From 2020 to 2030, global cashless transactions are predicted to nearly triple to $3 billion — and with them, emerging types of fraud. Treasurers can keep their organizations safe through adopting emerging payment-related protocols such as account validation and identity-verification services that work to prevent improper payments before they are made, or rule authoring solutions that bake in security screening measures based on each individual company’s needs and habits.
But these new solutions can’t be approved in a vacuum. As the treasurer’s role becomes increasingly collaborative, they must work with partners across the organization to get buy-in for various functions, including new security protocols. This process can be straightforward if the treasurer understands what’s top of mind for their internal partners and how new solutions can accommodate each stakeholder’s needs. Read on for four ways that treasurers can receive buy-in from their partners on new security solutions.
Chief Marketing Officers are increasingly tasked with creating seamless purchasing experiences because businesses now compete on high-quality customer experiences and user journeys as much as price or quality. As a result, this partner may raise eyebrows at new security tools that they think will introduce friction via more time spent on steps such as account, document or identify validation. However, proactive steps such as these can actually improve efficiencies. Treasurers can first ease the CMO’s concerns through explaining how to reduce time spent on onboarding.
For instance, businesses can use technology to identify someone’s past transaction history, which can allow them to auto populate key onboarding inputs. Further, this transaction history may verify whether someone shows up on a watchlist or serve as the foundation for a risk score — both of which can speed up the onboarding process.
Treasurers can also explain how new security protocols can actually reduce friction during purchases. For instance, Biometric payments1 and Tap to Pay for iPhone offer additional security features while allowing consumers and businesses to make in-person and online purchases.
Chief Technology Officers must consider how all of a firm’s technology works together. Many technology-related solutions may appear fast and effective in isolation but contribute to an organization’s tech debt if inefficient when combined with other solutions. This group may inquire about whether new security features, such as tokenization or market solutions that protect PII and payment information, introduce new technology or languages into an organization and the potential impacts.
Treasurers can turn a skeptical CTO into an ally by articulating the cohesiveness of new payments-related technology with legacy systems. For instance, CTOs can use new API-based security technology to both complement current workflows and open the door to additional innovation. It’s an added bonus if the new technology comes with developer-related tools like a portal.
Chief Information Officers tend to have more work than technology staff to implement new projects. This stakeholder want a clear idea of the timeline, but they also want to know how many developers they must commit to the project and whether it will introduce ongoing tasks for their staff.
That means treasurers should know more than just an estimated implementation timeline. They should also have a rough idea of the staff needed — and bonus points if they can provide an estimated number of sprints.
If new security solutions will remain off the CIO’s plate, that’s an even better bonus. One opportunity is to know whether payments will screen outside of IT structures so only the treasurer’s team will handle day-to-day tasks.
If new security features will be provided by a new provider, any stakeholder may wonder why the organization is adding a new partner rather than a preexisting one. Below are a few justifications that a treasurer might provide:
The right partner will also be forward-thinking and build new tools to address the needs of other partners. For instance, treasurers may highlight how risk scores based on historical transaction data can meet the needs of chief risk and compliance officers.
All of these considerations should help treasurers gain buy-in from their partners, meaning all there’s left to do is incorporate the solutions and reap the benefits.
Biometrics payments is under development and is not available for client use at this time.