Prognosis: COVID-19 and the evolving payments space!

Once again, you will find IR posts appearing on LinkedIn and Twitter to be consistent. COVID-19 is having a global impact on the payments processing marketplace. As the premier vendor working in the payments marketplace IR Prognosis monitors and manages critical application, data and infrastructure supporting today’s payment processors. With a long association with HPE NonStop, Prognosis has played a key role in supporting operations and application managers, leveraging NonStop across multiple generations of NonStop systems.

While today it is clear that the customer experience plays an important role for payments processors looking to grow their business, this experience can only be assured if well-managed. Prognosis provides timely and accurate insights into all that is taking place from the end device to the database and this was the highlight of an April 21, 2020, post by IR Business Development Manager, Payments, Kristy Lyne to the IR blog, COVID-19 and the evolving payments space.

Lyne sets the tone of this post from the start, “While we wait out this current crisis and observe the key changes in consumer & corporate behavior, we are all looking to the future.” Just as important for those in payments, Lyne then writes, “COVID-19 has created volatile environments around the world, but while there is instability and uncertainty, people are adapting.” However, it is in the heart of the post where the impact of COVID-19 is spelt out in more detail:

How COVID-19 is affecting both consumer and retailer behavior

Since the beginning of this crisis, almost 90% of consumers worldwide reported that their buying behavior has changed.

• Online purchasing is replacing in-store visits.
• Stock-up behavior is affecting both retailers and consumers, with bulk purchasing, leaving many stores without stocks of necessary products and prompting retailers to implement quantity limits.
• Due to widespread public closures, luxuries such as dining out have decreased, and the purchase of physical goods such as food and other essentials has increased.
• The travel industry is feeling the effects, with a drastic drop in tourism spending. This could negatively affect global payment systems that rely on foreign travel for growth.

When it comes to what we can expect to see happening next, even as we all await a return to normalcy, Lyne suggests that there will be a number of shifts taking place. “Since the outbreak, both consumers and producers have begun to focus even more heavily on the potential of technology,” notes Lyne. “Now more than ever, digital payments have become a basic utility, as necessary as water and electricity for many consumers.” What will likely be familiar to the NonStop community is Lyne’s summation:

“Real-time visibility – the ability to see transaction volumes, decline levels, errors and traffic as they happen – is critical. Pinpointing and resolving issues is crucial, and transaction monitoring enables proactive rather than reactive management, pre-empting problems before they impact customers.

“Consumers will think differently about how they interact with retailers and their purchasing behaviors will be forever changed. Retailers will have to accommodate even more payment methods and allow for an increase in multi-channel interactions. The customer experience will play an even bigger role in establishing loyalty.”

Once again, if you are working remotely from your home office please consider following IR on LinkedIn and Twitter. Our twitter handle is @IRPrognosis while on LinkedIn you can join 18,000 plus followers of IR when visiting our company page at –

https://www.linkedin.com/company/ir/

Should you be unaware of all the features integral to Prognosis support of Payments as well as NonStop systems, don’t hesitate to reach out to your local IR contact; they would be only too happy to hear from you.

Kevin Johnson, VP Sales – Payments Performance Monitoring

www.ir.com