Gaining visibility into the employment data of your users (translation: your customers) is critical to the work you do. But traditional points of access like employment record aggregators (read: Equifax) and paystub uploads are clunky, cost inefficient, and susceptible to fraud, not to mention limited in terms of their breadth and accuracy.
Argyle is different. We’re a software gateway to employment data that businesses like yours can use to instantly verify users’ income and employment, gain transparency into their earnings, autofill application forms, and so much more.
How Does Argyle Work?
We provide the technology that makes it possible for your users to grant you access to the real-time data stored in their payroll accounts. With Argyle, the data you get is secure, scrubbed, organized, and high-fidelity, putting you in the best position to optimize your workflows, assess risk, and make smart business decisions. Best of all, we do it with your users’ fully informed consent, setting the stage for a healthy and lasting relationship.
In addition to being good for user relations, making consent part of your standard operating procedures will future-proof your web page, app, or system from the major privacy regulations coming down the pike. Experts agree that the legislative precedents set by the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which establish that users own their own data, will eventually force the rest of the country—and your business—to stop buying data from aggregators and start getting serious about data privacy. With Argyle, you’re already there.
Change Expectations
We bet you’re thinking, “That sounds great, but enacting business-wide change is no walk in the park. Is Argyle as easy to set up and use as it is beneficial?” The short, emphatic answer is, “Yes!”
We’ve made it simple and quick to give Argyle a try and then, when you’re ready, to integrate Argyle with your existing systems and processes. Here’s what that looks like.
1. Play in the Sandbox
To give you a better feel for how Argyle works, we created a testing environment (aka, a sandbox) that simulates how your users will experience Argyle once it’s up and running.
To access the sandbox, you’ll need to set up a free Argyle Console account. Argyle Console is our web-based interface that you can access from any desktop or mobile device.
Once you’re logged in, navigate to the Emulator in the left-hand menu. This is where you can test out our flagship, user-facing experience, Argyle Link, to get a sense of what your users will see when you ask them to connect their payroll platform to your system. The Emulator also gives you the opportunity to play around with mock data, like you would receive from your users.
Simply follow the prompts, and use the dummy credentials provided to the right of the module to mimic the steps your users will take.
Keep in mind that the way Argyle Link displays in Emulator is not exactly how it would appear to your users. Argyle Link can be customized with your copy, button arrangements, and employer logins, so users will never know they are interacting with Argyle and not your brand.
2. Connect Your First User
Ready to put Argyle to the test in real life? There are two ways to connect users’ payroll accounts to your system.
One way is through your own website or app via the developer-friendly Argyle API.
The other way is through Argyle Console, our no-code solution.
Argyle Console is our quick-start method, and we recommend you start there, even if only to see everything in action before committing development resources to API integration.
Feeling a little out of your element? Remember, we’re always available to answer questions and get you started, just give us a holler.
To connect a user with Argyle Console, log in to your Console account and toggle from sandbox mode to production mode (located in the left sidebar). This step requires a contract with Argyle. If you don’t already have one, contact Argyle to set up a no-risk, unlimited use pilot.
In production mode, navigate to Data Viewer. From there, you can send a customized connection request by email or text to the user of your choice. (If you’re not ready to involve an actual user, you can always send a request to a coworker—or yourself—just to see how things work.)
That’s it. The user will then receive your request, and as soon as they go through the Argyle Link process, you’ll receive the data you need to verify their income and employment—and more. Once an account is connected, you can view a user’s employment data through the Data Viewer, our no-code visualization platform, or call our API to retrieve endpoint-specific JSON payloads.
Where to Next?
If income and employment verification satisfies your needs, you can continue to send requests and receive data through Argyle Console (we’ll just want to set everyone on your team up with their own accounts).
If you’re interested in leveraging Argyle’s more advanced capabilities (e.g., direct deposit switching, paycheck distribution, application autofill, etc.), or you want to build a more seamless and automated user experience that speaks directly to your system or application (e.g., incorporating Argyle Link into an automated decision-making platform for instant credit approval), you’ll want to integrate our API. It’s a slightly more involved process, but still easy—we promise.
3. The Ins & Outs of Integration
A software engineer or developer can integrate Argyle Link with your website or app in an afternoon. Our API documentation offers plenty of implementation examples and clear, thorough instructions for building your own integration. That said, if at any point your team needs help, we’re always available to answer questions, walk them through the coding process, and provide custom coding solutions. Just email [email protected], and we’ll lend you a hand.
Don’t have an engineer or developer on staff? Don’t sweat it. We’re also happy to fully integrate Argyle with your system on your behalf. Email [email protected] to make the request.
Once integration is complete, Argyle Link will be embedded in your website or app, and your users will be automatically prompted to engage with it at a predetermined point in your user journey. Just as you may have seen in the Link Emulator, your users will be walked through the easy process of securely connecting their income and employment records. After a user connects, their data can be continuously streamed to your system, if needed, to achieve your objectives.
Here’s a look at how Argyle Link functions on the Greenville Insurance website. Notice how it’s designed to blend seamlessly with the Greenville Insurance interface.
Once Argyle Link is up and running, you also have the option to perform even more sophisticated functions that optimize your work. Talk to your Argyle representative (or fill out this form to chat with someone on our team) about identifying which complementary Argyle features may be right for you.
4. Before You Integrate
When it comes to optimizing your Argyle integration, a little planning goes a long way. Before you take off running, it will be to your benefit to talk with your team about how you want to use employment data moving forward.
Identifying how you want to use employment data will help you determine how you can optimize your use of Argyle and where Argyle best fits in your user journey. Here are some questions to fuel your internal conversation:
How can you best optimize for conversion?
To reduce friction, only siphon your customers to Argyle Link who you know we cover. If they work for a covered employer, drop them straight into the login screen. This can improve conversion from ~25% to ~65%.
What do you want to do with the data?
With Argyle, you’ll have access to 120 fields of employment data—things like job title, hire date, income level, earned income, work activity (i.e., shifts worked), and more. How would you like to leverage that information to your advantage? Are you going to use it to make a decision about your users? Are you going to use it to compute something you’d like to show users? Are you going to use it on an ongoing basis to charge users a certain amount of money?
Where in your existing process does it make the most sense to display Argyle Link?
Some Argyle customers find that sending emails from Argyle Console makes the most sense for them. Others integrate Argyle Link into their onboarding process, when users create new accounts, or in users’ account settings. If you’re unsure, think about where in your current process you want to receive employment data, and where it’s simplest to get that information. Is it right upfront? Is it after you’ve already done some screening and filtering? Is it when you’re asking users to fill out an application?
There are important considerations to make as you talk through these issues. We can help facilitate the conversation and make recommendations specific to your business needs.
Concerned about security and privacy?
Us, too. That’s why we’ve built Argyle in accordance with government-grade global compliance, security, and legal standards. Powered by Google KMS, we keep all data encrypted at rest at RSA 4096 (the same encryption grade used by the U.S. Military) with SHA-256 signing and stored using kubeseal secret management services. We’re also a Designated Data Transfer Agent, which means we refuse to aggregate, resell, or re-use users’ private data under any circumstances.
Next Steps
In summary, here’s a quick breakdown of how to get the ball rolling:
Set up an Argyle Console account.
Familiarize yourself with the Argyle Link Emulator.
Connect your first user.
Chat with your team about your employment data hopes and dreams (moderated by Argyle, if that would be helpful).
Lay out an integration plan and get building.
Resource Quick Links
Have questions or need some additional guidance? Contact Argyle
