The importance of keeping up with the rapidly-evolving world of payment technology is a no-brainer for any ISV who wants to remain aggressive, successful and relevant. But which of these innovative payment solutions are the most essential to be competitive in a crowded ISV field?
Embracing developments in the payment software field can sometimes be tricky; not all innovations resonate with consumers and some fall well short of their initial promise. Here, we identify three of the most talked about pieces of technology in the payments industry. These pieces of emerging technology have created a lasting change in how consumers conduct transactions and how software developers can best address this new paradigm.
If you’re an ISV and you are not fully informed on these three major disruptors in the world of payments, you are running the serious risk of falling behind the competition.
- Wearables:
Consumers have begun to embrace wearable payment technology that frees them from having to carry a wallet or physical payment cards with them wherever they go. According to Visa, and the Wearable Payments Report by Tractica, the value of “payment volume via wearables is expected to grow to $501.1 billion, approximately 20 percent of all proximity payments, by 2020.”
Not only is the processing value of these transactions growing, so, too, are the devices from which consumers can make payments. Activity trackers and smart watches are still the most popular wearable devices, but payment technology is expanding into everything from jewelry to eyewear.
- Open API platforms:
The rising popularity of open API programming interface is a win/win for software developers and consumers. The publicly available application programming interface provides developers with access to a proprietary software application or web service.
What that means in simpler terms is open API platforms are a gateway which allows for easier integration for payment technology. Because of the flexibility and ease of this type of platform, ISVs are able to offer payment solutions to a broader base of potential customers from a wide variety of industries.
- Biometrics:
Data security is the top concern to consumers in the United States when it comes to payments. The rise of identity theft, data breaches and scams, such as card skimmers, has caused consumers to become less confident in the ability of merchants to secure their payment data. Biometrics technology in payments aims to help ease consumer fears.
The most common type of POS biometrics technology is fingerprint scanning, although facial recognition is gaining popularity as another biometric safety measure at the point of sale. The global value of biometrically-verified smartphone payment transactions across the globe is expected to exceed $210 billion in 2021, according to Visa.
Do you feel confident in your ability to educate your customers about what all of this emerging technology could mean for them and their business? Are you, as an ISV, prepared to offer these cutting-edge solutions to your customers? If the answer to any of these isn’t an immediate yes, reach out to our ISV team to learn more about how to take advantage of these technologies.
