Nowadays, merchants have access to many payment processors and payment methods to meet all their needs.
Nevertheless, having so many alternatives actually complicates their lives. Around ten years ago, customers who paid for goods online mainly had two payment options: either MasterCard or Visa. The same applied to available payment providers: they could almost count them on their fingers.
Currently, the situation has drastically changed. Merchants are struggling to choose between numerous payment methods, protect themselves from online fraud and chargebacks, optimize their payment processing, and improve the customer experience, while simply seeking to get paid. The good news is that payment processing does not have to be that complicated. Payment orchestration is primarily designed to make transaction processing easier and more efficient.
Payment Orchestration 101
The merchants’ demands for simple and cost-effective payment processing paved the way for payment orchestration platforms to emerge. To give a complete picture, let’s first define what payment orchestration is and then move on to why merchants stand to gain more by using the platform instead of several separate payment service providers (PSPs).
Payment orchestration platform is software that integrates multiple payment channels on a unified layer, equipped with advanced features to optimize your transaction flow. A major objective of the platform is to provide merchants with total control over payment operations in an easy-to-understand manner, relieving them of multiple operational tasks previously done manually. Simply put, a merchant who switches to a payment orchestration platform moves from the passenger’s seat to the driver’s seat, receiving access to all the tools available to create a delightful customer experience, increase conversion, and save on the processing cost.
What Merchants Gain from Payment Orchestration
As modern life accelerates, the value of the multi-acquirer approach increases significantly. But, working with one or two payment providers, merchants are limited in their growth possibilities. First of all, being tied to one PSP, they are affected by its development capacities, payment processing speed, the power of fraud detection filters, chargeback prevention capabilities, and so much more. Payment orchestration platform, however, puts everything in place. Let’s examine the advantages of the payment orchestration platform over other payment solutions, using Akurateco Payments Orchestration Platform as an example:
- One integration – multiple payment connectors
With a payment orchestration platform, you have an almost limitless range of payment connector options. For example, among the 200+ payment connectors at Akurateco are the most popular local and global acquiring banks and payment providers that work with traditional and alternative payment methods and various currencies. They are integrated into the platform and ready to use. Payment connectors that are not in the system can be requested and integrated by the developers within two weeks.
- Cost-saving on transaction fees
Smart routing is one of the features that differentiates the payment orchestration platform from a regular payment service provider. The goal of payment routing technology is to select the most efficient payment provider with the lowest transaction fee for each transaction, thus significantly reducing the cost of payment processing.
- More transactions approved
Powered by payment routing, the cascading technology of the platform reduces the number of failed transactions. In case of decline, an automated system sends the same payment request within one payment session to another payment provider to achieve a successful result.
- Advanced analytics
For merchants, the orchestration platform implies the ability to drive a payment strategy that will help them achieve the desired results. The platform offers built-in analytics tools to consolidate multichannel transaction flow in a unified dashboard and monitor sales data, customer geography, and transaction decline reasons.
- Internal and external fraud protection
In-house advanced anti-fraud tools at Akurateco are designed primarily for the needs of online payments, are created by experts in payments, and are tested by many companies that use this white-label software. In addition, the company leverages third-party risk-scoring technology.
- Enhanced customer experience
Customers usually leave the cart if their transaction fails or the available payment methods do not match their payment preferences. The payment orchestration platform aims at solving these kinds of problems. As a result, an error-free and pleasant payment experience encourages customers to return and buy more goods from the merchant.
The Rise of Payment Orchestration in Modern Business
It is extremely difficult to evaluate all the benefits offered by payment orchestration without actually using it. It is because merchants who process transactions through standard payment solutions are used to performing many processes manually. For them, automation of these processes may not even enter the picture. However, the arrival of payment orchestration has drastically changed the game, freeing merchants to focus on strategic tasks. Imagine managing all your payments through a centralized platform with a clear understanding of internal flows of transaction processing that you can use to build your own business development strategy, the center of which will be a customer-oriented approach. In a matter of payments, it is all about getting to know all of your customers by sight and understanding their needs and preferences in order to increase customer conversion.
Moreover, payment orchestration gives merchants almost unlimited growth opportunities. For example, let’s say you are an online retail merchant in a European country. The amount of time, effort, and staff you will need to enter the USA market and connect the necessary payment providers and popular payment methods on your own would be substantial. In turn, payment orchestration already offers many global and local connectors integrated into the platform as well as preferred traditional and alternative payment methods. As a result, global expansion takes much less time and effort.
After all, the days of running online transactions through antiquated flows will soon be over. The outdated solutions will be replaced by up-to-date payment orchestration platforms. With a multi-acquirer approach and advanced technologies at the stack, merchants will be enabled to increase conversion, lower processing costs, and grow their business beyond borders.