Page 112 - Pay Magazine s2014

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vertical opportunities
processor spotlight FIS
The Era of
Intelligent Commerce
The average bank uses 50 outside vendors to deliver its products and services to customers. Calling this number “unsustainable,” payments processing giant FIS wants to displace these myriad providers by making a compelling case for doing business with one company that’s nimble, secure and—frankly—big.
BRUCE LOWTHERS
Being big has its advantages. If you’re a payments proces- sor, for example, you have
the advantage of seeing a lot of transactions—learning from them, spotting trends and achieving scale. But being big also has its downside. That is, the perception of being slow to react and attend to clients’ needs.
In a recent significant realign- ment, the North American Retail Payments division of FIS, the Florida-based global payments processor, has combined its obvious advantages of size with an organizational structure that’s nimble, responsive and carefully developed to complement the ongoing convergence of elec- tronic payments.
But how’s that possible?
Three to One
“Essentially, we’ve merged three divisions to match where the indus- try’s heading,” says Bruce Lowthers, executive vice president of FIS North American Retail Payments. “By reorganizing our resources
and removing silos, we’re propelling FIS and our clients into the era of intelligent commerce.”
All segments of the payments value chain, he contends, are opening up to new ways of doing business. And because FIS plays in all those areas, its streamlined structure can get new products to market faster, more elegantly and more seamlessly. “We’ve simplified, so there’s more internal ownership and clarity—with benefits flowing directly to clients,” he says.
Although FIS’s organizational changes were implemented for immediate impact, the company also is considering the longer term. Its new structure, it says, reflects the industry’s path for the next five to 10 years—that is, the need for more profitable products and services to enhance the bottom line and fewer suppliers to contain costs, especially those associated with third-party vendor risk.
The FIS North American Retail Payments Division The new North American Retail Payments division—FIS’s largest based on revenues, people and dedicated financial resources— encompasses the former North American card division, retail payments and the NyCE ATM network. Lowthers heads the
jIM jOHNSON
SERENA SMITH
BOB LEGTERS