Payments Are A Commodity: a brief post
I’m a simple man.
Relatively.
And, as such, I appreciate simple statements. Or, perhaps, concise statements that capture something compelling and cause me to pause and think.
Just such a statement was posted by Seth Godin this morning entitled Over the top isn’t…
The quote, pasted below, is one of those statements that I’m going to wander about the office and scrawl on whiteboards…(my office mates are just thrilled when I do that).
Over the top isn’t…over the top any more.
The bar keeps being raised. That service you thought was so remarkable is now standard. Sorry.
The concept of what once was a remarkable service becoming standard is what has happened to the payments industry. The prime competition is no longer focused on value but on price…a simple commodity. That is why folk that I talk with are keenly interested in software solutions rather than just traditional hardware processing solutions.
There is value in tight integration.
There is value in a software experience.
There is value in meeting a business need.
That service that was a commodity is perceived differently when it isn’t just a service, but a part of a software solution.
What’s your perspective? Agree? Disagree? Anything to add? Critiques? The comment form is below. . .
September 17, 2008