Now comes payment industry 2.0 : We need more than a payment gateway to scale and sustain

The digital payments solutions are undergoing substantial changes with the integration of all payment application methods and use of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). The possible benefits of automation in payments are creating new products and service offerings, empowering customers with digital technologies and boosting profitability. Companies coming in FinTech domain are startups established with the purpose of disrupting essential financial systems and corporations. Banks and fintech companies are using new technologies for easy API integrations, speedy transactions, encouraging digital payments and use of data are some of the upcoming trends that will push forward the adoption and acceptance of digital payments. The need for the payment industry is Payment as a Service – (PYaaS).

Confidential computing which can be treated as an add-on to Blockchain helps banks and fintech to add more security on the transactions. Quantum Computing and other hardware innovation (AI chips or AI on chips) will take this to the next level. Currently a large compute power is required to process transactions and run the AI algorithms over massive amount of data which burns down lot of cost in the infrastructure (irrespective of physical or virtual). Hence new AI based or built-in AI hardware will boost banks and fintech in terms of scalability of transactions, intelligence required with measurable investment on compute. Saved cost then can be utilized to bring other innovations to the table and bring more value to the end person in the ecosystem. Blockchain is already solving KYC issues due to mutual agreement between banks and fintech to share customer data over blockchain node to validate information required to clear KYC. So customers may no longer required to share same set of documents again and again due to unique KYC information available on all blockchain (private blockchain to be more specific).

An enhanced solution for Online Payments with enterprise-grade, secure, scalable and new technology compliant platforms are required to empower the customers. Customers are looking for additional features apart from normal payment solutions and use of technology. Customers are looking for integrated store options to quick start the business and easy payment links instead of complete payment gateway integration. Security and compliances are very important with online business and digital payments. Following features are need of the hour:

• Digital Store : Create multiple stores as per your requirements with no setup and maintenance charges. Just create your products and add it to your web-store. Share your web-store link with your customers on any platform and get paid online. You can sell Physical Items, Digital Items, Event tickets or Services.

• Payment Links : A simple way to reach to your customer for payments using several link solutions with integrated QR code, Easepay and Quickpay can be circulated using integrated Email/SMS, whatsapp or any social media.

• Transaction success rate : Higher transaction success greater than or equal to 99%.

• Accounting in single Dashboard : Real time updates with central point for reconciliation with online order tracking facility.

• Integration with social media and other platforms : Integrated SMS and Email Marketing, Popular social media plugins for faster promotion. Customizable payment gateway page.

• Reports and Analytics : Real-time reports and analytics to make business decisions faster. Understand customer purchasing behavior with the help of transaction reports.

• Security : End to end encryption and global standard like PCI DSS compliance. Support with 128 bit SSL encryption.

• Quick and Online on-boarding : Completely Online KYC process with quick verification Get started with PAN details and bank details.

Payment industry is not restricted to providing facilities to make payments. Payment platforms need to use and integrate new technologies like AI, ML, Blockchain, etc, to provide various features to the customers. Payment platforms need to also think about empowering customers by providing features beyond just digital transfer of amount. Web integrations, mobile integrations and third party integrations like WooCommerce, OpenCart, Magento, PrestaShop and AbanteCart, Integration with web hosting and billing automation platforms like WHMCS, plays a key role in the success of the payment as a service. Webhooks are additional way of notifying the customer about payment-related events. A webhook endpoint is the URL to which the customer wants to receive any event notifications related to payment and transactions. Once the customer registers a URL as a webhook endpoint, Payment Gateway service provider will send notifications to that URL whenever an event occurs related to the account. Webhooks are useful for synchronization and Monitoring.

Customers are looking for a payment gateway aggregator who offers an electronic payment service for any merchant website irrespective of their backend technology. Customer expects all information related to authorizing, capturing, refunding a payment as well as getting information about previous payments in a common dashboard. From Event-organizer to Tiffin service provider and from E-book provider to Homepreneur, payment service providers are expected to provide a complete end to end solution with no need to get into the hassle of creating and maintaining your own website.

Authored by By Rohit Prasad, Co-Founder and Director, SRV Media & Easebuzz