Situation

Glenbrook assisted a leading multinational grocer wrestling with the increasing challenges of payment acceptance, handling, and processing. The stability of their payment gateway provider had become a serious and costly concern. Frequent outages were costing them millions of dollars in lost transactions due to server downtown, unreliable system configurations and failed database updates. Our client was seeking to first solve the short-term operational issues and secondarily to develop a longer-term strategy and capabilities roadmap based on industry developments and subsequent payment needs.

Approach

Glenbrook worked closely with the client to deep dive into existing system components, configuration, and operations of their current and planned payments acceptance capabilities. Once the information gathering and initial assessment was complete, Glenbrook conducted a more thorough analysis of the options generally available to other large multi-store retailers. The evaluation included addressing processing redundancies, expansion of credit acceptance, and PCI compliance. In the second phase of work, Glenbrook further evaluated payment acceptance best practices, the strategic role of payments and conducted a gap analysis to understand the potential growth opportunities that would inform the recommended payments roadmap. To conclude its efforts, Glenbrook then lead the client through a vendor analysis process to identify a processing partner best positioned to assist the client with their longer-term strategic growth plans.

Impact

Glenbrook provided our client with thoughtful guidance to immediately shore up offline processing capabilities supported new tender types. Glenbrook identified system architecture improvements to increase reliability and expand flexibility. After fighting lengthy processor downtime at store checkout operations, the new commercial arrangement was expected to provide secure and robust payment handling and save the client over 30% in annual operating costs.