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Insights and Expertise

Software companies are becoming

ISOs – Here is how you still win

against the next rep with a sharper rate. That is the job.
That is the whole job.

Now watch what the platform does. It does not find the
merchant, because the merchant is already inside the
product, running the whole business on it. There is no
door to get past. There is no statement to pull, because the
software already sees every dollar that moves. There is no
trust to win, because the merchant already logs in every
morning. When the platform flips payments on, it is not
selling anyone. It is turning a switch on a customer it al-
ready owns.

That is not a better sales pitch. It is the removal of the sales
pitch. And it is happening in every vertical, from insur-
ance to healthcare to property management to the licens-
ing boards a govtech platform serves.

Adjusting to win
By Allan Lacoste
LAC Strategic Ventures I am not telling you this to scare you. I am telling you be-
cause the people who see it early are the ones who adjust
started where a lot of you started. Card Service
International, as an MLS, then I opened my
own wholesale ISO out of Valencia, Powerhouse
P
I ayments, and we boarded thousands merchants in Five questions ISOs should
under five years before I exited. I know the street. I know ask about their future
what it takes to sign a merchant who has been burned
twice and does not want to hear the word processing ever As more software companies build payment
again. acceptance directly into their platforms, ISOs face a
changing competitive landscape. The shift creates new
Then I went to the other side of the table. For the last de- challenges, but it also opens new opportunities for
cade I built the payments businesses inside vertical soft- organizations willing to adapt. These five questions
ware. Applied Pay at Applied Systems, on the insurance can help you evaluate where you are today and where
agency side. Duck Creek Payments, on the carrier side. My you may find your greatest value tomorrow.
job was to take software that already moved billions in
premium and turn the payments running through it into 1. How dependent are we on selling payment pro-
a revenue line the platform owned. cessing alone?
If most conversations begin and end with rates,
That is where I want to be honest with you, because what fees and hardware, competitors will always have
I saw over there changes the math for everyone reading an opening. Consider whether your organization is
this. providing broader operational value through con-
Sales without a pitch sulting, integrations, financing, reporting or other
business services.
The software company is quietly becoming the ISO. And
it does not have to do a single thing you have to do to win 2. Which merchants still need personal guidance?
a merchant. Not every merchant wants a self-service payment
experience. Complex businesses, multi-location op-
Think about what it takes for you to board an account. erators, specialized verticals and merchants with
You find the merchant. You get past the gatekeeper. You unique operational requirements often value expe-
pull the statement, you mark it up in red, you build the rienced advisers who can solve problems beyond
case, you handle the objections, you earn the trust, and basic payment acceptance.
then you spend the next two years defending the residual

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