Payments Execs Say Q1 ’23 Forced a New Kind of Reality Check

While some dark first-quarter 2023 recessionary imaginings came to pass — witness the tech job cuts and the collapse of important financial institutions — so far, 2023 isn’t the apocalypse many expected. Rather, it’s become a time to turn introspection into innovation and action.

PYMNTS has gathered insights of 22 companies on the first quarter of 2023 in an eBook that can be downloaded here.

Amid a mushrooming of new payment types, methods like ACH are proving their ongoing worth and holding their own. That’s true even as long-awaited real-time payments finally become a reality not just in the U.S. but in economies worldwide.

Speaking of “around the world,” cross-border commerce and emerging markets have assumed a crucial position for the growth of many operations, making localization in payments as important as personalization is becoming in the various offers consumers receive.

Data is burnishing its image with new applications that drive commerce in meaningful ways, like the blossoming interest in areas like receipt-level data. On the broader topic of data — and it is expansive — more top performers in every vertical are intensifying their focus on systems and platforms that turn commerce data into actionable insights, increasing its value enormously.

Cash flow has never been more important, and smart money is backing platform integrations that manage the process with digital precision and — you guessed it — data.

That’s particularly important in B2B, where automating back-office functions for exactitude and efficiency is taking on elevated importance, shining a spotlight on payment processing and corporate spending with instruments like commercial cards that are finding new momentum.

Companies often congratulate themselves on customer-centricity, but the coming months will put definitions to the test as it becomes clear what that term truly means and which payment firms and merchants operate with a customer-first mindset that’s clear to see.

The old wisdom about “bending like a reed in the wind” has never been more applicable as companies embrace flexibility and agility in their solutions to meet new challenges across a panoply of considerations, from product returns to money transfers and beyond.

As high-profile banking collapses resurrect “too big to fail” fears in some quarters, it’s forcing companies and consumers alike to rethink where they bank and how to direct investments into growth areas from embedded payments to real-time. In the process, the market will weed out those lacking the expertise and insight needed to scale intelligently.

Managing risk in all its forms has risen to the top of corporate agendas. Companies and their partners will likely emerge from this season of uncertainty as stronger, more resilient players poised for future growth, but that depends on how they define and pursue “growth.”

Digital innovation can either collide or converge with legacy systems and solutions. Credit unions are an ideal example of how to handle this transition, embracing some of the most advanced payment capabilities without losing the personal touch they’re built on.

Finally, as the metaverse recedes for the moment, other highly advanced areas — like artificial intelligence (AI) — are now a fact of life for both consumers and businesses. The time has come to stop marveling at these innovations and find partners that are already operationalizing AI in everything from eCommerce recommendation engines to cash management.

Meanwhile, at the heart of it are consumers — 62% of whom live between paychecks with little or no savings cushion — and this makes retail innovation in-store and online a prime directive for companies that want to pass through these storms and come out as trusted brands when the storm clouds blow over, as they inevitably will.