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Insights and Expertise

duce new challenges that merchants must be prepared to
identify and manage.
Beyond disputes: AI behind the scenes
The organizations with strong operational intelligence
Dispute management is one of several places where will be far better positioned to adapt. But those relying on
AI can work quietly behind the transaction. Payments fragmented reporting and reactive processes will strug-
companies and merchants can also apply it to fraud gle. As I often tell merchants: you cannot manage what
monitoring, underwriting, reconciliation, compliance you cannot see.
and customer-service operations.
Turning insight into action
The common denominator is volume. These functions This is the AI opportunity the payments industry contin-
generate more data, exceptions and repetitive ues to underestimate. Not the assistant at the front of the
decisions than employees can efficiently evaluate customer journey but the intelligence engine operating be-
one by one. AI can help identify anomalies, prioritize hind every transaction.
cases for human review and uncover patterns that AI and machine learning are increasingly capable of
might otherwise remain buried. identifying patterns, surfacing emerging risks, reducing
manual workloads and helping organizations make faster,
The value, then, isn't necessarily replacing human better-informed decisions. In dispute management, those
judgment. It's directing that judgment where it capabilities are particularly valuable because they address
matters most—while automating routine work and a challenge many merchants still struggle to solve inde-
giving decision-makers a clearer view of what is pendently: turning vast amounts of transaction and dis-
happening across the business. pute data into actionable insight.

The outcomes are measurable:
Identifying which disputes are likely to be won, recogniz-
ing emerging fraud signals, understanding the root causes • Improved dispute win rates
of chargebacks and measuring performance across large • Actionable insights
transaction portfolios all require a level of visibility that
many organizations simply do not have. • Increased authorization rates
• Reduced manual workloads
Many merchants lack the internal tools or expertise need- • Better visibility.
ed to generate this level of insight independently and
therefore rely on third-party providers to bridge that gap. These results come from treating dispute intelligence as
an operational intelligence challenge.
As dispute environments become more complex, continu-
ously measuring performance and responding to real- Where payments should focus next
time feedback is becoming a competitive necessity rather
than an operational advantage. The industry is focused on growth, AI and new commerce
models and it should be. But the merchants that thrive
Agentic commerce raises the stakes over the next decade will not simply be the organizations
deploying the most sophisticated customer-facing tech-
The report also points to the emergence of agentic com- nology. But those that can see, measure and improve per-
merce, where AI systems increasingly assist with product formance in real time.
discovery, purchasing decisions and transaction execu-
tion. Much of the discussion around agentic commerce They will understand why disputes are happening, where
focuses on convenience and efficiency. Those benefits are risks are developing and what actions produce measurable
real. But from a merchant perspective, agentic commerce results. That is where AI is already creating value today
also highlights why operational visibility matters. and that is also where operational intelligence becomes a
competitive advantage. Because in payments, growth mat-
As transactions become more sophisticated, merchants ters but understanding what happens after the transaction
need a clearer understanding of what is happening matters just as much.
throughout the customer journey and how those changes
affect dispute activity, fraud patterns and revenue recov-
ery. Monica Eaton is the founder and CEO of Chargebacks911 and Fi911, as
well as Chief Information Officer of Global Risk Technologies. Monica
When AI systems become more involved in purchasing has worked tirelessly to educate merchants and financial institutions
decisions, questions related to authorization, accountabil- about hidden threats in the rapidly changing payment fraud landscape.
ity and dispute resolution inevitably become more com- For more information, visit www.chargebacks911.com, https://fi911.
plex. Existing frameworks were built around traditional com/ or reach out via LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/monicaeatoncar-
transaction behaviors. New commerce models will intro- done.

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