How Smarter Onboarding Unlocked Rapid Growth for a Leading Payments Provider

Manual onboarding processes were costing one of the largest and most trusted payment providers in the market both deals and growth. By moving to automated, digital onboarding with OnBoard by MVSI, the company enabled same-day merchant activation, streamlined compliance, and laid the foundation for scalable, sustainable expansion.

To meet its aggressive growth targets, as the business grew rapidly, mounting pressure made it clear that scaling could not come at the cost of speed. The company’s goal was simple: to make payments the easiest part of doing business.

However, its onboarding process could not keep pace. Manual checks, disconnected systems, and repetitive data entry created bottlenecks that frustrated sales teams and merchants alike. With rising competition and customer expectations, it was time to modernise one of the most critical steps in the merchant journey: onboarding.

Remaining competitive meant delivering same-day merchant activation. In a market where speed is everything, even short delays risked lost opportunities. Yet the onboarding process was slow and fragmented, built on legacy systems that did not communicate with each other. The result was mounting frustration, delayed merchant activations, and reduced sales performance.

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Every Application Was Manual and Time-Consuming

For the sales team, onboarding each new merchant was a highly manual and fragmented process. Every application required a customised approach, with varying pricing models, documentation, and risk profiles depending on the merchant type. Sales representatives had to prepare offers, complete forms, and collect supporting documents by hand, often receiving them in multiple stages.

On average, it took around 95 minutes of sales effort to prepare and submit a single merchant application. In contrast, digital onboarding platforms enable the same sales stage to be completed in just 5 to 10 minutes, seamlessly passing verified data and documents into compliance workflows.

Manual processing meant a typical sales representative could complete only four to five applications in an eight-hour day. Over a month, that capped productivity at roughly 100 applications per salesperson. Processing those 100 applications required about 150 hours of staff time. With a digital onboarding solution, the same workload could be completed in just 25 hours, saving 125 hours each month that could instead be used to progress more merchants and close more deals.

As application volumes grew into the thousands each month, this manual process became a critical constraint on both sales capacity and merchant activation speed, allowing competitors with faster, automated onboarding to win market share.

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Operational Friction and Compliance Bottlenecks

The pain did not end once an initial application was submitted. The compliance and risk review process was equally manual, relying on email exchanges, spreadsheets, and document uploads across multiple systems. Without automated KYC, AML, or business verification, every application required human review to validate business details and supporting documents.

Incomplete or inconsistent information triggered long chains of follow-up emails and calls between merchants, sales, and compliance teams. Each missing document or incorrect field delayed approval, creating uncertainty for merchants and frustration for staff. These manual checks extended turnaround times from hours to days, leaving merchants waiting to begin processing payments.

Internally, teams spent valuable hours chasing information and revalidating data instead of focusing on higher-value risk assessment and portfolio management. Without automation, same-day merchant activation remained out of reach, and the business risked losing prospective merchants to competitors with faster, digital-first onboarding.

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To eliminate bottlenecks and deliver same-day onboarding, the company turned to OnBoard by MVSI. This end-to-end platform transformed their onboarding journey from a slow, manual process into a streamlined, automated experience for both sales teams and merchants.

What changed?

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Compliance and Automation

OnBoard introduced intelligent automation across every stage of the onboarding journey. Business verifications, Risk, fraud, KYC, AML, checks are all now completed digitally and in real time, eliminating the manual document reviews that once caused long delays.

Automated decision-making and risk validation ensure every merchant meets both regulatory and internal compliance standards before activation. The result is a faster, more consistent onboarding process that delivers same-day merchant activation without compromising compliance or control.

Customisable smart forms and white-labelled merchant portals now guide applicants through each step, collecting exactly the information required and prompting users to correct errors instantly. This reduces back-and-forth communication, improves data accuracy, and provides merchants with a smooth, professional experience.

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Sales Productivity

For the sales team, OnBoard replaced hours of manual preparation with fast, automated workflows. Offers, forms, and document requests that once required hand-entry are now generated and managed digitally. Sales representatives can tailor each application to a merchant’s specific products and pricing model without starting from scratch.

A centralised dashboard gives sales teams full visibility across every application, helping them track progress, prioritise active deals, and identify stalled applications in real time. With fewer administrative tasks and better oversight, sales teams can now focus on engaging merchants, accelerating deal closure, and driving new revenue.

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Operational Efficiency and Workforce Impact

Manual data entry and document chasing have been virtually eliminated, freeing staff to focus on higher-value merchant support and growth initiatives.

OnBoard’s automated workflows ensure seamless handovers between sales, compliance, and operations, reducing errors and the need for rework. The visibility and predictability of the process have improved morale, while removing repetitive, error-prone tasks has reduced burnout and attrition across onboarding teams.

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Friction Point Management

The platform actively identifies where merchants encounter delays, automatically alerting sales and operations teams to intervene early. This proactive visibility has improved completion rates and ensured that merchants progress smoothly from application to activation.

By replacing manual processes with smart automation, the company not only achieved same-day onboarding but also created a scalable, compliant framework that turned onboarding from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage.

Today, the company delivers on its promise to make payments the easiest part of doing business, supporting more than 70,000 customers nationwide. It now provides flexible solutions for in-store, online and mobile payments, working with over 450 partners to offer integrated experiences that combine payments, banking, and lending. This approach helps businesses of all sizes scale with confidence.

Since adopting OnBoard by MVSI, the company has achieved what was once out of reach:

• Customer time to live has been shortened by 12 days, making same day onboarding a standard practice.

• 100% of merchants are engaged within the first 24 hours, ensuring every customer receives early support to stay informed, confident, and on track throughout the onboarding journey.

• More than 15,000 applications were onboarded with no human touch, allowing merchants to go live faster with less friction and delay.

• Operational headcount has been reduced by 6 FTE’s, allowing teams to focus on higher-value work and supporting the organisation’s growth, while driving improvements in the bottom line

With onboarding transformed from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage, the company now delivers faster activations, stronger compliance, and higher customer satisfaction. The result is a scalable, resilient business ready to lead in the evolving payments landscape.