Attracting Merchants with PaaS Solutions
First things first, what is Payments-as-a-service (PaaS)?
PaaS upends the traditional fee-based payment model, utilizing a subscription-based software model instead. That means you pay a flat monthly rate to use PaaS software instead of losing a cut of every transaction to processing and transaction fees.
Think of Spotify: You get access to thousands of songs for a flat monthly rate instead of paying for each CD individually. Now apply that same concept to payments, and you get PaaS.
Why PaaS solutions are good for your business (and your workload)
With a low-cost subscription model, companies know their costs upfront, and when transaction volume climbs, the low monthly cost remains the same, and AR costs decline. As a result, as sales increase, companies can reap the rewards of higher revenues — rather than recalculate the costs of their higher fees.
A PaaS provider eliminates the cost and complexity of traditional payment processes, speeds up time to cash, and frees up your accounting team to focus less on time-consuming paperwork and more on high-value activities.
Three ways to leverage PaaS solutions to attract merchants
#1: Zero-touch payment processing
The pandemic showed us that digital alternatives are possible — for everything. And business clients now have increasingly high expectations for B2B transactions, looking for features like flexible payment options, intuitive interfaces, simple account setup, real-time payment p[rocessing, transparent and secure transactions, and mobile phone compatibility.
Your clients want their B2B payments to be as easy as their B2C payments, if not even easier. A recent study by Gartner found that 33% of buyers want a seller-free sales experience with the ability to make payments without any assistance or conversation with the merchant. Furthermore, Gartner expects that by 2025, 80% of all B2B sales will occur in digital channels.
Zero-touch payment processing grows more attractive by the minute as we adjust to our touchless, contactless, digital world. Good thing digitization is our whole thing.
Digital payments coupled with user-friendly payment features result in less cumbersome processing tasks for AR teams and happier customers. For example, when an invoice is generated in your ERP of choice, a workflow can automatically send an email invoice to the customer. Customers can pay the invoice directly through an embedded payment link, and the payment will be automatically reconciled in both your ERP and PaaS platform.
Here’s what zero-touch looks like:
- Fifty-two fewer hours spent processing payments.
- 25% fewer payment-related phone calls.
- The time required to close books cut in half.
Pre-built AR automation enables “set it and forget it” billing, payments, and reconciliation.
#2: Accessibility and security
Because our PaaS platform runs in the cloud, payments can be securely made, processed, and reconciled from anywhere in the world.
Companies that adopt PaaS technology benefit from continuous updates to the software platform that deliver enhanced features instead of being locked into an outdated, transaction-based network with no incentive to improve features or costs.
The latest and greatest technology + efficient payments = happy customers.
#3: Faster, easier, cheaper payments
There’s nothing better than a painless payment process, is there? By combining the flexibility of multiple digital payment options with user interface features designed to elicit action from your clients, you can slash late receivables in half. For example, Paystand’s PaaS platform offers three key features that trigger faster payments:
- Automatically generate and send invoices, ensuring timely invoice delivery.
- “Single-click” payment features that allow clients to pay directly from the invoice.
- “Open-invoice” functionality that lets clients see all open invoices and pay per line item.
By offering payers a seamless, simplified payment experience, they are more likely to pay on time and even early.
Pioneering PaaS
We built our business on how payments should be, not how they’ve always been. In a 21st-century digital world, there’s no need for gatekeepers and middlemen who charge transaction fees. That’s why we’re pioneering something that’s never been done in our industry before: Payments-as-a-Service.
There’s no reason businesses should lose a percentage of their every sale to transaction and convenience fees, so we built a payment infrastructure that eliminates fees. The Paystand Bank Network provides digital payment options such as real-time fund-verified transfers, e-checks, and credit cards, all for a low monthly fee — instead of forcing businesses to rely on punitive transaction costs to collect their revenue.
Break free from legacy payment infrastructure
PaaS means more than just faster, cheaper, more efficient payments — it’s a new way of doing business. It’s a solution for companies that want immediate visibility into not just their current finances but their forward-looking pipeline and cash flow forecast. It’s for companies that are looking to predict and control expenses in a faster, more streamlined digital environment without paying exorbitant fees.
Snag your free copy of our ebook to learn more about PaaS and how it can revolutionize your AR workflow.