The payment ecosystem is large, growing, and going through disruption. Customer expectations for value-added services heightened competition due to the emergence of FinTechs, a range of new payment-enabling technologies, and an ever-changing regulatory landscape has led to the development of an open and collaborative payments ecosystem, according to a report by Capgemini on the “Top 10 Trends in Payments in 2018.”
“And this new ecosystem is expected to spur collaboration among stakeholders, which may force all players to reassess their roles,” says the report. So what will this mean for video service providers and the offerings you provide your customers? Here’s our take on some trends to consider:
1. App Stores are Here to Stay — You Can’t Avoid Them
App stores are a key part of the payment ecosystem. Yet should users have to pay for the same content on different devices? And as a video service provider, are you offering a myriad of payment types and methods on emerging platforms such as Stripe, PayPal, Square, Amazon, Apple, and many others, along with gift billing, metered billing plans, and the traditional credit card, debit and prepaid cards?
2. PII, GDPR, and Other Compliance/Privacy Protections are Going to Impact OTT Providers
Data security, privacy, and protection of customer data are critical.
Personally identifiable information, or PII, must be protected with protocols for firewalls, passwords, data encryption, and more, yet the regulations for handling the data vary globally. And in May 2018, the European Union will begin the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR, so service providers will face even more regulation complexity competing in Europe.
3. Involuntary Churn due to Payment Hiccups and Quirks Will Continue to be a Problem
Credit issuer quirks can cause some customers to be involuntarily canceled. This presents a real problem for service providers. Processes need to be in place to make sure this doesn’t happen and to prevent fraud as well. Watch our “War On Churn” webinar here.
4. New Innovations in Payment Methods, Such as Micropayments, are Being Implemented in Global OTT markets
Micropayments are being used in developing markets for short video bursts but require good execution on the back end to work. Carrier billing is also becoming more popular, particularly in Latin America, where credit cards are not as common.
Evergent can help you keep track of global payment, billing, and tax. In fact, for greater flexibility, Evergent supports 150+ global currencies and allows you to define different billing areas based on geolocation. You can also define daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly billing periods, different billing cycles for each billing period, bill-run status for the given cycle, and much more.
Learn more about our approach.
Want to learn more about these topics related to entitlement and revenue management? Read “The Blueprint for Best-in-Class Video Subscriber Management.” It offers insights from industry experts on a range of topics, including user acquisition, engagement, and retention; identity, payments, entitlements, packaging, promotions, and customer care; and all offered on secure cloud services.
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