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Insights and Expertise

Choose partners wisely

Having weathered many storms, year over year, and
decade over decade, ISOs and merchant level sales-
people (MLSs) know that staying apace with evolving
trends and pivoting when necessary are key to sur-
viving and thriving in this business. My friends, it’s
time to pivot once again and choose our tech partners
wisely. Look for partners who do more than promise
to be processor-agnostic and share revenue. Look for
firms that walk their talk and fully own their technol-
ogy and processing. It’s also best to deal directly with
the software firm and not a POS dealer, because deal-
ers have no say when software firms are acquired.
In the long run, you may sacrifice a bit of processing
revenue, but your residuals will be safer, and your cus-
tomers will stick around longer.

Jim Battista, managing partner at MAPP Advisors,
pointed out that integrated payments have changed
the game, but ISOs and MLSs who understand the new
playing field have plenty of opportunities to compete
and win.

In the current environment, merchants are shifting
from standalone payment terminals to SaaS and fintech
partners because they want to provide their customers
with speed, efficiency, security and a better user expe-
rience. These are the same deliverables that MLSs and
ISOs have offered from Day One, before anyone ever
heard of SaaS, HaaS or fintechs.

Same game, different names
I’m reminded of our industry’s strength and resilience
every year when I attend the annual Southeast Acquir-
ers Association conference. As I listen to presentations bluu™ Tab Order is designed to
and walk the show floor, I see many of the same people help restaurants improve efficiency,
I’ve known for over two decades. Names and faces are reduce labor costs, and boost
the same; only the badges have changed. The same
goes for our competitors. A few years ago, our biggest customer experience.
competitors were other ISOs. This year, it’s companies
like Square, Stripe, Toast and a long list of ISV’s.

I look forward to discussing this evolving threat at
SEAA 2025 at the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek
Resort and Spa. Join me and Jim Battista on Tues., June
3, 2025, from 3:30 to 4:20 p.m., as we share winning
strategies for ISOs and MLSs.

Want to know more? Keep reading The Green Sheet
and consider following me on LinkedIn, where we can
share ideas and support each other.

Allen Kopelman, a serial entrepreneur, is co-founder and CEO of
Nationwide Payment Systems Inc. and host of B2B Vault: The Biz
to Biz podcast. Email him at allen@npsbank.com and connect
on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/allenkopelman/ and
Twitter @AllenKopelman.

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