Digital Technologies Enhance The Customer Experience

In A Decade of Digital Transformation in 12 Months, 46 C-suite executives spoke with PYMNTS for its Q2 eBook on what the world will look like as recovery rolls on and the next iteration of normal rolls out. In this excerpt, Johan Gerber, executive vice president of security and cyber innovation for Mastercard, explores how businesses embraced digital transformation in 2020, and how it is essential for them to continue to invest in and adapt to future technologies.

Read the entire eBook here.

What we experienced during 2020 was a collective display of flexibility across the globe. A broad range of strategies and initiatives were adopted among businesses, governments and communities, showing huge amounts of ingenuity in meeting the same challenge – keeping us all as healthy and resilient as possible. Companies and consumers all came to rely on digital technology more than we had ever anticipated. From workout classes to Zoom webinars to online grocery shopping and telemedicine, the list goes on. Our lives have come to revolve around connections – among businesses, governments, ideas, technology and people. And now, those digital connections are largely driving our interactions.

All of these links bring incredible opportunities while also opening us up to vulnerabilities. There is a common fallacy that the cyber landscape is changing – but in reality, it is expanding. The challenge is that as new companies join the online world, they’re facing the same issues businesses did a decade ago. Many are joining the digital ecosystem without the benefit of basic cybersecurity knowledge to ensure that each one of their connection points is safe and secure.

As the number of digital touchpoints grows exponentially, monitoring this complex web of connections can be overwhelming, leaving businesses vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Strategic, intentional investment in deep digital transformation and innovation will be needed to carry us into the future. Layering a sleek digital façade over legacy processes and operations will not be effective. And regardless of the size of the business, or its geography, the key is to make sure the consumer sits at the heart of all digital transformation – to make their lives more convenient, their interactions more seamless and their devices more secure.

We see this as being largely fueled by technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), biometrics, quantum-resistant payments and more. Not only will these technologies help us better manage an ever-growing number of connections and data, but they’ll also become increasingly embedded into the customer journey from start to finish. Next-gen technology is already making the leap from being a tool that infuses the purchase journey with more insight, to being part of the purchase lifecycle itself. Take for example biometrics, which don’t just authenticate payments, but are the payment itself, with consumers simply waving to pay. Or your next contactless payment is quantum-resistant – happening in less than half a second, yet three million times harder to break.

Many businesses adapted quickly in 2020 and saw the benefits of moving to digital. But the key to maintaining these benefits will be investing in technologies that address the needs of customers now and in the future. This requires a deep ongoing commitment as well as a focus on doing the basics well.