A better question would be to ask who doesn't benefit.

If you consider the core constituents of the payments ecosystem there are Merchants, Software Companies, Sales Channels, and Service Providers. Any well-implemented payments platform must take into account the unique needs and requirements of each of these audiences that comprise the ecosystem.

Merchants: Ultimately, the end-user of the output of payment-enabled software is the merchant customer. Meeting their needs through highly-integrated solutions that provide the workflow, and services, that their business demands will result in a stickier, longer-life customer.

Software Companies: In 2005 PayPal performed a study that indicated that 45% of all merchants rely upon on their software company for payments acceptance decisioning. The study, while dated, was positive indication that even 4 years ago the importance of the Software Company was recognized. As "hardware" continue to translate into software (be it installed, on a device, embedded, etc) the need for the expertise of the Software Company will continue to increase. Similarly the Software Company is able to meet their customers demand much more quickly, securely, and completely than ever before.

Sales Channels: Those who sell professionally are a relatively simple component of a payments platform ecosystem to understand. More products will yield more customers and more opportunities to sell...thereby resulting in more revenue.

Payment Service Providers: At the risk of being overly blunt, gone are the days of assuming that proprietary specification yields customer longevity. When competing in a commoditized world, those who have a methodology for providing what their merchant customers demand...both services and software...will retain that customer. Service and offering is a competitive differentiation.

A brief diatribe to say...the only one who does not benefit is the organization (of any audience) that does not participate.

Posted by Tyler Hannan, 08/03/2010 12:28pm (2 years ago)