Airlines plan carefully for the future but could still face unanticipated changes affecting delivery of their strategies. Here's how a future-proof payments infrastructure can help you get ready for take-off.
Like any business, you have to plan the future, but predicting exactly what's coming next can be challenging. Evolving customer expectations, new payment methods and commerce channels, shifts in the economic and political landscape—all these and more can have an impact.
That's why it's critical to invest in innovation that can help you deliver on your strategy, adapting to change as you go. Working with the right choice of partners and providers—who are both capable and nimble—can help you access innovation that lets you streamline operations and maintain payment compliance, while supporting your ambitions for growth.
Delivering the right experiences in new markets
Your strategy for business growth will likely involve reaching new destinations. The last thing you want is for the customer experience in a new region to fall flat. So, as part of your planning, you need to be ready to support local payment preferences wherever you expand.
This will be easier if your payments partner:
- Supports acceptance of payments made using local cards and alternative payment methods (as well as global cards and payment methods)
- Maintains connections with multiple acquirers in the region to give you choice and flexibility
Additionally, your payments partner should be able to deliver reporting and analytics that provide a single view of all transactions across payment methods—enabling in-depth analytics, simplified reconciliation, and more informed business decisions.
You also need to be aware of locally preferred channels. If, for example, mobiles are the go-to digital shopping device for travelers in a region, make sure your mobile app is optimized to provide a great customer experience. Working with a payments partner that offers access to an ecosystem of technology partners can help you get to market faster with the right solutions today and the potential for innovation tomorrow.
Adapting fraud management to local conditions
Your fraud management strategy needs to reflect prevailing trends in any new region—especially if you leverage machine learning and customized fraud rules to filter out high-risk transactions before submission to issuers for authorization. To continue raising conversion rates and driving top-line growth with this approach, consider reviewing your fraud rules in light of elements such as:
- Fraud patterns that may be different in a new market
- Customer behaviors (like sharing credit cards) that could indicate fraud in your existing markets, but may be legitimate in a new one
Such potential variations mean you can't rely on historical data from existing markets to help set rules for a new one. An AI-driven fraud management platform that has access to current data for your new region can help you set appropriate screening rules. Ideally, your platform provider should also offer in-region fraud experts who specialize in the airline and travel industry and can help you finetune your strategy and rules.
Complying with regulations in new regions
Complying with regulations and mandates in a new region can appear complex. Payment platform providers will generally be familiar with global card scheme mandates, but make sure the provider you choose also has the knowledge about local card schemes and their mandates to support your compliance with them.
Regional regulations like the revised European Payment Services Directive (PSD2), with its strong customer authentication (SCA) requirement, must also be complied with. Your payments partner should:
- Be familiar with regional requirements
- Be able to help you adjust your processes accordingly
- Offer technology and solutions to help you comply
You may additionally need to deal with national mandates that are more stringent than regional ones, such as individual EU countries' rules about personal data storage that are stricter than the EU GDPR. Working with a payment platform provider that's familiar with all the rules and has invested in appropriate data storage solutions can help you get to market faster and more confidently.
Choosing the right partner
A payments partner like Cybersource can help you streamline your future and delight your customers, wherever you expand to. A single connection to our platform gives you access to:
- Wide-ranging payment, fraud management, infrastructure and related capabilities that can support your expansion to incorporate new routes, markets, and payment types
- A strong ecosystem of partners ready to help deliver the innovation that can propel you to your next destination
If you'd like to discuss developing a future-proof payments infrastructure, we'd love to chat. Ask us for a consultation with one of our airline industry experts.
In case you missed it, read our previous blogs on using secure payments to unlock new profitability and delivering the experiences airline passengers expect.