As a point of sale (POS) solutions provider, it’s hard to miss the fact that mergers and acquisitions have become common in the FinTech space. For example, in the past few years alone, Vantiv announced its acquisition of Worldpay in 2017 — and then Fidelity National Information Services announced its acquisition of Worldpay in 2019. Fiserv announced its merger with First Data in early 2019, and 2020 began with news that Visa is acquiring Plaid, the service that enables consumers to share financial data with apps including Venmo and Chime.
In addition to high-profile FinTech M&A activity, companies throughout the payments ecosystem are also expanding their portfolios through acquisitions. Some now offer their own loyalty, customer engagement, payroll, and even POS solutions in addition to payment solutions and services.
A Checklist for Smart Partnerships with Payment Integration Companies
You can find ample advice on what to include in your pros-and-cons list when you’re considering entering into a payments integration partnership, including vetting the company and its solution for:
- Feature set
- Omnichannel capabilities
- Updated platform that can support advanced features
- Security
- Costs and fees
- Resources and track record of support
- Margin for VAR and ISV partners
In light of payments M&A activity, we want to add one more item to the list: Choose a solution that’s vendor-agnostic.
Vendor-agnostic payments integration solutions give you and your customers flexibility. If an acquisition should change a payment platform’s feature set, the quality of customer service and support, or pricing, or if a merger creates an adverse impact due to the company’s headquarters moving to a new location, you have options. On the other hand, if the payments integration solution you choose is vendor-specific, you may be locked in or forced to rip and replace.
Additionally, if a payment processor begins to sell competitive solutions — like their own POS system — a vendor-agnostic payments integration solution enables you to discontinue your partnership, protect your accounts, and position your business for continued success.
How Vendor-Agnostic Payment Integration Solutions Help VAR and ISV Businesses
Last, but by no means least, vendor-agnostic payment integration solutions also give VARs the ability to provide the best possible solutions to their clients. If POS solution providers maintain their agility by offering multiple processor options, they can focus on doing what’s best for the merchant instead of forcing a merchant into a processing contract that’s less than ideal.
This freedom also shifts a VAR’s focus from recurring revenue from payment residuals to building recurring revenue from their own value-added services and SaaS solutions. Long-term customer relationships and a broader portfolio can provide a healthier, more sustainable recurring revenue stream than payment residuals alone — payment residuals shift from the meat of recurring revenue to the gravy.
Offering payment processing from only one or a few companies can be a risky strategy in the current era of FinTech M&A. A vendor-agnostic solution minimizes that risk while giving you the freedom to deliver exactly what your customers need.
