Why unifying payments and fraud orchestration is the future of ecommerce security

Adam Hiatt, VP of Fraud Strategy at Spreedly, discusses unified payments and fraud orchestration as the future of ecommerce security.

Everyone involved in ecommerce, financial technology, and online marketplaces is racing to maintain rapid transaction speeds while stopping increasingly sophisticated fraud. However, incomplete security systems create false positives and broken customer experiences, resulting in lost revenue.

It’s all a result of fragmentation. A single fraud tool can’t protect the entire user journey and block fraudsters – a far-too-cute name for Internet criminals who slip through security gaps undetected. When fragmentation occurs, businesses can’t get a complete view of a buyer. This leads to flawed decisions and rising false positives that reject legitimate customers. Slow policy deployment makes it difficult for organisations to keep up with fast-changing fraud tactics.

What we’re seeing now is a fundamental shift in the way businesses approach fraud. Organisations are moving away from siloed tools towards unified systems that integrate security directly into the transaction flow. This is a combination of comprehensive payments and fraud orchestration, which creates the most powerful and flexible platform for managing risk. Now, organisations can get end-to-end fraud orchestration that stops fraud at every step, from the first click to the final checkout.

Restoring control over fraud while still eliminating friction

Why are businesses seeking unified payments and fraud orchestration? Because of the immediate improvement in operational workflows, driven by speed and control. Organisations don’t want to spend weeks implementing new tools, especially when it comes to fraud detection. Modern orchestration platforms can be integrated in minutes and stop fraudsters in seconds

Everyone involved in ecommerce, financial technology, and online marketplaces is racing to maintain rapid transaction speeds while stopping increasingly sophisticated fraud. However, incomplete security systems create false positives and broken customer experiences, resulting in lost revenue.

It’s all a result of fragmentation. A single fraud tool can’t protect the entire user journey and block fraudsters – a far-too-cute name for Internet criminals who slip through security gaps undetected. When fragmentation occurs, businesses can’t get a complete view of a buyer. This leads to flawed decisions and rising false positives that reject legitimate customers. Slow policy deployment makes it difficult for organisations to keep up with fast-changing fraud tactics.

What we’re seeing now is a fundamental shift in the way businesses approach fraud. Organisations are moving away from siloed tools towards unified systems that integrate security directly into the transaction flow. This is a combination of comprehensive payments and fraud orchestration, which creates the most powerful and flexible platform for managing risk. Now, organisations can get end-to-end fraud orchestration that stops fraud at every step, from the first click to the final checkout.

Restoring control over fraud while still eliminating friction

Why are businesses seeking unified payments and fraud orchestration? Because of the immediate improvement in operational workflows, driven by speed and control. Organisations don’t want to spend weeks implementing new tools, especially when it comes to fraud detection. Modern orchestration platforms can be integrated in minutes and stop fraudsters in seconds.

When merchants have an architecture that puts them in control of their defence systems, they manage risk proactively, rather than reactively. Tools that simplify fraud policy management are no longer fun – they’re an essential part of managing online payments.

Businesses can leverage drag-and-drop workflows offered by fraud orchestration tools, which feature templates that give security teams immediate access to address common fraud incidents. This means policy deployment can take minutes rather than days or weeks. Teams can amend and publish response policies and decisions instantly. This level of agility solves one of the biggest operational challenges: the ability to adapt quickly to new fraud tactics.

Not sure if the changes will result in the desired outcome? Fraud orchestration lets merchants run policies in dark mode before pushing them live, thus solving stability concerns. Fraud orchestration tools also facilitate A/B testing, enabling merchants to make smarter fraud decisions based on real-time testing and reporting.

Beyond the ability to manage fraud more effectively, merchants also eliminate the engineering tax, as well as the administrative tax associated with implementing changes to a fraud management system. These are significant operational wins.

The power of perfect visibility

Effective orchestration relies on clear visibility. When payments and fraud solutions are unified, the system provides the clearest view of the user and delivers the necessary fraud insights for accurate decision-making.

Merchants can use tools like session replay, which allows analysts to observe real-time user behaviour, giving them a complete, end-to-end view of the user’s journey. They get a breakdown of every click, every decision, and any fraudulent behaviour that may have occurred.

By capturing and storing the full profile of identity and risk data from every session, the platform provides all the information necessary to avoid decisions based on incomplete views. It works by making the orchestration platform the central hub for all fraud tools and integrations, with complete control over security workflows.

Building the foundation for open payments

For ecommerce companies, marketplaces, and fintechs, moving toward unified payment and fraud orchestration is no longer just an optimisation; it’s a must-have. This approach fixes the core weaknesses of using piecemeal tools, including slow deployment, incomplete user views, and inconsistent protection.

The ability to manage complexity, enforce policies instantly, and make smarter, real-time decisions prepares businesses to embrace a future of more flexible and interconnected transaction methods. Unified orchestration provides the essential security backbone required for commerce to operate at scale, speed, and agility, establishing the foundation for expanding capabilities in the digital financial sphere.

Think of it as installing a sophisticated air-traffic control system for your digital transactions. Instead of separate radar stations watching small, isolated segments of the sky, the unified system provides a single, high-definition map, enabling automated, instantaneous decisions that keep everything moving safely and efficiently.

This editorial piece was first published in The Paypers' Global Ecommerce Report 2026, which provides a complete overview of key trends and strategies to help businesses worldwide succeed. Download your free copy today to explore in-depth insights on global ecommerce trends, the latest innovations in payment solutions, and strategies to stay ahead in a competitive market.

 

About the author

Adam Hiatt VP of Fraud Strategy at Spreedly, where he focuses on unifying payments and fraud orchestration to help global merchants stop sophisticated attacks without slowing transactions. Formerly the CEO and Co-Founder of Dodgeball, acquired by Spreedly in 2025, Adam specialises in real-time risk decisioning, workflow automation, and end-to-end fraud visibility. He builds modern, flexible architectures that give businesses full control over security while maintaining seamless customer experiences.

 

About Spreedly

Spreedly powers open payments for leading global brands, including BMW, CLEAR, HBO Max, Hopper, Lemonade, Getty, Warner, The New York Times, and Priceline. The company processes more than USD 60 billion in GMV across 400+ customers in 100+ countries, helping merchants and platforms securely store payment credentials, connect to global payment services, and grow through modern payment orchestration.