GLOBAL ACQUIRER & OMNICHANNEL PAYMENT PROVIDER WITH VISION
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B U S I N E S S I N T E RV I E W
FIRST PAST THE POST In an exclusive interview, we talk to Nathan Trousdell, Director Data Science & Strategy at Payvision, a global merchant acquirer and omnichannel payment service provider. Written by Anna McMahon • Produced by Tom Barnes
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Offering one secure payment platform payment processing, Payvision is a tr party for transactions, making the pro smooth and safe as possible for its c
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athan explained, “When our CEO, Rudolf Booker, founded Payvision in 2002, he saw major potential in the online transactions space. At the time, traditional banks didn’t really know how to underwrite the risk properly, as a lot of fraud was occurring. After a move to the US to learn more from banks there, which were handling this risk effectively, Payvision really took off.” Regulated by the Dutch Central Bank, Payvision has since evolved from an acquiring bank to a complete, omnichannel payment service provider. Formerly, when a transaction took place, many different companies were involved in the process, but in the last few years, Payvision has made a move towards handling the entire transaction process.
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“A key partnership with software provider, Cloudera, has enabled the company to push forward and reap the rewards of employing one of the leading global technology packages” “We live in a very fragmented world, so our goal is to simplify the process for merchants and their customers. Our platform is also now available in store as well as online, providing a full omnichannel consumer experience. Customers can make a purchase anywhere, and at any time – they are technologically-
empowered and also quick to act if something is not going their way. It is thought that consumers leave a website if they cannot get what they want after five seconds. It is therefore our aim to work with merchants to serve such tech-savvy consumers in a simpler and more convenient way.”
One platform 80 ways to pay Payvision offers merchants more ways to accept payments debit cards, credit cards, AliPay, iDeal, and other alternative payment methods, whether the sale is in store, online or mobile. 7
“Payvision’s investment in th skills required to analyse and u they and their merchants gathe become a frontrunner in the
Payvision prides itself on being a data-driven enterprise, collecting insights into the payment journey, to best serve merchants. As Nathan explained, “If you don’t have evidence behind what you do, then you’re just another person with an opinion. When we process transactions, we create data, such as information surrounding fraud scoring, for example. We collect this information and analyse it, aiming to provide evidence-based decision-making. It is not enough to just process transactions. If a company is not data-driven, grounding its processes on evidence-based decision-making, it will either fail in becoming a successful organization or be forced to switch gears and put data at the core of their strategy.
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he optimal technologies and use the massive volume of data er has enabled the company to e payment processing field” We have chosen to lead with it, rather than watch it happen. This has allowed us to become trusted advisors to our customers rather than just the people processing their transactions.” A key partnership with software and support provider, Cloudera, has enabled the company to push forward and reap the rewards of employing one of the leading global technology packages. “We started working with Cloudera last September, although we have been using big data technology for a number of years. We asked Cloudera to provide our underlying data technology stack, as it’s a a one of – if not the – global leader in the field, so it was very easy to get it integrated across the various areas of our business. The solutions that they offer are also intuitive,
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powerful and stable, which is really important in our line of work”, Nathan explained.
such as optimizing conversion and authorization rates, reducing fraud in real-time, and providing merchants with strategic insights on their own business and customers that they don’t always have themselves. Ten years ago, I read and talked to people about how data science was going to change the world and disrupt companies, which has indeed happened. The main problems holding it back are old IT systems and information being kept in an archaic, fragmented ways, and business leaders not understanding that this is a fundamental problem. There’s a great McKinsey report that goes into this comparing potential value to be gained in 2011 versus actual value gained by 2016.”
Payvision’s investment in the optimal technologies and skills required to analyse and use the massive volume of data they and their merchants gather has enabled the company to become a frontrunner in the payment processing field. Nathan said, “There is sometimes a lack of understanding of the optimal technologies and processes that can help many businesses. I think this is borne from leaders not keeping abreast of what this technology is capable of versus legacy systems. Fortunately, Payvision chose to invest in data science and data engineering teams a few years ago, so we’re really reaping the benefits now, and so are “Companies using old systems and our customers. We have great experts thinking patterns are not looking at working with us to solve the challenges tomorrow’s problem. It is essential to keep up-to-speed with emergent technologies to solve tomorrow’s problems today. It’s all about becoming an evidence-based data-driven business.” With this in mind, we asked Nathan what does the future have in store for Payvision and the global payments space? “We recently announced a strategic partnership with global banking
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“Companies using old systems and thinking patterns are not looking at tomorrow’s problem. It is essential to keep up-to-speed with emergent technologies to solve tomorrow’s problems today. It’s all about becoming an evidence-based data-driven business” Nathan Trousdell, Director Data Science & Strategy giant ING, which supports us in our journey to become a global leader in the payment industry. Backed by ING, Payvision will boost its growth, extend its global network and broaden its payment product portfolio, by creating tailor-made payments solutions designed for the fast-paced international retail environment. So, we will continue to optimize the omnichannel consumer experience, as well as keeping a keen eye on emergent technologies to benefit our merchants. Also, there is potential for blockchain technology to have a positive
impact on our business and the businesses we serve, for instance. It will change the world, but it’s still going through a lot of hype and Darwinism, so it may be some time before we see any major problems solved by truly scalable methods that are economic. In addition, as augmented and virtual reality become part of the omnichannel experience, we need to work on how they are integrated into the payment journey, ensuring our merchants remain at the cutting-edge of their respective industries.”
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Molenpad 2, 1016 GM Amsterdam, Netherlands +31 20 794 2300 www.payvision.com