VARs and ISVs serve an important role in helping merchant acquirers and independent sales organizations (ISOs) make sense of a complex web of payments processing moving parts. But for those acquirers and ISOs that serve small and mid-sized merchants, VARs and ISVs are particularly critical. While large merchants typically have internal IT departments to manage the hardware, software, and services inte- gration that merchants need to process payments, merchants with fewer IT resources are reliant on someone else to manage the integration, explains Jared Drieling, Director of Business Intelligence for The Strawhecker Group. Acquirers and ISOs are turning to VARs and ISVs for help in meeting these merchant needs.
“Merchant acquirers and ISOs need to evolve to new market demands and are looking to VARs and ISVs to provide a bundled package of hard- ware and software that works together for their merchant customers,” says Drieling.