There’s no denying that recent global events such as the banking crisis, inflation, and rising interest rates have caused the business world to shift its foundations. But as with most dark clouds, it brings a silver lining — even if it comes as a wake-up call. “The interesting byproduct of challenging situations, including the current economic landscape of high inflation, rising interest rates, and banking industry shake-ups, is that it forces change,” notes Thomas Priore, Priority’s Chairman and CEO. “Challenges and crises can often force people to adopt and adapt a new mindset around fresh solutions. For Priority, rather than turn away from the challenge, it has become a time to turn introspectively to innovation and action,” says Priore.
“There are known uncertainties out there that will affect businesses — and those will change by vertical; some businesses will benefit, some will be hindered,” Priore says. “But generally speaking, because of all that uncertainty, it will be a tough economic environment at a macro level for the next 18 months to two years.”
While some “dark first-quarter 2023 recessionary imaginings” came to pass, says Priore, so far 2023, even in this second quarter, has managed to keep “the other shoe from dropping” as many in the financial sector had expected. Priore believes that businesses, now more than ever, have to take the time to vet and seek out the opportunities made available in this current market so that their businesses can remain viable and relevant for their customers. “Even beyond the recent pressures from inflation and the economic downturn, we put our money and dedication into improving our platform and process. This is because we believe in where the future of payments is heading,” Priore stated in a recent PYMNTS article. Priore shares, “We help customers through the financial solutions and tools that best fit their needs.”
Priority continues its growth trajectory by anticipating trends and analyzing ongoing customer experience. It has consistently developed the innovative, intuitive digital payment solutions necessary to meet an expanding marketplace’s robust and complex demands. Priority recently leveraged the recent banking sector instability to tout its alternative solutions that combine payments and banking at scale to power businesses. Priore states, “Passport is Priority’s unified commerce engine that seamlessly integrates payments, treasury, and banking solutions into one platform. It allows businesses and merchants to collect, store, and send money in its native payments/banking platform to securely and easily manage financial transactions.”
Thomas Priore believes that being predictive and proactive have been the driving forces in Priority’s upward trajectory since its founding in 2005 and is central to its current standing as one of the largest non-bank payment processors in the US.
Adapting Digital Payment Methods for the Future
Priore says navigating the economic challenges of 2023 and beyond isn’t going to be a walk in the park. Businesses across every sector will need to rethink their payment process models and retool them using the latest technological advances to keep up with an evolving set of trending needs and expectations. Traditional platforms such as automated clearing houses (ACH) will likely remain active players in the payments landscape for the foreseeable future but real-time payments are becoming ever more the reality. For traditional payment solutions to remain viable options, they will have to further adapt to remain relevant.
What will it take to survive and thrive in the days ahead? Adaptability. Businesses must embrace emerging digital payment solutions, whether that means adopting wholly new, emerging platforms or updating grandfathered payment solutions that were simply not designed to accommodate the reinvented marketplace to stay ahead and provide their customers with the best possible experience while ensuring that payment transactions are handled safely and securely.
2023 Goals: Heightened Confidence and Enhanced Risk Management
One of the trends Priority tapped into as a major opportunity in light of recent economic fluctuations has been business owners’ growing dissatisfaction with traditional banking. Citing everything from inflexibility and long wait times delaying access to their funds to an overall lack of confidence due to poor planning, lack of foresight, and bad decision-making, more and more wary business owners are moving away from older banking modalities. They are concerned traditional banks may be locked into a time warp of red tape, inefficiency, outdated security measures, and last-century investment strategies that leave them vulnerable to undue risk.
“Business owners who aren’t satisfied with their banks are now in a position to question and scrutinize the safety of their money,” Priore explained in a recent article for PYMNTS. “In addition, they are wondering if their current banking partners can withstand a crisis. However, this leaves the door wide open for payments and nontraditional banking service providers offering one embedded financial solution or platform.” Priore goes on to say that top companies, such as Priority, can prove they’re better equipped to “manage accounts and diversify risks cyber-security, fraud, and the current economic environment; handle collecting/storing/sending money; and offer robust payment and banking functionality” have emerged as highly attractive alternatives to traditional banking.
“Priority is positioned to handle the growing needs of businesses looking for a banking alternative by converging payments with banking,” Priore states. “This is through the credibility, backing, and solvency of FDIC-insured financial institutions, and with the technology of our embedded finance platform that helps businesses streamline their payments and accounting operations.”
Cash Flow Management and Platform Integrations
With an emphasis on digital precision and data-driven solutions, according to Thomas Priore, the name of the payments game for 2023 is going to be accelerated cash flow.
“Cash flow has never been more important, and smart money is backing platform integrations that manage the process with digital precision and — you guessed it — data,” PYMNTS reports. “That’s particularly important in B2B, where automating back-office functions for exactitude and efficiency is taking on elevated importance, shining a spotlight on payment processing and corporate spending with instruments like commercial cards that are finding new momentum.”
To create the seamless, intuitive, user-friendly business customer experience that general consumers have already come to expect in their online purchasing transactions, Priority has developed a suite of scalable, integrated, customizable platforms that streamline each step of the payment process for merchants and businesses.
For the remainder of 2023, Priore says he and the Priority team will be “committed to meeting the growing demand of partners and business owners, simplifying the customer experience, and making it easy to solve problems for businesses through applications.” He predicts the changes in the banking industry will drive an increasing number of businesses to seek alternative finance solutions that offer enhanced transparency, faster cash flow, and diversification with minimized risks that traditional banking institutions cannot deliver.
“Modernizing the commerce experience for the people we serve — whether it’s SMBs or enterprise customers — is going to happen at an accelerated rate. We will continue to put our money and dedication into improving our payments and banking platform because we believe in the future of unified commerce,” Priore says.
