When it comes to the success of embedding payments into any platform, implementation is key! And here to talk to us about this is Payrix Director of Implementation, Rachel Henin.
Why is implementation such a driver for success? Because not every company will be a plug and play solution. Each software company will have their own specific tech stack, and each is coming to the table with a different experience in mind for not only themselves, but their end user as well. And according to Rachel, this is one of the things that really makes Payrix so unique in the marketplace as it relates to other embedded software companies. If PayFac-as-a-service is the right model for a software company, Payrix explores what’s right for each software company and crafts a plan based on their needs and goals.
When it comes to choosing an implementation plan, some of the most important factors revolve around much more than just the solution. How does the company operate? What kind of staff do they have? What’s their payments knowledge? What does their tech stack look like? And how much risk are they prepared to take on? These are just some of the questions that Rachel and her team will ask about first and foremost – before they even discuss the implementation plan.
As for options, software companies will be offered either an API integration or a portal integration (both of which have very different parameters), or a hybrid option that exists as well. The goal for all, however, is the same: to get these companies up and running fast so they can realize the benefits of monetizing payments.
-
Full Transcript
Bob Butler
Hi, everyone. Welcome to the PayFAQ Embedded Payments podcast brought to you by Payrix. I’m your host, Bob Butler. And today, I’m super excited, because I’m going to be speaking with Rachel Henin. She is our Director of Implementation, and we’re gonna be speaking all about the implementation of Embedded Payments. So hi, Rachel, welcome to the show.
Rachel Henin
Hey, Bob, you know, I’m not gonna take it personal that it took you two and a half years to invite me to your podcast, but we’re here. And it’s gonna be fun. And I’m looking forward to it.
Bob Butler
You and me both. And what I’d like to do, I’m going to start out like I normally do, can you tell the audience a little bit about yourself and your software and payments background?
Rachel Henin
Yeah, absolutely. So I am a little bit different than some of the people that work here. I was actually a customer of Payrix before I became an employee, worked for a registered PayFac® with Worldpay, joined Payrix now as the employee and Head of Implementation for the platform’s business. And I’ve been in the payments industry now going on a little over 10 years. And it’s been really great to be a part of a company that has grown so fast. And is really making a difference in the payments industry. And it’s really cool to be a part of it.
Bob Butler
Yeah, and you’ve been a big part of that growth, actually, Rachel on both the customer as well as being a member of the team over here at Payrix. So, I want to dive right in. A software company has just signed up with Payrix. Now it’s time to get real, what’s the first thing you want to know about their company and their payment goals?
Rachel Henin
Absolutely. So, the very first things I want to know is, I want to know about this company, I want to know about their software, I want to know what they’re offering, how can we make their process better by embedding payments into it? I want to know what their goals are, where do they want to be in 90 days and six months, a year? Tell me everything that I need to know to make this implementation successful. It’s not just about what we’re offering, but I need to know about them, how they operate, what kind of staff do they have. What’s their payments knowledge? What kind of experience? Are they prepared for PayFac-as-a-service? Tell me every little detail about them. And then how can my team come into play, and really make this implementation process phenomenal for them.
Bob Butler
When the software companies come to you and come to us, what options do they have when it comes to implementation? And what are the benefits of each of those options?
Rachel Henin
Yeah, so one of the things that makes us so unique from other embedded software companies out there is we provide different options, and I really do believe that that sets us apart. So, we have a couple of different ones, we have an API integration, a portal integration, a mix, if they wish. Our goal is to get these software companies up and running as quickly as possible, and get them making money monetizing payments. And so, we always come out of the gate first with, we have some pre-built options for them that gets them up and running super quick. And then if they want to do a full API integration later down the road, they have that opportunity. But there’s options. So maybe it’s they want to use our pre-built forms, but do a little bit of API in the beginning. And you know, we have quite a few partners of ours that will get up and running and in an average of 45 days, and then come back maybe in six months, do a smaller project and enhance their process a little bit better. But we don’t want to hold them back from making money, right? I mean, that’s why we’re all in this business. We want to make money. We want to have a great experience for our partners. And we also want to have a great experience for the merchants. And so, we meet them wherever they’re at in their process today. Do they need a little bit more hand holding and they want our prebuilt forms? Or are they super prepared to do a full API integration. They have lots of developers on staff, they’re ready to invest in the time. But either way, we’re ready to meet them wherever they’re at.
Bob Butler
So, I just want to follow up on that how should the average software company approach their implementation plan when they talk to you? And you talked about this full API integration, and this portal-based integration, do you recommend a phased approach? Talk a little bit about that.
Rachel Henin
Yeah, I always say, we hear about the crawl, walk, run process, I think, in all different aspects of life. And that shouldn’t be any different here, right. So, sometimes there are newer partners that are getting up and running. And we want to approach them with Alright, Mr. Customer. So, if you want to get up and running, let’s do a portal-based implementation first. Give you everything you need to be successful, get a couple of merchants boarded, understand PayFac-as-a-service, understand how you’re going to price them, understand how you’re going to support them. And then once you feel a little bit more comfortable, let’s come back and do an API integration. And then we have some other partners that have been in the industry for a decade, they get it, they understand technology, they’re already managing their customers. And so then we approach it from – alright, so help us understand how we can fully embed what we have to offer today into your process, and really provide a completely fully baked product to your end merchant. There isn’t one that’s better than the other at all. And sometimes I think people have that mentality about like – Oh, we’re going to do portal as if that’s any less than an API integration. And we have these options, again, to be able to provide our service to any sized company, whether it’s a little bit smaller, a little bit bigger. My approach is always let’s do the crawl, walk, run, get you making money, get you familiar with our product. Sometimes I think people want to come in and they take on too much, and it becomes overwhelming. And we don’t want that. We want them to feel confident leaving implementation, going to support, and our partner success team to feel like they are ready to rock and roll and they understand how payments work, our software, our portal, etc.
Bob Butler
That’s great. When you think about some of the players that are out there in the embedded payment space, a lot of them do sort of this 100% self-service, self-guided documentation approach to implementation. Can you talk a little bit about the benefits that software companies are getting when they have an implementation team like the one that you run?
Rachel Henin
Yeah, for sure. So, I’m all about statistics, right, and having data to support claims and things like that. So, when I first started here, we didn’t have much of a team built, and we had some good documentation. And on average, our implementations were taking about a year, because there was no accountability on the partner to complete the tasks. There wasn’t anybody there checking in to say – Hey, do you have a question? So, for every project and implementation, whether it’s a net new partner, if it’s an existing partner doing something extra, they get a project manager and an implementation engineer, and these dedicated people from implementation are there to be helpful, guide them through some of the some of the documentation that we do have. That can be self-sufficient and self-guided. But also check in and say – Hey, Bob, do you have any problems? Are you running into any issues, we’re going to do some sandbox testing, this is what you need to be prepared. Are you ready to go to production? And having these people on staff and guiding partners through our implementation process has brought us all the way down to on average, about 45ish days to get through implementation. And so we’ve cut it back dramatically. And again, it sets the partner up for success as they’re continuing this journey through being a partner of ours and being ready to go to market and working with our partner success team, going to support, and understanding how our resource center works. But having these people there, again, it holds the partner accountable, there are tasks the partner has to complete. It’s it feels a lot more personable. I’m calling you up, and I’m saying – Hey, Bob, how’s it going? Tell me about if there’s any problems or you’re running into any issues? What do you think about the portal? We want to get feedback from our partners too. And we’re thinking about doing product enhancements or portal enhancements. And so it’s been an incredible journey over the last two and a half years that I’ve been here to see us go from not having really any documented process at all to now – getting in and out of implementation and enhancing the customer experience to 45 days and seeing our partners make money sooner rather than later.
Bob Butler
I love the 45 days because to me, I look at that as the average. I literally just got off a call with a big private equity company. And we were talking about this and being able to say, hey, we can go to market in two to six, eight weeks is always something that I feel really, really good about. And it’s been great watching you come in here and work with the team.
Rachel Henin
Not to brag, you know, but we did do a full API integration in seven days. So we have an average launch time period and implementation. But when you have an engineer and a project manager for every project, we really can go as quickly as partners need, we’ll meet with them every day, we’ll meet with them five times a day, or there’s some that are ready to go live in 60 to 75 days, and maybe we’ll meet with them once a week. But the point is, we are here. And we will meet with them as often as they need to get through implementation, start monetizing payments, and grow their business.
Bob Butler
That’s fantastic. And I’ve seen it in action. As software companies that are out there, what are the gotchas that they should be thinking about when they’re evaluating partners? And what’s really the number one question they should be asking?
Rachel Henin
The biggest thing that I can think of as a really good question is understanding PayFac-as-a-service. What we are offering is unique, but also gives full control to the software partners, they have the ability to determine, when do I want to do price increasing? How do I want to price them? How do I want to support them? We have tools and portals and resources available. But the biggest number one question I get is, do you truly understand what PayFac-as-a-service is? And what are the benefits of that. If you’re coming to us, we’re giving you all the tools, the people, you get a project manager, an engineer, a partner success manager that’s getting you ready to go to market. And you have that full control. If you want to have 50 merchants and price them all individually, by golly, you can do that on our platform. If you want to price them all the same, that works too. But really understanding that we’re giving you everything you need as a partner of ours to be successful. And what does that mean in supporting your business, growing your business and all that fun stuff.
Bob Butler
No, that’s fantastic. And we’re getting ready to wrap this up. But do you have any last pieces of advice that you’d like to leave for a software company?
Rachel Henin
One – get ready to party. When you come to implementation, we like to have a good time. I have a phenomenal team. Other than that, being open to advice, right. So, we have partners signing contracts with us because they believe in us. They’re excited to use our products and our services and understanding that we are industry experts. We do this every single day, day in and day out. And I may approach you with some suggestions or a better way to go about doing something because we do it every day. And so walking in with a little bit of an open mind. You may think that I want to do a full API integration, and that’s the best thing for us. But maybe let’s peel back a little bit and understand, do you have the resources available to do that? Do you have the team to support that? And if not, let us guide you through what we believe is the right path, because we are the experts in what we’re doing.
Bob Butler
Could not agree more. Rachel, I really want to thank you for being on the show today.
Rachel Henin
You know, Bob, I’ve had a great time. I hope that people listen to this and understand a little bit more about what we do behind the scenes.
Bob Butler
Well, Rachel, it’s definitely been worth the wait. And again, I really want to thank you.
Having spent quite a bit of time with you over the past few years. I know that we’re both big believers in sharing knowledge and experience. So again, I really appreciate you joining us today.
Rachel Henin
Thanks, Bob. I’ve had a great time.
Bob Butler
We want to be a trusted resource for software providers who are out there trying to make sense of Embedded Payments and Embedded Finance and to help them get the education they need to make the business decisions their customers and investors will thank them for.
