Payment processing

Familiar with personalized offers and options from other industries, patients are tired of a one-size-fits-all payment model, says Visitpay's Kent Ivanoff.

The year 2020 was disruptive and chaotic. And while it derailed or delayed some companies' plans for growth, it also created opportunities for new combinations — or, at the very least, didn't slow them down.

It's important to consider difference uses and types of blockchains based on need and project management strategy for financial and payment technology, says Worldline's Hubert Marteau.

With Microsoft, Equifax and others acknowledging that the SolarWinds hack of U.S. government entities had affected their holdings, security teams and vendors have put the holiday aside while continuing around-the-clock surveillance to ensure no financial services or payments networks have been hacked.

As risk rises and budgets tighten post-pandemic, training all employees about security risks and conducting quarterly penetration tests helps to offset threats and potential losses.

By upgrading permissions and defining access, firms can get ahead of the new threat, says vArmour's Marc Woolword.

In the early days of the pandemic, when consumers seemed loath to touch cash or a PIN pad, it seemed that PIN authentication might have had few days left. But that hasn't been the case.

As business flocks online, voice tech and social are just two of many innovations that will become stable stakes for merchants, says Hatch's Joris Kroese.

While there has been a general trend of paying people faster for work already performed, starting with gig workers, COVID-19 has created (or exposed) many issues that are fueling the shift toward on-demand pay, especially for hourly workers.

Compassionate billing, transparency and digital processing can all improve conditions for providers and patients, says Cedar's Florian Otto.