Consider the following scenarios:
You're expanding from debit/prepaid cards to credit cards and exploring becoming an acquirer or launching a digital wallet.
You’re a payment processor serving large banks and want to attract fintech clients with appealing offers.
You’re an acquirer targeting global ecommerce and need new pricing models, unique features, and specialised expertise.
You’re an ambitious fintech with an adaptable embedded finance solution, and you foresee the need for quick modifications or branching into new business areas.
To stay ahead of your competitors, it is crucial to choose a payment platform from a vendor that can anticipate and support future growth through innovative functionality. So how do payment software vendors distinguish themselves in terms of flexibility?
Flexibility is vital in payments, given the dynamic nature of markets and emerging concepts like cloud, AI, metaverse, NFTs, and central bank digital currency. Traditional methods coexist with Open Banking and Web 3.0, fostering intense competition. Businesses require software enabling swift product launches, high ROI, innovation, and market-aligned solutions to succeed. This enhances their competitiveness through tailored solutions for unique niches.
Many vendors look similar on the surface, but the way they deliver functionality may differ vastly. Much depends on how the vendor has developed or acquired its technological offerings.
Make sure of your ability to offer tailored credit card products and merchant services. Can you effortlessly provide dynamic or multi-currency pricing as an acquirer? Are unique payment plans and online fee/commission calculations possible? To maximise ROI, choose a powerful and flexible platform with end-to-end solutions.
Beware of vendors with extensive portfolios that are actually a patchwork of acquired solutions. These can become outdated and lack innovation, requiring new development or additional solutions with coding customisations. This carries risks and support challenges. At OpenWay, we prioritise innovation and have always developed our Way4 payment software solutions in-house through our own dedicated team. This avoids obstacles, higher costs, and longer timelines for implementing new services.
Some vendors lack true scalability in their products, relying instead on extensive customisation through scripting and coding. Over time, the product may deviate significantly from its original form, containing as little as 10% of its initial offering. Supporting and upgrading customer-specific code can be costly and time-consuming, jeopardising platform stability. Ask if the vendor's offering is a custom implementation differing from a main version line. Give priority to long-term stability, cost-effectiveness, and reliable support for your organisation.
Personalisation and customisation are vital in business, but relying on numerous variations of custom code is not the most effective approach. A single version line for all customers gives control over quality and security, and it enables instant delivery of all available features worldwide. Of course, imposing the same behaviours and features on all clients wouldn't be ideal. A highly configurable platform like our Way4 platform allows each client to create their own unique offerings, including customised payment processors for the banks they serve.
Vendors must provide crucial flexibility for clients, enabling standout features and manageable customisations. The ideal architecture should allow changes driven by business rules and parameters, not code itself. Balancing product development is an art. It involves creating products for continual growth that accommodate organisation expansion in multiple domains, ensuring competitiveness.
Our platform’s flexible design is highly impactful, especially for credit card issuers dealing with diverse inputs. Each issuer has unique product styles, target markets, and regulatory requirements. Many migrate from legacy processors while aiming to retain established behaviours and achieve faster time-to-market for new features.
Acquirers require flexibility to swiftly release solutions, comply with regulations, and standardise offerings. They may adapt authorisation scenarios for specific segments like electric charging stations or enable multi-currency payments for merchants. SME merchants seek online and instantaneous settlement.
Fintechs need freedom to adapt and innovate without limitations. We allow companies to independently modify and adapt their offerings, reducing reliance on external factors. This fosters in-house expertise and enables unique services. With our platform's high availability, you are free to focus on selling and perfecting your UX and analytics.
At OpenWay, we prioritise a data model that accommodates diverse business ideas, empowering clients to implement on their own. This approach will allow your company to adapt and evolve quickly – and ensure you are not dependent on external factors for essential features.
Dmitry Yatskaer is the Chief Technology Officer of OpenWay, the top-rated vendor of the Way4 digital payment software platform. He oversees Way4 product development strategy and has over 25 years of experience advising banks, processors, fintechs, and other payment players in Europe, MENA, the Americas, and Australia on optimal payment system architecture, new business development, large-scale card and merchant portfolio migrations, and more.
OpenWay provides the Way4 digital payments software platform for tier-1, mid-size, and startup players – including card issuers, acquirers, processors, telcos, payment switches, fleet companies, and digital wallet providers. Gartner, Omdia, and Aite have ranked OpenWay as the best digital payments software provider and the best payment solution in the cloud.
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