Opinions

Digital consumers and merchants are born as well as made. Payments play a key role in driving simpler, smarter and more customized experiences, writes Stefan Merz, COO of PPRO.

New technologies can increase lending and reduce risk but many management teams don't know where to begin with implementing them.

Payment network tokenization should sound appealing to every online retailer because it relieves friction and releases them from much of their risk, liability and compliance burden. The trick is achieving scale from both a technical and business agreement perspective, writes Ammar Faheem, vice president of digital payment solutions for North America at Gemalto, a Thales company.

Smaller banks are often not taking the extra step beyond traditional functions such as online bill pay, writes Alberto Hernandez, COO for the U.S. region at Valid.

The responsibility falls on employers to facilitate a payroll function that helps their workers access funds efficiently regardless of whether an employee chooses or is forced to forgo traditional banking, writes Brian Radin, president of Comdata's prepaid and payroll card business.

Data protection strategies need to consider how data travels and how that impacts vulnerabilities and breach risk, according to comforte AG's Jonathan Deveaux.

Some technology upgrade can leave databases open to the public internet, creating more risk for payment credential exposure and other risks, contends Ameya Talwalkar, co-founder and chief product officer of Cequence Security.

Apps need to give customers confidence in ease of use, speed, aesthetics, credibility and user experience, as well as the ability to receive tailored communications through favored channels from their financial institution of choice, writes James Brown, CEO of Smart Communications.

In the era of big data, a more thorough, data-centric approach is needed for security than the traditional encryption of the past, argues comforte AG's Jonathan Deveaux.

Improvements in digital receipts should be enough to spur greater adoption, argues Mike Golebiowski, president of IBT.