Capital One Gauges Payment Execs’ Tech Appetite

Capital One released a new survey Thursday (April 6) to uncover why payment professionals who aware of the benefits of new technologies are holding themselves back from actually adopting those tools.

The study, conducted by Capital One and the NAPCP — the Professionals Association for the Commercial Card and Payment Industry — found that payment professionals acknowledge the benefits of new technologies, including greater security, analytics, reduced costs and even new revenue streams.

But there are significant barriers to adoption of these tools, researchers found, mainly a lack of information available to make an adequate cost-benefit analysis, a lack of information about the technologies themselves and a lack of leadership commitment.

There are four key drivers of adoption of new technology, the report concluded, with more than 73 percent citing the simplification of payment demand as their key motivation. More than two-thirds also cited earned revenue share, while more than half pointed to reduced process costs. Increased security and controls were cited by 44 percent of professionals as a driver of implementation.

Capital One and the NAPCP also found patterns based on the size of the company in which a payments professional works.

For instance, professionals at businesses with more than $2 billion in revenue cited the financial benefits of new technologies as their top rationale for adoption; for businesses with revenue between $500 million and $1.9 billion, though, heightened efficiency and automation are the key drivers.

“Given the rapid pace of innovation we’ve witnessed in our industry, there is a lot for payment professionals to digest,” said NAPCP Managing Director Diane McGuire in a statement. “Our research points to the constructive role that industry associations like NAPCP can play in educating enterprise leaders about the value of new payment technologies while at the same time keeping payment and procurement professionals informed about new payment technologies as they emerge.”

In another statement, Capital One Head of Commercial Card Product and Strategy Rajsaday Dutt said there is a “thirst for knowledge” among payment professionals when it comes to exploring and potentially adopting new technologies.