How One Processor Used Credit Card Data Analytics to Stand Out in Market

Challenge

As credit card data processing companies move toward commoditization and omnichannel processes, one of the nation's largest processors saw the value beyond the initial transaction. Each debit or credit card they process, whether for authorization or decline and settlement, carried dark data that offered significant value for merchants. However, that data, along with merchant, bank, and consumer information, was highly proprietary and included data that couldn't be used beyond defining what to authorize and settle. 

The processing company was at a crossroads. On one hand, they wanted to expand to other channels and create competitive product lines to keep ahead of trends. On the other hand, they were very concerned about risking the security and efficiency of their services.

To meet their goals, the company leaders knew they would have to rethink the foundation of how they do business, including analyzing their capabilities and gaps as well as finding opportunities to access data more easily. They needed a data transformation strategy based on credit card data analytics as this would allow them to move quickly and stay ahead of industry trends. It would also allow them to evaluate their existing technologies against newer, more nimble ones and manage risk while maintaining current service levels.

While they had already made great strides in mapping out their plan for the future, they needed an experienced team of experts to guide their transformation in a way that would align with their business strategy. To meet these goals, they partnered with New Era Technology to assist them in creating a digital strategy roadmap. 

Our team knew we needed to build an environment that could meet several demands, including:

• Process and analyze billions of data transactions
• Integrate with other internal and external datasets
• Interpret consumer behavior
• Preserve the privacy, integrity, and quality of data 
• Ensure obtained analytics and insights were valid

The first step to building this environment was identifying obstacles to managing and interpreting data.  Next, we defined a framework for governance and controls that complied with strict regulations and would ensure all credit card transaction data and resulting analytics were kept confidential. Once we had the auditing process as the foundation of the digital strategy roadmap, we shaped and refined it into a three-year data strategy and data transformation strategy that would include: 

• Creating the desired data management platform capabilities
• Creating a critical alignment between IT and the rest of the company
• Identifying which technologies to repurpose or replace
• Implementing new technologies to begin data integration and migration
• Implementing data governance and obfuscating data 
• Identified change agents and thought leaders who would propel the organization to success

With a data strategy roadmap in place, our client was able to get ahead of the evolving payment-processing market that would future-proof their organization.