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The certainties of process. The clever bit is the manner in which the evolution
takes place to meet the need of the moment.
life – and payments Support on multiple fronts

In a world where infection control has become the new
battleground, customers want touch-free experiences at
the checkout, coupled with online or mobile shopping
options that offer curbside collection or delivery. To
facilitate this, providers have responded to the need of
merchants and end customers and have been working to
support them on four fronts:

1. New shopping interactions: Deploying the latest
payment technology to ensure customers stay engaged
and are provided with a shopping experience that is
both compelling and safe.

2. Managing cashflow: Providing tools to help
better manage cashflow and give greater insight into
consumer spending and behavior.
By Simon Fairbairn
Ingenico Group EMEA 3. Fraud: Maintaining an absolute focus on security and
fraud prevention to ensure customers and merchants
n his 1789 letter to French physicist Jean Baptiste can continue to invest their trust at the point at which
Leroy, Benjamin Franklin, a founding father of the they make or take a payment.
Unites States, declared that in this world nothing
I can be said to be certain except death and taxes. 4. Transforming payment operations: Redefining
Well, he was close but, sadly, no cigar for this one any- the payment value chain to help figure out what
more. The one he missed, which to be fair was clearly functionality or features to operate as a service, what to
around in his time, is payments. manage in-house or to outsource, and what role cloud
technologies, micro services, APIs, automation and big
No matter where you turn or what you try to do in this data could play in their operation. There is no one-size-
world, regardless of time zone, continent, culture or fits-all response, but payment-platform as-a-service
creed, payments make the world go round. It might have (PPaaS) can expedite this transformation, simplifying
been conch shells, two goats and a chicken, or a fistful of the integration and delivery of multiple elements of the
dollars, but payments and payment processing were, and transaction process.
continue to be, on the go pretty much everywhere. So, add
payments to the shortlist of death and taxes. So, whatever the ills of the world, the payments industry
is here to stay for some time yet. What it looks like or how
The enduring nature of payments it operates will undoubtedly change, but I think this will
be for the better, adjusting, as always, to the needs of the
So why make the point now? Well, in a world where every day.
new day brings a new normal, it is easy to feel a little queasy
with what our new world will look like. The doomsayers
will have you believe that the world will go to hell in a Simon Fairbairn is head of professional services / Ingenico Group EMEA.
handcart; the revolutionists declare that everything will Take a look around the new Payments Landscape in this Ingenico
change, and that things as we know them will not persist. white paper with a special focus on the impacts to consumer behav-
iour: www.ingenico.com/payment-landscape-new-normal. To reach
In reality, the truth is always somewhere in between. What Simon, please email simon.fairbairn@ingenico.com.
we do know is that payments will ride the ebb and flow of
the situation, dropping in scale as the markets move into
lockdown and growing back out as the situation relaxes. The doomsayers will have you
This is important, as in a world in flux, it's difficult to
know where to place your bets. Right now, payments are believe that the world will go to
an economic necessity and, as such, are probably one of hell in a handcart; the revolutionists
the safest bets. Along with death and taxes, of course.
declare that everything will change,
So how do payments retain their relevance? Quite simple and that things as we know
really, by adjusting to what the market needs. So long as
people need stuff and are willing to trade to get it, they them will not persist.
need a safe, trustworthy mechanism to facilitate the

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