White Paper: SaaS Providers & Platforms: Navigating the Payment Facilitation Journey

In their latest white paper, SaaS Providers & Platforms: Navigating the Payment Facilitation Journey (and Beyond) gating-the-payment-facilitation-journey-and-beyond-2022, Flagship Advisory Partners estimates that 30% of new small and medium businesses (SMBs) established in 2022 used an embedded payments solution where an SMB's Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) provider and payment service provider ("PSP") is one and the same. Only 20% of new SMB merchants opt for a standalone payments solution—where there's no technical integration between the SaaS tools an SMB uses to run their business and the PSP they use to process their customers' payments.

SaaS companies facilitating payments for their customers is a huge opportunity that deserves more exploration.

What is payment facilitation?

Flagship uses the term "payment facilitation" to broadly describe how SaaS platforms enable payments for their customers, usually by integrating payment processing seamlessly into their broader business management solutions. At Finix, we refer to payment facilitators as businesses—like Finix itself—that have secured an official designation as a payment facilitator by payment networks like Visa and Mastercard.

Definitions aside, both Finix and Flagship agree that there is a range of options SaaS companies should consider when thinking about offering payments to their customers.

What you'll learn from this white paper

• The history of payments distribution in North America.

• How Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) providers and platforms are playing an increasingly significant role in the payments ecosystem

• The several payments operating models these platforms have available to them—each with varying levels of control, liability, and revenue opportunity

• What SaaS platforms should consider when selecting the right payments partner(s)

• Future opportunities for these platforms to offer additional embedded financial services in the future

• And more…

Real-world examples

You’ll also read how two Finix customers, Passport, a transportation software company, and SpiceApp, an all-in-one restaurant management software company, chose different payment operating models to suit their needs.

Why you should read it now

Becoming a payment facilitator is a transformative opportunity for SaaS platforms and Flagship’s white paper is an excellent resource for anyone interested in making the most of their platform’s payment processing.