Having ‘survived’ the conversion to Windows 7, not to mention upgrading to Diebold’s new Agilis 3.0 and a total processing conversion of PIN and ATM, for our ATM fleet and PIN debit processing, we are left looking out at the landscape to ask, “What’s next?”
Speaking to many colleagues either on a one-2-one basis, or in a consulting capacity, many of them are asking the same question. The overwhelming flood of changes, future initiatives, payments strategies, breach fears, mobile muscle flexing, and industry shakeups has so many spinning around waiting for the wheel to stop on jackpot, and let them know their next step.
The problem is that the wheel is not going to stop spinning, and you’re going to have to make that choice on your own.
Let’s look at the current heavy hitter. If you haven’t already started or finished Windows 7 for ATM, and other payment system upgrades, then that has to be a top priority. If not…get out of the card and payments business…you’re just asking to get crucified by regulators and auditors, or worse, breached. And then good luck explaining why you decided on cost saving compensating controls, and extended support contracts instead of getting off of XP.
Next lining up to knock on your door, in no fashionable order for debit/ATM/payments are EMV (Credit and Debit), EMV at ATMs, PCI 3.0, EPP7, looming PCI for Mobile Payments, MCA (Mobile Cash Access), Tokenization, P2PE (Point to Point Encryption), NFC/Contactless, Card Emulation, Mobile Wallets, and the specter that is digital currency.
What do you choose to work on? When? Are you looking at them all? Are your customers? Are the areas involved talking to one another or will you face integration woes moving too fast towards one delivery channel, and forgetting to look at the others.
Where are you getting your industry trends information? Are you waiting for it to come to you or are you going out there and seeking it? Are you keeping up with your competition? Or leading them?
VISA and MasterCard are moving quickly. So are the big providers. We can’t all be on the bleeding edge, but you don’t want to be grasping for the handle of the sword after its already swung.
Staying engaged every day has to be a priority. “Getting back to it” in a bit will leave your stranded on the beach watching your competition sailing away with your customers, and your future. You can only swim after them so many times before you drown.
Over the course of the next 18 months there will be sweeping changes in how payments, cards, POS, and mobile services interact operationally and the security used to protect them. In light of all these coming changes and our desire to find the strategic sweet spot we wish to reside and launch from, I’ll be attending the ATM & Mobile Innovation Summit in DC next week, as well as the TAG National Conference in San Antonio the week after.
You have to get engaged, stay engaged, and work together internally with your other digital delivery/payment channels.
There is no longer a ‘maintenance mode’ in the digital payments realm. Maintenance is just a piece of the daily honey-do list that is an afterthought to what we have to look forward to working on from here on out. Those ‘maintenance’ days are long gone, and for those of us that have been doing this long enough, haven’t existed since the day in 2001 when MasterCard voiced, ‘we need to move to 3DES for encryption.’
As West Wing’s President Bartlett used to say after resolving one tide turning, all engrossing event….”Next!”
Cruachan Consulting Services, LLC 