NMI Blog

The end of every year presents us with a time for contemplation, reminiscing on the events of the past 12 months, and an opportunity to set goals for the year ahead. In the spirit of the tradition of making personal New Year’s resolutions, this week is a good time for payments industry players to take stock of what happened in 2015 with the intention of making 2016 even better. What went on in payments in 2015, and what did those events and trends tell us about what’s coming in 2016? Further, what resolutions can merchant service providers (MSP) commit to pursuing in the coming year that will keep them competitive in a fast-evolving market?

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, preparations are afoot. Turkeys will be stuffed and brined, potatoes will be peeled, elastic pants will be donned, retailers’ Black Friday signs will be displayed, and sensitive payment data networks of all kinds will be targeted by hackers and fraudsters alike.

The speakers at October 2015’s financial services convention Money 20/20 seem to have collaborated at some point before the show commenced to solidify common themes, and the buzzword of the week was “omnichannel.” Commentary on omnichannel solutions for an increasingly complex and varied retail market dominated panels, keynotes, and vendor discussions. Executives from industry giants—including Google, Facebook, Verifone, Chase, Vantiv, and Visa—contributed to the conversation surrounding the task of providing consumers with a truly omnichannel solution.

Ten years. That’s roughly the length of time between the introduction of the DVD and the almost total removal of the VHS videotape from mainstream retail marketplaces. Square, the payment facilitator often cited as a payments industry game-changer, launched its app fueled by payment facilitation technology five years ago. Could that mean the next five years will bring slow decline of the traditional independent sales organization (ISO) into eventual obsoleteness?

With executive-level speakers from the biggest names in financial services on the agenda, panels covering a broad range of industry trends, and plenty of opportunities to network with 10,000+ attendees coming from all over the world, Money 20/20 is shaping up to be an excellent event. And one need to look no further than the trade show’s chosen locale to know that its organizers mean business: hosting a convention in Las Vegas communicates a certain “work hard, play hard” mentality that most finance professionals can get on board with.