New Paper from American Express Provides a Guide for SaaS Companies Aiming to Bring Payments In-House

The primary reason many software companies exist is to help the businesses they serve run their operations efficiently and effectively. Most of them don’t set out to be payments providers. But they often find payments to be an integral part of their customers’ business needs.

According to American Express, software companies that ultimately decide to venture into payments don’t have to go it alone. The company just published a white paper that explores why software companies might want to offer their own payments products by becoming payment facilitators – and the resources that are available to those who decide to take that step.

Everyone in business ultimately needs to take payments sometimes. And while there are ways software companies can help their business customers accept payments without offering their own proprietary payments products, bringing payments in-house can create an important revenue source for many providers.

Amex’s paper examines the benefits of becoming a PF and some of the factors that often lead to PF success, to help software companies evaluate their options and decide whether offering payments is a good idea for them.

It includes a case study that illustrates how and why one successful software provider made the decision to offer its own payment capabilities. It details some of the factors behind the company’s decision to provide payments, steps it took along the way, and the benefits it has seen as a result.

For those seriously considering the payment facilitator option, the paper offers best practices to help companies understand how they can more fully realize the potential benefits of offering their own payment product.

Finally, the Amex paper details further resources that are available to help software companies educate themselves about the payments industry and the system that supports payment providers of all sizes and across industries.

Over the next three weeks, we’ll explore more on the topic of how software companies can make money accepting payments. To learn more, you can download the white paper here.