October 10, 2016 • Issue 16:10:01

Postcards from payments 2026

                                                               and big data. "Even though our imaginations were way
                                                               out in the future, the exercise revealed new possibilities
                                                               for near-future application of these technologies," she said.
                                                               "I cannot wait to apply this technique and this level of
                                                               thinking to the leasing and equipment finance industry."

By Dale S. Laszig                                              A good way to begin thinking more creatively is to look
                                                               at the future, then work your way back to today, so you
W hat does the future hold for payments?                       can determine what areas to invest in, Medich and Watson
                  This topic has sparked lively debate around  stated. The Green Sheet asked payments industry leaders to
                  boardrooms and dinner tables across          imagine they could teleport themselves to the year 2026,
                  America. Senior executives customarily       observe payments' future landscape, and send postcards
look ahead, observing industry trends as they endeavor         back to their current co-workers or to their present-day
to bring timely solutions to market and move their com-        selves. What would they see? Here are their perspectives
panies forward. Merchant level salespeople also spend          on our collective future.
significant time thinking about the future, knowing first-
hand that building a book of business requires skill sets      Digitz Solutions Inc.
and leadership qualities comparable to those needed to
manage ISOs and other payments enterprises.                    There is no such thing as "merchant services reps" selling
                                                               to single merchants using a Verifone machine or virtual
Build new worlds                                               terminal provided by a processor. Instead, merchants use
                                                               niche software to operate more efficiently, and processing
Science Fiction Design Intelligence (SciFiDi), a workshop      a payment is simply baked in as part of that service; that is,
hosted by Singularity University, offered techniques for       if you are a payment provider baked into popular business
imagining the future. Jody Medich and Carin Watson,            operation software, you win - BIG. If not, well, you are
Singularity University's Director of Design and Executive      SOL!
Vice President of Learning and Innovation, respectively,
showed a diverse audience techniques for using science                                               – Laura Wagner, CEO, 8/4/26
fiction as a "deliberate innovation tool" to "help solve
complex challenges purposefully and creatively,                Harbortouch Payments LLC
experiment with unexpected variables, and embrace the
future's ambiguity."                                           In 2026, payments are predominantly digitized, and
                                                               physical credit cards are only used in rare situations. The
Deborah Reuben, founder and principal at Reuben Creative       digital credit card is embedded in our desktop computers,
LLC, who attended the workshop, described an immersive,        laptops, smartphones tablets and wearables, so there is
interactive experience that helped her visualize a future      little need to ever take out a physical card from our wallet.
where life and virtual reality are seamlessly integrated
and powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning       Contributed articles inside by:

                                                               Brandes Elitch.........................................................................................28
                                                               John Tucker..............................................................................................39
                                                               Jeff Fortney..............................................................................................42
                                                               Adam Hark...............................................................................................45
                                                               Adam Atlas...............................................................................................46

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