In this revealing conversation with Conn Byrne, Executive Director of Integrated Payments at Payroc, we uncover the secret sauce behind their remarkably successful ISV program.
Having fallen into payments during a six-week temporary position that turned into a 14-year career, Byrne brings a wealth of experience from his journey with WorldNet (acquired by Payroc in 2022) to his current role leading integrated partnerships. His perspective reveals why payment integrations fail when they focus solely on revenue shares rather than comprehensive support.
"My team is pretty wide at this stage," Byrne explains, describing how Payroc surrounds partners with experienced business development resources, highly skilled sales engineers, integration engineers, and their newest differentiator - a dedicated go-to-market team. This collaborative, high-touch approach means partners never wonder where to turn when challenges arise or opportunities emerge.
The conversation explores how Payroc has built a truly omnichannel solution supporting over 50 payment terminals alongside comprehensive card-not-present options. Byrne illustrates this advantage through compelling examples like car wash operations, where a single integration handles everything from license plate recognition with tokenized payments to unattended terminals, mobile POS, and subscription billing.
Looking forward, Payroc continues expanding its capabilities through their cloud integration method (allowing implementation in under a week), enhanced API suite, and expanded hardware support - particularly for Android devices and unattended solutions. The company's flexible partnership models create multiple entry points for ISVs at different growth stages.
The most telling insight? When Payroc recently gathered their largest partners for an advisory council, the recurring themes weren't about technology or pricing - they were about trust, flexibility, and the journey they'd shared together. Some partners who began with small referrals 7-10 years ago have grown alongside Payroc into sophisticated payment operations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Powering Payments Together a special
three-part series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
You'll hear Payrock's visionfor the future of integrated
payments, a behind-the-sceneslook at their ISV program and a
real-world success story fromone of their partners.
Three episodes, one missionhelping ISVs grow faster.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
I'm your host, greg Myers, andthis episode is part of our
three-part series titledPowering Payments Together how
Payrock Helps ISVs Scale Smarterand obviously is being brought
to you by Payrock.
So in this episode we're goingto be going inside the ISV
program at Payrock to betterunderstand how they partner and
support ISVs.
(00:43):
In the first episode we talkedto Adam Oberman about the big
picture of Payrock, where it'sheaded and how that's going to
help ISVs.
And then in our final episode,we're going to be doing a
partner spotlight, where we'regoing to be going in-depth with
a partner to understand howPayrock has helped them overcome
integration challenges, findnew revenue streams and
(01:04):
basically scale smarter andfaster.
But for this episode today, I'mvery honored to have with me as
our guest Khan Byrne, who isthe Executive Director of
Integrated Payments at Payrock.
So, khan, thank you so much forbeing here and welcome to the
show.
Hey, greg, thanks for having meExcited for the conversation
today.
Yeah, me too.
So before we dive into the meatof it, if you don't mind, let's
(01:24):
talk a little bit about you andPayrock.
So could you walk us throughyour professional journey and a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, it's always an interesting question.
I think no different to mostpeople in payments.
A lot of people fall into this.
Nobody grows up saying, hey, Iwant to be a salesperson in
payments.
But it's funny, I actuallystarted off covering a six-week
temporary vacation leave for anemployee a sales employee in a
payment gateway, and 14 yearslater I'm still in it.
So I think when I came into it,that was at an Irish-based
(01:53):
payment gateway called WorldNet.
So I came in sales support,moved on to direct merchant
sales and we basically found aniche at that point in 2012,
plus in the integrated space.
And, funnily enough, at thatpoint it was still relatively
new.
Not everybody could do it and Ithink the fact that we were a
technology-focused gateway, wewere quite agnostic, we had a
(02:14):
lot of freedom to do pretty coolthings and that's kind of where
I got into integrated paymentsfirst.
So that took me up to about2019.
At that point we decided it wastime to try and scale the
business.
European market had got prettycompetitive at that point and we
saw with the switch to TMVhonestly in the US that that
presented a very largeopportunity for us.
So 2019, I relocated to the US.
(02:40):
I was based in Alpharetta,georgia, for just over six years
and during that period 2022, wewere fortunate enough to become
part of the Payrock family.
So we were acquired April 2022.
And at that point it kind ofled me and all the rest of the
WorldNet team honestly to becomea core piece of the Payrock
family, the Payrock platform,and really take that integrated
payment strategy that we haddeveloped at a small scale but
(03:02):
take that to the bigger audienceand really get supercharged
with Payrock.
So over the last three plusyears we've been building on
what Payrock had previously doneon the integrated side, what we
had done as WorldNet, andreally we've just been trying to
expand our market share andcontinue to establish Payrock as
a market leader in theintegrated payment space.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Okay, great.
So for those in the audiencethat may not know much about
Payrock, do you mind telling usa little bit about Payrock and
kind of how Payrock fits intothe whole payments ecosystem?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So, fundamentally, payrock is a full-service
payments platform.
We specialize intechnology-driven solutions that
cater to the needs of ourpartners.
Our partners vary, so it couldbe an established, registered
ISO, it could be a single agentor a large group of agents, all
the way through to individualmerchants and integrated
partners, and our goal really isto provide technology-driven
(03:53):
solutions for all of thosesubsets or all of those customer
bases that allow them to scaleto have a payment solution that
meets their needs.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Again, whether that's a merchant, an agent, an
integrated partner, paymentsolution that meets their needs,
again, whether that's amerchant, an agent, an
integrated partner.
So, Khan, tell us a little bitabout your role today and maybe
what excites you about thefuture of payments.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, so my role today at Payrock is heavily
focused on the lead-to-revenuelifecycle of our integrated
partners.
My team is pretty wide at thisstage, but it includes a lot of
experienced business developmentresources who are out there
trying to build partnerships andsource new integrated partners.
We also have a team of highlyskilled sales engineers and
integration engineers to helpour partners through
(04:32):
integrations and to build outtheir technology, as well as our
most recent addition, which isour go-to-market team.
Go-to-market team is somethingthat we're incredibly excited to
have and I think it's a massivedifferentiator for Payrock as
we partner with our integratedpartners.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Okay.
And what about the future ofpayments?
What excites you about what'sgoing on in our crazy ecosystem?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, it is crazy and it changes every day, but I
think the thing for me that ismost exciting maybe selfishly is
the fact that everybody ispushing towards integrated
payments and integrated paymentsis becoming such a big part of
what we do.
I think, if you go below that,we at Payrock have a ton of
experience in the unattendedspace, so that could be kiosk,
it could be self-service.
What Uber taught us is in a lotof cases, people don't like
(05:16):
dealing with people, andfrictionless payments is the
future and I think where we aretoday at Payrock and where the
market is going, we're uniquelypositioned to take advantage of
that move, especially for theyounger generations, to
contactless payments, integratedpayments and again providing
that more frictionless paymentsexperience.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, great.
Well, thanks for sharing all ofthat.
Now let's dive into the ISVprogram, specifically at Payrock
, at Payrock, and let's talkabout support first, and maybe
what we'll do is we'll followthat kind of natural progression
of you know, integration,onboarding, enablement, growth.
So let's kind of think aboutyou know that lifecycle, as
we're talking about, you knowthe next section, so let's start
(05:57):
with integration and boarding.
Can you walk us through whatthat process of integration and
onboarding looks like if apartner comes to Payrock for
embedded payments?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure, yeah, and I think this is one of the things
that we really focus on, andover the last two, three years,
we've put a lot of resources andthought into how can we improve
the experience for anintegrated partner as they take
payments for the first time oras they migrate from an existing
platform.
So one of the big things thatwe hear from an integrated
partner when they come toPayrock is oh well, I've got
(06:29):
this amazing revenue share.
It's really important tointegrated partners that a
partnership is not just aboutcommercials, it's not just about
an API, it's about the supportthat's behind that, because it's
all well and good to add apayments platform, but if the
integration that you choosedoesn't suit your needs today or
your needs as you grow, thechance of that integration being
effective when it comes tosatisfying your end merchants,
(06:51):
or indeed monetizing payments,are massively reduced, and I
think that's something thatPayrock is really focused on.
So if you look at thatintegration process, we are very
open and honest with ourpartners from day one.
We will have a deep divesession, technical discovery,
with some of those resourcesthat I mentioned earlier.
We'll make a statement of work.
We will walk down through everylast aspect of what that
(07:13):
partner wants from Payrock.
We'll talk about what Payrockcan do today.
We'll point out things that wecan't do and maybe we try and
solution around that.
Solution around that.
Or we'd be happy to share aroadmap and say, okay, look, we
don't have this piece today, buthere it is, it's on a roadmap
and we expect to have it for youin X amount of months, so
allowing the partner to gainthat trust.
We share our expertise.
(07:34):
We share everything we canabout our platform, and what
that does is that allows us tomake sure the integration is as
efficient as possible, as in.
Not just resources are assignedto it to make sure we get
through it quickly, but when youcome out the other end, it's
the experience and it's thesolution that that partner
actually wanted.
And we do that through a numberof different ways with my team.
We will have a dedicated salesengineer and a dedicated
(07:57):
integrations engineer.
They are available throughoutthe entire integration process.
As well as that, we'll have adedicated go-to-market expert.
That resource is there to tryand help get past some of the
struggles that any partner who'sever integrated a technology
platform is well aware of, andit's just looking at the gotchas
.
It's what are the things thatcould slow us down today as we
integrate, as well as once we goto pilot and exiting that pilot
(08:20):
into market?
What are the things that couldmake the experience poor for
Payrock or for our partners orindeed their end merchants?
So I think, by having ahigh-touch white-glove approach
in the way that we do, as wellas a very defined process, we
try and take out as many of thegotchas, we take out as many of
the unknowns as we can to tryand guide that partner through,
(08:42):
and I think what we're seeing iswhere we're getting fantastic
feedback from our partners.
We're actually starting to seerepeat customers, if you like,
where somebody integrated to usat a previous company, they've
now moved on and they're comingback for more, which is always a
good sign and I think,ultimately for both Payrock and
our partners, we're seeing adramatically reduced timeframe,
(09:03):
not just to get the integrationcomplete, but also to get into
market and get to the pointwhere they're delivering revenue
and being able to actuallycorrectly monetize payments.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Okay, so let's talk about the white glove.
You mentioned it.
It's an important part of yourstrategy, so maybe explain, when
you talk to a partner aboutyour white glove support, what
does that mean and why is it soimportant to them?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Sure, yeah, and I think, depending on where a
partner is today, they'll havedifferent reality as to what a
payments partner can do.
But one of the big things thatwe really focus on is it's
putting named people with apartner so that partner will
know exactly who theircertification engineer is or
their sales engineer is, they'llknow exactly who their
(09:48):
go-to-market partner is and then, once they get through the
entire process and go to market,they'll know exactly who their
partner manager is and then,once they get through the entire
process and go to market,they'll know exactly who their
partner manager is.
So, by having named people whoare responsible for each step of
the journey, it means thatpartner never has to worry about
okay, where do I go if I havean issue or if I want to try and
expand my platform?
Who do I talk to about that?
There's always going to be oneperson that they can go to and
(10:09):
that person effectively will beone who, who goes behind the
scenes to pull togetherinformation.
But it's just that it's thatsingle source of information, a
trusted source of information,and again, it's something maybe
we take for granted at Payrock alittle, but I think when you
you look at what's out there inthe market.
Again, some people may say,look, give you a really
(10:30):
fantastic revenue, but if youever need support or if you
can't get an API to work, or ifyou're looking for co-branded
marketing and go-to-marketinitiatives, they just don't
exist.
And again, I think that's whyPayrock has positioned ourselves
in this area.
And if you look at where westarted, we started as an agent
company, so we have thousands ofagents with hundreds of
(10:52):
thousands of merchants, and welearned how to support those
merchants and partners, probablythe hard way.
And what we've done now iswe've put on a ton of technology
, primarily through acquisitionsand building, and we're
leveraging that learning that wegot from our early days to
satisfy those partners.
And again, that's where we aretoday, with just this heavily
partner-centric, support-focused, integrated process.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well, let's move on to the growth side.
So how do you help yourpartners grow their business?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, I think when it comes to growing their business
, there's a couple of pieces toit.
So I think first up and we'vediscussed this already, but I
think first up really is thatcollaborative go-to-market
process, so understanding whatis important to them, what's
important to their customers,what does a successful pilot
(11:40):
look like?
What warrants exiting a pilot?
And then how do we collaboratein that go-to-market to make
sure that they can get as manyof their merchants using this
platform and they can monetizeit correctly?
So I think that's going to bethe first piece.
For sure, once we get a partnerestablished, that's where our
marketing departments, who aremassively experienced in the
integrated space, that's wherethey'll come in and they will
collaborate with ourgo-to-market resources.
They will deal directly withthe partners, whether that's
(12:00):
attending a vertical specifictrade show with them, maybe it's
a happy hour or a co-brandedevent or getting more aggressive
with it, where we actually helpthem convert some of their
existing customer base acrossthe payrock and across the
integrated solution that they'reusing.
So I think there are kind oftwo ways that we would
absolutely go about this.
I think one of the other waysthat we really work with
partners and kind of grow withthem is by providing a number of
(12:24):
different ways for that partnerto enter the Payrock ecosystem.
So if a partner comes to us andthey say, look, all I want to
do is have payments integratedand I don't want to touch a
merchant app or deal withstatements or any of that kind
of stuff, perfect, a payroll cando that through our referral
partnership plan.
As that ISV grows or as a moreestablished ISV comes in, we've
(12:44):
got different paths that theycan go with us.
So you've got everything fromreferral to our reseller into
our managed solution, which isextremely popular at the moment.
This is kind of your PayFaxLite or managed PayFax style.
And then we also have Path, andPath is something that I think
we're heading in a directionthat many others in the market
are kind of steering away from.
Right now, payrock is openingup to either gateway-only
(13:07):
solutions or we also supportprocessing only.
So bring your own gateway,bring your own mid.
We can do both.
The goal of Path is to allow apartner to come into the Payrock
ecosystem with as littlefriction as possible.
Once they're in the platform,we can start to develop those
go-to-market ideas.
We can start to collaboratearound marketing and other
initiatives, and that's when weget to grow with that partner,
(13:30):
truly establish themselveswithin their vertical.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Okay, so in our last episode we're going to be doing
kind of an in-depth case study,but can you give us an example,
or maybe a use case or exampleof a customer that you guys have
helped on the ISV side?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, I think with this one.
There's so many differentflavors to it.
There's a few that come to mind.
There will be atechnology-focused play, let's
say so.
There's been partners where theycome to us with a very specific
technology-driven problem.
We may not have the solution atthat time, but again, through
collaboration with our internalresources, our product
organization and engineering, wecan understand okay, is this
(14:08):
something that we can get topretty quickly here, or is this
a no-go?
So there's a number ofdifferent ISVs that we've worked
with over the past few yearswhere we've been able to take a
piece of hardware, for example,that we didn't support, certify
that piece of hardware onto ourplatform, integrate the ISV and
then have them roll out in somecases 20,000 to 30,000 of those
(14:28):
devices in a very short space oftime.
So I think when I look back atsome of the big wins that I'm
happiest with, when you can gofrom a call with an ISV that's
never heard of you and you'venever heard of them, with a
piece of hardware that you'venever used, to 30,000 devices
installed across a city, it's apretty nice win to have.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great success story.
So let's switch gears a littlebit and focus on kind of current
and future product offerings,as well as the hardware side.
You mentioned hardware and Ithink it's an interesting topic
that we don't talk about a lotin this space.
So, if you don't mind, walk usthrough the current set of
products that ISVs can takeadvantage of with Payrock Sure.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I think one of the big directional changes that
Payrock has made over the lasttwo years has been in the
hardware space.
We historically would have beenmore SDK or middleware driven.
Works great, but for a partnerto integrate it tends to take
some time.
Also, it's attached to kind ofmore legacy devices.
In the last two years we'vereally ramped up our Payrock
Cloud solution and Payrock Cloudbasically allows an ISV to
(15:29):
leverage our cloud integrationmethods.
It's a couple of lines of codeto actually take a payment and
effectively get up and runningand accepting payments, in some
cases in a couple of days.
We're actually there's arunning competition within the
BDs at the moment to see who canget it done quickest, and I
think just under a week is ourbest so far.
But once somebody uses thatcloud integration method, it's
(15:49):
not just about being able totake payments, it's about the
flexibility that that offersthem in future.
So we talked earlier about howan ISV can grow a Payrock.
This is the quickest andeasiest way for an ISV to get
into our ecosystem.
It's card present, which isnormally the most complex
element of it, and I think ifyou look at our focus over the
next couple of years, it's goingto be adding more devices, more
(16:10):
payment terminals, more paymenttypes to that cloud solution
and then also trying to packagethat up.
I think early 2026, we're goingto see that packaged up as a
low-code package or bundle,basically, where any integrated
partner will be able to selectfrom a set of devices or
CardNotPresent solutions and,assuming they fit into that
(16:32):
bucket, they'll be able tointegrate to Payrock without
ever having any touch points.
So I think we've done a lot ofthe groundwork from a technology
standpoint.
I think we understand prettywell what our technology can do
and where it benefits partners.
What we're trying to do next istake that solution and take
that product and push that tomarket at scale, and that's
something we're extremelyexcited about coming up here.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
All right.
So you mentioned somethingcoming in the future, in 2026.
Are there other products orsolutions that you want to
mention that are coming soon?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, I think again back to hardware, and you said
earlier, people don't alwaystalk about hardware, but I think
for Payrock, it's a bigdifferentiator for us.
We support 50 plus differentpayment terminals from four or
five major manufacturers, aswell as having all of the card
not present and omni-channelsolutions.
So, again, that's why we tendto talk about it.
It's a differentiator.
I think you can expect to seeus continue to add more Android
(17:22):
devices that support PayRotCloud, as well as more solutions
for the unattended space.
So, again, that's an area thatwe really focus on.
There's a lot of diversity inthat, from indoor solutions to
outdoor rated machines that needto work on an EV charger in the
middle of the desert somewhere.
So, yeah, I think you cancertainly see CS head more in
that direction.
I think one of the other bigthings that Payrock is going to
(17:44):
do within the next year andwe're already well into it at
this point one of the bigfocuses for us is going to be on
enhancing our API solutions.
So we have boarding APIs today,we have reporting APIs, we have
funding APIs, where we're reallypushing on taking that to the
next level and pushing out somereally incredible tech.
Honestly, that's going to makeit super competitive in that
(18:05):
space and, as we deal with ISVsthat are further upstream and
are maybe leveraging some ofthese solutions today, it's
going to allow us to re-roundout our product set and make it
easier for them to boardmerchants on the platform, which
is obviously a major pain point, as well as reporting, pulling
information from our platform totheirs, and the last piece
there around funding.
So the ability for somebody tosplit funds, whether that's an
(18:28):
ISV taking their percentage SASfee directly from a payment or
potentially paying out residualsor commissions to a hotel that
is handling an EV charger, forexample.
So, yeah, I think, look formajor enhancements to our API
suite.
That's something that we'reincredibly excited about.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Okay great.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So I'd like to double click a little bit on the
hardware side because, as we'vesaid, it doesn't get talked
about a whole lot in theindustry as it relates to
integrated payments.
But can you talk about the rolethat hardware plays in this
space for these ISVsspecifically?
I think a lot of people whenyou think about ISVs you think
it's kind of card, not present,e-commerce kind of thing.
(19:05):
But hardware plays a role.
So can you talk about that alittle bit more depth?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, for sure, and I think you are right.
And I think where everybodystarts from an integrated
payment standpoint is generallywith card not present, because
it's ultimately the easiest.
It's easy for everyone tointegrate and go to market.
I think where we differentiateand again the reason that we
focus so heavily on hardware isa lot of people can do card not
present really well and a lot ofpeople can do card present
(19:32):
really well.
There's very few in the middlethere that can actually do card
present and card not presentthrough a single platform in the
way that we do it.
So I think that's that's why wefocus on it and if you look at
the role that hardware plays,again, like payments itself is
probably a necessary evil tosome people.
But the payment terminal iswhere a transaction takes place.
That's what the cardholderinterface is with.
(19:53):
So without an experience atthat payment terminal, without
having a payment terminal thatcan be running every time
somebody goes to tap or insert acard, everything falls apart.
So it's probably the biggestpoint of friction potentially
when it comes to actually takinga card payment.
When we deal with ourintegrated partners, it's a huge
element for them because theycan build whatever technology
(20:14):
they want behind the scenes, butif the experience at that
terminal doesn't meet theexpectations of their cardholder
, that cardholder may never comeback.
So I think that's a massivecomponent of what we do and
that's why we partner with, as Isaid earlier, four or five
major players in the hardwaremanufacturing space and I think
over the years we've probablybecome, I'd say, a trusted
(20:35):
partner for those hardwaremanufacturers in the same way
they have for us, where weactually collaborate on some
large integrated paymentsolutions, because that trust is
there both in terms of ourplatform as well as their
hardware.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Before we leave this section.
You've talked about theimportance of having the
holistic solution, but could youmaybe double click on that?
Why is that truly important?
And I like to maybe putyourself in the shoes of an ISV.
Right, they have both onlineand e-commerce and card present.
They don't have a lot ofoptions to go to, so maybe talk
(21:09):
about why that is so importantto them to be able to come to a
company like Payrock and getthat solution.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, it's a fantastic question and, again, I
think there's probably a lot ofways you can look at it.
But I think, if we take anexample, think of somebody in
the car wash vertical whereyou've got an entry lane where
you can come in.
You pull up to that and itreads your registration plate.
That reader is looking at atoken in the background and that
token is tied to your carddetails.
(21:34):
So every time you come up tothat barrier it opens, it hits
your card and away you go.
Similarly, there's going to becard not present tokenized
recurring payments.
So if you've got a monthlypayments plan, every month it
hits your card automatically forthe fee.
Every month it hits your cardautomatically for the fee.
The other option you're going tosee and we do see these for our
customers today is the optionto actually pay at an unintended
card terminal at the point oftransaction or, in some cases,
(21:57):
on a busy day, somebody willcome up with an iPad or similar,
with a mobile POS device.
So I think, if you look at that, that's four very distinct and
very different payment solutionsand if you can have a partner
that can do all of those for youthrough a single integration,
through a single platform, asingle backend for
reconciliation and billing.
It's just a huge benefit tothat integrated partner.
(22:19):
Every integration that theyhave to manage or every gateway
integration that they have.
That's something they need toupkeep and they need to modify
every time they make some kindof change on their side.
Similarly, if a platformdecides to change how they work,
that ISV now has to deal withthem.
So if you've got one singlepoint of entry, for me that's
kind of the holy grail.
The other piece is there'sobviously economies of scale.
(22:41):
So the more volume you havegoing through a single platform,
you're more likely to get amore competitive set of rates
there and I think one of the keythings, actually, when we talk
about tokenization, again, usingthat car wash example, if I'm
driving across the US, I canpull up to any car wash within
that portfolio and it knows whoI am straight away because my
card is tokenized right acrosstheir portfolio rather than
(23:02):
being single location.
So to be able to tap your cardto tokenize and then turn up at
a car wash on the other side ofthe country and have the barrier
know it's you and open up andtake your payment is pretty cool
.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, I love that example.
So for the final section, let'stalk a little bit about how you
help ISVs scale the resourcesthat you have available and sort
of why ISVs stay with Payrocklong term.
So the first question is youand the ISV scale and grow
together.
So can you speak to how you doscale together with the partner?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, sure, and I think the biggest word that I
always come back to for how wescale with the partner is going
to be flexibility, and it's notjust flexibility on the
solutions that we have and again, that's solutions today plus,
we're going to keep on acquiringplatforms and we're going to
keep acquiring tech and keepbuilding tech.
Outside of that, it's theflexibility that we mentioned
earlier around those partnerprograms.
(23:58):
So, again, we provide as manydifferent paths for somebody to
come to Payrock and work withPayrock we put our expertise on
them in terms of all theresources that we discussed, by
putting experienced go-to-marketpeople there, by putting
experienced partner managersthere we can actually help that
ISV navigate not just thepayment space today and the
payments market today, but alsohelp them prepare for future.
(24:21):
We've seen it very recentlywhere a lot of integrated
partners are looking to expand.
They're looking to move outsideof the US into Canada or into
Europe, Because our platformworks across all those regions.
We've been able to do that andwe can actually say in some
cases look, you're alreadyintegrated to Payrock for the US
, You've already got Europe here, let's go.
And then I think that's when weput our in-market resources on
(24:43):
top of it and we will actuallywork with that partner to define
how they go to market in a newcountry or a new region.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Okay, and what type of partner resources are
available to these ISVs?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
For an ISV, there's a ton of different resources we
have, depending on their needs.
We've got a statement analysisteam, which I have no idea how
they do it, but within 30minutes to an hour every time,
they come back with a reallydetailed statement analysis that
will show you whether you'regoing to be above water making
money while you make your owncustomer savings, all the way
through to those technicalresources where, if you have a
problem with your platform oryou see a shiny object in terms
(25:20):
of a new payment type, a newcommerce type or a new region we
can be the expert advisors toyou.
These partners trust us for allthe reasons that we've discussed
so far expert advisors to you.
These partners trust us for allthe reasons that we've
discussed so far, and we usethat trust and they use that
trust to help them build theirplatform and scale it for the
future.
We do a lot of, I suppose,outreach to our partners.
We actually had our first everPayrock Integrated Partner
(25:40):
Advisory Council earlier thisyear, where we brought some of
our largest partners togetherinto a room and, rather than
saying, look, here's how great,great payrock is, we asked them
to tell us how their experiencehas been and, fortunately enough
, actually the experience thatthey all shared was pretty good.
But I think the recurring themethat we saw was it was around
trust, it was around thatflexibility, it was around the
(26:00):
journey that those partners havehad.
Many of them started offreferring a handful of mids
through payrock five, six, seven, ten, seven, 10 years ago in
some cases and they've moved allthe way through Payrock into
being a reseller into ourmanaged solutions, and I think
they really appreciate or theygave us the feedback that they
appreciate the willingness ofPayrock not to shoehorn them
into a certain technology or notto shoe them into a certain
(26:24):
commercial model or not torestrict them in terms of what
gateway they can use or whatprocessor they can use, and that
allowed them to kind of buildtheir fundamentals around
payments and once they had thatbase, they were then more
comfortable to expand and reallymake payments part of their
growth strategy.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So you've mentioned it, adam mentioned it.
A lot of people come to Payrockand build a relationship and
stay long term.
So what do you think it isabout the ISV program at Payrock
that makes these ISVs want tostay at the long-term?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Again, a really good question, and maybe it's our
secret sauce or I'm not sure,but I think one of the big
things is and again we hearpeople say this it's I know I
can call Adam if I really reallyneed to, or I can call Khan if
I need to, or, ideally, I canhave four or five named
resources that I can get intouch with if I have a problem.
So I think it is really aboutaccessibility of the right kind
(27:15):
of folks within Payrock.
It's actually the willingnessof our team, I think, to get
into the weeds with customersand help them if and when they
have issues and, again, it'sjust being that trusted
soundboard for the differentideas that these partners have,
as well.
As things don't always goaccording to plan payments.
Everybody would be doing it ifit was easy.
So I think it's also how wereact when things don't go the
(27:37):
right way.
And I think again, once you getthrough, whatever initial noise
might be there or initial issueis there.
I think the trust and thepartnership that you build
through the bad times as well asthe good is actually what makes
us stronger when it comes tothese partnerships.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Okay, well, con, this has been a great discussion.
Just one final question.
If there's one key insight ormaybe piece of advice that you
would like a software leader oran ISV to take away from this
conversation, what would that beAgain, another really good
question.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I think the biggest thing for me is all partners and
all platforms are not createdequal.
You need to look behind theheadlines and really just dive
deep and figure out is thispartner going to do what you
need today?
Is this partner going tocontinue to enhance their
platform?
Do they have the right kinds ofsupport that you need as you
scale and, ultimately, are theythe right partner to help you
(28:29):
add value through monetizationand, if you're an ISV, overall
to make your company morevaluable?
So I think they're really thebig things.
It's look behind the headlines,whether that's commercials,
apis figure out who the peopleare, take a look at that roadmap
and really don't dive into thedecision.
Make sure you have all thefacts before you move forward
with an integration andpartnership, because it could be
(28:50):
one of the most expensiveprojects that you take on in
terms of resources and, if youget it right, it could be one of
the things that makes yourcompany more valuable than
anything else.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Okay, I think that's a great way to wrap up the show.
So, con, thank you so much forbeing here today.
I know your time is veryvaluable, so thank you for being
on the show.
No, I really appreciate it.
Greg Really enjoyed theconversation.
Thank you, thank you.
So one final note coming up inour third episode don't want
people to miss.
It is going to be our partnerspotlight, where we do that deep
dive into a partner to betterunderstand how Payrock has
(29:20):
helped them overcome integrationchallenges, find new revenue at
scale smarter and faster.
So don't miss that episode aswell.
So, finally, to all youlisteners out there, I thank you
for your time as well and untilthe next story.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Thanks for joining us for Powering Payments Together
a special series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
To explore more resources andinsights, visit
https//partnerspayrockcomleaders-in-payments.
Welcome to Powering Payments Together a special
three-part series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
You'll hear Payrock's visionfor the future of integrated
payments, a behind-the-sceneslook at their ISV program and a
real-world success story fromone of their partners.
Three episodes, one missionhelping ISVs grow faster.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello everyone and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments podcast.
I'm your host, greg Myers, andthis episode is part of our
three-part series titledPowering Payments Together how
Payrock Helps ISVs Scale Smarterand obviously is being brought
to you by Payrock.
So in this episode we're goingto be going inside the ISV
program at Payrock to betterunderstand how they partner and
support ISVs.
(00:43):
In the first episode we talkedto Adam Oberman about the big
picture of Payrock, where it'sheaded and how that's going to
help ISVs.
And then in our final episode,we're going to be doing a
partner spotlight, where we'regoing to be going in-depth with
a partner to understand howPayrock has helped them overcome
integration challenges, findnew revenue streams and
(01:04):
basically scale smarter andfaster.
But for this episode today, I'mvery honored to have with me as
our guest Khan Byrne, who isthe Executive Director of
Integrated Payments at Payrock.
So, khan, thank you so much forbeing here and welcome to the
show.
Hey, greg, thanks for having meExcited for the conversation
today.
Yeah, me too.
So before we dive into the meatof it, if you don't mind, let's
(01:24):
talk a little bit about you andPayrock.
So could you walk us throughyour professional journey and a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, it's always an interesting question.
I think no different to mostpeople in payments.
A lot of people fall into this.
Nobody grows up saying, hey, Iwant to be a salesperson in
payments.
But it's funny, I actuallystarted off covering a six-week
temporary vacation leave for anemployee a sales employee in a
payment gateway, and 14 yearslater I'm still in it.
So I think when I came into it,that was at an Irish-based
(01:53):
payment gateway called WorldNet.
So I came in sales support,moved on to direct merchant
sales and we basically found aniche at that point in 2012,
plus in the integrated space.
And, funnily enough, at thatpoint it was still relatively
new.
Not everybody could do it and Ithink the fact that we were a
technology-focused gateway, wewere quite agnostic, we had a
(02:14):
lot of freedom to do pretty coolthings and that's kind of where
I got into integrated paymentsfirst.
So that took me up to about2019.
At that point we decided it wastime to try and scale the
business.
European market had got prettycompetitive at that point and we
saw with the switch to TMVhonestly in the US that that
presented a very largeopportunity for us.
So 2019, I relocated to the US.
(02:40):
I was based in Alpharetta,georgia, for just over six years
and during that period 2022, wewere fortunate enough to become
part of the Payrock family.
So we were acquired April 2022.
And at that point it kind ofled me and all the rest of the
WorldNet team honestly to becomea core piece of the Payrock
family, the Payrock platform,and really take that integrated
payment strategy that we haddeveloped at a small scale but
(03:02):
take that to the bigger audienceand really get supercharged
with Payrock.
So over the last three plusyears we've been building on
what Payrock had previously doneon the integrated side, what we
had done as WorldNet, andreally we've just been trying to
expand our market share andcontinue to establish Payrock as
a market leader in theintegrated payment space.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Okay, great.
So for those in the audiencethat may not know much about
Payrock, do you mind telling usa little bit about Payrock and
kind of how Payrock fits intothe whole payments ecosystem?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So, fundamentally, payrock is a full-service
payments platform.
We specialize intechnology-driven solutions that
cater to the needs of ourpartners.
Our partners vary, so it couldbe an established, registered
ISO, it could be a single agentor a large group of agents, all
the way through to individualmerchants and integrated
partners, and our goal really isto provide technology-driven
(03:53):
solutions for all of thosesubsets or all of those customer
bases that allow them to scaleto have a payment solution that
meets their needs.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Again, whether that's a merchant, an agent, an
integrated partner, paymentsolution that meets their needs,
again, whether that's amerchant, an agent, an
integrated partner.
So, Khan, tell us a little bitabout your role today and maybe
what excites you about thefuture of payments.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, so my role today at Payrock is heavily
focused on the lead-to-revenuelifecycle of our integrated
partners.
My team is pretty wide at thisstage, but it includes a lot of
experienced business developmentresources who are out there
trying to build partnerships andsource new integrated partners.
We also have a team of highlyskilled sales engineers and
integration engineers to helpour partners through
(04:32):
integrations and to build outtheir technology, as well as our
most recent addition, which isour go-to-market team.
Go-to-market team is somethingthat we're incredibly excited to
have and I think it's a massivedifferentiator for Payrock as
we partner with our integratedpartners.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Okay.
And what about the future ofpayments?
What excites you about what'sgoing on in our crazy ecosystem?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, it is crazy and it changes every day, but I
think the thing for me that ismost exciting maybe selfishly is
the fact that everybody ispushing towards integrated
payments and integrated paymentsis becoming such a big part of
what we do.
I think, if you go below that,we at Payrock have a ton of
experience in the unattendedspace, so that could be kiosk,
it could be self-service.
What Uber taught us is in a lotof cases, people don't like
(05:16):
dealing with people, andfrictionless payments is the
future and I think where we aretoday at Payrock and where the
market is going, we're uniquelypositioned to take advantage of
that move, especially for theyounger generations, to
contactless payments, integratedpayments and again providing
that more frictionless paymentsexperience.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Okay, great.
Well, thanks for sharing all ofthat.
Now let's dive into the ISVprogram, specifically at Payrock
, at Payrock, and let's talkabout support first, and maybe
what we'll do is we'll followthat kind of natural progression
of you know, integration,onboarding, enablement, growth.
So let's kind of think aboutyou know that lifecycle, as
we're talking about, you knowthe next section, so let's start
(05:57):
with integration and boarding.
Can you walk us through whatthat process of integration and
onboarding looks like if apartner comes to Payrock for
embedded payments?
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Sure, yeah, and I think this is one of the things
that we really focus on, andover the last two, three years,
we've put a lot of resources andthought into how can we improve
the experience for anintegrated partner as they take
payments for the first time oras they migrate from an existing
platform.
So one of the big things thatwe hear from an integrated
partner when they come toPayrock is oh well, I've got
(06:29):
this amazing revenue share.
It's really important tointegrated partners that a
partnership is not just aboutcommercials, it's not just about
an API, it's about the supportthat's behind that, because it's
all well and good to add apayments platform, but if the
integration that you choosedoesn't suit your needs today or
your needs as you grow, thechance of that integration being
effective when it comes tosatisfying your end merchants,
(06:51):
or indeed monetizing payments,are massively reduced, and I
think that's something thatPayrock is really focused on.
So if you look at thatintegration process, we are very
open and honest with ourpartners from day one.
We will have a deep divesession, technical discovery,
with some of those resourcesthat I mentioned earlier.
We'll make a statement of work.
We will walk down through everylast aspect of what that
(07:13):
partner wants from Payrock.
We'll talk about what Payrockcan do today.
We'll point out things that wecan't do and maybe we try and
solution around that.
Solution around that.
Or we'd be happy to share aroadmap and say, okay, look, we
don't have this piece today, buthere it is, it's on a roadmap
and we expect to have it for youin X amount of months, so
allowing the partner to gainthat trust.
We share our expertise.
(07:34):
We share everything we canabout our platform, and what
that does is that allows us tomake sure the integration is as
efficient as possible, as in.
Not just resources are assignedto it to make sure we get
through it quickly, but when youcome out the other end, it's
the experience and it's thesolution that that partner
actually wanted.
And we do that through a numberof different ways with my team.
We will have a dedicated salesengineer and a dedicated
(07:57):
integrations engineer.
They are available throughoutthe entire integration process.
As well as that, we'll have adedicated go-to-market expert.
That resource is there to tryand help get past some of the
struggles that any partner who'sever integrated a technology
platform is well aware of, andit's just looking at the gotchas
.
It's what are the things thatcould slow us down today as we
integrate, as well as once we goto pilot and exiting that pilot
(08:20):
into market?
What are the things that couldmake the experience poor for
Payrock or for our partners orindeed their end merchants?
So I think, by having ahigh-touch white-glove approach
in the way that we do, as wellas a very defined process, we
try and take out as many of thegotchas, we take out as many of
the unknowns as we can to tryand guide that partner through,
(08:42):
and I think what we're seeing iswhere we're getting fantastic
feedback from our partners.
We're actually starting to seerepeat customers, if you like,
where somebody integrated to usat a previous company, they've
now moved on and they're comingback for more, which is always a
good sign and I think,ultimately for both Payrock and
our partners, we're seeing adramatically reduced timeframe,
(09:03):
not just to get the integrationcomplete, but also to get into
market and get to the pointwhere they're delivering revenue
and being able to actuallycorrectly monetize payments.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Okay, so let's talk about the white glove.
You mentioned it.
It's an important part of yourstrategy, so maybe explain, when
you talk to a partner aboutyour white glove support, what
does that mean and why is it soimportant to them?
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Sure, yeah, and I think, depending on where a
partner is today, they'll havedifferent reality as to what a
payments partner can do.
But one of the big things thatwe really focus on is it's
putting named people with apartner so that partner will
know exactly who theircertification engineer is or
their sales engineer is, they'llknow exactly who their
(09:48):
go-to-market partner is and then, once they get through the
entire process and go to market,they'll know exactly who their
partner manager is and then,once they get through the entire
process and go to market,they'll know exactly who their
partner manager is.
So, by having named people whoare responsible for each step of
the journey, it means thatpartner never has to worry about
okay, where do I go if I havean issue or if I want to try and
expand my platform?
Who do I talk to about that?
There's always going to be oneperson that they can go to and
(10:09):
that person effectively will beone who, who goes behind the
scenes to pull togetherinformation.
But it's just that it's thatsingle source of information, a
trusted source of information,and again, it's something maybe
we take for granted at Payrock alittle, but I think when you
you look at what's out there inthe market.
Again, some people may say,look, give you a really
(10:30):
fantastic revenue, but if youever need support or if you
can't get an API to work, or ifyou're looking for co-branded
marketing and go-to-marketinitiatives, they just don't
exist.
And again, I think that's whyPayrock has positioned ourselves
in this area.
And if you look at where westarted, we started as an agent
company, so we have thousands ofagents with hundreds of
(10:52):
thousands of merchants, and welearned how to support those
merchants and partners, probablythe hard way.
And what we've done now iswe've put on a ton of technology
, primarily through acquisitionsand building, and we're
leveraging that learning that wegot from our early days to
satisfy those partners.
And again, that's where we aretoday, with just this heavily
partner-centric, support-focused, integrated process.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well, let's move on to the growth side.
So how do you help yourpartners grow their business?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, I think when it comes to growing their business
, there's a couple of pieces toit.
So I think first up and we'vediscussed this already, but I
think first up really is thatcollaborative go-to-market
process, so understanding whatis important to them, what's
important to their customers,what does a successful pilot
(11:40):
look like?
What warrants exiting a pilot?
And then how do we collaboratein that go-to-market to make
sure that they can get as manyof their merchants using this
platform and they can monetizeit correctly?
So I think that's going to bethe first piece.
For sure, once we get a partnerestablished, that's where our
marketing departments, who aremassively experienced in the
integrated space, that's wherethey'll come in and they will
collaborate with ourgo-to-market resources.
They will deal directly withthe partners, whether that's
(12:00):
attending a vertical specifictrade show with them, maybe it's
a happy hour or a co-brandedevent or getting more aggressive
with it, where we actually helpthem convert some of their
existing customer base acrossthe payrock and across the
integrated solution that they'reusing.
So I think there are kind oftwo ways that we would
absolutely go about this.
I think one of the other waysthat we really work with
partners and kind of grow withthem is by providing a number of
(12:24):
different ways for that partnerto enter the Payrock ecosystem.
So if a partner comes to us andthey say, look, all I want to
do is have payments integratedand I don't want to touch a
merchant app or deal withstatements or any of that kind
of stuff, perfect, a payroll cando that through our referral
partnership plan.
As that ISV grows or as a moreestablished ISV comes in, we've
(12:44):
got different paths that theycan go with us.
So you've got everything fromreferral to our reseller into
our managed solution, which isextremely popular at the moment.
This is kind of your PayFaxLite or managed PayFax style.
And then we also have Path, andPath is something that I think
we're heading in a directionthat many others in the market
are kind of steering away from.
Right now, payrock is openingup to either gateway-only
(13:07):
solutions or we also supportprocessing only.
So bring your own gateway,bring your own mid.
We can do both.
The goal of Path is to allow apartner to come into the Payrock
ecosystem with as littlefriction as possible.
Once they're in the platform,we can start to develop those
go-to-market ideas.
We can start to collaboratearound marketing and other
initiatives, and that's when weget to grow with that partner,
(13:30):
truly establish themselveswithin their vertical.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Okay, so in our last episode we're going to be doing
kind of an in-depth case study,but can you give us an example,
or maybe a use case or exampleof a customer that you guys have
helped on the ISV side?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
Yeah, I think with this one.
There's so many differentflavors to it.
There's a few that come to mind.
There will be atechnology-focused play, let's
say so.
There's been partners where theycome to us with a very specific
technology-driven problem.
We may not have the solution atthat time, but again, through
collaboration with our internalresources, our product
organization and engineering, wecan understand okay, is this
(14:08):
something that we can get topretty quickly here, or is this
a no-go?
So there's a number ofdifferent ISVs that we've worked
with over the past few yearswhere we've been able to take a
piece of hardware, for example,that we didn't support, certify
that piece of hardware onto ourplatform, integrate the ISV and
then have them roll out in somecases 20,000 to 30,000 of those
(14:28):
devices in a very short space oftime.
So I think when I look back atsome of the big wins that I'm
happiest with, when you can gofrom a call with an ISV that's
never heard of you and you'venever heard of them, with a
piece of hardware that you'venever used, to 30,000 devices
installed across a city, it's apretty nice win to have.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great success story.
So let's switch gears a littlebit and focus on kind of current
and future product offerings,as well as the hardware side.
You mentioned hardware and Ithink it's an interesting topic
that we don't talk about a lotin this space.
So, if you don't mind, walk usthrough the current set of
products that ISVs can takeadvantage of with Payrock Sure.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
So I think one of the big directional changes that
Payrock has made over the lasttwo years has been in the
hardware space.
We historically would have beenmore SDK or middleware driven.
Works great, but for a partnerto integrate it tends to take
some time.
Also, it's attached to kind ofmore legacy devices.
In the last two years we'vereally ramped up our Payrock
Cloud solution and Payrock Cloudbasically allows an ISV to
(15:29):
leverage our cloud integrationmethods.
It's a couple of lines of codeto actually take a payment and
effectively get up and runningand accepting payments, in some
cases in a couple of days.
We're actually there's arunning competition within the
BDs at the moment to see who canget it done quickest, and I
think just under a week is ourbest so far.
But once somebody uses thatcloud integration method, it's
(15:49):
not just about being able totake payments, it's about the
flexibility that that offersthem in future.
So we talked earlier about howan ISV can grow a Payrock.
This is the quickest andeasiest way for an ISV to get
into our ecosystem.
It's card present, which isnormally the most complex
element of it, and I think ifyou look at our focus over the
next couple of years, it's goingto be adding more devices, more
(16:10):
payment terminals, more paymenttypes to that cloud solution
and then also trying to packagethat up.
I think early 2026, we're goingto see that packaged up as a
low-code package or bundle,basically, where any integrated
partner will be able to selectfrom a set of devices or
CardNotPresent solutions and,assuming they fit into that
(16:32):
bucket, they'll be able tointegrate to Payrock without
ever having any touch points.
So I think we've done a lot ofthe groundwork from a technology
standpoint.
I think we understand prettywell what our technology can do
and where it benefits partners.
What we're trying to do next istake that solution and take
that product and push that tomarket at scale, and that's
something we're extremelyexcited about coming up here.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
All right.
So you mentioned somethingcoming in the future, in 2026.
Are there other products orsolutions that you want to
mention that are coming soon?
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Yeah, I think again back to hardware, and you said
earlier, people don't alwaystalk about hardware, but I think
for Payrock, it's a bigdifferentiator for us.
We support 50 plus differentpayment terminals from four or
five major manufacturers, aswell as having all of the card
not present and omni-channelsolutions.
So, again, that's why we tendto talk about it.
It's a differentiator.
I think you can expect to seeus continue to add more Android
(17:22):
devices that support PayRotCloud, as well as more solutions
for the unattended space.
So, again, that's an area thatwe really focus on.
There's a lot of diversity inthat, from indoor solutions to
outdoor rated machines that needto work on an EV charger in the
middle of the desert somewhere.
So, yeah, I think you cancertainly see CS head more in
that direction.
I think one of the other bigthings that Payrock is going to
(17:44):
do within the next year andwe're already well into it at
this point one of the bigfocuses for us is going to be on
enhancing our API solutions.
So we have boarding APIs today,we have reporting APIs, we have
funding APIs, where we're reallypushing on taking that to the
next level and pushing out somereally incredible tech.
Honestly, that's going to makeit super competitive in that
(18:05):
space and, as we deal with ISVsthat are further upstream and
are maybe leveraging some ofthese solutions today, it's
going to allow us to re-roundout our product set and make it
easier for them to boardmerchants on the platform, which
is obviously a major pain point, as well as reporting, pulling
information from our platform totheirs, and the last piece
there around funding.
So the ability for somebody tosplit funds, whether that's an
(18:28):
ISV taking their percentage SASfee directly from a payment or
potentially paying out residualsor commissions to a hotel that
is handling an EV charger, forexample.
So, yeah, I think, look formajor enhancements to our API
suite.
That's something that we'reincredibly excited about.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Okay great.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
So I'd like to double click a little bit on the
hardware side because, as we'vesaid, it doesn't get talked
about a whole lot in theindustry as it relates to
integrated payments.
But can you talk about the rolethat hardware plays in this
space for these ISVsspecifically?
I think a lot of people whenyou think about ISVs you think
it's kind of card, not present,e-commerce kind of thing.
(19:05):
But hardware plays a role.
So can you talk about that alittle bit more depth?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, for sure, and I think you are right.
And I think where everybodystarts from an integrated
payment standpoint is generallywith card not present, because
it's ultimately the easiest.
It's easy for everyone tointegrate and go to market.
I think where we differentiateand again the reason that we
focus so heavily on hardware isa lot of people can do card not
present really well and a lot ofpeople can do card present
(19:32):
really well.
There's very few in the middlethere that can actually do card
present and card not presentthrough a single platform in the
way that we do it.
So I think that's that's why wefocus on it and if you look at
the role that hardware plays,again, like payments itself is
probably a necessary evil tosome people.
But the payment terminal iswhere a transaction takes place.
That's what the cardholderinterface is with.
(19:53):
So without an experience atthat payment terminal, without
having a payment terminal thatcan be running every time
somebody goes to tap or insert acard, everything falls apart.
So it's probably the biggestpoint of friction potentially
when it comes to actually takinga card payment.
When we deal with ourintegrated partners, it's a huge
element for them because theycan build whatever technology
(20:14):
they want behind the scenes, butif the experience at that
terminal doesn't meet theexpectations of their cardholder
, that cardholder may never comeback.
So I think that's a massivecomponent of what we do and
that's why we partner with, as Isaid earlier, four or five
major players in the hardwaremanufacturing space and I think
over the years we've probablybecome, I'd say, a trusted
(20:35):
partner for those hardwaremanufacturers in the same way
they have for us, where weactually collaborate on some
large integrated paymentsolutions, because that trust is
there both in terms of ourplatform as well as their
hardware.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Before we leave this section.
You've talked about theimportance of having the
holistic solution, but could youmaybe double click on that?
Why is that truly important?
And I like to maybe putyourself in the shoes of an ISV.
Right, they have both onlineand e-commerce and card present.
They don't have a lot ofoptions to go to, so maybe talk
(21:09):
about why that is so importantto them to be able to come to a
company like Payrock and getthat solution.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Yeah, it's a fantastic question and, again, I
think there's probably a lot ofways you can look at it.
But I think, if we take anexample, think of somebody in
the car wash vertical whereyou've got an entry lane where
you can come in.
You pull up to that and itreads your registration plate.
That reader is looking at atoken in the background and that
token is tied to your carddetails.
(21:34):
So every time you come up tothat barrier it opens, it hits
your card and away you go.
Similarly, there's going to becard not present tokenized
recurring payments.
So if you've got a monthlypayments plan, every month it
hits your card automatically forthe fee.
Every month it hits your cardautomatically for the fee.
The other option you're going tosee and we do see these for our
customers today is the optionto actually pay at an unintended
card terminal at the point oftransaction or, in some cases,
(21:57):
on a busy day, somebody willcome up with an iPad or similar,
with a mobile POS device.
So I think, if you look at that, that's four very distinct and
very different payment solutionsand if you can have a partner
that can do all of those for youthrough a single integration,
through a single platform, asingle backend for
reconciliation and billing.
It's just a huge benefit tothat integrated partner.
(22:19):
Every integration that theyhave to manage or every gateway
integration that they have.
That's something they need toupkeep and they need to modify
every time they make some kindof change on their side.
Similarly, if a platformdecides to change how they work,
that ISV now has to deal withthem.
So if you've got one singlepoint of entry, for me that's
kind of the holy grail.
The other piece is there'sobviously economies of scale.
(22:41):
So the more volume you havegoing through a single platform,
you're more likely to get amore competitive set of rates
there and I think one of the keythings, actually, when we talk
about tokenization, again, usingthat car wash example, if I'm
driving across the US, I canpull up to any car wash within
that portfolio and it knows whoI am straight away because my
card is tokenized right acrosstheir portfolio rather than
(23:02):
being single location.
So to be able to tap your cardto tokenize and then turn up at
a car wash on the other side ofthe country and have the barrier
know it's you and open up andtake your payment is pretty cool
.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, I love that example.
So for the final section, let'stalk a little bit about how you
help ISVs scale the resourcesthat you have available and sort
of why ISVs stay with Payrocklong term.
So the first question is youand the ISV scale and grow
together.
So can you speak to how you doscale together with the partner?
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Yeah, sure, and I think the biggest word that I
always come back to for how wescale with the partner is going
to be flexibility, and it's notjust flexibility on the
solutions that we have and again, that's solutions today plus,
we're going to keep on acquiringplatforms and we're going to
keep acquiring tech and keepbuilding tech.
Outside of that, it's theflexibility that we mentioned
earlier around those partnerprograms.
(23:58):
So, again, we provide as manydifferent paths for somebody to
come to Payrock and work withPayrock we put our expertise on
them in terms of all theresources that we discussed, by
putting experienced go-to-marketpeople there, by putting
experienced partner managersthere we can actually help that
ISV navigate not just thepayment space today and the
payments market today, but alsohelp them prepare for future.
(24:21):
We've seen it very recentlywhere a lot of integrated
partners are looking to expand.
They're looking to move outsideof the US into Canada or into
Europe, Because our platformworks across all those regions.
We've been able to do that andwe can actually say in some
cases look, you're alreadyintegrated to Payrock for the US
, You've already got Europe here, let's go.
And then I think that's when weput our in-market resources on
(24:43):
top of it and we will actuallywork with that partner to define
how they go to market in a newcountry or a new region.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Okay, and what type of partner resources are
available to these ISVs?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
For an ISV, there's a ton of different resources we
have, depending on their needs.
We've got a statement analysisteam, which I have no idea how
they do it, but within 30minutes to an hour every time,
they come back with a reallydetailed statement analysis that
will show you whether you'regoing to be above water making
money while you make your owncustomer savings, all the way
through to those technicalresources where, if you have a
problem with your platform oryou see a shiny object in terms
(25:20):
of a new payment type, a newcommerce type or a new region we
can be the expert advisors toyou.
These partners trust us for allthe reasons that we've discussed
so far expert advisors to you.
These partners trust us for allthe reasons that we've
discussed so far, and we usethat trust and they use that
trust to help them build theirplatform and scale it for the
future.
We do a lot of, I suppose,outreach to our partners.
We actually had our first everPayrock Integrated Partner
(25:40):
Advisory Council earlier thisyear, where we brought some of
our largest partners togetherinto a room and, rather than
saying, look, here's how great,great payrock is, we asked them
to tell us how their experiencehas been and, fortunately enough
, actually the experience thatthey all shared was pretty good.
But I think the recurring themethat we saw was it was around
trust, it was around thatflexibility, it was around the
(26:00):
journey that those partners havehad.
Many of them started offreferring a handful of mids
through payrock five, six, seven, ten, seven, 10 years ago in
some cases and they've moved allthe way through Payrock into
being a reseller into ourmanaged solutions, and I think
they really appreciate or theygave us the feedback that they
appreciate the willingness ofPayrock not to shoehorn them
into a certain technology or notto shoe them into a certain
(26:24):
commercial model or not torestrict them in terms of what
gateway they can use or whatprocessor they can use, and that
allowed them to kind of buildtheir fundamentals around
payments and once they had thatbase, they were then more
comfortable to expand and reallymake payments part of their
growth strategy.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
So you've mentioned it, adam mentioned it.
A lot of people come to Payrockand build a relationship and
stay long term.
So what do you think it isabout the ISV program at Payrock
that makes these ISVs want tostay at the long-term?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Again, a really good question, and maybe it's our
secret sauce or I'm not sure,but I think one of the big
things is and again we hearpeople say this it's I know I
can call Adam if I really reallyneed to, or I can call Khan if
I need to, or, ideally, I canhave four or five named
resources that I can get intouch with if I have a problem.
So I think it is really aboutaccessibility of the right kind
(27:15):
of folks within Payrock.
It's actually the willingnessof our team, I think, to get
into the weeds with customersand help them if and when they
have issues and, again, it'sjust being that trusted
soundboard for the differentideas that these partners have,
as well.
As things don't always goaccording to plan payments.
Everybody would be doing it ifit was easy.
So I think it's also how wereact when things don't go the
(27:37):
right way.
And I think again, once you getthrough, whatever initial noise
might be there or initial issueis there.
I think the trust and thepartnership that you build
through the bad times as well asthe good is actually what makes
us stronger when it comes tothese partnerships.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
Okay, well, con, this has been a great discussion.
Just one final question.
If there's one key insight ormaybe piece of advice that you
would like a software leader oran ISV to take away from this
conversation, what would that beAgain, another really good
question.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
I think the biggest thing for me is all partners and
all platforms are not createdequal.
You need to look behind theheadlines and really just dive
deep and figure out is thispartner going to do what you
need today?
Is this partner going tocontinue to enhance their
platform?
Do they have the right kinds ofsupport that you need as you
scale and, ultimately, are theythe right partner to help you
(28:29):
add value through monetizationand, if you're an ISV, overall
to make your company morevaluable?
So I think they're really thebig things.
It's look behind the headlines,whether that's commercials,
apis figure out who the peopleare, take a look at that roadmap
and really don't dive into thedecision.
Make sure you have all thefacts before you move forward
with an integration andpartnership, because it could be
(28:50):
one of the most expensiveprojects that you take on in
terms of resources and, if youget it right, it could be one of
the things that makes yourcompany more valuable than
anything else.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Okay, I think that's a great way to wrap up the show.
So, con, thank you so much forbeing here today.
I know your time is veryvaluable, so thank you for being
on the show.
No, I really appreciate it.
Greg Really enjoyed theconversation.
Thank you, thank you.
So one final note coming up inour third episode don't want
people to miss.
It is going to be our partnerspotlight, where we do that deep
dive into a partner to betterunderstand how Payrock has
(29:20):
helped them overcome integrationchallenges, find new revenue at
scale smarter and faster.
So don't miss that episode aswell.
So, finally, to all youlisteners out there, I thank you
for your time as well and untilthe next story.
Speaker 1 (29:33):
Thanks for joining us for Powering Payments Together
a special series on how Payrockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
To explore more resources andinsights, visit
https//partnerspayrockcomleaders-in-payments.
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