Page 1 - GS200501_Flipbook

May 11, 2020 • Issue 20:05:01

Catching payments' third wave

Case likened adaptation to what he learned from an
experienced surfer who said that when the wave is cresting,
you're either in the tube or you're in the sand. Adaptive
professionals and companies that react quickly to their
surroundings are more likely to be in the tube, Case noted.
"During the Second Wave, the industry of focus
was technology, and so Second Wave entrepreneurs
understandably flocked to the place in the country where
tech companies and investors had clustered," he wrote.
"But during the Third Wave, though products will be tech-
enabled, they won't be tech-centric. They'll use apps, but
the product won't be an app. And so, the benefit derived
from being in the tech world won't be as high."
Beyond payments

The principle that apps are not the product also applies
to payments. Today's payment solutions are tech-enabled,
but they are not tech-centric. In many cases, embedded
By Dale S. Laszig payments inside apps are not the core product but rather
mechanisms that facilitate things like video streaming,
echnology waves are pummeling the payments ride sharing and coffee buying. People and companies use
industry, pushing merchant level salespeople payments for commerce, but payments are not commerce.
(MLSs) out of their comfort zones. Experts have They are a subset of larger verticals, such as retail,
T theorized about wave patterns for decades. In hospitality or healthcare.
1980, Alvin Toffler's bestselling book, The Third Wave, iden-
tified three waves of human progress: the agricultural age, Merchant services and other businesses are becoming more
industrial age and information age. distributed and less centrally located. Tech workers are
finding work outside of major technology hubs. MLSs are
Thirty-six years later, Steve Case published The Third
Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future. He applauded
Toffler and added three waves: building the internet, the
app economy and mobile revolution, and the Internet of Contributed articles inside by:
Everything (IoE). New waves in each cycle crest higher than
their predecessors, using newly discovered capabilities to
create something better and stronger, Case stated. Marc Beauchamp ..................................................................................16

The payments industry has also experienced three distinct William C. Nichols .................................................................................24
cycles. First was the launch of electronic processing Max Miller ................................................................................................26
technology. Next, an industrial age made POS devices and
modems sleeker and faster. Today, a third wave is cresting, TOC on page 3
requiring MLSs to adapt or risk becoming irrelevant.

Continued on page 22