for disqualifying merchants to save time—but these rules leave money on the table.
Now your merchant is boarded and probably a bit weary and frustrated. It’s up to you to monitor the performance of your new merchant’s account, but all your old-school processor can give you is a batch of data every other week. And you’re left hoping that when the data comes in you don’t see a bunch of alarming transactions or chargebacks that you could have acted on sooner.
How Cloud-Enabled Processing Converts Inefficiency into Automation
PayiQ’s cloud-enabled processing, built on a modern and unified architecture, offers a new alternative to all of the above. The cloud effectively removes the clunkiness and inconsistency of classic processing architecture.
The integrated architecture of the cloud eliminates incompatibility issues and allows you to begin to utilize automated merchant onboarding management tools. Every process is standardized: applications, underwriting, and risk assessment. Now each of these steps can be automated and all the challenges mentioned previously simply disappear.
Every process is standardized: applications, underwriting, and risk assessment. Now each of these steps can be automated…
Best of all, the cloud gives you access to real-time data, management tools, faster transactions, stronger security, and instant access to all your merchant data.
PayiQ’s cloud-enabled processing means no more waiting for reports, no more chasing merchants to complete gaps in the application, and no more leaving merchants on the table because they have a complicated risk profile.
ISOs and ISVs who choose to leverage cloud processing will have a substantial competitive edge and far fewer operational headaches. It’s a solution brought about by the most advanced technology to break into the payments industry in decades.
Cloud-Enabled Processing FAQ
Is PayiQ a payment facilitator?
No, PayiQ is not a payment facilitator in the strictly technical sense because it’s a full-stack VisaNet-certified payment processor. That said, many of the “front-end” conveniences that businesses have come to expect from payment facilitators are equipped with PayiQ’s merchant services—like a simple and easy API integration.
How does PayiQ streamline the merchant onboarding process?
All of PayiQ’s merchant onboarding automation capabilities are a result of the powerful cloud-enabled architecture it has under the hood. Gone are the days of needing to hire a merchant onboarding specialist; PayiQ’s onboarding process is simple and automatic. You only need one application, and you have the ability to tailor your risk assessment rules to fit your unique merchant portfolio.
