The latest study conducted by Capital One and NAPCP has revealed that while payment professionals are well aware of the benefits of payment technologies now entering the marketplace, they believe that cost and compatibility concerns may their implementation.

The study “Managing Payment Technology Innovation” involves a survey of 136 payment professionals from 21 sectors. It highlighted that payment professionals appreciate the heightened security, streamlined operations, enhanced analytics, lower costs, and, in some cases, additional revenue to be gained from these technologies.

Some key takeaways from the report are:

• Over 78% of respondents reported that their organizations send professionals to industry events and conferences, and more than 55% said their organizations send professionals to continuing education conferences.
   
• Mere 8% of respondents said their organizations support technology pilot programs, only 10.2% reported that they allocate funds for investigating new payment technologies, and just 22.8% said they have a cross-functional committee that monitors the new technologies.

The study also emphasized on the importance of “user experience” to be considered by payment providers while designing their products. Other approaches that providers could build into their products include application program interfaces (APIs) for easy plug-and-play, human-centered design, and natural language search.

Furthermore, the study found considerable variation in the acceptance of specific payment technologies. According to the survey results, one reason that ePayables and EMV chip technology are so well accepted is that commercial payment professionals understand their benefits and applications. For instance, all respondents could identify at least one advantage of ePayables, and currently, almost 40% of them have adopted it with another 20% considering it. By contrast, unfamiliarity with blockchain and tokenization is an impediment to their adoption – only 13.1% are aware of tokenization, and only two respondents say their organizations had implemented tokens.

Survey respondents identified three major barriers to implementation:

• Insufficient information to make an informed cost-benefit analysis
   
• Insufficient leadership commitment
   
• Lack of knowledge about sophisticated and cutting-edge payment technologies such as blockchain and tokenization

“Given the rapid pace of innovation we’ve witnessed in our industry, there is a lot for payment professionals to digest,” said Diane McGuire, CPCP, NAPCP Managing Director. “Our research points to the constructive role that industry associations like NAPCP can play in educating enterprise leaders about the value of new payment technologies, while at the same time keeping payment and procurement professionals informed about new payment technologies as they emerge.”