Successfully harnessing efficient payments in one market can drive success in others. For example, the growth of digital business models, enabled through digital payments such as cards and mobile wallets, may start life in one region, most notably Asia Pacific, but ultimately influence regulations, business models and customer preferences in companies’ home markets too.
Many companies wish to seek ways to maintain their payments and collections functions centrally when expanding overseas, whether regionally or globally wherever possible, to avoid fragmented processes and technology.
This can prove challenging, particularly when combining traditional and digital, bank and nonbank payment methods.
Therefore, working with partner banks that have expertise in companies’ home and destination markets is an essential first step. It can help companies understand the payments landscape and determine how best to manage these diverse requirements in a consistent way.
There are some questions to ask, such as: Do the payment collections you offer in a new market make it easier to do business with you by improving the client experience? Do they encourage doing more business with you? Do they prove cost-effective compared with traditional alternatives? Do they enhance the security of payments and data? Do they increase your client base by allowing more people to do business with you, even those without a bank account?
Understanding and embracing the payments market in growth countries has regulatory, competitive, cost and operational implications. Governments, banks, nonbank payment services providers and most of all, consumers are driving payments digitization.
By supporting the right payment and collection methods in each market, companies can reduce costs, enhance working capital and delight customers and suppliers.
