The Shift Toward A Modern Disbursements Experience

“As consumer and business digital adoption has catapulted over the last 12 weeks, when it comes to payments, there are certain status quos we will no longer accept.”

Modernizing payments is work that never ends, but the end game is a world of connected commerce and consumer preference. “For disbursements specifically, the opportunity is also for a more modern solution,” said Drew Edwards, CEO at Ingo Money. “[A solution] that is ubiquitous, digital, 24/7, year-round and on-demand, and offers the ability to provide people with a choice in how they receive their funds, with many instant payment options.”

The following is an excerpt from How 35 Execs Are Powering The Great Digital Shift Of 2020 (And Beyond), contributed by Drew Edwards, CEO at Ingo Money.

While the world continues to walk a tightrope – on one side balancing how to slow the spread of COVID-19 and on the other side dealing with how to reopen the economy – new behaviors and interactions have taken shape. In some ways, this may only be a temporary shift until we have an approved vaccine, but when it comes to digital adoption, signs point to the fact that many of our behaviors are here to stay. A recent McKinsey study showed that “75 percent of people using digital channels for the first time indicate that they will continue to use them when things return to ‘normal.’”

As consumer and business digital adoption has catapulted over the last 12 weeks, when it comes to payments, there are certain status quos we will no longer accept. Remember the old adage “cash is king?” Well, maybe not, when you consider how many hands have touched that piece of paper.

Take another kind of paper – checks. Not only are they slow to arrive to the people who need the money (just ask the government, which, because of antiquated payment systems, was forced to send millions of stimulus funds this way), but they also present the risk of transmitting the virus. Does anyone really want to venture inside a bank these days, when remote, online options are readily available?

The emerging opportunities for payment innovators across industries will enable them to deliver a customer experience where consumers and businesses can use digital, contactless solutions that move more transactions online and beyond cash and check.

For disbursements specifically, the opportunity is also for a more modern solution – one that is ubiquitous, digital, 24/7 year-round and on-demand, and offers the ability to provide people with a choice in how they receive their funds, with many instant payment options.

While shelter-in-place mandates forced many into adopting digital solutions, the shuttering of the economy and the subsequent layoffs and stimulus package highlighted the critical need for innovation around faster disbursements for consumers and small businesses. Those impacts on livelihoods are lessons that will hopefully drive the call for innovation across government and businesses alike.

Read more executives’ insights in How 35 Execs Are Powering The Great Digital Shift Of 2020 (And Beyond).