As we get ready for 2017, our team is looking ahead to see what we can expect for the new year. This year was one that focused heavily on EMV and upgrading technology – but what will next year have in store? We talked to our team to get their top predictions on what we can expect for the coming year.
Brian Sadowski, our CIO believes that 2017 will see advancements in consumer payment experiences, as well as additional traction for Blockchain. In particular Brian commented that “Blockchain will continue to gain attention and legitimacy in use by traditional payments entities and financial institutions in 2017. It will be further deployed as global banks increase use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, as well as work to better track and secure digital payments. Furthermore, we will see the contextual commerce or frictionless commerce experiences, as represented by apps like Uber, continue to drive innovation in the checkout and payment experience. The consumer experience will become key in payments as mobile wallets are refined and allow for speedier checkout across all channels.”
Looking at the market from the technology perspective, our senior director of mobile product management and business development, Benjamin Hurley, sees a shift in attention coming, as well as growth in two key areas that plateaued in 2016 because of the industry being all EMV, all the time. Specifically, Benjamin commented that "While 2016 was undoubtedly the year of 'EMV', where payment industry product innovation was stalled in an effort to upgrade key systems and payment acceptance devices to chip card support standards, 2017 will likely see the dust settle and the re-emergence of disruptive entrants into the space. We will also see more innovation and competition in payments with EMV capabilities becoming more accessible via mobile SDK's and semi-integrated offerings that can do the heavy lifting, making it far simpler for new entrants and incumbents to extend their product offerings beyond their core solution. In addition, 2017 should be the year where mobile finally pulls away in earnest from the more traditional forms of payment acceptance that may very well still be focusing efforts on continued EMV compliance as mobile moves toward a more powerful and complete business eco-system."
Finally, Patty Heit, our senior director of our ISV solutions, sees 2017 playing a large role in the consumer payment experience being simplified and extended in new ways to consumers. One way Patty believes this will play out is via APIs which she believes will impact both the technology advancements and jobs created in payments next year. Specifically, Patty believes that “Open APIs will continue to receive increased attention and focus, particularly in relation to connected appliances, and banks will be interested in adding APIs so consumer applications can be easily created. When it comes to the consumer experience challenges with ACH and authentication for mobile payments will be addressed. Specifically ACH is under pressure for real-time ACH transactions and will likely be making good progress on this in 2017. New mechanisms for faster payments will bypass routing numbers and wire transfer services. In addition, biometrics will continue to take hold, replacing the outdated form of passwords/codes. Compliance and regulations will need to catch up with innovation and technology in this field and in response the industry will be racing to set up standards and best practices to ensure the safety of this technology.”
2017 looks to be an exciting year across the board. At Apriva, we plan continued growth into new markets around the world, and will be working to help drive payments forward in the coming year.
What do you think lies ahead in 2017 for payments?
