The fast pace of digital transformation for financial services is vital for the empowerment of small businesses and their customers. However, in this transformation process, traditional payment methodologies are being bypassed by new technology and products.
Understandably, merchants are finding it increasingly difficult to keep abreast of all the latest payment products and solutions that are available. “It is complex and costly for merchants to manage their own integrations into multiple solution providers. Merchants should be focusing on their core businesses and leave payment complexities to specialist companies,” says Andrew Springate, CEO of tech and financial gateway service provider PAYM8.
Founded in 2001, PAYM8 quickly expanded its footprint across the African continent and now processes over R3 billion in annual transaction value for its clients, and is one of the few payment solution providers in Africa capable of providing a single offering to merchants spanning both payer and payee-initiated payments.
Merchants want all payments to flow through a centralised merchant account. “As an aggregator, we do the integration into a myriad of products, services, solutions and value-added service providers. This includes taking care of data security and analytical requirements,” says Springate.
“PAYM8 offers via a single integration, access to all payment product requirements for collections, digital commerce, mobile payments, and card transactions, all off a single platform. The alternative is for the merchant to manage their own integrations, but this is nothing short of a nightmare given the multitude of channels and solutions to choose from,” he adds.
The advantage of one platform
The PAYM8 platform allows for a single view of payment transactions no matter the product channel used, making long-term decision making easier. Through machine learning data structures merchants will be able to track consumer payment behaviour, resulting in improved transaction and payment management. With a primary focus on financial collections and online payments, PAYM8 can offer merchant and third-party access to its intelligent technology platform called AXIS.
AXIS is aimed at both existing merchants as well as third-party businesses wanting to use an intelligent payments platform offering greater control over the payments journey and provides unencumbered access to payment products and services.
With artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-to-machine learning (M2M) data structures in place, the platform “ticks all the boxes” from an outsourced payments aggregation perspective. “The way customers pay shouldn’t affect your revenue. There are cost-effective structures and solutions available no matter what channels you use,” notes Springate.
The company is PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) accredited. PCI DSS is a set of requirements ensuring that all companies involved in the processing, storing, or transmitting credit card information maintain a secure environment. Cybercrime is rapidly increasing as the world continues on its digital transformation journey. The risk of reputational damage due to data breaches and the exposure of personal information is greater than ever before. “Therefore, we understand the importance of keeping the account and sensitive information of all our merchants secure,” says Springate.
As the digital world evolves, so do the needs and circumstances of businesses. Some of the merchants who will benefit from using a payment platform include:
- Merchants both new and existing who want to increase their collection successes.
- New companies requiring a specialist payments partner to guide them with their collection strategies.
- Merchants requiring implementation guidance with both DebiCheck and other cost-effective solutions.
- Merchants requiring cross-border payments and collections.
- Merchants who are not big enough for a bank and need an aggregator.
- Credit wary merchants who are not willing to take risks.
- Merchants battling with debit order authentication; or
- An existing merchant currently using more than one payments partner and wants to reduce the number of payments partners.
Peace of mind
Merchants want freedom and peace of mind about their payment and collection processes to focus on their core business. This includes knowing that their data security and analytical requirements are met. “Our understanding of the rapidly changing payments landscape has allowed us to remain a step ahead in transaction interoperability, machine learning and business-driven processes, allowing us to offer our clients best-of-breed payment solutions,” says Springate.
