American Express White Paper: Is Offering Payments Right for You?

The advantages to becoming a payment facilitator – increased revenue, interest from investors, more control over your products and your own customer experience – make it a model well worth considering.

But even though it offers substantial benefits, it’s not necessarily a good fit for every software company. A new white paper from American Express, geared to helping SaaS companies bring payments in-house, provides detailed guidance about knowing whether offering payments is right for you.

According to the paper, it’s important to consider both where you are in your journey as a software provider and how payments fit into your offering.

For example, companies just starting out as software providers should likely wait before trying to become a PF, the report said. On the other hand, companies that are already referring their customers to third parties for payments, or those that are selling a product that could easily integrate with payments, should consider the move.

Adding payments to your software offering does require some investment. Software companies will need to build out or integrate into the infrastructure needed to handle the payments, making it best for those that are already established or rapidly expanding.

Finally, the paper noted that becoming a payment facilitator is also best for software companies in low-risk industries. Companies should be sure that they know their customers well and have an element of trust with them. For companies operating in high-risk industries, payments are often best left to specialized parties.

To learn more about who should consider offering payments, as well best practices for and resources available to companies interested in realizing this opportunity, download the white paper.