What is Payment Orchestration?
Payment orchestration platforms (POPs), or payments orchestration layer (POL), are platforms that simplify the integration between websites and payment service providers (PSPs). POPs allow for your website to utilize just one platform to connect to multiple payment processors. By increasing the number of payment methods that you accept, you can increase your geographic coverage, improve the flow of payment, and improve user experience (UX). The main advantage of payments orchestration is that the software layer identifies the best route to send payments to reduce transaction interruptions. Digital payments often follow the following path:
- The user initiates the payment via your checkout page and selects a payment method from your list of accepted payment methods.
- The user’s payment information is sent to the payment gateway.
- The payment gateway encrypts the payment details and sends them on the acquiring bank and payment processor.
- The acquiring bank and the issuing bank communicate to authorize the payment.
- A message indicating whether the payment is approved or declined is sent from the acquirer to the payment gateway, and then on to the merchant.
Without payment orchestration, a declined payment (in step 5) will result in a payment failure message for the user, which may prevent and/or deter the user from completing the transaction. With payment orchestration, a failed payment will automatically be routed to another payment processor, reducing payment failure messages.
The benefits of utilizing POPs are:
Integration. Rather than integrating individual PSPs, a payments orchestration layer allows you to support many PSPs, including local or alternative payment methods, without the need for third-party integration.
Adaptability. POPs make it easier to adapt to user payment preferences by giving them more options on your website. Adding new payment methods is fast and easy, allowing you to respond quickly to user preferences.
UX. Payments orchestration reduces declined payments by sending them to the best performing payment processor, averting poor user experiences on your website that stem from addressing a declined payment by retrying the original payment method or trying an alternative payment method. This type of process is referred to as “frictionless payment”, a payment process that uses data from apps, devices, and/or websites in order to simplify the purchasing process for users and to improve conversion rates.
Reduced cost. With fewer integrations and associated fees, payment orchestration may save you money over standalone services. It may also save you money by sending transactions to the lowest cost processors.
Analytics. Payment orchestration includes dashboards with real-time analytics about all payments and all providers, streamlining data analytics that would otherwise be cumbersome using data from multiple payment gateways and service providers.
Compliance. Payment orchestration platforms manage PCI compliance and other regulations.