Category: Blog

Boost Your Bottom Line and Increase Customer Success with Sage Intacct Payments 

Posted on by fortis2025

Almost every aspect of a company’s financial organization continues to evolve in 2024 with Accounts Receivable (AR) as a top focus area for getting positive cash flow results at a quick pace. The capacity to stay liquid and competitive depends on the ability to request and process customer payments quickly. Thus, it is imperative to stay ahead of the technical trends driving change in AR and leverage them for growth to improve customer satisfaction.  

In this blog, we discuss the three most valuable accounts receivable trends aiding customer experience, drawing inspiration from research firms like Gartner and Forrester.

Customer-Centric AR Strategies 

The first trend revolves around customer-centric AR strategies. Forrester emphasizes that a positive relationship and a great customer experience greatly improve the chances of payments being made on time. This, in turn, also increases the likelihood of purchases in the future.  

Businesses are now expected to prioritize customer experience by offering flexible, personalized payment options. Integrating with business management software, such as Sage Intacct with payment solutions, is not only smart but critical to meeting expectations. Focusing on customer satisfaction not only reinforces B2B relationships but also improves cash flow by reducing payment delays.

Integration of Payment Technologies 

Another prevalent trend for improving AR capabilities lies in payment integrations. Forrester expects a rise in the integration of various payment technologies within AR systems. As digital payment methods continue to differentiate, businesses are expected to leverage text-to-pay, cryptocurrencies, and other innovative payment solutions. This not only meets evolving customer preferences but also simplifies payment processes for both businesses and clients.

Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management 

Lastly, in the constantly changing regulatory arena, Gartner stresses the value of AR departments keeping up with compliance requirements. As new regulations surface, agile and scalable AR solutions are needed to safeguard compliance and mitigate financial risk. It’s time to accelerate data security by using a payment platform that ensures a constantly secure, online, cloud-based experience while providing multi-layered, end-to-end data protection and fraud prevention. By implementing industry-leading security solutions, a company can reduce their PCI compliance burden, boost customer confidence, and ultimately, create more business.

Transform Your Customer Experience with Fortis 

As the leader in embedded ERP payments, Fortis seamlessly integrates with Sage Intacct, enabling merchants and ISVs to enhance their payments experience. Our award-winning APIs and payment solutions provide unique, customizable payments, increased security through tokenization, and a faster and easier checkout process for customers.

Looking to get started? Learn more about how Fortis can accelerate your payment processing within Sage Intacct.

Partner Spotlight: Everyware

Posted on by fortis2025

Everyware, a pioneer in contactless payments, and Fortis, a leading payments technology provider, have joined forces to revolutionize omnichannel commerce. This strategic partnership combines Everyware’s solutions and Fortis’ robust payment platform, empowering businesses to deliver exceptional customer experiences and drive growth. 

Founded by Austin Talley and Scott Orlinsky, Everyware is a leader in contactless payment solutions. The leadership team saw the future of payments early on. They foresaw the payments industry, whether in-person or online, developing new transaction methods, such as digital wallets or contactless payment technology. Eventually, plastic credit cards and similar outdated methods may be retired, but businesses that accept multiple payment methods would succeed in capturing consumer trust and building revenue.

Today, Everyware continues to innovate, delighting customers not only with high-powered contactless payment tools but also responsive customer service, in-depth analytics, straightforward usability, and training services. Through its partnership with Fortis, clients benefit from automated enrollment, faster cash collection, and seamless commerce through various channels. Its text-to-pay and real-time payment solutions are just a few tools that help B2B and B2C organizations boost revenue, improve cash flow, and reduce chargebacks and refunds. Together with Fortis, Everyware helps businesses across industries to meet specialized needs and develop powerful payment experiences. 

Are you looking to join Everyware in transforming payments and becoming the next Fortis partner? You too, can strengthen your AP/AR team with: 

  • Full, award-winning API connections 
  • Extensive software plugins 
  • Custom solutions 

Follow Everyware’s lead. Partner with Fortis and start making remarkable payment experiences.

Transform Your Business with Payment Plugins 

Posted on by fortis2025

In an era of rapidly advancing payment technology, plugins are often the easiest way for merchants and ISVs to streamline their payment strategy and boost revenue. They’re even known to positively impact consumer purchase intentions. But, what exactly are plugins, and how do they work?

In this article, we’ll discuss: 

  • What a plugin is and how it differs from an API 
  • How plugins can transform your business  
  • And, how to evaluate which plugin is right for you 

What are plugins (and how are they different from APIs)? 

A plugin is an add-on to a software solution that improves or expands its original capabilities. Usually, the plugin is third-party software that provides additional features, such as customization or automation of the original software’s capabilities. 

Plugins are often “no-code” solutions, meaning you can install them with one click or add them to your software with minimal effort. Official plugins are often listed on the original software’s website. For example, both Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Sage have app marketplaces to easily identify official plugins. 

You may have also seen the term API tossed around, which may seem interchangeable with plugins. But it’s not quite the same.  

API stands for application programming interface, and these solutions are typically used by two software applications to “talk” to one other. An API often requires custom coding and requires more effort for installation.  

That said, it’s common for best-in-class payment applications to offer both a plugin and API connection.

Plugins & Integrations

4 ways payment plugins will transform your business 

Plugins offer several key advantages to businesses such as installing new solutions quickly, optimizing processes, boosting security, and increasing performance. 

  1. Installing new solutions quickly: Plugins are very easy to install and manage. Often, they are one-click installations and require minimal maintenance. As a result, developers can save hours of time and focus their attention on other high-value tasks.  
  1. Optimizing and customizing your processes: Plugins extend a software’s capabilities, making programs more flexible and customizable. For example, if your organization wants to include digital wallet payments or loyalty payment points but the core ERP software does not offer them, a plugin can fill that gap.  
  1. Boosting security: Some plugins offer additional measures to safeguard customer data, such as tokenization and user permissions. This is a critical factor to successful online transactions—especially when payment data is involved. 
  1. Increasing performance: Finally, plugins may automate and streamline processes both for the merchant and the customer. Some examples include offering additional billing models and branded embedded payment options.

How to evaluate payment plugins and integrations 

As you can imagine, there are dozens of payment plugins for all major ERP and accounting software solutions. So, how can you determine which plugin is best for your business? There are a few ways to evaluate a plugin and see if it’s a good fit: 
 

  1. Features: The plugin should do what you need it to do. But you’ll also want a solution that can scale. Ideally, you’ll want a platform that offers a complete suite of payment solutions, so that your payment operations can grow along with your business. 
  1. Flexibility: How many programs can the plugin integrate with? This is a critical component of success. The more integration options, the more likely you can build a tailored solution to align with your long-term needs.  
  1. Security: When dealing with customer payment information, security is paramount. Any payment plugin you choose should use industry-leading technology and protocols, such as P2PE, SREDKey devices, and EMV card access. Ultimately, it’s important to look for additional fraud protections and whether the plugin is PCI-DSS compliant.  
  1. Global Support: eCommerce has revolutionized buying and expanded merchant access across borders. A best-in-class payment plugin will support new global capabilities. The more currencies and payment methods available, the better. 
  1. Customization: Finally, you’ll want the controls to ensure your payment plugin remains on-brand and aligned with your payment strategy. Each plugin will offer different levels of customization and it’s vital that you find a solution that makes sense for your specific business model.

Transform Your Business with the Fortis Plugin 

As an industry leader in payments, Fortis offers an advanced, flexible payment experience with its plugin solution. The Fortis plugin makes it easy to streamline payments, reduce liability, support growth, and design a custom payment process. 

Our plugin solution integrates with major ERPs and other software, such as: 

  • Sage 50 
  • Sage 100 
  • Sage 300 
  • Sage X3 
  • Sage Intacct 
  • Microsoft Dynamics 360 Finance 
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central 
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales 
  • OPERA PMS 
  • Xstore POS 
  • Visual Matrix 
  • Adobe Commerce 
  • WooCommerce 
  • BigCommerce 

Ready to transform your business with a payment plugin? Get started with our Fortis Plugin solution today.

How to Future-Proof Your Manufacturing Business with Secure and Scalable ERP Payments 

Posted on by fortis2025

More than two-thirds of manufacturing CEOs consider upgrading the way they accept payments to be critical, and for good reason. An unpredictable global market highlighted the importance of steady cash flow in future-proofing operations.  

The pandemic years, for example, wrought havoc on supply chains, delayed payment collection, and forced businesses to innovate in order to stay afloat. Continued geopolitical conflicts and workforce shortages have further rattled the global economy. 

What comes next for the industry can be just as unpredictable. 

No one can foresee the future. However, many ways exist to mitigate risk, especially when it comes to protecting your payment system and revenue stream. Doing so can keep you ahead of the curve and make it easier to adapt to sudden industry shifts. Here are four ways to future-proof payments within your manufacturing software.

Two men working in a manufacturing workshop.

1.) Digitize and Integrate Your ERP 

Manufacturing operations, payments included, have only benefited from the advent of digitization. But going digital isn’t enough.  

Today, manufacturing organizations looking to strengthen their stability and financial standing must go further than having a digital payment process. Most ERP software, such as Sage, NetSuite, or QuickBooks, integrates with multiple solutions, from payment processors to order status and inventory modules. The shift towards creating a unique process through added APIs and other software breaks down silos and makes having full visibility over every order easier than ever.  

In terms of payments, integrations enable accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) to better evaluate and strategize their payment process.

2.) Leverage Embedded and Real-time Payments 

At the beginning of the digital revolution, manufacturers could leverage invoicing, but much of it was a multi-step process done by a third party. Now, manufacturers have much more control over the process with embedded payments.  

For example, with Paylinks, also known as click to pay, customers can now pay their invoices by simply hitting a button within an email or text sent to them. They can securely save their payment details through a portal that matches the manufacturer’s brand.  

Furthermore, they can leverage alternative payment methods, such as real-time payments, to improve their relationship with suppliers. According to a recent PYMNTS report, 91% of manufacturers believe real-time payments improve relationships with suppliers, and 86% see implementing real-time payments as a priority.  

3.) Stabilize Cash Flow with Recurring Billing 

Another way to future-proof your payment process is through recurring billing. For repeatable B2B payments, it can be helpful to offer a recurring or subscription-based payment option. This reduces the time and energy customers spend filling out invoices while making it easier for you to forecast revenue streams.  

This steady flow of income eases constraints on cash flow. As a result, manufacturers can better save and prepare for potential disruptions or position themselves for growth.  

4.) Optimize Your Processes with Automation 

Finally, automated systems are key to efficiency, with one of the major benefits translating into faster payment. Accounts receivable automation, in particular, can significantly reduce Day Sales Outstanding (DSO). Lowering the average number of days to payment leads to better cash flow and more time for other activities. 

Automating your AP/AR processes allows your payments team to focus on high-value items, such as strategy, customer onboarding, supplier verification, and procurement. Many tasks can be automated and synced to optimize accuracy, transparency, and more.

Future-proof with Fortis 

The best way to protect your organization from uncertainty and potential risks is through ensuring a steady stream of revenue and staying on top of payments. To do that, it’s vital to transform your payment process into a competitive advantage through automation, scalable integrations, and more.  

Fortis’ award-winning APIs enable manufacturing organizations to streamline their payment strategy through automation and essential growth features. No longer chasing invoices, AR teams can focus on unlocking revenue opportunities, strengthening supplier relationships, and scaling their service offerings.  

Contact our team of payment experts and find out how you can future-proof your manufacturing ERP payments today. 

Five Red Flags to Consider When Looking for a Sage 50 Payments Solution 

Posted on by fortis2025

Running a business is all about efficiency. Sage 50 software allows businesses to streamline their accounting processes, capture more revenue, and remain compliant. A Sage 50 payment integration should be just as efficient and embed seamlessly into the software. The last thing you need is a payments solution that creates headaches instead of streamlining your workflow. 

That’s why it’s important to investigate each payment processing solution thoroughly. The integration you plug into your system should improve cash flow, automate manual processes, and ensure secure data compliance. 

But, as you know, not all payment solutions are created equal. So, in this blog, we cover five common red flags to be wary of when considering a Sage 50 payments solution. 

Red Flag #1: Long-term contracts 

Don’t get locked in. While a long partnership is ideal, you don’t want to be stuck with an ill-fitted solution. Longer commitments make it difficult for merchants and organizations to negotiate terms and fees.  

Pay-as-you-go, no contract solutions exist, and they are often preferable.  

Red Flag #2: Non-PCI compliant solutions 

Any payment solution you use should be PCI-compliant – end of story. Sensitive customer data is involved when accepting payments, and you don’t want to leave yourself open to liabilities. Even more, non-compliance fees can drain your financial reserves, with penalties as high as $10,000 a month.   

Red Flag #3: Manual payment collection 

Your integration should never require you to chase down customer payments. Constant follow-up on unpaid customer invoices drains your time, cash, and resources. The right payment processor should have the right tools in place to combat this. 

Tools like click-to-pay invoicing embed payment links in emails and text messages to streamline payments. Other solutions like autopay create automated follow-ups and recurring payment options.  

Red Flag #4: Non-customizable solutions

Payments isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” industry, and most businesses need to tweak their payment solution to match their strategy. A best-in-class payment processor should have deep, dynamic APIs that promote customization. APIs should be user-friendly, comprehensive, and have ongoing developer documentation. 

Red Flag #5: Non-certified Sage Solution

Finally, most important of all, your payment solution should be Sage certified. As a Sage 50 user, you want to ensure your payment solution has been vetted by the program itself. If a payment solution isn’t loudly proclaiming its certified status, it’s best to turn the other way.  

Transform Your Sage Payments with a Certified Solution 

With its award-winning APIs and detailed developer documentation, Fortis is a leader in Sage integrations. Being both a Plus Tier Sage Tech Partner and Sage Recommended Solution, our team of seasoned experts and developers deliver a best-in-class Sage 50 integration to streamline payment processing.  

Fortis has no red flags. Enjoy features like: 

  • Click-to-pay invoicing 
  • Level 2 and 3 data enrichment 
  • Next-day funding 
  • Acceptance of all payment types 
  • Flexible pricing options 
  • And, a dedicated ERP support team 

Discover the Fortis difference, yourself. Contact us today or check out our integration in the Sage Marketplace.  

QuickBooks Users: How a Best-in-Class Integration Boosts Your Cash Flow 

Posted on by fortis2025

Every business owner knows the struggle of chasing down payments from customers. It disrupts your workflow, creates unnecessary stress, and can even hinder your ability to operate smoothly. So, what can you do to eliminate the struggle? 

The answer is simple – leverage a best-in-class payment integration. A best-in-class payment integration for your QuickBooks accounting software can not only help manage your cash flow, but also help improve your business’ operations. In this blog, we discuss the top three benefits of choosing the right payment integration for QuickBooks. 

Benefit #1. Lower Your Costs: 

  • Reduced Fees: Forget those hefty processing fees that eat into your profits. Best-in-class integrations can secure you cheaper rates, including lower per-transaction costs. 
  • Surcharging Power: Offer customers the option to cover a small convenience fee for credit card payments. This allows you to offset processing costs and keep your margins healthy. 
  • Level Up Processing: Unlock the benefits of Level 2 and 3 processing by submitting additional data with each transaction. This can lead to even more significant reductions in processing fees. 

Benefit #2. Get Paid Faster with Streamlined Invoicing:

  • Digital Revolution: Ditch the paper chase! Modern integrations allow you to send invoices electronically via email or text message. This ensures faster delivery and eliminates the delays associated with snail mail. 
  • Autopay for the Win: Make life easier for your customers and yourself by offering them the option to set up automatic payments. This means you get paid on time, every time, with minimal effort. 
  • Transparent Communication: Clear and detailed invoices ensure your customers understand exactly what they owe, reducing confusion and encouraging prompt payment. 

Benefit #3. Embrace the Power of Payment Flexibility: 

  • Your customers have preferences. A best-in-class integration lets you safely accept a wide range of payment types, including credit cards, debit cards, ACH transfers and more. This allows customers to pay how they want, leading to a smoother checkout experience and higher sales conversions. 

QuickBooks Integration Made Easy: Streamline Your Business with Fortis 

Looking for a best-in-class integration that seamlessly connects with your accounting software? Look no further than Fortis! Our powerful solution integrates effortlessly with QuickBooks, allowing you to: 

  • Automate Tasks & Save Time: Say goodbye to manual data entry! Fortis automatically syncs transactions with QuickBooks, freeing you up to focus on strategic initiatives. 
  • Gain Real-time Insights: Access up-to-date financial data anytime, anywhere. This empowers you to make data-driven decisions and identify growth opportunities. 
  • Scale with Confidence: As your business grows, Fortis scales with you. Our robust platform can handle increasing transaction volumes without skipping a beat. 

Don’t just manage your cash flow, unlock your business’s full potential with Fortis and a seamless QuickBooks integration. For more information and to get started, visit our website. 

Building A Customer Experience: The Fortis Approach to Partner Success

Posted on by fortis2025

Your payment experience can make or break your business.

According to a recent PYMNTS study, 55% of shoppers get so frustrated with the checkout process that they abandon their purchase. Unsurprisingly, the outlook isn’t much better for B2B organizations. Small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), would be willing to pay up to an additional 1% per transaction for payment relief due to frustrating accounts receivable and payable experiences.   

End-to-end platforms like Fortis provide the solution enabling businesses to grow operations and reduce payment friction, thus improving the customer experience. In this blog, we discuss how poor payment experiences can affect your business and how to improve the process for your customers.

Poor Payment Processing = Bad Customer Experiences = Less Revenue

A subpar payment process can be lethal to your business. This experience often stems from disjointed legacy systems and a lack of control over the payment system.   

Legacy payment and ISV software systems that do not integrate with each other create significant friction for merchants. This disconnect obscures critical data from businesses while creating frustration for customers through a lengthy, complex, or even broken checkout process. Resulting in lost customers and income potential. Additionally, many businesses struggle with a lack of payment software customization.   

“Plug-and-play” platforms do not offer significant human support. The lack of a human relationship makes it more challenging for ISVs to develop a seamless and unique payment experience. This is why a customizable, seamlessly integrated payment processing platform is essential to your business’ growth and revenue.

Creating a Remarkable Payment Experience with Fortis

A frictionless payment process hinges on tailored solutions backed by cutting-edge technology. The right solution enables businesses to build a custom payment process and integrate it with current software and other financial systems. Such a system is rarely built in isolation or plug-and-play, and seldom addresses the human experience in a transaction .   

For truly optimized payments, it is helpful to work with a dedicated expert who understands the nuances of both your industry and your chosen payment solution. A best-in-class platform like Fortis will ensure you have an expert to work with when creating your payment workflow with proven strategies and a personalized approach 

Turnkey solutions offer industry-specific features and transparent payment data and pricing. Automation and security controls improve record-keeping and streamline business processes without slowing down or sacrificing data quality.

Partnerships, benefit ISVs and businesses looking to scale quickly. For example, the Fortis partnership program offers several services to streamline payment optimization and solution implementation, including:  

  • Access to dedicated and certified expert Guides  
  • Customized roadmap  
  • Go-to-market sales and marketing tools  
  • In-depth reports with real-time insights  
  • Underwriting and risk support  

  

A unique “Platform-to-Platform” model, such as Fortis’, enables ISVs and businesses to create personalized experiences based on their industry and unique requirements. With the help of dedicated professionals, businesses can leverage Fortis’ expertise to easily implement nuanced solutions without focusing on the technicalities internally. Known as Guides, these payment experts help organizations develop customized roadmaps, implement them, and answer additional questions or concerns related to the payment experience.

Turbocharge Your Payments

The Fortis platform is an end-to-end payment solution for businesses looking to scale. Its embedded payment features and ISV software integrations allow customers to experience a seamless payment process while improving transaction data accuracy. Businesses can leverage features like text-to-pay, loyalty programs, and alternative payments. Fortis’ award-winning APIs and extensive customization options ensure businesses and ISVs can develop an optimized and user-friendly payment workflow.   

Above all, the Fortis difference lies in its commitment to human relationships and its software partners. Our team of payment experts works with businesses and developers to design truly remarkable payment experiences. Through our platform and payment industry expertise, the dedicated professionals at Fortis collaborate with our partners to build a tailor-made payment experience roadmap.

Looking to start creating remarkable payment experiences? Learn more by contacting our expert Guides today.   

Transforming the Payments Industry: ETA TRANSACT 2024 

Posted on by fortis2025

At ETA TRANSACT 2024, Fortis had the privilege of sharing thoughts and insights gleaned from decades of industry experience. We greatly appreciated our time at this premier event as our team discussed the future of the payments ecosystem and how embedded payments have revolutionized the industry.

In case you couldn’t attend, here’s a recap of some of our sessions:

The Power of Embedded Payments and How to Maximize Value Greg Cohen, CEO

Fortis CEO Greg Cohen shared his expertise in payments and embedded commerce in two high-impact sessions.

  • In What is Embedded Commerce? More Than You May Think, Greg discussed the future of embedded commerce with Dan Williams, SVP of Embedded Banking at Key Bank. They discussed how merchants and ISVs often struggle to keep up with rapid changes in the payments landscape. They may even view embedded payments as the latest iteration of a new passing technology. But embedded payments are more than a passing trend—they have implications for the entire industry.
  • Greg also engaged with Jim Battista from MAPP Advisors and the Head of Corporate Development at Payroc, Marcus Dagenais, in The Anatomy of a Payments 2.0 Deal. In this session, Greg delved into the most recent acquisitions made by Fortis and how entrepreneurs can maximize their value in today’s market.
From left to right: Marcus Dagenais, Jim Battista, and Greg Cohen

How Embedded Payments are Transforming the Industry: Timmy Nafso, EVP

Fortis Executive Vice President, Timmy Nafso, is a Co-Founder with over a decade of experience in payments, He also hosts the Embedded podcast and interviewed many industry experts for the series at TRANSACT.

Timmy also did a deep dive on embedded payments in the session, The Evolution of Embedded Services. Together with Austin Talley, CEO of Everyware, he covered the history of embedded payments and how they are fundamentally changing society’s relationship with money and financial services.

Timmy Nafso on the left, and Austin Talley on the right

Practical Approaches to AI: Kevin Shamoun, SVP

Currently serving as the Senior Vice President of Product and Innovation at Fortis, and as the Vice Chair of the Artificial Intelligence Committee by ETA, Kevin Shamoun also founded Zeamster and has over 20 years of experience working with major Independent Service Organizations (ISOs) and financial institutions.

In a panel titled AI & Payments: Real-World Use Cases, the Hype & What’s Ahead, Kevin explored new advancements in AI models and how they have transformed the payments industry. He discussed this topic alongside Donald Riddick, the Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary of Featurespace; Rebecca Alter, Trust and Safety Architect at Sift; and Russel Moore, Director of Corporate Strategy and Development at Global Payments.

From left to right: Donald Riddick, Kevin Shamoun, Russell Moore, and Rebecca Alter

Work with the Experts! Transform Your Payment Processing with Fortis

Embedded payments is more than a buzzword—it represents a milestone in payment technology. As a leader in embedded payment solutions, Fortis has developed a transparent, custom, and high-powered payment process for merchants and ISVs. Through their sessions, Greg, Timmy, and Kevin, offered a holistic view of the industry landscape—from embedded technology to acquisitions.

Let us help transform your payments experience into something remarkable. Discover the Fortis difference for yourself with our award-winning embedded payments API, today

Highlighting the Power of Partnerships at Sage Transform 2024

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Earlier this year, Fortis attended the Sage Transform 2024 conference in Las Vegas as a platinum sponsor, where we showcased our Sage Intacct payment processing automation. Our ERP experts attending the event shared their insights during presentations and interacted with attendees at our booth, making valuable connections and sharing their Sage knowledge. If you weren’t able to attend or just want a refresher, here’s a summary:

For Sage users, the AR process can be an arduous task for accounting teams. With our newest ISV partner, Quadient, our resident expert, John Badovinac, Vice President of B2B Channel, discussed optimizing AR processes with our unified solution in our presentation Swing for the Stars—A Transformational Approach to Invoicing and Collections. We showcased how Fortis and Quadient’s solutions can benefit end-users through cash flow and payment data integration.

In our main stage presentation, Transform your Business with the Power of Partnership, John Badovinac, VP of B2B Channel at Fortis, and experts from Sage AR Automation discussed learning lessons from the direct Fortis payment integration into the Sage system. The discussion showed how engaged partners can deliver superior customer experiences and stellar ongoing customer support when mutual interest and clear communication are at the center of the project.

But the conference wasn’t all work and no play. You know what it is like at a conference, you can get worn out seeing vendors, taking classes, and talking business all day. This year we co-hosted a fun event for the Sage Community with an evening at the Sphere. The “Sphere Party After Dark” at the newly christened, iconic Las Vegas Sphere was breathtaking. Mingling with our fellow colleagues is always a fun time but the presentation the Sphere puts on is something we think everyone should see in their lifetime.

The Sage community has been so good to us, and they are wonderful to be around. We wanted to do something special for the attendees, so we partnered with DocLink, Quadient, Avalara, TrueCommerce, DataSelf, and Tipalti to give away some casino cash to go play around with. The winner, Melanie Walker, was announced on Wednesday evening and her reaction was priceless. Be sure to check out our recap video for the details.

Overall, the conference provided Fortis with an outstanding opportunity to share our ERP and payment processing expertise with the wider Sage community, make new connections, and showcase our value proposition. We are thrilled to have been a part of the conference and look forward to attending next year!

Of course, we are happy to discuss our Sage integration year-round. Discover how Fortis elevates B2B payments and provides value to your customers. 

Partner Spotlight: Sage

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As a leading enterprise resource software (ERP) and business-to-business (B2B) accounting solution, Sage partnered with Fortis to provide a frictionless payment experience for its clients and their customers.

Thousands of businesses use Sage to monitor cash flow, manage spending, and close their books. Sage emphasizes its focus on being a human-centric product and since its humble founding in 1981 in the back of an old English pub, Sage has grown worldwide and it’s software aims to make finances easier for business owners across the globe. The leadership at Sage understands the challenges connected to payments and believes that automation and high-quality software can reduce or eliminate these complexities.

One such challenge Sage is working to eliminate is reducing the quantity of late payment from merchant’s customers. Traditionally, businesses would have to call or mail their clients about overdue invoices, leading to cash flow bottlenecks.

Partnering with Fortis allows Sage to resolve this issue and offer its customers more tools to use for payment optimization.

Fortis also enables Sage’s users to customize the payment experience to their needs. Businesses can send electronic invoices via email and text, as well as accept payments on their websites. With Fortis, users of various Sage products can leverage an omnichannel and tailored approach to payments. Furthermore, they can receive payments quickly, thanks to real-time data syncing within the Sage platform. Additionally, customers can conveniently settle multiple invoices in a single transaction, a functionality tailored for the B2B sector.

“The possibilities are almost endless with a powerhouse like Sage as our partner,” said Greg Cohen, CEO and chairman of Fortis. “We’re committed to creating remarkable payment experiences for the businesses we serve, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.”

The Sage team is committed to driving innovation through customer feedback and their extensive Sage Network. Sage’s partnerships and collaborations ensure that businesses across all industries have the tools they need to grow.

Fortis offers Sage users a comprehensive solution to provide a frictionless payment experience and generate value with enhanced data and ease of use. Looking to be our next Fortis partner? Discover how we work with Sage 50, Sage 100, Sage 300, Sage X3, and Sage Intacct. 

The Ease of Integration: How Fortis Simplifies Payment Solutions

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A poor payment process hinders business growth, with nearly a quarter of consumers reporting that they abandon the payment process due to a complicated checkout process. Other common reasons for cart abandonment include not trusting a website with credit card information, being unable to calculate the order total up-front, and having limited payment acceptance methods.

The traditional payment process for merchants and ISVs is often time-consuming to set up and maintain. Frequent changes to software and payment technology create a disjointed and complex process—making it challenging to optimize payments and collect more revenue.

Turnkey platforms, like Fortis, offer businesses an option to simplify payments and scale their operations. However, to understand how payment solutions can become more efficient, we need to review how friction affects both businesses and consumers. 

Friction in the Payments Process

The initial shift from manual paper-based payment processing to ERPs and digital solutions offered businesses increased transparency. However, the shift to digital did not resolve many key payment challenges, it simply digitized them while adding data entry as an additional step.

A lack of efficiency, consistency, and usability plagued accounting departments and small businesses who accept payments. The rise in payment fraud—through both identity theft and social engineering—combined with an increase in payment processing fees, placed an additional burden on merchants when it comes to accepting payments. Furthermore, businesses could not optimize their payment process without having full data visibility.

Many of these challenges stemmed from a lack of automation or security controls, which streamline the payment process, improve record-keeping, and detect suspicious behavior. Vague government and industry regulations confused ISVs and merchants, making navigating the payment solution landscape difficult.

Even as the industry starts to adopt these features to improve the payment acceptance experience, the payment process continues to be complex for many merchants. But it doesn’t have to be.

The Fortis Difference

Fortis offers an end-to-end payment solution for businesses and ISVs. One of its most prominent capabilities is the ability to provide embedded payments, which simplifies the payment process and fosters business growth.

Embedded payments allow customers to complete their transactions without leaving a platform’s website or app. This enables businesses to maintain a branded, frictionless payment process and leverage features like text-to-pay, HSA acceptance, and digital wallets. However, the ease of integration depends on your payment partner. This ease of integration is an area where Fortis excels.

With award-winning APIs, comprehensive customizations, and detailed developer documentation, Fortis provides merchants and ISVs with all the tools they need to optimize their payment process without sacrificing usability.

The Fortis platform enables businesses to expand their customer base and support customer retention through:

  • Accepting different payment methods
  • Collecting and analyzing payment data
  • Automating the payment process
  • Improving customer service 
  • Ensuring compliant data security
  • Developing an on-brand, custom payment process 

Experience Payments as They Were Meant to Be

Embedded payments is just one of many solutions businesses can leverage with the Fortis platform, but it is one of the most important. Implementing a robust embedded payments solution creates more than a seamless payment experience—it helps turn payments into your competitive advantage. 


Discover how to create remarkable payment experiences by contacting the Fortis team today.

TSG Real Transaction Metrics Awards: What Gateway Uptime Means for Merchants 

Posted on by fortis2025

In an industry as dynamic and intricate as payments, recognition from impartial third-party reviewers stands as a testament to the dedication and excellence of companies striving for unparalleled service. These awards not only celebrate achievement but also serve as beacons guiding stakeholders toward industry leaders. Among these esteemed reviewers, The Strawhecker Group (TSG), a globally recognized analytics, intelligence, and solutions-focused firm in the payments industry, plays a pivotal role. With a keen eye for identifying excellence, TSG meticulously evaluates companies based on their performance across various essential criteria, offering invaluable insights into the ever-evolving landscape of payment solutions. Their recognition serves not only as a badge of honor but also as a catalyst for innovation and improvement within the industry.

In 2024, TSG determined that Fortis offers the best payment gateway uptime and was the second-best solution globally for the lowest gateway minute outage.

The award criteria

TSG 2024 Best Transaction Metrics Awards used its Global Experience Monitoring (GEM) platform to evaluate various payment gateway companies. The GEM system tracks credit card transactions and non-synthetic pings from over 30 global locations over four continents. Each award category is based on a metric that provides insight into the merchant’s view of checkout performance.

TSG featured Fortis in three awards: 

  • Best Gateway Uptime— Fortis won the Best Gateway Uptime award, which regularly measures performance checks to determine the availability of the gateway at any given time. 
  • Lowest Gateway Minute Outage— Fortis received first place for Lowest Gateway Minute Outage (North America). GEM pings locations in the United States and Canada to determine minute outages. An outage is recorded if at least 25% of location checks fail simultaneously. 
  • Lowest Gateway Minute Outage (Global)— Fortis was the runner-up for this award, which checks GEM pings in North America, South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific to determine outages. Outages are recorded only when at least 50% of location checks fail at the same time. 

Ensuring payment gateway availability and reducing outages is essential for a best-in-class payment platform. These technical aspects monitor a platform’s reliability—the higher the uptime, the better.

Uptime’s relationship to excellent performance

A high uptime means that a website or application is rarely offline or unstable, and downtime is when a website or application is not available or working. As a result, payment gateways with a high uptime ensure a seamless experience for both the merchant and the consumer. Having a low downtime reduces the potential for error or lost data. Additionally, downtime causes merchants to potentially lose sales because they are unable to accept payments. Therefore, having little to no downtime ensures merchants do not lose potential revenue during unforeseen downtime events.

To achieve reliable gateway uptime, a payment platform typically invests in several regional data centers and creates redundant infrastructure to prevent potential data loss. These systems must also be monitored, tested, and maintained to ensure high-quality performance.

High uptime typically means the payment gateway is well-equipped to handle potential threats, such as system malfunctions, maintenance interruptions, cyberattacks, and high transaction volumes.

Likewise, a solution with a low outage minutes measurement isn’t down for very long when an issue does occur.

Fortis users can experience a reliable gateway—ensuring that merchants and consumers can use its payment system 24/7. And on the rare occasion that downtime does occurs, the platform isn’t offline for long.

Who is Fortis?

As a leading payments partner, Fortis enables software companies to develop customized commerce experiences through embedded payment solutions, omnichannel payments, loyalty programs, alternative payment methods, and more.

Contact us today and discover how you can turn payments into your competitive advantage.

Payments Market – The Great Restoration 

Posted on by fortis2025

After decades of hypergrowth investment, payment and financial technology companies have entered a new era. Super-sized valuations, irrational business models, and free flowing investment funnels are in the rear-view mirror and not all organizations are ready to pick up the pieces and build sustainable, profitable, growing businesses.  In fact, some businesses may not have a real shot at success given their business models, management, or capitalization structures.

The past two years have been devastating for valuations in the payments and financial technology market. Even the fastest growing, highly-coveted, disruptive organizations have seen their valuations drop 50% from their highs in the early part of this decade (Adyen: $1500, high $2500; Affirm: $50, high $150; Shopify: $80, high $150). Scaled incumbent payments businesses are experiencing valuations at multiple lows not seen since 2009:  EV/EBITDA: FISV – 12.0x, FOUR – 11.5x, GPN – 10.5x, Nuvei – 8.5x, RePay – 7.5x (multiples and valuations based on early 2024 reporting).

Payments and fintech businesses are following general market trends that began a correction when interest rates started to rise in early 2022. Looking ahead to 2024, most experts believe we will not see further increases in interest rates. However, we may never return to the low interest rates of Q4 2021, and there is increased regulatory scrutiny on mergers (Adobe walking away from its $20 billion acquisition of startup Figma Inc. after clashing with regulators in Europe and the UK) and general investment sentiment in financial technology has soured. This means public multiples are unlikely to revert to 2021 levels anytime soon. What many don’t understand is that private investors benchmark from public multiples, and market dynamics (interest rates, growth, access to credit, etc.) don’t just affect public markets; they affect private markets as well.

Private equity and venture funds have had massive fundraising challenges. According to the Wall Street Journal, private-equity firms are preparing for an extended period of lean fundraising, with little indication that 2024 will be better for raising money than in the past year. Private equity fundraising was down 57.4% during the first half of 2023 at the top publicly traded firms, according to PitchBook. The toughest period for private equity fundraising since at least the 2007-09 financial crisis is likely to continue, as investors remain hesitant to invest more in the asset class. Those with capital are being very selective in their allocations. Venture equity isn’t any better. According to Ernst & Young, venture capital fund formation is off significantly from a record year in 2022, dropping 62% in 2023.  Furthermore, EY reports the 2023 venture capital market saw a 35% year-over-year decrease in investment dollars from 2022, the lowest level in four years. Venture capital backed startups raised just over $140 billion last year, and if not for several mega-deals fueled by artificial intelligence (AI), the venture capital market would have struggled to top $100 billion. This year may record a sub $100 billion year and deal with an overhang of more than 50,000 existing venture capital backed startups, which need to sort out high valuations and low liquidity.

So what’s next?

Just like the days, months and years after a hurricane – it’s time for the great restoration period. The weaker homes and businesses are wiped away, structures with solid foundations clean their yards and mend their fences, and go forward with a renewed respect for their infrastructure. Replacement homes are built to new and updated codes, and fortified to withstand the demands of the new world.

We have seen scaled incumbents shut down or shed non-core assets. In the payments world, Chase has all but shut down WePay as reported by The Information on January 10 (“JPMorgan’s WePay Abruptly Dumps Business Customers “). Similarly, FIS divested WorldPay at a valuation of $17.5 billion, a far cry from the $35 billion it was valued at just four years earlier. We have seen venture growth-backed future-stars literally dissolve, as TILL, once valued at $350M, sold to Nuvei for $30.5M after they were unable to keep the doors open. Similarly, Plastiq, after a failed attempt to go public via SPAC, filed bankruptcy and was picked up by Priority Payments. Many of the high-flying SPAC companies have reversed course and gone private at reduced valuations from their post-SPAC highs (e.g., BillTrust goes private at $9.50 per share; all time high of $19; Engage Smart goes private at $23 per share; all time high of $38). Even Stripe, after seeing their value drop by 50% (Stripe slashes valuation to $50 billion in new $6.5 billion funding round in 2023; Stripe had raised capital at $95B two years earlier), has changed its business and pricing models to expedite it’s path to profitability (November 2022, manually entered transaction fees were increased by 50 basis points; October 2023, currency conversion fees are no longer reversed for refunds); and according to Alternative Payments Baxter Lanius’ January LinkedIn post highlighting Stripe’s business changes of: ‘price increases, renegotiation of terms and a move upmarket’.

Similarly, on the back of higher costs of capital and increased regulatory scrutiny, San Francisco-based Affirm adjusted its own go-to-market plans, doing more interest-bearing, longer-term installment loan volume than shorter-term, fee-free lending. And its interest rate on the former could be as high as 36%. Pay-in-4 loans made up 19% of Affirm’s gross merchandise volume for the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the company’s annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

We are only in the first period of this Great Restructuring, so what is in store for the next 12 – 18 months:

  • More Cash Struggles – Thousands of cash-burning businesses will need capital, and there will be a huge board and investor push on companies for profitability. These companies will be forced to be prudent when managing their operating expense base while also looking for ways to squeeze more margin out of existing customers.  
  • More Divestitures – Organizations will focus on their core business lines and, with limited equity or cash available, will be forced to divest non-core assets.    
  • More Mergers and Acquisitions – As businesses are forced to make strategic changes, this opens the door to softer valuations and “relative value” discussions, and will open a window for mergers and acquisitions among strategics and sponsors alike.   
  • More Failures – Organizations that don’t have a buyer or an investor once they are at the end of their cash reserves (and there will be many), will result in a shutdown of business operations. There can be only so many lifelines.  
  • More Rational Business Models – The “growth at all costs” or “grab some users to get the next funding round” models will no longer be tolerated by boards and investors. Companies will need to launch business lines with a hard look at break-even and ROI.    
  • More Focus – Payments and fintech businesses will focus on their core competencies and drive profitable models from core business operations before opening or acquiring new lines of business. Gone are the days of driving multiple sub-scale new lines of business simultaneously vying for capital and resources.

While the year ahead may sound ominous, it will lead to a “better” payments and fintech environment. Many of the organizations that were not built on solid foundations lacked the compliance and financial disciplines required for the long haul. There will also be huge opportunities for incumbents and new organizations to assemble assets in the right way, for not only long-term growth and stability, but for outsized returns.

Regardless, the Great Restoration is going to be fun to watch.

3 Key Trends in the Payment Industry Today: Embedded Episode 4 

Posted on by fortis2025

In episode 4 of our monthly Embedded podcast, Josh Istas, the Senior Director of Product Strategy at TSG, and Timmy Nafso, Fortis Executive Vice President, discussed the evolution of payments—and what merchants and ISVs need to know about current payment trends.

The fact is, a frictionless payment system has become more than just “nice-to-have.” New consumer expectations and developer requirements are driving this revolution in the payments industry.

Below we’ve summarized three critical trends covered in the episode.

1 – Payments are more than a commodity

Initially, merchants and ISVs viewed payments primarily as a commodity. Payment software was largely a separate product, disconnected from the merchant site. However, this perception has changed as consumer demand for an enhanced payment experience has increased.  

For ISVs, offering embedded payment features that ensure that the payment process is frictionless for consumers is paramount. Payments now allow merchants to strengthen branding and provide consumers with an effortless payment experience, contributing to customer retention and satisfaction.

Therefore, payments have transitioned from a commodity to a key differentiator for software providers and merchants.

2 – Integration documentation should be easy to use

Payment functions require access to sensitive merchant and consumer data, placing pressure on developers to ensure strong data security. At the same time, developers must prioritize a payment solution’s ease of use and white-label options.

Detailed integration documentation enables developers to easily review and add payment solutions to their software. Documentation should be properly categorized and detailed with as much information as possible to ensure developers can troubleshoot effectively. It also allows development teams to discuss app architecture in detail and find additional methods of improving overall software functionality and security.

At the end of the day, solid documentation makes it possible for developers to remain self-sufficient and accelerate the integration process.

3 – What does the consumer want?

Consumer expectations for payment processes and options have dramatically evolved over the years. For example, 53% of Americans now use digital wallets as much as traditional payment methods, and 51% said they wouldn’t shop at a merchant that didn’t offer digital wallet payment options. Along with digital wallets, the number of Americans leveraging buy now, pay later (BNPL) services increased by one-third, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

While merchants have driven the demand for payment innovation for decades, consumers are now the primary force advocating for an enhanced payment experience. Embedded payments, loyalty programs, BNPL, and alternative payment methods are rapidly becoming the norm due to consumer feedback.

However, embedded payment systems are not a one-size-fits-all approach. The individual payment processes and products must be tailored to each ISV or merchant’s customer base. Relying on surveys to gauge customers’ expectations is one method, but data often provides better insight. For an ISV or merchant to take advantage of hard numbers, however, it’s important to have a payment solution that offers robust analytics and business intelligence capabilities.

Leveraging the power of payments

A frictionless and flexible payment experience is no longer just a competitive advantage—it is mandatory for survival. Merchants and consumers expect streamlined and secure payment options, while developers require comprehensive documentation to effortlessly implement new solutions.

 As an award-winning payment platform, Fortis understands the importance of the payment journey. To learn more, discover the Fortis difference at fortispay.com.

Partner Spotlight: Window World

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Window World, America’s largest home exterior remodeler, combined their breakthrough software WW360 and the Fortis integration to transform their payment process.

Receiving and processing a vast number of transactions takes significant manpower. Recording payments and navigating various payment structures often draws time and resources away from growth initiatives. And, as a company scales, a streamlined payment process becomes more critical. As Window World has sold over 20,000,000 windows since 1995, it was essential for them to keep evolving their payment infrastructure to optimize their bottom line. 

“Payments that are made through Fortis make their way into 360, so they don’t have to do double entry. That eventually works its way into QuickBooks, so our store owners really appreciate the complete solution that Window World 360 and Fortis provide,” Duffy Sweeney, SVP IT Digital & Operations. 

This industry-leading home improvement company offers high-quality and energy-efficient windows, doors, siding, shutters, and more at an affordable price. In addition to these products, Window World offers a professional installation team to ensure the improvements are installed efficiently and in accordance with code.

With so many moving parts, it was essential for the Window World team to standardize and streamline their payment process. Fortis offered a comprehensive solution that worked with Windows World’s current tech stack by bringing innovative technologies and a credit card processing perspective to the table.  

Through the Fortis integration with WW360, Window World was able to automate payment posting to 360, boost payment security, add payment terminals to the field, and shift from card-not-present transactions to card-present payments—saving a significant sum in fees. In addition, final payments could be automatically charged as Fortis saved and tokenized client payment information.  

Partnering with Fortis not only digitized and automated the payment process for Window World, but also improved the customer experience. Window World’s clients appreciated the fast and convenient payment workflow.  

Fortis offers more than core payment services. Its value-based, robust approach to payment processing enables organizations like Window World to save time and resources as they grow. To leverage the Fortis advantage for your business or software, learn more about becoming a partner. 

Protect Your Retail Business and Maximize Revenue this Holiday Season

Posted on by fortis2025

As the holiday season and 2024 grow near, retail businesses can expect an uptick in sales. Holiday spending is expected to reach record highs this November and December, forecasting in the realm of $957.3 and $966.6 billion. However, with this increase in transactions, there also comes an increased threat of fraud and chargebacks.  

We’ve covered chargebacks before, but as a refresher, a chargeback is a transaction that has been disputed and returned by the cardholder or issuing bank. A chargeback reverses a credit card transaction and withdraws funds that were previously deposited into a bank account. If you are a retail business owner looking to maximize revenue, it is imperative that you look to mitigate chargebacks especially during the holiday season. 

The Retail Chargeback Guide 

Fortunately, Fortis is here to help! In our latest piece, Chargeback Guide: Fraud Prevention Tips for Retail Businesses, we discuss the best practices and tips for your business to take to mitigate chargebacks. You can expect to learn: 

• The different types of chargebacks that exist 

• Best practices for chargeback prevention 

• Tips on how to protect your business against fraud 

• Information on the chargeback process with Fortis 

Start Maximizing Your Revenue with Fortis 

Ready to start maximizing your revenue and protecting your business against chargebacks, this holiday season and beyond? Download our Chargeback Guide and consider reaching out to Fortis for more information about our retail payment solutions. Happy Holidays! 

Boost Growth with a Sales and Marketing Assist Program

Posted on by fortis2025

For ISVs and merchants, integrating payments into your software is a major step toward creating a holistic product. However, this is no easy task, as this addition affects many other areas of your business. That’s why having a fully equipped sales and marketing team is crucial to making this process seamless. A properly equipped team, via a Sales and Marketing Assist Program, helps maintain a seamless user experience, eases the transition for your customers, and gives you the opportunity to add an additional stream of revenue to your bottom line. 

In this blog, we look at three different ways to prepare your team for the integration of payments into your software or solution – in-house options, leveraging an agency, or using a third-party. First, let’s discuss the elements that are usually part of a Sales and Marketing Assist Program. 

Your Sales and Marketing Assist Checklist 

A typical Sales and Marketing Assist Program should contain the following components: 

Sales Education and Execution: 

  • Battle Cards 
  • Sales Call Script 
  • Sales Nurture Email Campaigns 

Marketing: 

  • Landing page 
  • Flyer 
  • Email Marketing 

Now, let’s discuss the three different avenues you can take to implement these types of programs.  

1.) In-house sales and marketing teams 

Your first option is to have internal sales and marketing teams within your organization. While you will have a lot of control over the process, this option can quickly become the most work. Your internal team will be responsible for not only creating messaging, but effectively communicating said messaging internally across the organization and externally to prospective clients. 

However, if done well, this option will save you money in the long run.  

2.) Leveraging agencies 

Your second option is to leverage an agency. One major benefit of using an agency is increased bandwidth. Your agency will provide the proper resources to develop the right messaging for your targeted audience.  

On the other hand, there will be considerable work needed to catch your agency up to speed, based on the individual goals of your organization. While the agency will have some templates in place, keep in mind that it will take a large burden from your core team, which ultimately comes with an external cost.  

3.) Third-Party Options 

Lastly, our final option is using a third-party payment processor. As you can imagine, this option comes with benefits in the form of expertise, efficiency, and cost.  

Ideally, the payment company you use should know the financial space inside and out, helping you optimally position your software or solution. Moreover, having your payment partner handle the sales and marketing means that they have this cost baked into their model, resulting in no additional cost for you, saving both time and money. 

Streamline your sales and marketing processes with Fortis 

No matter what path you choose – in-house, agency, or third-party – make sure you effectively calculate the cost of your path and do what makes the most sense for your business goals. If the last option sounds like it will work best for you, consider choosing Fortis to elevate the recurring payments and marketing strategies of your business! 

Fortis’ Sales and Marketing Assist Program enables businesses to quickly connect with their customers, maintain consistency, and support their sales and marketing efforts. Some features include: 

  • Customized enrollment support 
  • Experienced sales teams 
  • Comprehensive guidance from pricing analysis to revenue activation 
  • Co-branded templates, training guides, a campaign library, and online presence materials 
  • Video production tools – sales, educational, and spotlight content 

Our program contains expert guidance from specialized industry Guides and has tailored solutions for B2B, B2C, and enterprise merchants.

To learn more, visit our Sales and Marketing Assist Program page on our website. Let’s unlock the full potential of your business with our marketing and sales tools, together.

Strengthen Your Healthcare Software with Embedded Payments

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The healthcare industry is notorious for being slow to update systems, especially when it comes to payments. So, what’s the reason for this reluctance toward a change that can improve speed and payment processing? 

Most healthcare providers simply don’t notice that their software is slowing down their receivables. For healthcare practices who have a complex and convoluted payment system due to health insurance and compliance requirements, it can be difficult to diagnose the problem. Most legacy EHR software is hyper-focused on patient care, but healthcare technology’s roadmap must encompass advancements to payments software, though they’re not always prioritized. 

An upgraded payments strategy can be a competitive advantage for developers and ISVs looking to capture more healthcare customers.  

The Link Between Modern Healthcare Payments and User Experience 

Non-traditional healthcare providers, such as chiropractors, mental health clinics, and physiotherapists, often don’t have the hospital volume to permit an extensive EHR system but need something more advanced than a basic payment processor. As more and more healthcare providers lean into digital payments, a new, robust payment system will become the norm. 

For example, between 2020 and 2021, mail-based medical billing dropped by 16%. Customers now prefer paying via phone calls, text messages, mobile app notifications, online portals, and email. Furthermore, around 60% of patients say they pay faster when using these alternative payment methods.   

All of this translates into an increased demand for better payment processing options from health providers and practices. Developers of healthcare software and EHR integrations should include digital payments in their strategy going forward.  

For software developers, security, usability, ease of integration, and flexibility are all required to stay competitive. Payments should be made easier, not harder, which means reducing the number of clicks and streamlining the payment journey. That said, removing slow, unnecessary steps without sacrificing compliance is key to improving cash flow for your customers. When they get paid quickly, they are reluctant to change to another provider.  

The solution for many software developers is simple—embedded payments.  

What are Embedded Healthcare Payments?

Embedded payments integrate right into your software. Customers no longer need to jump from a merchant landing page to a payment portal, and back, to complete a purchase. Embedded payments make it possible to keep the entire transaction on one, custom-branded page from start to finish.  

In addition to websites, embedded payments are compatible with mobile devices as well. If a patient downloads your app, they can pay via an embedded payment form in their phone. Keep in mind that an effective embedded solution should provide the ability to: 

  • Securely store card information on file 
  • Save more than one card—such as an HSA and credit/debit card 
  • Log all payment-related notifications 
  • Mail out statements for click-to-pay 
  • Set up recurring payments

The goal is to make payments as effortless, and as seamless, as possible. This not only accelerates receivables for end-users, but also reduces compliance pitfalls in the back office. It’s a win-win. For ISVs and EHR providers, helping your customers get paid faster is a key way to differentiate your software.  

Unlike traditional payment processors, an embedded payment solution isn’t just another mandatory expense. Some payment processors, like Fortis, provide revenue-sharing opportunities where you can actually earn money from each transaction. 

Keep Your Cash Flow Healthy with Fortis

Often, the best option for ISVs and software developers embedding payments into their platform is through partnership. The right partnership should offer easy integration, provide you and your customers with flexible payment options and revenue sharing for every transaction. Through customized embedded payment solutions, your software company can optimize healthcare payments effortlessly. 

Fortis is a leading embedded payments platform that provides end-to-end support for healthcare providers and practices to better serve their patients. Using award-winning API technology, the Fortis payment processing solution enables digital payments for a healthier cash flow, securely stored payment methods, click to pay invoices and more. 

To learn more about how Fortis can revolutionize your healthcare payment system through embedded payments, reach out to one of our guides. 

 

The Embedded Payments Guidebook: Turning Payments into a Strategic Asset 

Posted on by fortis2025

It’s no secret that embedded payments are the future of eCommerce. In 2021, 73% of European business leaders planned to implement embedded finance solutions, and the trend has only continued to grow worldwide. Customer demands, new revenue streams, and an improved customer experience further propel merchants and ISVs toward embedded payment solutions. 

As a leader in the payments industry, we looked at the primary benefits of embedded payments, how they work, and why this technology can become a strategic asset. The full story is in our free Embedded Payments Guidebook.  

In our whitepaper, we discuss: 

  • The Basics of Embedded Payments 
  • The Business Benefits of Embedded Payments 
  • The Models of Embedded Payments 
  • Evaluating an Embedded Payments Provider 
  • Elevating Payments to a Strategic Asset 
  • Additional Resources for Getting Started 

We’ve summarized some highlights from the whitepaper, below: 

5 Benefits of Embedded Payments 

Legacy payment systems contribute to a sluggish and disjointed customer payment experience. Customers must often leave the merchant site to verify their payment information with a third party, creating friction. Customers then bear the burden of manual data entry and payment reconciliation. 

Embedded payments change that and more. The benefits of this technology turn everything around: 

  1. Automation reduces the amount of data entry. 
  1. Merchants can keep their payment portals on-brand and on their website or app. 
  1. This technology applies to every industry.  
  1. Organizations can leverage real-time insights and analytics. 
  1. They experience complete control over the payment experience.

How Embedded Payments Work

Given the flexibility of this technology, it only makes sense that there is more than one way to apply it. There are approximately three embedded payment models: 

  • Partner Referral Model – This a convenient plug-and-play solution, but it lacks customization options and is challenging to scale. 
  • Payment Facilitation (PayFac) Model – A PayFac simplifies the process by aggregating all transactions under an account, and these platforms are accountable to acquiring banks. This model offers software companies a greater revenue share but is also more costly to maintain.  
  • Embedded Payments-as-a-Service (EPaaS) – This embedded payments model allows software companies to leverage the customization and revenue benefits of a PayFac model but reduces the compliance and regulatory burden. 

From Payment Feature to a Strategic Asset 

The right embedded payments solution is a strategic asset, supporting customer retention efforts; a frictionless check-out experience, loyalty or rewards programs, alternative payments, and other value-adds streamline payments.  

What is the result of a technology-driven payments strategy? Healthy cash flow and opportunities for growth. 

To leverage embedded payments, you’ll want to carefully evaluate solutions to ensure they align with your financial and long-term goals. Furthermore, you want a solution that will scale with your business.  

Download our Whitepaper 

Ready to optimize your payments workflow and capture even more revenue? Then, you’ll want to download our Embedded Payments Guidebook for more insights from the leader in embedded payments.

Apple Pay and Google Pay: Digital Payments Made Easy

Posted on by fortis2025

Did you know that nine in 10 Americans use digital payments and 53% use digital wallets? 

While digital payment methods have been around for years, the pandemic brought them to national consciousness, and their popularity is only continuing to soar. Today, it has become increasingly common to see consumers and businesses, alike, paying via their digital wallet rather than by credit card or check. 

Unfortunately, integrating these payment types to legacy infrastructure isn’t always so simple. Most payment processors and facilitators have limited payment options and may not include these other types of alternative payments. 

Let’s explore why you should adopt these digital payment methods, and why it’s important to pick a payment processor that can seamlessly embed them into your current software or solution. 

Digital Wallets

There are a multitude of digital wallet options, some of which are international, like Apple Pay or Google Pay, and others that are regional or country specific. Digital wallets have several benefits for both the payor and the payee: 

  • Convenience – Digital wallets may be loaded with funds or draw funds from saved payment sources, such as bank accounts or credit cards. All the payee needs is their phone or wallet information to make a payment, and these transfers are lightning-fast for both the payor and payee. 
  • Security – One of the most important benefits of a digital wallet is its enhanced security. When a customer makes a payment, the payment information is never disclosed. In other words, the business receiving the payment never gets a look at the credit card or bank account number, which also reduces their compliance burden.  
  • Speed – Digital wallets offer instant or near-instant payments, allowing businesses to maintain a healthier cash flow and log payments in real time. 
  • Fewer fees – Accepting digital wallet payments typically costs less than credit card fees, making it more lucrative for business owners.  

Apple Pay 

The Apple Pay wallet maintains a 92% market share of the US industry, making it the most popular wallet. Customers can verify payments directly from the App Store with their biometrics or passcode, making it convenient and relatively secure.  

Fortis allows merchants to accept and monitor Apple Pay transactions. To tap into Apple Pay, Fortis users only need to visit their Virtual Terminal Settings to show these transactions. 

Google Pay

Google Pay is one of the top digital wallets worldwide, and it is accepted in at least 19 countries. As a reliable payment processor, consumers and businesses have begun using Google Pay more and more over the years.  

Similar to Apple Pay, Fortis users can enable Google Pay options through their Virtual Terminal Settings.  

Digital wallets as a part of a payments strategy  

Offering digital wallet payment options solves significant problems for both B2B and B2C businesses. 

For instance, Apple Pay or Google Pay may: 

  • Reduce processing costs and boost savings 
  • Increase conversions 
  • Improve the customer experience—thus building customer loyalty 

As more consumers and businesses tap into digital wallets, they will likely come to expect this option while checking out or fulfilling an invoice. Therefore, it can be helpful to take a forward-looking approach to payments strategy and include these popular payment choices. Not only will you be able to leverage the above benefits, but you can position your business for long-term gains.  

Optimize your payments 

Providing Apple Pay and Google Pay as payment methods offers a number of benefits for businesses. Greater security, increased convenience, and lower fees are just a few. However, as mentioned above, once you decide to include digital wallets as part of your strategy, choosing the best payment processor is the next step. 

Timmy emphasizes the importance of choosing the right payments advisor for your journey. 


As an industry leader with award-winning APIs, Fortis understands the importance of security, flexibility, and innovation when it comes to accepting payments. That’s why our platform is built around providing a seamless and secure omnichannel solution. 

Speak with our payment experts to learn more about how Fortis can become a strategic advantage in your business.