Global non-cash transactions will grow by 14% in the period 2017-2022 with the US leading the top ten markets for non-cash payments. Although cash is still the predominant form of transaction payment, the long term sees online payments taking over. This means that money management is going to take place online as more people conduct their business electronically. Given this shift in consumption patterns, the question remains whether online payments and transactions are safe and if online money management is secure.
Security of Virtual Payments and Transactions
Electronic payments are convenient and fast. Unfortunately, digital transactions are also vulnerable to cybercriminals with 1 in 15 people a victim of identity theft. Stats indicate that there is a new victim of identity theft every 2 seconds. Credit card fraud is a common form of identity theft. When a person gets hold of your card and details, they can make purchases online or offline making it essential to know what to do when data is breached. Not doing anything can create havoc on your finances and even your credit score.
There are several ways as well to enhance online security and ensure that your electronic transactions are protected. Operating on a secure internet connection, updating your anti-malware or anti-virus program, putting up a firewall, and using strong passwords are some things that you can do to prevent theft and fraud. Visiting only secure websites is a must as well as checking that sites have several levels of data encryption to guarantee that your details are not revealed while your information travels across the worldwide web.
Managing Finances Online Through Apps and Software
An advantage offered by non-cash transactions is the ability to manage your finances online. There are several apps and widgets that you can download to use on computers and mobile devices. Online financial software and apps are easy to use, secure, and do not require backups. Software updates are also automatic ensuring that you’re using an up-to-date technology.
However, to make sure that the software is safe, it is your responsibility to check its reliability, level of data encryption, privacy statement, and data backup policy. It’s also a good idea to verify if there is an active tech support in cases of problems or glitches. Only then can you safeguard your financial data.
Online transactions are likely to increase in the future and at some point, will replace cash payments completely. Understanding that it is essential to control and secure your financial information decreases the chances for fraud and data breach.
It’s clear that the pandemic accelerated digital transformation among global businesses. Among these developments was a re-evaluation of how businesses pay their suppliers. This has presented an opportunity for B2B payments providers and AP automation vendors to deliver easy-to-use, seamless, unified experiences.
One area of significant digitalization was in the business travel and corporate events space. Corporate preferences have begun to align with everyday consumer payments experiences. It is in this space that we saw developments in web and mobile payments. These include significant interest in virtual payments and expense management platforms.
American Express Partners with Cvent
With this background, it comes to no surprise that American Express recently announced a partnership with Cvent, a corporate meetings, events, and hospitality provider, to further expand virtual payment capabilities within Cvent’s Event Marketing & Management platform.
Included in the announcement were results from the American Express Meeting & Events Trendex survey conducted in September of this year. The survey found that 81% of corporate event & meeting planners are using an automated payments process and 82% expect further automation of these processes within the next six months.
Expense Management Platform Experience
Furthermore, the top ranked feature that planners were looking for in an expense management platform was a simple user experience (50%) followed by enhanced security (48%). Mercator conducted a study on expense management platforms, similarly, finding that ease-of-use and security were important factors to corporate stakeholders.
As corporate buyers, and suppliers come to alignment on the important features of virtual payments, we expect continued expansion of this novel payment’s method.
Overview by Ben Danner, Research Analyst at Mercator Advisory Group.
