DIGITAL TRENDS IN PAYMENTS
& TRANSACTIONAL SERVICES

How to stay on top of a fast-changing world

As technologies evolve, the habits and behavior of people around the world have changed beyond all recognition. Reaching end-users, communicating effectively and securely with them, and providing them with the services they expect is perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing organizations today. Worldline monitors and analyzes digital trends based on published data from industry players, analysts and partner companies as well as its own first-hand experiences from finding solutions to match its clients’ ambitions. What follows is an overview of how the most recent trends will affect organizations with headline tips on what to watch out for.

Digital Trends


 

 

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 1.  USERS EVOLVE QUICKLY
& NEW DEVICES ARE USED

Five years ago, we predicted that the Internet of Things revolution would connect billions of devices and empower a new generation of online services. Now we are seeing how natural interfaces, voice recognition and conversational commerce are adding a whole new dimension to the way in which people use their smartphones and other connected devices to interact with the digital world.

 

1 million

voice searches per month (2018)¹

50%

searches that will be done by voice in 2020²

46%

SmartSpeaker users in the US³

To build their relationships with their end-users and to stay relevant in this fast-changing world, banks, retailers, the public sector, media and brands in general are beginning to platformize their IT. This will involve being more agile to plug and unplug assets as needed and to apply test and learn approaches to support future decision making.

¹ Source: Alpine.ai - https://alpine.ai/voice-search-trends/
² Source: ComScore (2016)
³ Source: Pew Research Center (2017)

 2.  GAFAM, NATU & BATX FIX NEW RULES
AND HABITS

As consumers, customers and citizens, most people have incredibly close relationships with a handful of acquisitive technology giants that have come to dominate all corners of the digital space: GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft), disruptors such as NATU (Netflix, Airbnb, Tesla and Uber) and the Chinese players of BATX (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent/WeChat and Xiaomi). 

 

681

Companies acquired by GAFAM to July 2018⁴

US$28 billion

cybersecurity spending by the US government in 2017⁵ 

This powerful position provides these companies with opportunities to develop new rules and habits. Users tend to respond well to customer support and functions that facilitate immediacy in responses and services. At the same time, governments and organizations in some parts of the world such as Europe are placing greater emphasis on the need to protect customer privacy from the outset. At a time when threats to security are increasing rapidly, trust needs to be maintained.

⁴ Source: Worldline research
⁵ Source: Payforum 2017, Kobil Jean-Francois Salaun and Sam Berchiche

our values

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 3.  TECHNO IS AVAILABLE BUT  MUST STAY INVISIBLE

Finally, just as channels of interaction are proliferating, technological breakthroughs are exponentially increasing the value of the data generated by those channels. The rising potential of artificial intelligence (AI) is delivering brands with ever greater understanding of their users. Thanks to AI-powered innovations such as natural language processing and biometrics, seamless, always-on customer experiences are creating a fifth wave of digital disruption, behind the scenes and invisible to the end-user.

Consumer desire to buy Any Time, Any Where, Any Device (ATAWAD)⁶

74%

France

77%

USA

94%

China

In this world, companies will prosper by providing a user experience that meets user expectations securely and effectively. ATAWAD (Any Time, Any Where, Any Device) is more important than ever.

Never have organizations been under such pressure to embrace new technologies, reinvent their customer relationships and transform their businesses for the digital age.

⁶ Source: Havas Shopper (2018)