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Insights and Expertise

SoftPOS versus In reality, a merchant often has to work with several
providers at once for functions like opening accounts,
traditional POS: integrating different solutions and managing multiple
flows. In theory, you could get everything from a single
bank. In practice, that's rarely the case. This is where
performance, costs, SoftPOS starts to play a slightly different role. It becomes
not just a payment acceptance tool but a lightweight layer
that can help consolidate different payment methods in
limitations one place.

For banks and payment providers, this shift also opens
up new opportunities on the acquiring side. SoftPOS
lowers the cost and complexity of onboarding merchants,
which makes it more feasible to serve segments that were
previously less attractive—such as micro-businesses,
mobile vendors and small merchants with low transaction
volumes.

Instead of investing in hardware distribution and
maintenance, providers can scale merchant acquisition
through software distribution, significantly expanding
their reach into the long tail of the market.

This evolution also aligns with broader trends such as
open banking and multi-banking, where merchants
increasingly rely on networks of specialized providers
By Vadzim Smatrayeu rather than a single institution.
IBA Group Mobile-first and embedded payments

or a long time, acquiring was a hardware-driven User expectations have also changed. In digital
business. Some time ago, the most avant-garde channels, payments are already frictionless. You tap and
banks and their partners began to implement authenticate, and it's done. No redirects, no manual input,
F SoftPOS solutions, while many were watching no unnecessary steps. Offline is slowly moving in the
what would come of it. same direction.

It was a new phenomenon, a disruptive technology, which, SoftPOS fits into this shift quite naturally, because it
in fact, broke the existing system. Nonetheless, skepticism allows payments to be embedded directly into business
about how the buyer is treated, to whom they give the tools. Instead of having one system for operations and
phone to accept the payment, still exists. another for payments, everything can be combined.

But over the past years, with the rise of SoftPOS (tap-to- A simple example is an insurance incident case processing.
phone), something started to shift. Solutions have shown As an insurance company customer, you can easily use
that, technically, you don't actually need a separate device a mobile application to report an incident and securely
to safely accept payments. The more interesting question collect an insurance payout by tapping a payment card
now is where SoftPOS solutions actually make more sense on your smartphone. No switching between apps, no
than a traditional POS—and where they do not. separate terminal.

It's no longer just about acquiring
It may sound like a small improvement, but in day-to-
From a merchant's perspective, the goal is to accept as day operations it removes a lot of friction. Technically,
many payment methods as possible with minimal cost and this is usually implemented through SDKs or app-to-
complexity. And that's where things get more complicated. app integrations. But conceptually, the change is bigger:
Today, the payments landscape is fragmented. Alongside payment becomes part of the workflow, not a separate
banks, you have fintech companies, alternative payment step.
providers, and in many countries even government- SoftPOS is moving beyond merchants
backed payment methods like QR-based systems.
Another shift still early, but noticeable, is that SoftPOS is
Fintech companies and other alternative payment no longer limited to merchant use cases. Initially, it was
providers do not fit neatly into the traditional banking strictly about acceptance. The merchant had the device;
model, yet they have become essential parts of today's the customer paid.
payments ecosystem.
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