Payment processing has turned into an intricate web of challenges for many merchants and payment service providers. Various factors—payment types, channels, and geographical influences—have created a complex ecosystem where managing transactions and ensuring financial accuracy can feel overwhelming.  

Because payment processing comprises various payment types and sales channels, merchants juggle multiple acquirers, processors, and gateways, resulting in a labyrinth of payment data that requires meticulous reconciliation.  

During a recent PaymentsJournal podcast, Dan Coates, Principal Solution Evangelist at ACI Worldwide, and Daniel Keyes, Senior Analyst of Merchant Services at Javelin Strategy & Research, explored the complex payments ecosystem and how payment orchestration allows merchants and PSPs to tackle obstacles head-on. 

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Payment Processing Adds Complexity to Reconciliation Processes 

Over the years, the payments industry has seen an influx of alternative payment methods, including cryptocurrency, BNPL, and digital wallets. On one hand, different payment methods give consumers the flexibility and convenience they crave. On the other, merchants need to add more payment channels into the mix, and that makes the reconciliation process a lot trickier.  

“When you look at most merchants, especially most merchants of a certain size—even those who have one acquirer—they really tend to struggle,” Coates said. “They may have one acquirer, but they’ll have multiple channels. They have a web channel, an app channel, and an in-store channel. 

“When you look at the statistics, more than two in five finance leaders don’t trust the accuracy of their financial data, and that’s absolutely wild. More than a third of the month is wasted just identifying and rectifying mistakes. Nearly two-thirds of merchants’ back-office teams’ time (is) spent on data consolidation, and then it finally takes over a month or nearly a month to close the end-of-year books. There’s a lot of waste there, and there’s a lot of lost revenue.” 

As Keyes pointed out, merchants aren’t payment experts. They don’t have a full command of everything available to them and don’t often understand everything they’re looking at.