How to Be a Payments Trailblazer – The Seven Habits of Highly Innovative Organizations


Monday, September 09, 2019
Posted by Michael Grillo to Low Value Real Time Payments, Bill Pay, Secure eCommerce, Omni Commerce, Consumer Payments, High Value Real Time Payments
Share this:
The new Culture of Innovation Index from Ovum and ACI identified segments—from banks to intermediaries to merchants to corporates—at the cutting edge (of innovation) across the payments ecosystem. But what is most notable about those segments that have reached ‘trailblazing’ status is the apparent lack of commonality between them. No one segment, nor one region fosters better innovation. In fact, what’s driving these segments/organizations to be best of breed is their own culture of excellence. The only thing they have in common is their attitude.
1. Enterprise-Wide Innovation
Those organizations at the top of their game have a strong central function tasked with driving innovation. This does not mean that it is limited to a single innovation team, but it does signify that digital transformation is well resourced, managed and executed.
2. Empowerment of Employees
Trailblazers are more likely to foster a culture of innovation at both the individual and team level throughout that enterprise-wide vision. Creative inputs are sourced from across the business to collaboratively shape new product and service ideas.
3. Technology Literacy
There’s a difference between being tech-led, and understanding how to take advantage of new and emerging technologies that enable your innovation strategy. Trailblazers prioritize technologies that allow them to ‘fail fast’ and ‘fail forward’ to support an agile innovation culture and develop a competitive edge.
4. Productization Prioritization
Every organization wants to bring new products and services to market, but the degree to which they are successful and how they drive this success is a key differentiator for Trailblazers. Leaders in innovation articulate the importance of delivery to market, and internally reward high-performance in this area.
5. Training for Transformation
Industry leaders understand the (potentially untapped) value of their human resources and reorganize to release it. This means training every employee to support new product and service development, whatever their role. In a well-oiled innovation machine, every cog has a part to play.
6. Comprehensive Cloud Plans
Trailblazers have a clearly articulated cloud strategy, particularly around public cloud and leveraging it for payments. This includes capitalizing on new cloud technologies, including containerization and microservices. They want to be first movers—not fast followers—reaping the rewards of public cloud.
7. Customer Centric Agility
Agile work processes are not a new phenomenon, but the level of flexibility that organizations have developed via their agile aspirations is the difference between trailblazing and lagging. Agility across technology and team mindsets is crucial to the ability to pivot in line with rapidly evolving customer demands and deliver ahead of the competition.
Is your organization a digital trailblazer or a laggard? Find out how to encourage a culture of innovation by completing the Ovum Culture of Innovation Index. Click here to get started.
Related Blog Posts
Grocery Shoppers Show Omnivorous Appetite for Omni-Channel
Digital acceleration and the massive growth in eCommerce sales in 2020 have not gone unnoticed by those in the connected world. Largely driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, ACI Worldwide data analysis showed that global online sales in the general retail sector were up 209 percent in April and 81 percent in May (compared to the previous year), and overall eCommerce sales continued to show an uplift of more than 20 percent compared to a year earlier in November.
Merchants Don’t Need a Payments Gateway, They Need a Payments Hub
The term “payments gateway” over-simplifies what it takes to process a payment. The terminology comes from the early days of online payment processing, but has now entered the vernacular for all aspects of merchant payments, including online, mobile and in-store.
How to Recession-Proof Your Retail Business in 2021
2020 has been a challenging year for retailers; many were — understandably — unprepared to deal with the pandemic. With millions of people in the U.K. in lockdown, consumers and businesses have had to change the way they work and live, and the way they shop and pay.
Adding Fuel to the Fraud Fire
Payments fraud is a widespread and difficult issue in the fuel segment. Fuel dispensers are a common target for certain types of fraud – and fuel merchants often lack visibility into the level and impact of that fraud.
The Rise of “Invisible Payments” in Latin America
For retailers throughout LATAM (and the world), driving sales and loyalty depends on keeping up with top payment trends, which are invariably driven by consumer demands. “Invisible payments” is an emerging trend that is already paying benefits for a host of retailers — and it could be a game-changer for Latin America.
Agnosticity: Giving Fuel Merchants the Freedom and Flexibility to Innovate
The absolute minimum that customers demand from their transaction at the fuel stop is a fast, convenient and secure payments experience. But there is also room for fuel merchants to build loyalty and boost upselling by delivering more than just a good price on fuel and a fast payments process.
Could COVID-19 Be India’s Cashless Catalyst?
India’s push towards a digital economy has accelerated over the years, with a supportive regulatory environment, home-grown technologies and innovation around digital infrastructure improving “last mile” connectivity to the remote towns and rural areas of the country. While the “Digital India” drive has been consistent, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the true value of digitization for businesses and consumers alike. It is a watershed moment and has fast-tracked the pace of digital adoption, particularly for payments, which now plays a critical role in economic recovery.
Platform Driven Payments Can Drive Improved Profitability for Fuel and Convenience Store Merchants
Those of us who drive often don’t think too much about refueling our cars unless or until our tanks are nearing empty. And as long as the price is acceptable and the transaction efficient, a quick, convenient fill up is all we need.
Only One-Third of Major Fuel Merchants Have Fully Implemented EMV and 20 Percent are Still in the Planning Stage
Earlier this year, we blogged about the issue of EMV implementation in the U.S. fuel sector and the fraud issues fuel merchants can expect to see if they’re not ready by the extended April 2021 deadline.
Omni-Commerce Is Heating Up the Merchant Token Revolution
Merchants around the world have embraced the wisdom of keeping sensitive customer data (such as card numbers) out of their own environments, with tokens emerging as the tool of choice to bridge the gap. Merchant functions — including reservations, returns, reporting, rewards, research, reconciliation and more — have typically required access to sensitive data, but a series of high-profile breaches has highlighted the need to store card numbers in tightly secured safe harbors.