Creating an Improved SaaS Customer Experience by Becoming A PF: Insights from WorkWave’s Journey, Part 3

Over the past few weeks, we have been sharing a conversation with field service software provider WorkWave, the first provider in their industry to become a payment facilitator. The company has created a positive payment experience for its customers with its WorkWave Payments solution, but getting to that point required overcoming significant challenges, adjusting to new requirements, and bringing a new way of thinking to the field services industry.

This week, we have the second of a two-part interview with WorkWave CEO David F. Giannetto, where we talk more in depth about how WorkWave is changing the industry it serves by making the move to become a payment facilitator.

PaymentFacilitator: How did becoming a payment facilitator improve your overall product offering?

WorkWave CEO David Giannetto: We launched WorkWave Payments because it allowed us to offer industry-leading payment functionality integrated directly into our applications to create a streamlined, simplified, and secure payment processing solution. For field service companies, the payment transaction is one of the most important steps in the order to cash cycle. End customers are increasingly demanding easier, faster, and more secure payment methods and it is essential that our customers can meet these demands. By integrating these methods into the WorkWave software they are using to run their business, it creates greater efficiencies, accelerated cash flow, and reduced risk.

PF: How does this ultimately benefit your customers?

DG: Our customers have employees working in the office, and technicians out in the field, and both are integral to executing payment transactions. With payments functionality integrated into our applications, not only are there more options for end customers, what happens in the field is automatically available in the back office, saving time and reducing errors. Problematic transactions can also be identified and resolved within the application, again improving cash flow. Our payment functionality is helping customers grow their business and provides customers with easy and convenient ways to pay.

For WorkWave, making this unprecedented move in the field service industry by becoming a payment facilitator for our customers gives them back the power to run their businesses their own way—a revolutionary change to how the field service industry operates.

PF: Can you explain in more detail how WorkWave is revolutionizing the field service industry through WorkWave Payments?

DG: As a payfac, WorkWave’s customers are the only customers in the field service industry that are no longer beholden to payment processors. And payment processors have a long history of charging the highest rate that they can, adding unexpected fees, and providing inferior customer service. Because we understand our customers’ specific needs and challenges, we can now advocate on their behalf, and as their trusted partner, ensure they are getting the best balance of cost, service and functionality.

We serve as an advocate for smaller field service businesses by increasing their buying power and enabling them to receive lower rates. As a software provider, we can provide better rates because we can find methods to reduce costs and pass those savings on to our customers. WorkWave is also able to reinvest payments revenue back into the software to provide a better overall product and experience for our customers.

Finally, our customers also have just one contact for quick and easy customer support. In WorkWave’s case, we were the middleman between our previous payments provider and our customers, and we saw the frustration that would ensue because of this. Now, with an integrated payment solution, they have just one support call to make.

PF: How have customers reacted to the changes that occurred when WorkWave became a payment facilitator?

DG: For our customers who were frustrated with WorkWave’s previous payment provider, the change was welcome news and customers started making the switch to WorkWave Payments as soon as it launched in September 2019.

Our customers expect WorkWave to provide all of the tools they need to run their business, better serve their customers, improve their bottom line, and remain competitive in a highly saturated market. Given that relationship, we have a strong partnership with our customers and often provide guidance on how they can enhance their business operations, and this was the case with WorkWave Payments.

PF: Were there any unexpected benefits/challenges that you encountered after you became a payment facilitator?

DG: Our intent in becoming a payment facilitator was always for the benefit of our customers. We went into this initiative not only to provide a better experience when it came to payment processing, but to also enhance our WorkWave solution suite to better equip field service businesses with the resources, functionality, and tools needed to best meet their business goals and provide for their end-customers. Admittedly we had a lot to learn along the way–the culture within the payments industry is quite a bit different than our industries.

We are pleased with where we ended up and how WorkWave Payments complements our primary WorkWave products and are even more pleased with the additional benefits that WorkWave Payments has provided for our customers. From helping our customers reduce costs and save money during trying times, to increasing efficiency and cutting manual operations, to providing the payment enhancements that allow our customers to better serve their customers, we are proud of the WorkWave Payments of today and the opportunities to come with it.

PF: As an industry thought leader, is there any additional information WorkWave would want to share with other companies considering the decision to become a payment facilitator?

DG: Becoming a payment facilitator requires lots of planning and learning, so it is also important to understand the responsibility that you are taking on as a company dealing with your customers’ money and ensuring you are staying compliant.

It is always important to think about how bringing in new solutions will continue to empower your customers. For WorkWave, becoming a payment facilitator was a game changer in bringing its customers the tools they need to grow their businesses and the ability to offer easy and convenient ways for their customers to pay.

We are excited to now be in a position where we can start to use the benefits that WorkWave Payments brings to the broader industries that our customers work within.