The payments industry enjoys a unique position as one of the few industries that benefit from the expertise of several disparate stakeholders. Third-party service providers, fintech organizations, financial institutions, commercial enterprise organizations, and small-and-medium-sized business owners all come together to collaborate in the payments space. Situated at the crux of the payments revolution, iCheckGateway.com (iCG) shoulders the responsibility of leading with technology. It is our duty (and pleasure) to act as a liaison on behalf of both, the financial institutions and the merchants for a mutually productive partnership.
Representatives from our organization often attend training and collaboration sessions across the country to stay on top of the latest developments in the industry. This year, Sallie Dwyer and Lucius Koshy from the iCG team attended the Southeast Acquirers Association (SEAA) 2022 Annual Conference in Loews Midtown, Atlanta.
Learning from the Past
A lot changed since the last conference in May 2021. Technology has acclimated, priorities have shifted, and the future looks entirely different. We’ve dealt with two more COVID-19 waves since. We saw that the haphazard and makeshift adoption of contactless technology evolved into a well-established structure and became an indispensable part of our industry. Some of the other core developments in the payments industry over the last year include:
- Reforms in Real-Time Payments and ACH Technology
- Increased Use of Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) Schemes
- A Multi-fold Adoption of eCommerce and Embedded Payments
- A Rise in Digital Payments
- Boosted Cross-Border Payments
- Evolution in P2P Payments
Business leaders across the globe learned to embrace more robust and progressive systems to prepare for similar catastrophes in the future.
We Expect a Tectonic Shift
Payment tech is undergoing a tectonic shift. This was undeniably one of the key takeaways from our conversations at the SEAA Conference. We saw that most financial institutions gear up for FedNow and will go live by the end of Q1 2023. These institutions are ready to partner with third-party service providers to develop technologies that leverage the Real-Time Payments and FedNow services to their full potential.
Payment Automation for Everyone
We were excited to see that more and more trade owners were interested in exploring high-tech payment automation tools. The low barrier to entry sparked an interest amongst the trade owners in exploring helpful, innovative payment solutions. State-of-the-art solutions no longer require millions of dollars of development and several months of implementation. With plug-and-play technology, even small-and-medium-sized business owners actively leverage the best payment solutions in the market. Luc spoke to several business executives intrigued by how ACH solutions fit in a corporate payment processing strategy with credit cards like SMS payments, Email invoicing, Recurring billing, and more.
Sallie exclaimed to the team how much she enjoyed the Keynote session by Eric Qualman. She said that he helped audience understand that “building legacy personally, professionally and also with the company we represent is so critical. Our “digital stamp” with social media is how people see us. We want to make sure we protect that and build ourselves for today and the future! His story was so great!”
In our time apart, we discovered that financial institutions, independent sales organizations (ISOs), and independent software vendors (ISVs) were particularly interested in discussing the open banking models. They wanted to explore a framework wherein they can share critical banking information seamlessly to help the end consumers come out on top.
Trending Topics of Discussion
The breakout sessions proved incredibly insightful this year. Attending the SEAA conference helped the iCG team connect with industry leaders from various fields to discuss their payment needs. They also had deeper conversations on the future of fintech and payments, taking the conversation beyond the existing scope of development. Coming out of the conference, the iCG team gained even more confidence that our innovative payment solutions will impact the lives of channel partners who seek to help SMB and B2B merchants get paid, leading with technology.
We found great insights in the presentation on Contactless Payments and Text Messages Between Businesses and Consumers. The imminent need for real-time payments and effective communication is greater now than ever. Some other memorable sessions from the conference included:
- Impacts of COVID-19 on Consumer Payment Behavior and Merchant Acceptance
- Power of Products and Partnership
- Buy Now Pay Later
- Omnichannel Payment Solutions
Becoming a Pioneer
As a pioneer in the unified payments space, we had several discussions with enterprise organizations that wanted to streamline their payment operations. We also got a chance to speak with several ISO owners to understand their challenges and present ways in which they can shorten their sales cycles. Implementing and managing multiple payment solutions proves time-consuming especially when organizations need to partner with different vendors. Large commercial organizations want a one-stop shop where they can seamlessly access all relevant, innovative payment solutions. They want a simple and effective point-of-contact that will address their queries and prevent unnecessary downtimes while scaling to address growing customer needs.
Connectivity across organizations will play a crucial role in securing the network and plugging leaks in the security of the payments ecosystem. Active collaboration between financial institutions, third-party service providers, merchants, and technology providers is critical to the success of an open banking model. At iCheckGateway.com, we intend to continuously push the boundaries of technological evolution to help our partners win and retain business. We actively partner with financial institutions, ISOs, and ISVs to expand our reach and offer the latest and greatest in payments innovation. With shorter sales cycles our partners gain the opportunity to target efficiency by streamlining the workflow for the merchants they serve. If you are an ISO or a merchant that wants to explore innovative payment solutions, speak with our team today.
About SEAA
Southeast Acquirers Association, Incorporated, is a non-membership, 501(c)(6) trade association. SEAA was formed in 2000 and produced the first SEAA Annual Conference in 2001. Since then, SEAA has hosted thousands of industry professionals and presented hundreds of hours of education networking with the top vendors in electronic payments.
Audrey Blackmon, Judy Foster, and John McCormick formed SEAA to facilitate the growth of the electronic payments industry, in size and integrity, through training, education, and networking with other industry professionals.
About iCheckGateway.com
Founded in 2008, iCheckGateway.com (iCG) is a United-States-based business and proud provider of innovative payment technology solutions. iCG stays on top of the latest payment innovation trends and constantly invents solutions that help clients process payments securely. We help merchants and financial institutions future-proof their businesses with unified payment portal solutions that increase efficiency, streamline communication, and reduce processing costs.