Payment gateways might be thought of as the workhorses of fund flows, whether it’s for B2B or consumer-facing transactions. It’s the technology that gets payment data moving.
But with the emergence of new technologies — particularly APIs and payments automation — gateways can be used strategically to improve cash flow and commerce itself, Bank of America Managing Director, Head of Global Banking Merchant Product Juan Garrido told PYMNTS.
“We’ve seen a tremendous evolution as payment gateways have now become a one-stop shop, giving you the ability to connect to all payment services with easy integration through an API, which gives you the ability to optimize your business,” Garrido said during Outlook 2030, an October B2B payments event hosted by PYMNTS.
Several verticals have been embracing payment gateways, especially retail, which has “led the march,” as well as healthcare, Garrido said.
Gateways are proving key to modernizing B2B interactions, Garrido said. They can automate invoicing and speed up collections between buyers and suppliers through features such as recurring/subscription billing and “pay by” links that offer payment optionality and the ability for buyers to pay in installments. B2B payments are also seeing an increased embrace of commercial cards, offering discounts and other options to get suppliers paid more quickly.
Payment gateways have increasingly become integrated into accounts receivable management, a result of the digitization of the back office, he said.
“You’re seeing integrations into systems like Oracle and SAP,” as well as EPIC and Cerner — among other systems — in healthcare, he said.
“This allows for easier reconciliation and for ‘faster’ receivables,” he said.
With these integrations, there can be a 30% increase in AR productivity and a 25% reduction in days sales outstanding, Garrido said.
Faster collections translate into more visible cash flows, and a steady stream of data through gateways’ enhanced reporting can help chief financial officers and other executives more accurately forecast cash flows that have yet to materialize, he said.
“We’ve seen that there are a lot of merchants out there that are leveraging unique APIs for the data, for the reporting to ingest a lot of what you see from a payment gateway into their internal processes, so that way they have a better view into what’s to come,” Garrido said.
Beyond improving the back-end functions tied to strategic cash flow management, payment gateways enable new capabilities for merchants as they move more fully into omnichannel commerce, Garrido said.
Providing a broad range of payments options is key to improving customer loyalty, as merchants’ customers demand digital wallets and alternative payment methods such as buy now pay later (BNPL) and Paze, he said. Expanded payment options, contactless transactions and tokenization (with automatic card updates) directly address cart abandonment.
“The transactions are an effortless, and positive, experience,” he said.
Asked by PYMNTS about the future of payment gateways, Garrido said that “merchants are going to look to those gateways to help with their push away from manual processes to automated processes.”
Pay by bank looms as a burgeoning use case, “and what you’re going to see is that there’s a lot of innovation around the challenges that merchants face and the solutions that are going to be embedded in the payment gateways,” he said.
“The payment gateways are beginning to get the respect they currently deserve in the market,” Garrido told PYMNTS.
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We get a lot of press releases here at PYMNTS. We consider all of them, and some are more newsworthy than others. But this one really got our attention. This past week, Diebold Nixdorf made headlines with its announcement of successfully installing two new automated teller machines (ATMs) at the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station in Antarctica. This achievement marks a significant milestone in banking accessibility, to be sure. We would like to meet the crew that installed them. We’d also like to know why they needed two. Was there a line at the first one? More to come on that.
According to Diebold, McMurdo Station is Antarctica’s largest research and logistics hub, supporting a fluctuating population that ranges from fewer than 200 residents during the winter months to up to 1,100 individuals during the summer (October through February). The presence of these ATMs is crucial, it says, as the next closest banking facilities are thousands of miles away, making them the only ATMs on the entire continent. How’s that for a value proposition?
The DN Series ATMs are designed for always-on availability. And why do they need two? One ATM is actively in use, while the second serves as a backup for spare parts, ensuring uninterrupted service in this isolated area. These machines are connected to the DN AllConnect Data Engine, which leverages Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor their performance. A dedicated team continuously aggregates and analyzes technical data to identify potential issues, enabling remote diagnostics and repairs. The ATM can be maintained by trained staff at NSF McMurdo Station, or the Diebold Nixdorf service team can remotely guide them through the repair process.
Anyway, it got us thinking. Are there other surprising ATMs in extreme locations? Well, of course, there are. Here’s a sampling of what we found.
At an altitude of about 5,364 meters (17,600 feet), the Mount Everest Base Camp in Nepal is another unexpected place to find an ATM. Although it’s not a permanent fixture and is often set up seasonally, it caters to climbers and trekkers who need cash for local transactions. This temporary ATM service underscores the adaptability of banking services in extreme environments.
In some parts of the Amazon rainforest, particularly in Brazil and Peru, ATMs can be found in small villages and towns. These machines are vital for local communities, providing access to cash in areas where digital payment options might be limited. The presence of ATMs here demonstrates how banking services can reach even the most remote communities.
Located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Nagqu is home to one of the highest ATMs in the world. This region is very remote, with limited infrastructure, making the presence of an ATM a notable example of banking accessibility in extreme environments.
In the Thousand Islands (Kepulauan Seribu) off the coast of Jakarta, Indonesia, there’s a floating ATM. This unique ATM serves the local community and tourists on the islands, demonstrating how banking services can adapt to isolated marine environments.
Longyearbyen, the administrative center of the Svalbard archipelago in Norway, boasts the most northerly ATM. This location is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth, with limited access to mainland Norway, making the ATM a vital service for residents and visitors.
On a more serious note, the installation of ATMs in places like Antarctica and other remote locations highlights the evolving nature of banking technology. With advancements in IoT, AI and remote diagnostics, it’s becoming increasingly feasible to provide banking services in areas previously considered inaccessible. As we look to the future, it will be interesting to see where else ATMs might appear. Whether it’s on a remote island, at the top of a mountain or even in space, the ability to access cash is becoming more universal than ever. And who knows? Maybe one day, we’ll see an ATM on Mars, serving the first interplanetary travelers.
For now, the presence of ATMs in unexpected places reminds us that banking is not just about transactions; it’s about connecting people and communities across the globe, no matter how remote they might be.
