Industry experts discuss how payment technology will develop in the future and how this will enhance the customer experience. If you ever operated a lemonade stand as a child, you are aware that three factors were essential to its success:
- Traffic
- Those looking to purchase
- Cash in Hand
(I’d also mention price point, but how many times have you declined a kid’s offer to buy lemonade because it was too expensive?)
Today, having cash available is no longer appropriate, and I’d argue that traffic isn’t either. All you have to do is publish something internet, and individuals from all over the world can purchase “virtual” lemonade. In the modern world, credit cards are becoming less common as more people choose to pay of their handset, watch, or Venmo instead of cash or cash equivalents. I wonder how far away biometric payments are now: After adding products to your cart and doing a short facial scan, you can leave.
New players will be keen to enter the market as payment technologies continue to advance. Therefore, we turned to former bankers for their opinions on what they think the future of payments will involve. What they said was as follows:
1. Virtually full digitalization
Authentication will be instantaneous and steps streamlined. It won’t be necessary to sign documents three times, send them by fax, or confirm their delivery if the human invention is required. There will still be paper money, but it will be used much less frequently.
The head technologist for payments at Red Hat, Ramon Villarreal, predicts that “conventional payments and money in hand will still exist in the long run, but e-wallets and invisible payments will infiltrate all levels of contemporary life for everyday transactions and important activities.”
2. Free selection
Customers will be given the option to use tap, biometric, chip, scan, or transmit as their preferred payment method. This opens up a wide range of potential business relationships between shops and companies. Additionally, businesses have the option of real-time processing or normal processing, and banks can benefit financially from both options.
3. Immediate knowledge
Consumers will no longer have to wait for access that is instantly current. Customers on a tight budget as well as wealthy clients will benefit from having an accurate real-time snapshot of their portfolio.
4. Freedom from geographical boundaries
With immediate access to funds, you can plan without fearing shifting exchange rates. You’ll know precisely how much you are spending and can plan more accurately.
“Breaking down all geographic boundaries, the differences in exchange rates and having it process the moment you need it to removes real or perceived barriers and provides a better customer experience,” says Peter Magnaye, financial services solution architect at Red Hat.
5. Global Single Validation
“For the payment to be completed and my identification and available funds to be verified, there should be a single piece of data. Nowhere in the world should matter where I am.”
On the go and lose your card? Simply log in to your account, instantly be validated, and receive a new card or fast access to funds. According to Cynthia Devaraj, financial solutions architect at Red Hat, “there should be one data point to identify my identification, verify my available cash, and to finalize the purchase.” No matter where I am in the world, it shouldn’t matter.
6. Transparency
Consider your home’s power. As long as it is secure and accessible when needed, you generally don’t care how it is transmitted. The same rule applies to access to money: the simpler it is to get, the better. It’s possible that you do not really know whose bank is offering the services.
According to Eric Marts, Red Hat’s industry lead for banking and payments, “shoppers will be farther detached from the active mental process of making a payment.” Get what you require, click Accept, and proceed.
Even though paying bills is a necessary aspect of life, few of us enjoy doing it. This is why hotels let you charge items to your room: seamless transactions increase spending and make consumers happier (at least until the bill comes due). The more undetectable the payments are, the happier your clients will be.
4 important issues
Ask yourself and your teams the following questions as you prepare for a digital future:
- What options do you wish to provide your customers?
- What should payments look like in the future, in your opinion? Look for intriguing findings and investigate the potential applications.
- Which options would benefit the following generation of customers the most?
- Do you have the proper individuals in the appropriate positions to make that happen?
Written by Future Frog