Half of US, Canadian Firms Say Data Management, Compliance Costs Blunt Innovation

Launching new products and services is key to staying competitive, but it is not always easy. Nearly half of all United States and Canadian businesses say that data management costs and compliance barriers are preventing them from bringing digital innovations to market. These challenges extend not just the time it takes to bring products and services to market, but also the time it takes to put the sales from those products on the books.

Accelerating the Time to Realized Revenue: Tapping Third-Party Platforms, a PYMNTS and Mastercard collaboration, details how businesses across the U.S. and Canada leverage third-party providers to accelerate their digital payments innovation strategies. We surveyed 409 executives from firms in both Canada and the U.S. to learn about the hurdles they must overcome to implement innovations that can help them gain and maintain their competitive edge and the role they believe third-party providers should play in their current and future innovation strategies.

Key findings from our research include:

U.S. and Canadian firms expect their technology investments to pay off by improving multiple aspects of their businesses, not just their payments operations. Forty percent of firms believe that digital innovation can boost customer satisfaction, for example, and 32% believe it can improve supplier satisfaction.

Nearly 80% of businesses use blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) systems, dynamic terms or supplier portals they obtain through outside providers. Many more are planning to, with 86% intending to obtain one of these technologies from outside providers in the next five years.

Seventy-nine percent of businesses use third-party platforms to optimize their working capital. Larger firms that do so report principally benefiting from enhanced transparency, while mid-market firms say they benefit more from enhanced automation and reduced credit risk.

These are just a few ways U.S. and Canadian firms believe outsourcing technology innovation to third-party providers can help speed new products’ time to market and improve their bottom lines. Accelerating the Time to Realized Revenue: Tapping Third-Party Platforms provides a firsthand account of how U.S. and Canadian businesses use third-party providers to support their innovation strategies.

To learn more about the full range of ways outsourcing can help U.S. and Canadian firms realize their innovation agendas, download the playbook.