For today’s digitally-native consumers, who expect ease and convenience with banking and financial services, Digital-First payments can deliver secure and superior experiences that make their everyday lives easier. Customers have expectations that are driven by increasingly swift rounds of innovation in financial services, so payments need to meet their requirement for seamless, integrated and Digital-First services, as well as be able to adapt rapidly to emerging trends. This also means that merchants are now under pressure to accept new payment tools online and in-store to reduce friction with customers. As a result of continued growth in online commerce and cashless transactions (which has seen an accelerated take up post-COVID-19) payment platforms must also scale up to accommodate an increasing volume of digital payments, forcing firms to invest in new systems. As a result, the industry has witnessed a shift to cloud-based payment platforms.

Digital-First payments means utilising a genuine end-to-end digital solution that facilitates digital payment experiences for consumers through multiple channels, be it card issuance or financial management. However, as technology began to intensify the pace of change in payments, FIs and merchants typically tend to use individual technology projects to address specific operational areas like fraud, new product development or customer service. This has led to a fragmented ontology of systems, processes and technology in payments, which is inefficient and costly, impeding the quality of customer experience and leaving most in a hybrid state.

The advantage of cloud services is that it creates a platform on which all service areas are converged, meaning technology is applied to business requirements in a systematic way creating enormous simplification for all users.

This eBook demonstrates that it is possible for FIs and merchants to deliver on all of these customer expectations, as well as ensuring that their business exceeds and excels at security, regulatory and compliance, and is commercially attractive in an age of higher capital costs and a renewed focus on spending discipline. The eBook is not about one technique or technology stack, it is written with the intention of helping senior decision-makers in payments come to smarter strategic decisions as they think about and commission their future business.