The modernization of infrastructure and technology is critical to respond to changes in the market, Discover Global Network VP Judith McGuire writes in the new PYMNTS eBook, “2023 Payments New Year’s Resolutions.”
As we usher in the new year, we recognize that we are stepping into a “new normal” in which the past is not as good an indicator of the future as it once was. 2022 witnessed the return to everyday life since the pandemic began, but from both a macro and microeconomic perspective, that life is not the same as prior to the pandemic. Well-established economic indicators are pointing toward a recession, but other behavioral data in the credit market are not showing recessionary impacts. Consumer behavior was forced to shift because of the pandemic, and many of those changes will not shift back to pre-pandemic status quo. The payments industry is no exception to this “new normal.” As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus noted, “Change is the only constant in life.” From consumer expectations to the latest digital reinventions, the payments ecosystem needs to evolve. We cannot predict the future as easily as we could prior to the pandemic, and so we must place some bets on the direction of the industry and be nimble to respond to further shifts. In this new year, we are challenged to modernize our systems and technical capabilities to meet the demands of this paradigm shift. Those in the industry that are facing technical debt with legacy systems will find it harder to deliver what consumers demand.
The modernization of infrastructure and technology is critical to respond to changes in the market as quickly as possible. With a modernized tech stack in place, the business foundation can respond to industry and consumer behavior changes quicker and scale more efficiently. For those in the payments industry with decades-old legacy platforms, the mounting technical debt creates long planning and development cycles, which prohibit speed-to-market of new products and solutions. As industry standards change, legacy systems struggle to keep up with the enhancements. Therefore, a strong focus on resolving technical debt this year will be necessary to remain competitive and set up future success as the industry evolution progresses.
To address the rapid changes within payments, Discover® Global Network will be focused on further modernizing our approach this year. We are bringing our infrastructure to the cloud, which increases the scalability of our solutions and enhances our resiliency through redundancies. Containerization of our tech stack allows us to develop software more rapidly and deploy more efficiently into the market. We are also focused on leveraging APIs and microservices, both internally and externally, making it easier for all parties in the end-to-end process to connect and work with us. As we navigate through this period of “new normal,” having a modern foundation capable of leveraging the latest technology will make us nimble in response to change and continue to deliver for our partners and customers.
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