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Payment Innovation

image001Innovating to Deliver

When the nation’s largest state trade association of general merchandise retailers, Michigan Retailers (MRA), was presented with a payment challenge by one of its clients, iStream was the only provider they needed to call upon for a solution. Michigan Retailers Association provides electronic payment services, insurance programs, discount programs and information services to its nearly 5000 member businesses who own and operate more than 15,000 stores and websites across Michigan.

One of MRA’s clients was in search of a solution that would help deliver a more efficient payment process for their customers. The challenge MRA has been given was to find a way for a single payment to be divided up systematically, then routed to multiple endpoints. All of this needed to be accompanied with full reconciliation and audit capabilities. Traditional banking and processor solutions typically allow for the disbursement of a single payment for a product or service rendered. This limitation meant that a solution would need to be sought from an entity that could deliver flexibility and customization as it pertains to the payment platform. That solution was found with iStream and the Pymntz™ platform.

MRA has been a distributor of iStream Financial Services since 2006 and has first-hand experience with the products, platform and capabilities that iStream brings to the payment processing space. With this in mind, MRA reached out to iStream to see what ideas and potential solutions might be possible. A number of different options for a solution were put into the discussion, but in the end, through detailed collaboration, a decision was made to leverage the robust iStream sub-accounting platform. This sub-accounting platform solution leverages several unique approaches when it comes to the ingestion, processing and ultimate disbursement of payments and the data that accompanies them.

The end result effectively enables MRA’s client to collect payments from a single source, have them routed to the iStream sub-accounting platform for identification, disbursement and reconciliation. This process eliminates countless hours of manual processing and redundant transactions when it comes to the movement of funds. John Mayleben, senior vice president, technology and new product development for MRA said, “The ability of iStream to be creative in their approach to transaction processing has allowed us to deliver a best-in-class solution that exceeded the expectations of our client.”

Today this solution provides transaction processing for thousands of MRA’s client locations. “The collaboration between iStream and MRA has allowed us to bring to market a unique solution that previously was unavailable in the marketplace” said Mayleben. “Delivering both great solutions and services to clients is the foundation for solid and long term relationships and iStream has helped us to excel in both of these areas.” MRA continues to call upon iStream when it encounters opportunities that may have unique requirements or may not have an instantly identifiable solution; further fortifying the partnership as a cornerstone for success for both organizations.