A global payments processor stays on top of industry shifts

Situation

This client recognized that the global payments industry is large, multi-faceted and rapidly changing. New entrants and investors are drawn to recurring transaction revenue and the potential for technology-enabled disruption. Incumbents reach beyond their traditional role in the value chain and foster new alliances. These industry shifts are widely reported on, creating a deluge of information; payments professionals face a challenge in recognizing which of these headlines are most significant for their business strategy. Glenbrook was asked to provide a quarterly market scan to help the payments professionals within this global payments organization better understand changing payments trends and their relevance to the business.

Approach

Glenbrook developed a quarterly market scan that answered questions like:

What has happened lately? What new products, solutions, or alliances are emerging?
What is the pattern of recent developments? What is the trend? What kinds of disruptive threats are bubbling up from below?
Which pain is being addressed – what is the value add for payments networks?
How does it work? What is the technology approach? What is the go-to-market approach? How are network rules applied? How will it scale? What regulatory framework does it fall under? What is the business model?
Where is it offered? Online or at the point-of-sale? Mobile first? In which geographies?
Who is involved? Are there key enabling technology partners? Who else in the value chain participates? What are the motivations of key players? Can we discern the revenue share arrangements?
Which competing companies have entered this space? How are they faring?
Why is it significant? How will it impact your organization? How high is the threat level and why? Are specific products or markets at risk? Or is it a positive factor?
When is the impact likely to be felt by the market and by your organization? How urgent is the threat?
What tactical responses might your organization consider?

Impact

The scan process provided early warnings about key threats including gateway integration, closed loop processing and the rise of Buy Now Pay Later payments. The payments company absorbed key findings from the quarterly scans into their strategic plans. Notably, the client continued and expanded the scan to provide their payments professionals with ongoing market intelligence.