Outrun the bear! Differentiation is the way to compete with scale

With recent mega-mergers in the US market creating two stand-out payments giants in Fiserv (acquired FDR) and FIS (acquired Worldpay), competition in the market will heat up and put pressure on the smaller players simply due to the scale of the new organizations.

But all is not dark for the others. As with all large consolidations, it will take time for these organizations to rationalize their investments, product offerings and different technology platforms before the efficiencies of scale can be realized.

Size isn't everything

In a rapidly changing market, the ability to offer new payments and services is the key to survival.  Who knows what new payment experiences will prevail: Apple has now entered the payment card market; QR code usage continues to grow outside the North American market (see our recent blog on the Asian market), Pay By Bank, mobile payments and biometric technologies continue to improve.

Retailers continue to look for the most frictionless acceptance medium and the new shopping generation relies heavily on social media. With the right platform, the smaller players can compete and punch above their weight.

Speed beats power

The ability to innovate quickly and cheaply is becoming the mantra of today’s payment providers.  For sure, not all the new payment schemes will prevail but to ignore them could be very costly.  Equally, to have to re-engineer an entire payment platform for a new scheme could have dire consequences.

What’s the next big thing for payments is a tough question – is it Blockchain, Voice, Facial Recognition, QR code…?  For years the decline of the card has been predicted but even a disrupter like Apple has just launched a card-based payment product, albeit aimed more at a digital experience.

New cloud-native and service-based technologies enable this low-cost innovation.  To launch a new payment service quickly and cheaply is almost as important as exiting a scheme that does not deliver the anticipated rewards.  To connect with new FinTech partners offering new services and provide scale, reliability and security at the same time is a typically a CIO’s nightmare.

Join Renovite at TRANSACT 2019

We will be at TRANSACT in Las Vegas from April 30^th to May 2^nd. Come and find out how Renovite addresses the innovation challenge and enables you to compete effectively and reach the honey before everyone else.  We’ll be exhibiting at stand #2424.

Author: Rod Bungey, North America Sales Director