Independent Sales Organizations (ISOs) play a central role in merchant cash advance (MCA) funding, submitting complete deal packets to funders for review. These packets include bank statements, tax returns, application forms, IDs, and supporting documents.
Manually receiving and organizing these submissions through shared inboxes or portals creates bottlenecks, slows underwriting, and introduces the risk of lost or duplicate deals.
Heron automates the intake of ISO submission packets by capturing every inbound email, attachment, or upload and converting them into structured records. Each packet is identified, logged, and routed to the correct workflow, with no manual sorting or data entry.
This automation allows funders and brokers to maintain complete visibility across submissions, shorten turnaround time, and remove repetitive clerical work from daily operations.
Use Cases
- Capture submissions from shared inboxes: Heron monitors underwriting@ or submissions@ mailboxes and automatically detects new ISO packets as they arrive.
- Organize attachments into deal packets: All related attachments, including bank statements and applications, are grouped together based on sender and subject line.
- Tag and route by source ISO: The system identifies which ISO or broker submitted the deal and applies consistent tagging in the CRM.
- Prevent lost or duplicate deals: Each packet is assigned a unique ID, ensuring that no deal gets processed twice or left untracked.
- Generate intake acknowledgments: Heron can send an automatic “received” confirmation email to the submitting ISO.
- Support API-based submissions: For ISOs using portals, Heron can receive submissions directly via secure API connections.
Each of these scenarios replaces manual email monitoring with structured, automated workflows that maintain consistency and speed.
Operational Impact
Automating ISO packet intake yields measurable improvements in operational metrics.
- Speed: New submissions are captured and logged within seconds of arrival.
- Accuracy: Correctly links all documents to the right deal or merchant.
- Visibility: Teams gain a real-time dashboard of received, pending, and missing packets.
- Reduced manual effort: No need to manually download attachments or create new records.
- Fewer errors: Elimination of human sorting mistakes and duplicate handling.
Teams using Heron typically cut their intake time by 80% while doubling submission throughput without additional staff.
Integration With Document Workflows
Heron’s intake process acts as the gateway to all subsequent steps in the underwriting lifecycle.
- Upstream: Captures incoming ISO submissions from email, portal, or API.
- Midstream: Hands off structured packets for scrubbing, completeness checks, and validation.
- Downstream: Writes clean deal data and metadata into CRMs such as Salesforce or HubSpot.
- Feedback loop: Missing-info automation engages brokers when packet completeness fails.
- Exception handling: Incomplete or ambiguous packets are flagged for review, not lost in inboxes.
- Audit trail: Every intake event is timestamped and logged for compliance and performance tracking.
This structure ensures every submission moves seamlessly from intake to decision.
Governance and Compliance Controls
Handling ISO submissions involves sensitive business and financial data, requiring careful control.
- SOC 2-compliant data handling: Intake follows enterprise-grade security standards.
- Access restrictions: Only authorized users can view or manage intake queues.
- Encryption: All attachments and messages are encrypted in transit and at rest.
- Activity logging: Every intake, upload, and routing decision is logged with timestamps.
- Error management: Failed or incomplete intakes are surfaced immediately in the dashboard.
- Data retention: ISO submission data follows funder-defined storage and purge policies.
These controls maintain full auditability and data protection throughout the submission process.
Collaboration and Broker Experience
Automated intake also improves transparency and collaboration between funders and their ISO partners.
- Instant acknowledgment: Brokers receive confirmation that their packet was received and logged.
- Missing-info requests: If something is missing, Heron automatically sends a templated follow-up.
- Submission visibility: Both parties can see submission status updates in real time.
- Fewer follow-ups: Reduces unnecessary emails and calls between brokers and funders.
- Faster decision cycles: Brokers receive quicker responses and build stronger relationships with funders.
This creates a smoother end-to-end experience for all parties involved.
Implementation Best Practices
To get the most from ISO packet intake automation, teams should follow consistent setup practices.
- Centralize submissions: Direct all ISO submissions to one or two monitored inboxes.
- Train brokers: Communicate preferred subject line or file-naming conventions for better automation accuracy.
- Review exception rules: Regularly audit flagged items to fine-tune the intake model.
- Integrate early: Connect Heron’s intake directly to your CRM or underwriting tools to avoid manual bridging.
- Monitor performance: Track metrics such as queue time, packet completeness rate, and error frequency.
- Expand gradually: Start with top ISOs and add more partners once workflows stabilize.
These steps help maximize accuracy and minimize transition friction for both teams and brokers.
Benefits of Using Heron for ISO Submission Intake
- Speed: Capture and organize new packets instantly.
- Accuracy: Automatically detect and group related files.
- Visibility: Gain real-time insight into submission flow and broker activity.
- Scalability: Handle hundreds of packets a day without increasing staff.
- Transparency: Improve ISO relationships through faster feedback and status clarity.
Heron turns messy inbox submissions into structured, trackable records that keep funding pipelines moving efficiently.
FAQs About Intake for ISO Submission Packets
How does Heron detect new ISO submissions?
Heron continuously monitors designated mailboxes and portals, recognizing new packets through sender identity, keywords, and attachment patterns.
Can Heron organize attachments automatically?
Yes. The system groups all related attachments from a single submission, such as bank statements, tax returns, and IDs, into a unified packet.
What happens if an ISO sends a partial packet?
Heron flags incomplete submissions and sends an automated missing-info request to the ISO, keeping queues free of partial deals.
Can Heron integrate with existing CRMs?
Absolutely. Heron writes intake data and packet details directly into connected CRMs like Salesforce or HubSpot, updating records automatically.
How does this improve broker communication?
Brokers receive confirmation emails, clear missing-info requests, and faster updates, which strengthens relationships and speeds funding cycles.
