We live in an age where new possibilities and innovations constantly encourage us to push technological boundaries to improve processes, businesses, consumers and ostensibly, the world. However, not all innovations succeed, and a big part of my job is looking ahead to consider future technologies and the impact they’re likely to have on the payments industry.
Repeatedly, reputable companies have invested in new technology, but haven’t reaped the commercial rewards. Reasons vary from timing, usability and functionality to consumer response.
Take Kodak as an example. By steadfastly maintaining that the physical ‘photo is king’, they lost their market-leading position. Despite inventing the first digital camera in 1975, by the time they discovered that digital photography would eventually replace film, their competitors had surpassed them – with cheaper products.
Clearly technology has to have a purpose that converges with consumer lifestyle and demand.
Within payments, we have seen great successes in the likes of our contactless partnership with TfL, established just as contactless became mainstream. By enabling people to pay for travel, a daily and usually unremarkable activity, with a contactless card, they don’t need to worry about topping up a travelcard, whilst knowing they’ll be charged the best fare. Since launching in 2014, 33m passengers have made over 300m journeys and using ‘touch-and-go’ payments, and in turn have started using it more elsewhere, leading to contactless usage increasing exponentially in other retail categories.
In the future, payments will become increasingly invisible. Uber is a classic example. The simple marriage of the smartphone and a card has seen this start-up go from strength to strength.
Established companies such as John Lewis have also created new processes to benefit customers. Its Click and Collect service allows shoppers to purchase items online and pick up in-store. This model reduced the logistical difficulties associated with their growing e-commerce site and gave customers the choice of shopping in their preferred way.
As time wears on, customers will only become more selective, expect more and seek more convenient payments options. With this in mind, each and every business must both keep up with consumer demand and look into the future to become, and stay, successful.
Nick Kerigan is managing director of future payments at Barclaycard
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