--- title: "The Cost of Payments Inertia: New Research Findings" description: Discover what 750 software leaders reveal about payment integration delays, lost revenue, switching barriers, and how AI is reshaping payment integrations. image: https://blog.payroc.com/hubfs/business-professional-using-digital-technology.jpg --- [Skip to Content](https://blog.payroc.com/cost-of-payments-inertia#main-content) ![USA - Current Region](https://payroc.com/wp-content/themes/payroc/assets/us-flag.svg) US - [![USA flag](https://payroc.com/wp-content/themes/payroc/assets/us-flag.svg) United States](https://payroc.com/) - [![Canada flag](https://payroc.com/wp-content/themes/payroc/assets/ca-flag.svg) Canada](https://payroc.com/en_ca/) [EN](https://payroc.com/en_ca/?utm_content=language-button) [FR](https://payroc.com/fr/?utm_content=language-button) - [![United Kingdom flag](https://payroc.com/wp-content/themes/payroc/assets/uk-flag.svg) United Kingdom](https://uk.payroc.com/) - [![Puerto Rico flag](https://payroc.com/wp-content/themes/payroc/assets/pr-flag.svg) Puerto Rico](https://dynamicspayments.com/) Partner‑Driven. 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Resources Back Learn [Blog & Insights Read industry insights](https://blog.payroc.com/) [Case Studies See how businesses grow with us](https://payroc.com/case-studies/) [Product Updates Stay up to date on launches](https://payroc.com/product-updates/) [Feature Log Explore product enhancements](https://payroc.com/feature-log/) [News & Press Explore news and announcements](https://payroc.com/about-us/awards-and-press/) Support [Support Center Get answers to your questions](https://support.payroc.com/) [Security & Compliance Explore and access trust resources](https://payroc.com/security-and-compliance/) - Developers Back [Developer Portal Access sandbox and API keys](https://developers.payroc.com/) [Payroc.ai Get insights from Payroc developers](https://payroc.ai/) [Developer Docs Explore guides and AI skills](https://docs.payroc.com/) [Back to Blog](https://blog.payroc.com) # The Cost of Payments Inertia Posted on Oct 27, 2026 By [Walter Greaney](https://blog.payroc.com/author/walter-greaney) - [**Software**](https://blog.payroc.com/tag/software) - [**SaaS**](https://blog.payroc.com/tag/saas) - [**Integrated Payments**](https://blog.payroc.com/tag/integrated-payments) - [**ISV**](https://blog.payroc.com/tag/isv) ![business professional using digital technology with upward arrows representing growth, innovation, and faster payment integrations](https://blog.payroc.com/hubfs/business-professional-using-digital-technology.jpg) Share this: - - - ## What 750 software leaders told us about integration delay, switching, and AI Every software company competes on speed—how fast it can turn a good idea into a shipped product. New research commissioned by Payroc suggests that when it comes to payments, speed is exactly what many companies lack. Census wide surveyed 750 senior professionals—founders, CTOs, chief product and revenue officers, technical leads, and engineers—at independent software vendors (ISVs) and software providers across the US, UK, and Canada. The findings reveal a market that is quietly delaying its own roadmap. **73 percent of respondents said their organization had delayed or decided against adding a payment capability because integration was too costly or too complex. 97 percent said slow or complicated integrations had cost them revenue outright.** That gap between "we decided not to build it" and "we lost revenue because of it" is where the real cost of payments inertia lives. ## A Backlog No One Tracks Most engineering organizations are good at measuring what's in flight: sprints, tickets, velocity. They're much worse at measuring what never made it onto the board—[the payment capability](https://payroc.com/integrated-payments) that was discussed in a roadmap meeting and quietly dropped because the integration work looked too heavy, the market that was never entered because supporting its payment requirements wasn't worth the lift, the customer request that got a "someday." That's the hidden backlog, and this research suggests it's larger than most product leaders assume. ## Why Satisfied Customers Still Don't Switch Here's the finding that surprised us most: 97% of respondents said their current payment provider meets their organization's needs well. By any normal measure, that's a strong result. And yet 80% also said that the cost and complexity of switching providers makes their organization less likely to move, even when they’re unhappy with their current one. Put those two numbers side by side and a different reality appears. High satisfaction doesn't mean every future need is being met. It often means the provider is "good enough" for today, while the cost of change makes tomorrow's needs (and possibly even today’s wishes) somebody else's problem. An organization can be perfectly content with what it has and still be unable to pursue a new market, a new revenue model, or a capability a customer is actively asking for. ## A Consistent Problem Across Three Markets The pattern holds up across geographies. Between 72% and 75% of respondents in the US, UK, and Canada had delayed or rejected a payment capability because of integration cost or complexity, and in every market, 91% or more said integration friction had cost their organization revenue. What differs by market is what respondents look for in a payment provider. UK and Canadian respondents ranked security and fraud prevention highest; US respondents weighted partnership economics, buy rates, and support programs more heavily. Integration performance cuts across all of it—a strong commercial deal or a broad platform is only as valuable as how fast a team can actually put it to work. ## AI Is Already Changing the Calculus The more hopeful finding: 96% of respondents said AI had already made payment integration faster, easier, or more cost-effective for their organization. Three-quarters expect to be ready to adopt AI-powered or agentic payment integrations within seven to 11 months, and nearly half expect these approaches to be standard within one to two years. That enthusiasm comes with real conditions attached, however. Security concerns (43%), cost of adoption (38%), and organizational risk (36%) remain the top barriers to [AI-powered integration](https://www.payroc.ai/)—and they should. Payments is a domain where a wrong answer costs money, and trust has to be earned before speed gets to matter. The organizations that get this right won't be the ones that move fastest. They'll be the ones that can show exactly what an AI system did, why, and under whose authority. ## What This Means for the Next Chapter The consistent thread through this research isn’t dissatisfaction. It’s inertia. Integration friction is delaying payment capabilities, slowing time to revenue, and making teams less likely to switch even when their needs change. At the same time, AI is raising expectations for faster, more flexible ways to build. **That combination of pressures is what Payroc for Developers is built to address.** [Payroc for Developers](https://developers.payroc.com/) combines an AI-native developer experience, agentic integration capabilities, AI-ready documentation, integration skills, a self-service developer portal, and one API. Teams can build with AI, work directly with the API, or use both. The goal is broader than speeding up a single integration: reduce the friction that keeps payment capabilities on the roadmap, make switching easier, and give software teams a faster, more flexible foundation for what comes next. **Build payments in minutes, not months—and start turning payment capabilities into revenue sooner.** Start building free at [payroc.ai](https://www.payroc.ai/). **Want the full findings, including the study’s country-by-country breakdowns and methodology? [Download the complete report](https://info.payroc.com/the-cost-of-payments-inertia)** --- *Methodology: Research conducted by Censuswide among 750 senior professionals aged 25 and over working within independent software vendors and software providers. The sample included founders, CTOs, chief product officers, chief revenue officers, technical leads, software engineers, developers, and integration engineers. 250 respondents were surveyed in each of the US, UK, and Canada, fielded between September 2 and 11, 2026. Censuswide is a member of the Market Research Society and the British Polling Council, and a signatory to the Global Data Quality Pledge.* ## Get started with Payroc No matter where you are in your payments journey—whether you're a merchant, agent, referral partner, or software developer—we're here to help. [Contact us](https://payroc.com/contacts/) Platform Move Money - [Payment Processing](https://payroc.com/payment-processing-services/) - [Omnicommerce Gateway](https://payroc.com/solutions/gateway/) - [Pricing Programs](https://payroc.com/payment-processing-options/) - [Global Payment Orchestration](https://payroc.com/solutions/payment-orchestration/) Run the Business - [Payroc Capital](https://payroc.com/merchant-financing-solutions/) - [Invoicing & Billing](https://payroc.com/invoicing-and-billing/) - [Point-of-Sale Systems](https://payroc.com/point-of-sale-systems/) - [Giving & Donations](https://payroc.com/donations-and-giving/) - [Data & Analytics](https://payroc.com/payment-analytics/) Integrate & Build - [Integrated Payments](https://payroc.com/integrated-payments/) - [Integration Essentials](https://payroc.com/solutions/prebuilt-integrated-payment-solution-for-saas/) - [Payroc Cloud](https://payroc.com/solutions/cloud/) - [Full Stack](https://docs.payroc.com/solutions#full-stack) - [Developer Experience](https://payroc.com/solutions/developer-experience/) - [Direct ERP Integrations](https://www.bluesnap.com/partners/?_partner_category=erp-crm) Who We Serve Partner With Us - [Software Providers](https://payroc.com/industries/saas-vendors/) - [ISOs & Agents](https://payroc.com/industries/sales-partners-agent/) - [Financial Institutions](https://payroc.com/industries/financial-institutions/) - [Referral Partners](https://payroc.com/industries/referral-partners/) Process With Us - [Small & Midsize Businesses](https://payroc.com/industries/merchants/) - [Enterprise](https://payroc.com/enterprise-payments/) Build With Us - [Developer Experience](https://payroc.com/solutions/developer-experience/) Developers - [Developer Portal](https://developers.payroc.com/) - [Payroc.ai](https://payroc.ai/) - [Developer Docs](https://docs.payroc.com/) Who We Are - [About Us](https://payroc.com/about-us/) - [Events](https://payroc.com/events/) - [Careers](https://payroc.com/about-us/careers/) - [Our Community](https://payroc.com/about-us/our-community/) - [Our Team](https://payroc.com/about-us/our-team/) Resources Learn - [Blog & Insights](https://blog.payroc.com/) - [Case Studies](https://payroc.com/case-studies/) - [Product Updates](https://payroc.com/product-updates/) - [Feature Log](https://payroc.com/feature-log/) - [News & Press](https://payroc.com/about-us/awards-and-press/) Support - [Support Center](https://support.payroc.com/) - [Security & Compliance](https://payroc.com/security-and-compliance/) --- **System status** All systems operational Payroc WorldAccess, LLC or its subsidiaries (“Payroc”) is a registered Independent Sales Organization (ISO) of Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Cincinnati, OH, Peoples Trust Company, Vancouver, BC, Canada, PNC Bank, N.A., Pittsburgh, PA, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Canadian Branch, Toronto, ON, Canada, Citizens Bank, N.A., Providence, RI, Merrick Bank Corporation, South Jordan, UT, Woodforest National Bank, The Woodlands, TX and KeyBank, N.A., Cleveland, OH. Payroc is a registered Encryption Support Organization (ESO), Payment Facilitator (PF), Third-Party Servicer (TPS), Merchant Service Provider (MSP), and a Third-Party Agent (TPA) of Fifth Third Bank, N.A., Cincinnati, OH. - - - - [![Payroc BBB Business Review](https://payroc.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/bbb-accredited-business.png)](https://www.bbb.org/us/il/tinley-park/profile/payment-processing-services/payroc-0654-90002110/#sealclick) Copyright © 2026 Payroc WorldAccess, LLC - [Legal](https://payroc.com/legal/) - [Accessibility Statement](https://payroc.com/accessibility-statement/) - [Reviews](https://payroc.com/reviews/) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Walter Greaney", "url" : "https://blog.payroc.com/author/walter-greaney" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-27T12:59:59.979Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-27T12:59:59.000Z", "headline" : "The Cost of Payments Inertia: New Research Findings", "image" : [ "https://blog.payroc.com/hubfs/business-professional-using-digital-technology.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.payroc.com/cost-of-payments-inertia", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.payroc.com/hubfs/payroc-logo-navy-1.png" }, "name" : "Payroc" } } ```