Unlocking the Payments Opportunity in Field Services 

Unlocking the Payments Opportunity in Field Services 

February 5, 2025

A Critical Yet Overlooked Growth Lever 

Tech founders in field services are transforming how businesses operate—streamlining scheduling, optimizing dispatch, and driving efficiency. Yet, there’s a major revenue driver that often goes underutilized: payments. 

For many field service platforms, payments are critical to the customer experience, but they’re often treated as an afterthought. The reality? If you own your payments strategy, you not only enhance the end-user experience but also unlock immense enterprise value. 

 

Why Founders Are Leaving Money on the Table 

Many founders sign payment processing agreements without fully realizing the long-term implications. These agreements often: 

  • Cap margin potential by handing over a significant share of transaction revenue to a third-party provider. 
  • Restrict flexibility with rigid contract terms that limit future monetization opportunities. 
  • Create dependencies that prevent companies from fully owning their payments experience. 

A more strategic approach can unlock higher margins, greater control, and more enterprise value.  

 

How Serent’s Embedded Finance Center of Excellence Helps 

At Serent Capital, we’ve worked with numerous field service and vertical SaaS businesses to help them define and execute their payments strategy. Our Embedded Finance Center of Excellence provides hands-on support to: 

  • Identify and monetize payments opportunities within your platform
  • Navigate contract negotiations to secure better economics
  • Transition to a PayFac model or embedded finance structure

We’ve helped companies like Real Green and Davisware unlock significant value through payments monetization. 

 

Case Study: Real Green – 10x Payments Revenue Growth 

Challenge: 

Real Green, a Serent Capital portfolio company and leading software provider for lawn care and pest control businesses, processed a high volume of payments but wasn’t monetizing them effectively. The company had a standard payment processing agreement in place, which meant it was leaving money on the table and missing out on a significant revenue opportunity. 

Serent’s Approach: 

The Serent team engaged with Real Green to develop and execute a payments monetization strategy, ensuring they captured the full economic potential of their transaction volume. 

  • Architected a payments strategy that aligned with Real Green’s business model, enabling them to monetize transactions already flowing through the platform. 
  • Transitioned from a traditional payment processor to a PayFac model, allowing Real Green to own more of the margin and gain greater control over its payments infrastructure. 
  • Drove adoption of integrated payments across Real Green’s customer base, ensuring a seamless and optimized experience for end users. 

Impact: 

  • Payments revenue grew 10x in under three years. 
  • Payments became a core value driver in Real Green’s eventual sale to WorkWave. 
  • Real Green transformed its payments business from a pass-through cost center into a high-margin growth engine. 

 

Real Green’s founder shares insights on partnering with Serent—watch here.  

 

Case Study: Davisware – Driving >10% Revenue Growth Through Payments Optimization 

Challenge: 

 Davisware, a Serent Capital portfolio company and leading ERP provider for field service businesses, delivers all-in-one software solutions that help companies manage operations, optimize workflows, and drive profitability. The company relied on payment processing but lacked a clear strategy to maximize its revenue. When its payments provider unexpectedly sold off its merchant book, Davisware lost control over its payments stream, creating operational uncertainty and limiting its ability to capture the full economic value of transactions. 

Serent’s Approach: 

Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the Serent team worked closely with Davisware’s leadership to quickly evaluate options and renegotiate their payments partnership to secure a longterm partnership. 

  • Conducted a competitive evaluation of payments providers to ensure Davisware could select the best partner for long-term success. 
  • Renegotiated the agreement to secure better economics and increase Davisware’s share of payment processing revenue. 
  • Aligned incentives with the new payments provider, ensuring Davisware had long-term profitability and control over its payments business. 

Impact: 

  • Increased revenue by more than 10% through optimized payments provisions. 
  • Secured a long-term payments strategy that positioned Davisware for continued success. 
  • Reinforced Davisware’s ability to own and optimize payments rather than relying on external providers. 

 

Click here to discover more about Davisware. 

 

Serent’s Embedded Finance Expertise 

Serent’s Embedded Finance Center of Excellence helps SaaS and tech-enabled service companies define and execute the optimal payments strategy. Whether it’s: 

  • Transitioning to a PayFac model 
  • Structuring high-value payments partnerships 
  • Expanding into embedded finance solutions 

Our team works hands-on with founders to ensure they aren’t leaving revenue on the table. Connect with our team to explore how payments can drive meaningful growth for your business. Contact us today.

 

Serent Capital invests in growing businesses that have developed compelling solutions that address their customers' needs. As those businesses grow and evolve, the opportunities and challenges that they face change with them. Principals at Serent Capital have firsthand experience at capturing those opportunities and navigating these difficulties through their experiences as CEOs, strategic advisors, and board members to successful growing businesses. By bringing its expertise and capital to bear, Serent seeks to help growing businesses thrive. Learn more about our portfolio companies.

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