"We put financial institutions in control"

This editorial was first published in our Online Payments and Ecommerce Market Guide launched on 1 November 2017. The guide features several important thought leadership editorials from ecommerce and payments industry professionals, which makes it a top-reference source for anyone involved in the payments ecosystem.

How to add value to your customers with technology that keeps you out of the commodity corner

The Dimebox platform and architecture is based on a transaction-centric philosophy, allowing customers to deploy a white-label payment technology platform by leveraging value-added services, rather than commodity transaction processing from A to B. This means that it does not matter where a transaction comes from and where it goes to; Dimebox knows everything about it, so it creates a true omnichannel proposition based on value added services. The visualisation below shows how the platform is structured to enable access through a single API to its different modules, for both our customers, as well as for theirs.

The financial institution in control

Financial institutions have been struggling to put a real claim on the customer’s loyalty, which is only achievable through value-added services offered in the form of transaction intelligence, analytics features, onboarding/KYC automation, fraud and risk management capabilities and connectivity. Lacking these capabilities allows other parties in the payment value-chain to claim the financial institution’s services. The financial institutions of the future offer intelligence rather than mere connectivity, and subsequently, manage to add value by leveraging this intelligence into services, whilst remaining in control. This is how real customer loyalty can be created. Future-proof payment processing is not about sending a transaction from A to B, but getting smarter by simultaneously completing transactions and transferring the knowledge to customers.

Creating true value for your customers

Customers nowadays demand new capabilities to develop an in-depth understanding of their entire payments channel, as well as the tools to respond to potential conversion losses. Dissecting the reciprocity between authorisation and clearing offers intelligent routing that takes into account all relevant cost and conversion components like: the type of payment, who is the acquirer, who is the issuer and what is their behaviour, what currencies are used in the transaction, country of origin, purchase device, operating system, etc. This creates new value added services for merchants who can maximize conversion and minimize costs.

Smart processing also means mitigating risk in real-time, for example, by offsetting credit exposures on cards with the guaranteed nature of certain APM’s (iDEAL, SOFORT, etc.) and, in turn, being able to convert this into a lower deposit setting for the merchant.

Why a transaction-centric approach is crucial

Making the transition from a mere connectivity gateway into a payment intelligence platform starts by applying a transaction-centric philosophy, where it does not matter where the transaction comes from or where it is going. This approach results into a true omnichannel capability, regardless of the channel the payment is processed through or of the payment method used. A true seamless, omnichannel experience depends on whether a financial institution is able to process and offer insights of transactions within a single interface. The result is a set of normalised transactions from which knowledge can be gathered, leading up to actionable insights, all in real-time. Adding machine-learning technology to the solution enables your platform to become even smarter with every additional transaction that you process, resulting in a state-of-the-art risk-and-fraud management solution.

Help customers solve complex queries

Precise financial reconciliation is key in a global, multi-currency, omnichannel environment and an important success factor as such. Besides optimising payment processing itself, financial institutions will need to translate transactional data into insights that can be leveraged through an easy-to-use, yet powerful UI in a solution that is scalable across different types of customers. Static transaction reports are no longer sufficient because customers are looking to solve complex queries, which often require combining various business parameters. As a financial institution, you may want to be able to offer your customers an intuitive digital version of their own company’s environment, with according organisational set-up, user roles and rulesets.

One single API – taking commodisation to the next level

Connectivity is an important topic for any financial institution, but modern day API’s have commoditised acquirer and scheme connections to a large extent and offering an extensive lists of connections as your platform’s selling point no longer does the trick.

For a truly agile platform, it is paramount to offer everything within one powerful API. Companies like Stripe have outlined how important ease of integration is. A modern RESTful API is key for ensuring this. The strength of your API is also crucial when moving your aim upstream in the payments value-chain. When principal membership with Visa and Mastercard is on the table, being able to offer that single API for the complete (end-to-end) gateway, fraud module and card processing solution, will enable you to position a very attractive value proposition to the market. It will allow gateway providers to move into the acquiring space without having to deal with any legacy issues.

About Raymundo Leefmans

Raymundo is CEO of Dimebox and has years of experience in the payments industry working at Adyen, EMS and Ingenico ePayments. He founded Dimebox after leaving Adyen where he was responsible for the acquiring solutions. Raymundo will be participating in the MPE C-level Club discussion between the 20-22nd of February.

About Dimebox
Dimebox provides white-label payment technology to financial institutions all over the globe, stepping away from legacy systems and embracing technological innovation. Its single API consists of future-proof technology injected with deep payment knowledge, enabling each party in the payment value-chain to stay relevant, meet the needs of their customers and move into the future.