In The Payments Evolution, Success Favors The Prepared

"The issue is the number of leaders who underplay a threat ― and, as we have witnessed many times, change, when it comes, can be swift and brutal for the unprepared," says Martina King, CEO of Featurespace. In The Connected Economy’s Power Source – CEO Edition, King explains why preparation is key to surviving, and thriving, through digital transformation.

“Take it from me, the internet will never catch on,” a senior executive in the advertising sector informed me when I was a young executive at Yahoo! “There’s very little chance of the internet giants impacting the newspaper market,” “Google will never overtake Yahoo!”, “You will never challenge the status quo of the financial crime incumbent vendors,” and “The brickand-mortar retail market will robustly embrace the digital economy” are just a few examples that highlight the problem with forecasting the impact of digital on traditional markets.

What’s the issue here? It’s not technology – technology always progresses because people are inventive, creative, imaginative and clever. The issue is the number of leaders who underplay a threat – and, as we have witnessed many times, change, when it comes, can be swift and brutal for the unprepared.

Much has already have been said about the benefits of open and mobile finance, especially for the “unbanked” and for people unable to access physical financial institutions. However, the pandemic has put most of humanity into the latter category, and it’s been incredible to witness how quickly we have adapted, including the perpetrators of financial crime.

As the rollout of faster payments increases its pace across the world, we are witnessing increased fraudulent activity. This time, with this digital transformation, we know what’s coming – and we also know how to be prepared.