My guest this week is a self-proclaimed technology nerd that built his first hand-held radio at 15 years old. His love for technology eventually turned into an obsession with payments and he hasn’t stopped building since he started. CellPoint Digital Cofounder and CEO Kristian Gjerding has coined the term “payments orchestration” as the foundational offering that his company provides, far surpassing the needs of merchant customers worldwide.

For those of you who may not know, CellPoint is a payments orchestration company that helps merchant clients manage their entire financial supply chain with the intent to: 

1.     Increase conversion rates on digital channels 

2.     Operate more efficiently in the back office 

3.     And reduce the cost of payment acceptance

So, what exactly does Kristian mean when he refers to payments “orchestration?” He is referring to the capacity to enable merchant clients to provide appropriate payment methods based on the entire range of rules and regulations, and an overarching intent to offer the best payment option for their consumers. How? By providing a centralized view of each individual ecosystem, with the ability to manage it in the most optimum and profitable manner.

When it comes to the defining characteristics that enable merchants to know whether or not they need payments orchestration, according to Kristian, it all comes down to a basic frustration with the need for a payments department and payments (in general) becoming such a pain.

Tune in this week to hear Kristian talk about his journey to CEO, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2-3 years as it relates to the rise of efficiencies in the SMB payments market, the continued expansion of alternative payments, a barter-based payment system and the need for a different approach to data as the government continues to get more involved.