In May 2023, Brian Butts joined the CardFlight team as Chief Technology Officer. Brian is a seasoned executive who has brought over two decades of experience in technology leadership and management to the team.
I recently spoke with Brian about his view of software-based payment systems and the vision for SwipeSimple. This is an excerpt of that conversation.
From your experience in the payments industry, what are the biggest changes that software has made?
Software-based payment solutions give small businesses the ability to offer a check-out payment experience that is competitive with larger enterprises. From less expensive hardware, instant payment processing and access to reporting and the ability to take payments in diverse ways, a wide range of features are now easily available to all merchants.
SwipeSimple has grown into a feature-rich product that over 125,000 small businesses use to take payment. What is the technical vision and roadmap for the product?
The most important vision is for SwipeSimple to continue to bring value to small businesses who simply need to accept payments. At CardFlight, we constantly scan the horizon for feature enhancements and product expansion that enable business owners to accept payments in all the ways their customers want to pay.
We believe that the small business owners we serve best have a lot of things to worry about every day. Trying to figure out how to accept payment from a customer’s watch or through a digital link embedded in an email or website shouldn’t be one of them. That is what guides our team as we think about expanding SwipeSimple.
We will continue to announce features in the coming months that we believe SwipeSimple merchants and our partners will be eager to adopt. Stay tuned!
So, the “simple” in SwipeSimple comes down to keeping things simple for the merchant…
Yes, exactly. As I get to know the team and the technical platform, I can see how the growth in the type and size of merchants using SwipeSimple can be attributed to our rigor in anchoring to simplicity and accessibility. Fancy is fun, but removing things that get in the way of merchants being able to accept payments easily and keep the check-out process moving quickly are of the highest priority for our technical team.
How is that commitment to simplicity demonstrated in helping our partners who sell SwipeSimple?
At CardFlight, we place as much attention on removing friction for our network of merchant acquirers, financial institutions, and ISOs as we do in creating a simple product for merchants. Through RAMP [SwipeSimple Reporting and Management Portal] we make it easy to onboard merchants. And, we work closely with your team, Natalia, to ensure that partners can seamlessly leverage our payment solutions within their ever growing customer base.
Let’s end on a personal note. How do you as a leader of a large team of engineers balance out your life? What is catching your attention outside of work these days?
Well, there is the day-to-day of parenting teenagers, which keeps me busy. And, as a resident of Georgia, the final days of the baseball season have my attention. I hope everyone is ready for our Atlanta Braves to make another World Series run this year. It’s going to be an exciting October!
