As the number of channels available for payments is dramatically increasing, so too is the need for the payments back office to support true omnichannel capabilities and provide the ability to readily support new payment methods such as real-time payments.  

To learn more about how a leading payments processing company met this challenge by “future-proofing” its back office, PaymentsJournal sat down with Kate Knudsen, Senior Project Manager at BHMI, Rui Margato, Head of Information Technology at Payshop, and Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service for Mercator Advisory Group.  

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Faster, easier, more options 

Although the payments industry was already rapidly changing pre-pandemic, the onset of COVID-19 triggered a veritable explosion of mobile payment usage. Consumers have more choices than ever when deciding how to pay for things. Payments can be initiated through universal payment apps such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, or through apps that use QR codes. Consumers can also use direct debit, which in the U.S. is primarily used for bill payment. Old-fashioned payment types, such as paying by check or cash, are still in use, even among those who might consider themselves “tech-forward.”  

Each consumer’s preferred method will invariably boil down to which is the most convenient. “It’s a great time to be a consumer because you have an incredible amount of choice,” said Grotta. But beneath every surface layer of user interface, there are potentially multiple payment networks necessary to make a payment happen. “That choice certainly creates a great deal of complexity beneath that user interface layer,” continued Grotta. 

Back-office challenges 

Whenever a payment is made, it flows into a front-end system for authorization. Once the payment is authorized, the back-office system takes over. Back office refers to functions which customers never see, such as transaction reconciliation, settlement processing, and dispute management. “Ideally,” said Knudsen, “back-office systems should provide access to current, or rather timely, transaction data.