The payments landscape is no longer what it used to be: in the last decade, it has evolved considerably, and 2019 promises to be a turning point for professionals in payment roles. If in the past there was no other chance than being subservient to their payment providers, now Payments Managers have a concrete opportunity to break vendor lock-in, thanks to new-generation payment technologies. This point of view is supported by a recent research titled ‘The 7 Habits of Successful New Payments Leaders’ conducted by Edgar, Dunn & Company in cooperation with SafeCharge. It’s a fact that Payments Managers are more and more in control of their strategies and they want to be extremely flexible when it is time to choose their own acquirers, whether to optimise performance, access specific capabilities in some geographies, or reach the best authotisation rates.
Merchants are looking for a flexible, future-proof end-to-end solution, capable of integrating new technology innovations to capitalise on new business opportunities – such as the fast growing use of QR code-base payments –, as well as meeting the most challenging regulations brought by the likes of PSD2. This level of flexibility has been a utopia for a long time in the daily life of Payments Managers. Today, it is an affordable reality in their work routine thanks to pioneering payment partners willing to put these Managers in control and empowering them to achieve more.
New generation Payments Manager, new generation payment service partner
A smooth payment experience can set the foundation of a business success. It is no longer a matter of minimising costs and operational expenditures; the payment process is becoming a conversion driver and a revenue generator. With newer challenges posed by regulation, compliance and ever-changing consumer trends, Payments Managers are called to assume an increasingly strategic role and collaborate with the broader business on decision-making. Thanks to this new mindset, more and more Payments Managers have seized a well-deserved seat at the boardroom table.
SafeCharge has a mission: to help those managers in sitting comfortable around that table by unleashing the transformational capabilities of modern payment technology for their businesses. Our motto as SafeCharge is “Demand More” and we are constantly broadening our product portfolio with solutions that meet these new perspectives; as the recent Reconciliation Manager, a solution that enables merchants to reconcile payments and verify fees from several payment partners, and Identity Manager, a solution to smoothly authenticate customers online.
More providers, more service
Nowadays, Payments Managers are calling for a greater choice of acquiring options. SafeCharge is answering that call by offering a flexible payments infrastructure that gives the choice of routing transactions to other payment providers, allowing Payments Managers to break free of the vendor lock-in and design the most efficient payment route.
SafeCharge has developed one of the industry’s first Native+ Payments Engine.
Native, because it has been built from the ground-up as a platform to cover the full payment value chain, providing merchants with all the benefits of an end-to-end secure payment processing solution. And + because it also enables a connection to other payment and risk management providers. The Native+ Payments Engine puts merchants in control of their acquiring dynamic routing, risk management configuration, and payment methods configurations, managing it all directly on our platform.
Hot topics, cool solutions
With the fast technology and regulatory payment market evolution, Payments Managers expect greater flexibly, faster innovation, and new ways to comply to existing and new regulations. Being able to rapidly adapt to new market requirements, minimising any security risk without affecting a frictionless shopping experience also means staying in control of your payment strategy.
Payments Managers are looking to cut down time-to-market by adapting to new trends in the ecommerce landscape. QR code-based payment methods such as WeChat Pay and Alipay, for instance, are reshaping the buying culture of tech-savvy shoppers. Riding this wave of high-growth business opportunities is key, riding it fast is a must. The speed of implementation and the support provided by their payment partner will be the defining factor for businesses wanting to stay ahead of the curve and quickly implement innovative technologies for their customers.
SafeCharge’s operations are totally focused on putting merchants back in control. With a dedicated Point of Sale application, we help merchants to start accepting WeChat Pay and Alipay and get up and running in a matter of weeks.
SafeCharge also provides merchants with smart solutions to handle new regulation requirements, such as PSD2’s Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), which will become applicable in September 2019. SafeCharge is actively working with regulators, card schemes, and issuing banks to help create tools for businesses to take advantage of this new protocol. Our intention is to improve authentication processes, make SCA-compliant checkout flows as user-friendly as possible, and ultimately increase businesses authorisation rates. SafeCharge will support merchants with 3DS 2.0, Dynamic 3D Secure, and smart routing, which will help its customers to cleverly manage SCA exceptions and guarantee the safest customer experience and the highest possible conversion rates.
SafeCharge believes that payment leaders have a crucial role to play within organisations, contributing to not only increased revenues but also delivering the best customer experience, which becomes a key component of brands traction. SafeCharge CEO David Avgi’s vision is very clear: listen to merchants payment professional’s needs, and work closely with them to chart a new course for the future of payments.
This editorial was first published in our Payments and Commerce Market Guide 2018-2019. The Guide presents the key trends and developments in global and regional payment methods by highlighting the innovation, challenges, and developments in the use of the most important payment methods across geographies and verticals.
About Delphine Bos
In her role of CMO at SafeCharge, Delphine is driving all the company’s strategic and operational marketing. Delphine has over 15 years of experience in marketing of payments technologies and joined SafeCharge from Adyen, where she was Head of Global Marketing. Previously, Delphine worked at EMS Card, a First Data company, and at GlobalCollect (now Ingenico Payments), where she was leading marketing activities
About SafeCharge
SafeCharge is the payment service partner for the world’s most demanding businesses providing global omnichannel payments services from card acquiring and issuing to payment processing and checkout, all underpinned by advanced risk management solutions. With direct connections to all major payment card schemes as well as over 150 local payment methods, SafeCharge serves a diversified, blue chip client base and is a trusted payment partner for customers across a range of vertical markets.
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