This piece originally featured on PYMNTS.com as part of their Briefing Room podcast series featuring Mike Panzarella, director of financial services at Perficient.
“Perficient Prepares FIs for Omnichannel Shift”
Story by Pete Risso, Financial Writer
Omnichannel is fast becoming one of the hottest buzzwords in the payments industry, and for good reason: Recent data suggests that 47 percent of retailers believe multi-channel shoppers are “significantly more profitable than single-channel consumers.”
Released in June, the RSR Research study found that while the majority of retailers are now engaged in multiple channels, less than 20 percent of those operating in each channel have synched that channel with their omnichannel strategy. However, the omnichannel shift doesn’t just apply to retailers. Card networks, financial institutions and processors will need to adapt as well.
This transition and the difficulties that will come with it will be addressed in an upcoming video podcast from St. Louis-based technology consulting firm Perficient on September 24. From 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EST, Perficient will assemble industry leaders and payment innovators – including Mechanics Bank’s Bradley Leimer, Experian’s Cherian Abraham and New Control’s Jim Marous – to discuss the current trends that are shaping the future of payments.
For insight and analysis on the topics that will be on display at this event, PYMNTS.com spoke with Mike Panzarella, director of financial services practice for Perficient, to learn more.
The Biggest Trend In Payments
Panzarella said that he sees the increasing competitiveness of the payments landscape as its most important current trend. He cited Starbucks, Amazon and PayPal as examples of companies that are increasing consumer payment choice.
“We’re seeing a lot of customers that are steering away from traditional payments channels, and going with alternative payment and banking providers,” Panzarella told PYMNTS.com.”
Panzarella also mentioned statistics that show 80 percent of PayPal’s peer-to-peer network payments occur within 24 miles of the sender and receiver. This fact, he said, illustrates how Millennials are using such services to bypass traditional banking products.
What Capabilities Will FIs Need?
The true challenge of succeeding in an omnichannel environment, according to the financial services director, lies with leveraging FI investments in data and customer relationships to create an omnichannel experience.
Panzarella noted that financial services companies are looking for ways to fit data to legacy and technology environments, and that business process management, master data management and service-oriented architecture (SOA) are the core things that are essential to helping clients move to omnichannel.
“We think that the real value in the marketplace is certainly around taking any of the investments and technology that you’ve made to date, and being able to understand not only what the omnichannel needs would be, but also leveraging what people process from technology within your organization,” Panzarella said.
To hear Panzarella’s thoughts on the future of payments in full, listen to the full podcast here.
