In the final episode of Powering Payments Together: How Payroc Helps ISVs Scale Smarter, we turn the spotlight on CenterEdge Software and their journey to building a payments program that drives real business value. Leslie Legel, Director of Payments at CenterEdge, joins the conversation to share how Payroc has become a trusted partner in helping them overcome challenges, strengthen their platform, and deliver a seamless experience for their clients.
Leslie explains why payments are mission-critical for family entertainment centers, where more than 90 percent of transactions are digital and downtime isn’t an option. From July 4th waterparks to cashless operations, reliability isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s the foundation of customer satisfaction. She reflects on a tough lesson learned when a gateway integration didn’t meet expectations, and how those setbacks ultimately led CenterEdge to develop a more reliable and scalable payments strategy.
The episode also explores how CenterEdge built and branded “CenterEdge Payments,” giving them control over the customer journey and creating a more transparent, feature-rich solution for their clients. Leslie shares how Payroc stood out as a partner, not just for their technology and APIs, but for their willingness to understand CenterEdge’s business, answer tough questions, and provide the tools and flexibility needed to scale.
Finally, Leslie offers advice to ISVs navigating the high-stakes world of payments: do your homework, know your limitations, and find a partner who is as invested in your success as you are. Looking ahead, she discusses how CenterEdge and Payroc will continue to grow together, exploring new solutions and opportunities to strengthen their offering in the family entertainment space.
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SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Welcome to Powering Payments Together, a special
three-part series on how PayRockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
You'll hear PayRock's vision forthe 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 mission, helping ISVs growfaster.
SPEAKER_02 (00:22):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments Podcast.
I'm your host, Greg Myers.
This is our final episode in ourthree-part series titled
Powering Payments Together (00:30):
How Payrock Helps ISVs Scale Smarter
and is being brought to you byPayrock.
In the first episode in theseries, I spoke with Adam
Oberman about the big picture,where PayRock is headed, and
what it means to ISVs.
In the second episode, we wentdeep inside the ISV program at
Payrock with Con Byrne to betterunderstand how they partner and
support ISVs.
(00:52):
So I suggest you go back andlisten or watch both of those
episodes.
Today we'll be doing a partnerspotlight where you will hear
directly from CenterEdgeSoftware about their experience
with Payrock and how PayRock hashelped them overcome integration
challenges, unlock new revenue,and scale faster.
So today we have a very specialguest, Leslie Legal, the
Director of Payments at CenterEdge Software.
(01:14):
So Leslie, thank you for beinghere and welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
Thank you so much, Greg.
So happy to be here with youtoday.
SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
All right.
So before we dive deep intotoday's topic, if you don't
mind, let's talk a little bitabout you and Center Edge.
So can you tell our audience alittle bit about yourself and
your professional journey?
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
Absolutely.
So I began this wonderful rollercoaster of financial services
back in 2006.
I actually started with FitThird Bank when we were a line
of business of merchant servicesfor the bank at that time.
And then really worked withthem, starting in the capacity
of a sales rep role.
So getting my feet wet bycarrying a bag through our
(01:52):
regional bank merchantfootprint.
And from there, just startedturning over new leaves with my
career and advancing intodifferent roles within our sales
enablement and partnerrelationships.
So where I spent a lot of timewas focused on training our
sales reps and our partners onthe entire merchant service
(02:12):
landscape.
So pricing, interchange, howthings work when you think about
the transaction lifecycle.
And that's really where I had alot of passion for the industry.
So through that, you know, I hadthe opportunity to work with a
lot of different partners on theagent bank side, on the ISO
side.
And then as fifth third reallyevolved to Vantiv, which we now
(02:34):
know is World Pay, we started togrow into the ISB space.
So I started to get theopportunity to work with our ISB
partners to help them becomemore educated on the industry.
So after my time there, Itransitioned to a healthcare IT
company, a really large ISV herein Lowell, Kentucky, and
supported their sales enablementand operations platforms as well
(02:57):
as we were a super ISO at thetime.
So still very involved in thatmerchant strategy and financial
aspect of it.
And then from there, I was ableto find an opportunity with
Center Edge.
So I started working withCenterEge back in 2018 to help
them really develop theirintegrated payments program.
SPEAKER_02 (03:14):
Okay, great.
So for those who may not befamiliar, can you give us a
quick overview of what CenterEdge does?
SPEAKER_01 (03:21):
Absolutely.
So CenterEge is really fun.
We are a 21-year-old softwarecompany.
We're headquartered out of asmall town in North Carolina,
just outside of like the Durhamarea, if you're familiar with
that.
And we are really designed tofocus on providing a full
software solution for the familyentertainment industry.
(03:44):
So when you think about ourcustomers, they are
multi-attraction familyentertainment centers that offer
things like bowling, a minigolf, trampolines, skating, all
of those really fun things thatyou and your family get to go do
together.
We provide the purpose-builtsoftware to make sure that we
can streamline your entireoperation and focus on really
(04:06):
delivering best-in-class guestexperiences through that tool.
SPEAKER_02 (04:10):
Okay.
Well, as the director ofpayments there, tell us about
your role.
SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
So a lot of things that we do on the payments team.
So as I'm sure you can imagine,my team is responsible for
really everything integratedpayments related.
So over the course of the years,we've really evolved where we've
had referral relationships withsome major requirers to really
bringing all of that in-houseand running our own integrated
(04:34):
program, centered payments.
So what my team focuses on isthe ongoing growth and support
of that program.
So we look at everything fromthe client experience at that
initial install all the waythrough, you know, the continued
life cycle of that account.
We also work very, very closelywith our product department and
then our partners, which I knowwe're going to talk a little bit
(04:55):
more about, to look at how wecan develop new features and
functionalities to really makethat offering even more robust
than it is today.
So that's really where we'respending our time is that full
life cycle when we onboard thatmerchant all the way through
that experience where they'recontinuing to process with us
and delivering statements andthings of that nature.
SPEAKER_02 (05:15):
Okay, great.
Well, let's start by talkingabout payments within your
software.
So, what role does payments playin your software?
Why are payments so important?
SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
So payments are so important to us and play such a
vital role within our softwarebecause if you think about it,
the success of your paymentsprogram directly impacts the
success of the businessoperations of our clients.
So a typical familyentertainment center, 90 plus
percent of their payments arecoming through some sort of
(05:45):
electronic payment, whetherthat's credit card, debit card,
Apple Pay, Google Pay.
That is how people pay for theseservices today.
Additionally, we have a lot ofour clients that have now gone
100% cashless.
So you think of the importanceof making sure their solution is
up and running at all givenpoints in time is extremely
(06:08):
important to them.
So for us, it's reallydelivering that integrated
solution to make sure they don'thave to focus on going and
navigating through otherrelationships of dealing with a
third-party payment processoror, you know, someone not
necessarily being able to pickup the phone.
So for us, it's extremelyimportant to provide that
experience.
SPEAKER_02 (06:28):
Okay.
Well, what are some of the painpoints you've experienced around
payments at your company?
SPEAKER_01 (06:33):
Well, let me think.
We could talk about a fewbecause when you think about
payments, it's definitely a verytricky business to get into.
So making sure that you have,you know, a lot of knowledge
around that is very important todeliver that really extensive
program to your clients that'sthey're gonna feel is operating
seamlessly within theirsoftware.
(06:54):
So I would say one of thehardest lessons I've learned and
one of the biggest pain pointsthat I've had through this
process was when we made asignificant change to look at a
different gateway integration topartner with.
And so we had gotten somefeedback from some of the
partners that we work witharound a solution that we wanted
(07:15):
to utilize.
And it made a lot of steps whenyou first looked at it, right?
Like the financials made sense.
We looked at all of thedevelopment work, seemed really
straightforward.
Plus, we had had a relationshipwith this company prior to going
into this.
So we thought, okay, you know,it's going to be a really good
fit for our clients.
Well, unfortunately, sometimeswith payments, you don't learn
that these things aren'tnecessarily the right fit until
(07:37):
you're kind of too far in,right?
And so for us, once we got intoreally promoting this gateway
and using it for center edgepayments, we started to run into
some significant issues as itrelated to uptime with the
solution, as well as some of thegaps that were kind of evident
around like compliance andsecurity within the solution.
(08:01):
And so for us, we worked reallyhard as a team to navigate
through like those challengesand figure out ways to
compensate for some of thesemissing functionalities.
But ultimately, the challengesthat this created led us down
the path, us making a decisionto have to pull back the entire
thing.
And for many of our listenersand for those who've experienced
(08:22):
a similar situation, what's hardis we offer our solution across
card present, mobile,self-service, and e-commerce
solutions.
And so when you're in a cardpresent environment, you've got
things like pin pads that younow have to deal with when
you're changing gateways andgoing through that process.
And so pulling that back was notonly, you know, countless hours
(08:42):
of effort with us communicatingwith customers and working to do
that, but also some significantcost as you think about having
to redeploy new hardware to ourcustomers.
That was a tough lesson anddefinitely one of the most
painful things that I'veprobably experienced through
this process, but we learned alot and we come out of it so
much stronger and with a much,much more robust solution now
(09:06):
after going through thatprocess.
SPEAKER_02 (09:08):
Yeah.
Anyone you ever talked to whohas had to unwind payments from
their operation has has gonethrough some challenges.
And I'm glad to hear that youlearned from it and was ended up
being probably a positive thing,but painful at the time.
So from, and you talked aboutthis already a little bit, but
from your customer'sperspective, what is the most
(09:29):
critical aspect of payments?
SPEAKER_01 (09:30):
This may seem like the simplest answer, but it is
the most truthful thing that Ican tell you is it has to work.
And the reality of that for ourcustomers and for any one of us
in the ISB space where we'retaking payments on behalf of our
customers, we need it to workand we need it to work smoothly.
But I think about we have awater park, it's July 4th, it's
(09:54):
10 a.m.
It's a holiday.
We know, you know, sometimessome of the acquirers, because
it's the fine, they're notnecessarily always there to
support you.
So we need to know that thepartners that we select are
going to help us make sure thatthis is working and working all
the time.
And so if that line at 10 a.m.
is wrapped around the parkinglot and my credit card
(10:16):
processing is down, I'm in bigtrouble.
I'm turning people away.
I'm creating a really badexperience for my guest.
And ultimately, like thatbecomes the biggest challenge.
So payments can't turn off andturn on throughout the day.
It has to run seamlessly.
And so making sure that yoursolution, that you've done the
work around like what tools youneed and the support that you
(10:38):
have to be able to deliver that,that is by far the most critical
thing for us.
SPEAKER_02 (10:42):
Okay.
And you mentioned center edgepayments.
So obviously you've whitelabeled and branded it as your
own.
So how does that white label fitinto your overall strategy?
SPEAKER_01 (10:53):
For us, when we went down this path, as I mentioned
earlier, we had been in referralrelationships previously where
it was, you know, hey, we know apayments provider you can use
and just refer that customerover to them and had great
relationships with some of thosepartners.
But for us, like going downthis, we wanted to control as
(11:15):
much of that customer journey aswe could.
And so for us, being able towhite label and create a brand
of center edge payments that isrecognizable to our customers
and in our industry was veryimportant for this strategy.
So going through that process tobe able to say, like, look, this
is the number that you're gonnacall.
(11:36):
You're calling into the samesoftware support that you've
been calling into for 20 yearsif you've been a customer of
ours.
When now, when it's yourpayments issue, you're calling
us too.
So creating that brand was very,very important.
And so having the ability towhite label that really was a
key part of our strategy.
And so being able to work withpartners that support that
(11:59):
strategy was also very importantto us.
SPEAKER_02 (12:02):
Okay.
All right.
Well, thank you so much forsharing that all about the
company and payments and whatyou're doing and your strategy
there.
So let's now talk about yourpartnership with Payrock.
So, how did you find out aboutPayrock?
SPEAKER_01 (12:13):
Well, it was interesting.
So, as I mentioned, we had gonethrough, you know, some
different referrals, differentintegrations.
And so we had a little more thana handful of partners that we
were working with when it cameto looking at like the overall
payments landscape for CenterEdge.
And so as I was working through,you know, different support
(12:34):
processes and internal salesprocesses and things with the
team, it just made more sense tothink about okay, is there a
partner that we could look to,you know, help us consolidate
some of these things and reallythen streamline our operations,
one, to create a betterexperience for our customers,
but also better revenueopportunity for us, right?
(12:55):
To like be able to align thosethings with our growth strategy.
So I headed out to, you know,the internet, just like anyone
would, and started doing someresearch.
But fortunate for me, havingcome from a payments background,
you know, and knowing quite afew really amazing people over
that time of working in theindustry, I had a friend who
said, Hey, like, you know, wewere, we were kind of catching
(13:17):
up and I was letting him knowsome of the different things
that I was looking at.
And, you know, there's a lot outthere to be able to review.
And he had said, Hey, have youever thought about talking to
Payrop?
And I was like, Well, no, youknow, it's kind of the first I
had heard of them.
Um so I started doing someresearch on them.
And he just had basically workedwith another company that had
talked to him before and sothought, based on what I was
(13:37):
looking for, maybe anopportunity for me.
And so from there, it really Ikind of put their name into my
process of going through like mychecklist of the things that I
was looking for and reached outto them and set up some initial
calls and kind of that's how itall started, just from that
research.
SPEAKER_02 (13:54):
Okay.
And why did PayRo stand out asthe best fit?
SPEAKER_01 (13:58):
You know, it's interesting.
If you look at PayRock as andall of the things they have to
offer, there are so many amazingthings.
They have great technology.
From a partner perspective, theyhave APIs that are, you know,
super easy to be able to workwith and make things a lot
easier for you as an ISB to workwith them.
They also have been in theindustry for a long time and
(14:21):
they have proven that they havebeen able to really continue to
grow and maintain their staturewithin the industry over these
years.
And so if you look at thosethings, like it would be easy to
say, hey, payrock is a greatfit.
But for me, when I had myinitial conversations with our
business development executiveand then started, you know, that
(14:43):
process of going throughunderstanding like you would
have this partner manager andthis partner support team.
And oh, this would be yourintegrations person.
Every single person that I workwith, I just connected with
really well.
And they wanted to make surethey understood us as a
business.
So really helping to peel backthat onion, understand the
challenges that I have gonethrough with center edge
(15:05):
payments and with payments ingeneral, just to see, like,
okay, how do we not missteptogether?
I was asking hard questions,Greg, and they were giving me
real answers.
And so that to me, it justalways felt like I had found the
right partner.
So I know you've talked to quitea few folks there, and it
really, it's just as soon as Istarted talking to them and
(15:26):
hearing, you know, their storyand how they wanted to work with
me, it just seemed like it wasgoing to be the right
opportunity for us.
SPEAKER_02 (15:32):
Okay.
Well, what was the onboardingand integration experience like
with Payrock?
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
So for us, everything was really
straightforward.
We had so many initial calls toreally look at how Center Edge
Payments wanted to do things andwhat tools did Payrock have to
offer.
And I think that's like one ofthe best things about Payrock is
you can look at their library ofsolutions.
(16:01):
And as an ISV, you can say, thisis what makes sense for us right
now.
And then you can continue tobuild with that.
So for us, as we went throughthat onboarding process, we had
done so much homework up togetting to that point.
Boarding our first meet merchantwas really easy.
And we all kind of like took astep back after that merchant
(16:23):
went live.
And you know, the the very firstthing you do is check for that
test transaction and make surethat deposit hit the bank.
And you're all like, okay, thisworked.
And so that process for us,because we had done so much
initial work together to makesure that we had the right fit,
was very smooth.
Now, Center Edge, and I think alot of it, you know, because of
(16:43):
just like the experience thatwe've had in the past with
referral partners and justdifferent exposure to payments,
we like to control as much ofthe customer experience as
possible.
And the great news is thatPayRock allows us to do that.
So for us, like taking onpricing and, you know, the
install, because we'reinstalling software.
(17:05):
So we want to install thepayments, they're gonna work
with us to make sure we have allthe tools to be able to do that.
And then if you are an ISV thatmaybe you want to handle that
differently, they're superflexible with their integration
approach to be able to allow youto do things differently.
So I thought our experience wasreally good with everything that
we did.
And we were able to get thosefirst couple of merchants up
(17:27):
pretty quickly once we had gonethrough, you know, obviously
getting all of the initiallegwork done.
And um, it's been great.
So they let you crawl, walk, orrun.
So as an ISV, that's superimportant because if you're just
getting your software out there,bringing in payments, very, very
instrumental to your growthoperation, but you might not
want to be able to take on asmuch as an ISV like we did.
(17:48):
And they have the opportunityfor them to do that.
SPEAKER_02 (17:51):
That's a good segue to the next question.
So at the end of the day, whatis the impact to your business
and to your clients or customerswith having a successful
integrated payment solution?
SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
Having centered edge payments has been able to really
strengthen the overall platformand solution that we're
providing to our customers.
One of the biggest goals that Ihad coming into being able to do
this is let's take the ambiguityout of payments for our
customers and focus on creatinga very transparent, honest,
(18:23):
simple approach to credit cardprocessing that aligns with
their software to make sure thatwe let them just focus on this
improved guest experience.
So we have built on the featureset that we offer with Center
Edge Payments, which not onlyallows like us to provide
payments for our customers, butit also helps them grow in other
(18:44):
ways with different tools andmake things easier.
And so you're creating thisfeature-rich program that
eliminates a lot of the frictionthat is caused when you break
apart and have like disparatepartners when it relates to your
software and your payments.
So for us, having thatintegrated, just it's made it a
holistic solution that's easyfor our customers to use and
(19:07):
come to us for support and helpwhen they need to.
SPEAKER_02 (19:09):
Okay.
So what advice would you giveother software companies that
are looking for a paymentspartner?
SPEAKER_01 (19:15):
I like to say uh merchant services is a
high-stakes business, right?
So when you take on payments foryour software customers, it's
high risk, high reward.
And so you're now directlydealing with their money.
And so I think the biggest thingis ensuring that you go out and
do your research and you find apartner that's going to be right
(19:38):
there with you through thatprocess.
They have to be invested in yoursuccess just as much as you're
invested in the success of yourclients.
And marrying that together thencreates a really good
opportunity for someone to driverevenue and experience with
their integrated paymentsprogram.
So the best thing to do is doyour homework, know what you're
(20:00):
looking for and what you cantake on as the ISD.
Because, again, there's a lot ofdifferent elements to payments,
but you don't have to dive inand take over everything
initially at the get-go.
So know your limitations andwhat you, you know, kind of
expect up front, and then find apartner who's going to align to
(20:21):
you with that.
And then you'll be able todeliver what really matters to
your clients.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (20:25):
Well, one final question.
What's next in your paymentjourney with Payrock?
SPEAKER_01 (20:30):
Growth.
Let's continue to grow together.
So for us, we've been partneredwith Payrock for a few years
now.
And each year, we've developed anew set of solutions that we've
been able to offer to ourclients.
And one of the great thingsabout Payrock is they continue
to look for innovative ways tobring different solutions that
(20:52):
will help us differentiateourselves as ISV providers as
well.
And so when I look at that, forme, it's okay, what is the next
set of solutions that matters tothe family entertainment space?
Is it being able to expeditefunding or what are the cutting
edge payment solutions that areout there today?
Do I need to find a new mobilepackage or different development
(21:15):
for these solutions?
And PayRock continues to help uswith finding new tools,
technology that will help usthen create that better
experience for our customers andoffer some different solutions
to help us set ourselves apart.
So my goal is with Payrock toleverage them to continue to
grow our business.
(21:36):
And I think that only helps usstrengthen our partnership
together.
SPEAKER_02 (21:39):
Okay.
Well, I think that's a great wayto wrap up the show.
It's kind of ironic.
It circles back to really a lotof what Adam talked about in the
first episode was really howPayRock really focuses on trying
to help their clients grow.
And it sounds like that's reallykind of what you see them as,
just besides processingpayments, they're really there
to help your business grow.
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
Absolutely.
One of the things that I alsothink has been so great is the
open loop feedback that we haveas partners together and
continuing to share, like, youknow, these are things that we
think will help us.
And they do the same for us.
Like, hey, we think this wouldhelp you.
And that's what is going to helpus both continue to grow
together.
(22:19):
And so that's been really key aspart of our relationship.
SPEAKER_02 (22:21):
Okay, great.
Well, thank you so much forbeing on the show today.
I know your time is veryvaluable.
So I really appreciate you beinghere.
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
Absolutely.
It's been a pleasure and thankyou for the time.
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Absolutely.
And to all your listeners outthere, I thank you for your time
as well.
And until the next story.
SPEAKER_00 (22:36):
Thanks for joining us for Powering Payments
Together, a special series onhow PayRock helps ISV scale
smarter.
To explore more resources andinsights, visit HTTPS colon
slash slash partners.payrock.comslash leaders dash in dash
payments.
Welcome to Powering Payments Together, a special
three-part series on how PayRockhelps ISVs scale smarter.
You'll hear PayRock's vision forthe 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 mission, helping ISVs growfaster.
SPEAKER_02 (00:22):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Leaders in
Payments Podcast.
I'm your host, Greg Myers.
This is our final episode in ourthree-part series titled
Powering Payments Together (00:30):
How Payrock Helps ISVs Scale Smarter
and is being brought to you byPayrock.
In the first episode in theseries, I spoke with Adam
Oberman about the big picture,where PayRock is headed, and
what it means to ISVs.
In the second episode, we wentdeep inside the ISV program at
Payrock with Con Byrne to betterunderstand how they partner and
support ISVs.
(00:52):
So I suggest you go back andlisten or watch both of those
episodes.
Today we'll be doing a partnerspotlight where you will hear
directly from CenterEdgeSoftware about their experience
with Payrock and how PayRock hashelped them overcome integration
challenges, unlock new revenue,and scale faster.
So today we have a very specialguest, Leslie Legal, the
Director of Payments at CenterEdge Software.
(01:14):
So Leslie, thank you for beinghere and welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
Thank you so much, Greg.
So happy to be here with youtoday.
SPEAKER_02 (01:20):
All right.
So before we dive deep intotoday's topic, if you don't
mind, let's talk a little bitabout you and Center Edge.
So can you tell our audience alittle bit about yourself and
your professional journey?
SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
Absolutely.
So I began this wonderful rollercoaster of financial services
back in 2006.
I actually started with FitThird Bank when we were a line
of business of merchant servicesfor the bank at that time.
And then really worked withthem, starting in the capacity
of a sales rep role.
So getting my feet wet bycarrying a bag through our
(01:52):
regional bank merchantfootprint.
And from there, just startedturning over new leaves with my
career and advancing intodifferent roles within our sales
enablement and partnerrelationships.
So where I spent a lot of timewas focused on training our
sales reps and our partners onthe entire merchant service
(02:12):
landscape.
So pricing, interchange, howthings work when you think about
the transaction lifecycle.
And that's really where I had alot of passion for the industry.
So through that, you know, I hadthe opportunity to work with a
lot of different partners on theagent bank side, on the ISO
side.
And then as fifth third reallyevolved to Vantiv, which we now
(02:34):
know is World Pay, we started togrow into the ISB space.
So I started to get theopportunity to work with our ISB
partners to help them becomemore educated on the industry.
So after my time there, Itransitioned to a healthcare IT
company, a really large ISV herein Lowell, Kentucky, and
supported their sales enablementand operations platforms as well
(02:57):
as we were a super ISO at thetime.
So still very involved in thatmerchant strategy and financial
aspect of it.
And then from there, I was ableto find an opportunity with
Center Edge.
So I started working withCenterEge back in 2018 to help
them really develop theirintegrated payments program.
SPEAKER_02 (03:14):
Okay, great.
So for those who may not befamiliar, can you give us a
quick overview of what CenterEdge does?
SPEAKER_01 (03:21):
Absolutely.
So CenterEge is really fun.
We are a 21-year-old softwarecompany.
We're headquartered out of asmall town in North Carolina,
just outside of like the Durhamarea, if you're familiar with
that.
And we are really designed tofocus on providing a full
software solution for the familyentertainment industry.
(03:44):
So when you think about ourcustomers, they are
multi-attraction familyentertainment centers that offer
things like bowling, a minigolf, trampolines, skating, all
of those really fun things thatyou and your family get to go do
together.
We provide the purpose-builtsoftware to make sure that we
can streamline your entireoperation and focus on really
(04:06):
delivering best-in-class guestexperiences through that tool.
SPEAKER_02 (04:10):
Okay.
Well, as the director ofpayments there, tell us about
your role.
SPEAKER_01 (04:14):
So a lot of things that we do on the payments team.
So as I'm sure you can imagine,my team is responsible for
really everything integratedpayments related.
So over the course of the years,we've really evolved where we've
had referral relationships withsome major requirers to really
bringing all of that in-houseand running our own integrated
(04:34):
program, centered payments.
So what my team focuses on isthe ongoing growth and support
of that program.
So we look at everything fromthe client experience at that
initial install all the waythrough, you know, the continued
life cycle of that account.
We also work very, very closelywith our product department and
then our partners, which I knowwe're going to talk a little bit
(04:55):
more about, to look at how wecan develop new features and
functionalities to really makethat offering even more robust
than it is today.
So that's really where we'respending our time is that full
life cycle when we onboard thatmerchant all the way through
that experience where they'recontinuing to process with us
and delivering statements andthings of that nature.
SPEAKER_02 (05:15):
Okay, great.
Well, let's start by talkingabout payments within your
software.
So, what role does payments playin your software?
Why are payments so important?
SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
So payments are so important to us and play such a
vital role within our softwarebecause if you think about it,
the success of your paymentsprogram directly impacts the
success of the businessoperations of our clients.
So a typical familyentertainment center, 90 plus
percent of their payments arecoming through some sort of
(05:45):
electronic payment, whetherthat's credit card, debit card,
Apple Pay, Google Pay.
That is how people pay for theseservices today.
Additionally, we have a lot ofour clients that have now gone
100% cashless.
So you think of the importanceof making sure their solution is
up and running at all givenpoints in time is extremely
(06:08):
important to them.
So for us, it's reallydelivering that integrated
solution to make sure they don'thave to focus on going and
navigating through otherrelationships of dealing with a
third-party payment processoror, you know, someone not
necessarily being able to pickup the phone.
So for us, it's extremelyimportant to provide that
experience.
SPEAKER_02 (06:28):
Okay.
Well, what are some of the painpoints you've experienced around
payments at your company?
SPEAKER_01 (06:33):
Well, let me think.
We could talk about a fewbecause when you think about
payments, it's definitely a verytricky business to get into.
So making sure that you have,you know, a lot of knowledge
around that is very important todeliver that really extensive
program to your clients that'sthey're gonna feel is operating
seamlessly within theirsoftware.
(06:54):
So I would say one of thehardest lessons I've learned and
one of the biggest pain pointsthat I've had through this
process was when we made asignificant change to look at a
different gateway integration topartner with.
And so we had gotten somefeedback from some of the
partners that we work witharound a solution that we wanted
(07:15):
to utilize.
And it made a lot of steps whenyou first looked at it, right?
Like the financials made sense.
We looked at all of thedevelopment work, seemed really
straightforward.
Plus, we had had a relationshipwith this company prior to going
into this.
So we thought, okay, you know,it's going to be a really good
fit for our clients.
Well, unfortunately, sometimeswith payments, you don't learn
that these things aren'tnecessarily the right fit until
(07:37):
you're kind of too far in,right?
And so for us, once we got intoreally promoting this gateway
and using it for center edgepayments, we started to run into
some significant issues as itrelated to uptime with the
solution, as well as some of thegaps that were kind of evident
around like compliance andsecurity within the solution.
(08:01):
And so for us, we worked reallyhard as a team to navigate
through like those challengesand figure out ways to
compensate for some of thesemissing functionalities.
But ultimately, the challengesthat this created led us down
the path, us making a decisionto have to pull back the entire
thing.
And for many of our listenersand for those who've experienced
(08:22):
a similar situation, what's hardis we offer our solution across
card present, mobile,self-service, and e-commerce
solutions.
And so when you're in a cardpresent environment, you've got
things like pin pads that younow have to deal with when
you're changing gateways andgoing through that process.
And so pulling that back was notonly, you know, countless hours
(08:42):
of effort with us communicatingwith customers and working to do
that, but also some significantcost as you think about having
to redeploy new hardware to ourcustomers.
That was a tough lesson anddefinitely one of the most
painful things that I'veprobably experienced through
this process, but we learned alot and we come out of it so
much stronger and with a much,much more robust solution now
(09:06):
after going through thatprocess.
SPEAKER_02 (09:08):
Yeah.
Anyone you ever talked to whohas had to unwind payments from
their operation has has gonethrough some challenges.
And I'm glad to hear that youlearned from it and was ended up
being probably a positive thing,but painful at the time.
So from, and you talked aboutthis already a little bit, but
from your customer'sperspective, what is the most
(09:29):
critical aspect of payments?
SPEAKER_01 (09:30):
This may seem like the simplest answer, but it is
the most truthful thing that Ican tell you is it has to work.
And the reality of that for ourcustomers and for any one of us
in the ISB space where we'retaking payments on behalf of our
customers, we need it to workand we need it to work smoothly.
But I think about we have awater park, it's July 4th, it's
(09:54):
10 a.m.
It's a holiday.
We know, you know, sometimessome of the acquirers, because
it's the fine, they're notnecessarily always there to
support you.
So we need to know that thepartners that we select are
going to help us make sure thatthis is working and working all
the time.
And so if that line at 10 a.m.
is wrapped around the parkinglot and my credit card
(10:16):
processing is down, I'm in bigtrouble.
I'm turning people away.
I'm creating a really badexperience for my guest.
And ultimately, like thatbecomes the biggest challenge.
So payments can't turn off andturn on throughout the day.
It has to run seamlessly.
And so making sure that yoursolution, that you've done the
work around like what tools youneed and the support that you
(10:38):
have to be able to deliver that,that is by far the most critical
thing for us.
SPEAKER_02 (10:42):
Okay.
And you mentioned center edgepayments.
So obviously you've whitelabeled and branded it as your
own.
So how does that white label fitinto your overall strategy?
SPEAKER_01 (10:53):
For us, when we went down this path, as I mentioned
earlier, we had been in referralrelationships previously where
it was, you know, hey, we know apayments provider you can use
and just refer that customerover to them and had great
relationships with some of thosepartners.
But for us, like going downthis, we wanted to control as
(11:15):
much of that customer journey aswe could.
And so for us, being able towhite label and create a brand
of center edge payments that isrecognizable to our customers
and in our industry was veryimportant for this strategy.
So going through that process tobe able to say, like, look, this
is the number that you're gonnacall.
(11:36):
You're calling into the samesoftware support that you've
been calling into for 20 yearsif you've been a customer of
ours.
When now, when it's yourpayments issue, you're calling
us too.
So creating that brand was very,very important.
And so having the ability towhite label that really was a
key part of our strategy.
And so being able to work withpartners that support that
(11:59):
strategy was also very importantto us.
SPEAKER_02 (12:02):
Okay.
All right.
Well, thank you so much forsharing that all about the
company and payments and whatyou're doing and your strategy
there.
So let's now talk about yourpartnership with Payrock.
So, how did you find out aboutPayrock?
SPEAKER_01 (12:13):
Well, it was interesting.
So, as I mentioned, we had gonethrough, you know, some
different referrals, differentintegrations.
And so we had a little more thana handful of partners that we
were working with when it cameto looking at like the overall
payments landscape for CenterEdge.
And so as I was working through,you know, different support
(12:34):
processes and internal salesprocesses and things with the
team, it just made more sense tothink about okay, is there a
partner that we could look to,you know, help us consolidate
some of these things and reallythen streamline our operations,
one, to create a betterexperience for our customers,
but also better revenueopportunity for us, right?
(12:55):
To like be able to align thosethings with our growth strategy.
So I headed out to, you know,the internet, just like anyone
would, and started doing someresearch.
But fortunate for me, havingcome from a payments background,
you know, and knowing quite afew really amazing people over
that time of working in theindustry, I had a friend who
said, Hey, like, you know, wewere, we were kind of catching
(13:17):
up and I was letting him knowsome of the different things
that I was looking at.
And, you know, there's a lot outthere to be able to review.
And he had said, Hey, have youever thought about talking to
Payrop?
And I was like, Well, no, youknow, it's kind of the first I
had heard of them.
Um so I started doing someresearch on them.
And he just had basically workedwith another company that had
talked to him before and sothought, based on what I was
(13:37):
looking for, maybe anopportunity for me.
And so from there, it really Ikind of put their name into my
process of going through like mychecklist of the things that I
was looking for and reached outto them and set up some initial
calls and kind of that's how itall started, just from that
research.
SPEAKER_02 (13:54):
Okay.
And why did PayRo stand out asthe best fit?
SPEAKER_01 (13:58):
You know, it's interesting.
If you look at PayRock as andall of the things they have to
offer, there are so many amazingthings.
They have great technology.
From a partner perspective, theyhave APIs that are, you know,
super easy to be able to workwith and make things a lot
easier for you as an ISB to workwith them.
They also have been in theindustry for a long time and
(14:21):
they have proven that they havebeen able to really continue to
grow and maintain their staturewithin the industry over these
years.
And so if you look at thosethings, like it would be easy to
say, hey, payrock is a greatfit.
But for me, when I had myinitial conversations with our
business development executiveand then started, you know, that
(14:43):
process of going throughunderstanding like you would
have this partner manager andthis partner support team.
And oh, this would be yourintegrations person.
Every single person that I workwith, I just connected with
really well.
And they wanted to make surethey understood us as a
business.
So really helping to peel backthat onion, understand the
challenges that I have gonethrough with center edge
(15:05):
payments and with payments ingeneral, just to see, like,
okay, how do we not missteptogether?
I was asking hard questions,Greg, and they were giving me
real answers.
And so that to me, it justalways felt like I had found the
right partner.
So I know you've talked to quitea few folks there, and it
really, it's just as soon as Istarted talking to them and
(15:26):
hearing, you know, their storyand how they wanted to work with
me, it just seemed like it wasgoing to be the right
opportunity for us.
SPEAKER_02 (15:32):
Okay.
Well, what was the onboardingand integration experience like
with Payrock?
SPEAKER_01 (15:38):
So for us, everything was really
straightforward.
We had so many initial calls toreally look at how Center Edge
Payments wanted to do things andwhat tools did Payrock have to
offer.
And I think that's like one ofthe best things about Payrock is
you can look at their library ofsolutions.
(16:01):
And as an ISV, you can say, thisis what makes sense for us right
now.
And then you can continue tobuild with that.
So for us, as we went throughthat onboarding process, we had
done so much homework up togetting to that point.
Boarding our first meet merchantwas really easy.
And we all kind of like took astep back after that merchant
(16:23):
went live.
And you know, the the very firstthing you do is check for that
test transaction and make surethat deposit hit the bank.
And you're all like, okay, thisworked.
And so that process for us,because we had done so much
initial work together to makesure that we had the right fit,
was very smooth.
Now, Center Edge, and I think alot of it, you know, because of
(16:43):
just like the experience thatwe've had in the past with
referral partners and justdifferent exposure to payments,
we like to control as much ofthe customer experience as
possible.
And the great news is thatPayRock allows us to do that.
So for us, like taking onpricing and, you know, the
install, because we'reinstalling software.
(17:05):
So we want to install thepayments, they're gonna work
with us to make sure we have allthe tools to be able to do that.
And then if you are an ISV thatmaybe you want to handle that
differently, they're superflexible with their integration
approach to be able to allow youto do things differently.
So I thought our experience wasreally good with everything that
we did.
And we were able to get thosefirst couple of merchants up
(17:27):
pretty quickly once we had gonethrough, you know, obviously
getting all of the initiallegwork done.
And um, it's been great.
So they let you crawl, walk, orrun.
So as an ISV, that's superimportant because if you're just
getting your software out there,bringing in payments, very, very
instrumental to your growthoperation, but you might not
want to be able to take on asmuch as an ISV like we did.
(17:48):
And they have the opportunityfor them to do that.
SPEAKER_02 (17:51):
That's a good segue to the next question.
So at the end of the day, whatis the impact to your business
and to your clients or customerswith having a successful
integrated payment solution?
SPEAKER_01 (18:01):
Having centered edge payments has been able to really
strengthen the overall platformand solution that we're
providing to our customers.
One of the biggest goals that Ihad coming into being able to do
this is let's take the ambiguityout of payments for our
customers and focus on creatinga very transparent, honest,
(18:23):
simple approach to credit cardprocessing that aligns with
their software to make sure thatwe let them just focus on this
improved guest experience.
So we have built on the featureset that we offer with Center
Edge Payments, which not onlyallows like us to provide
payments for our customers, butit also helps them grow in other
(18:44):
ways with different tools andmake things easier.
And so you're creating thisfeature-rich program that
eliminates a lot of the frictionthat is caused when you break
apart and have like disparatepartners when it relates to your
software and your payments.
So for us, having thatintegrated, just it's made it a
holistic solution that's easyfor our customers to use and
(19:07):
come to us for support and helpwhen they need to.
SPEAKER_02 (19:09):
Okay.
So what advice would you giveother software companies that
are looking for a paymentspartner?
SPEAKER_01 (19:15):
I like to say uh merchant services is a
high-stakes business, right?
So when you take on payments foryour software customers, it's
high risk, high reward.
And so you're now directlydealing with their money.
And so I think the biggest thingis ensuring that you go out and
do your research and you find apartner that's going to be right
(19:38):
there with you through thatprocess.
They have to be invested in yoursuccess just as much as you're
invested in the success of yourclients.
And marrying that together thencreates a really good
opportunity for someone to driverevenue and experience with
their integrated paymentsprogram.
So the best thing to do is doyour homework, know what you're
(20:00):
looking for and what you cantake on as the ISD.
Because, again, there's a lot ofdifferent elements to payments,
but you don't have to dive inand take over everything
initially at the get-go.
So know your limitations andwhat you, you know, kind of
expect up front, and then find apartner who's going to align to
(20:21):
you with that.
And then you'll be able todeliver what really matters to
your clients.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (20:25):
Well, one final question.
What's next in your paymentjourney with Payrock?
SPEAKER_01 (20:30):
Growth.
Let's continue to grow together.
So for us, we've been partneredwith Payrock for a few years
now.
And each year, we've developed anew set of solutions that we've
been able to offer to ourclients.
And one of the great thingsabout Payrock is they continue
to look for innovative ways tobring different solutions that
(20:52):
will help us differentiateourselves as ISV providers as
well.
And so when I look at that, forme, it's okay, what is the next
set of solutions that matters tothe family entertainment space?
Is it being able to expeditefunding or what are the cutting
edge payment solutions that areout there today?
Do I need to find a new mobilepackage or different development
(21:15):
for these solutions?
And PayRock continues to help uswith finding new tools,
technology that will help usthen create that better
experience for our customers andoffer some different solutions
to help us set ourselves apart.
So my goal is with Payrock toleverage them to continue to
grow our business.
(21:36):
And I think that only helps usstrengthen our partnership
together.
SPEAKER_02 (21:39):
Okay.
Well, I think that's a great wayto wrap up the show.
It's kind of ironic.
It circles back to really a lotof what Adam talked about in the
first episode was really howPayRock really focuses on trying
to help their clients grow.
And it sounds like that's reallykind of what you see them as,
just besides processingpayments, they're really there
to help your business grow.
SPEAKER_01 (21:59):
Absolutely.
One of the things that I alsothink has been so great is the
open loop feedback that we haveas partners together and
continuing to share, like, youknow, these are things that we
think will help us.
And they do the same for us.
Like, hey, we think this wouldhelp you.
And that's what is going to helpus both continue to grow
together.
(22:19):
And so that's been really key aspart of our relationship.
SPEAKER_02 (22:21):
Okay, great.
Well, thank you so much forbeing on the show today.
I know your time is veryvaluable.
So I really appreciate you beinghere.
SPEAKER_01 (22:28):
Absolutely.
It's been a pleasure and thankyou for the time.
SPEAKER_02 (22:31):
Absolutely.
And to all your listeners outthere, I thank you for your time
as well.
And until the next story.
SPEAKER_00 (22:36):
Thanks for joining us for Powering Payments
Together, a special series onhow PayRock helps ISV scale
smarter.
To explore more resources andinsights, visit HTTPS colon
slash slash partners.payrock.comslash leaders dash in dash
payments.
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