The API Economy Is Driving Better Customer Experiences

Many of the great digital customer experiences that we know today are enabled by API’s. They empower organizations and developers to solve new use cases by adding new features and functionality, building on top of their existing platforms.

This includes the payments space as well.

I recently had a chance to speak at this year’s ACT Canada’s Cardware Conference a few weeks ago on this topic – and how the payments industry can accelerate bringing different platforms together to create change and new opportunities for innovation.

At Interac, we leverage these 5 foundational elements when designing and pushing new experiences into market:

1. Hierarchy of Human Needs – As you design, develop, create, offer new products and services, always keep in mind Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs. In the payments world, security, reliability and convenience are three key needs consumers demand of their payment transactions. These needs tie directly with their human’s need for safety and self-esteem. By keeping these in check, you have a shot at securing a customer’s trust.
2. Customer Experience and Trust – In most cases, consumers already know and trust your brand. But that is no longer enough. In payments, we need to keep up with the changing pace of technology, whether that is on a mobile or an IoT enabled device – and with that we need to make sure that consumers can pay who, when, where and how they want. Paying should be just as seamless as the experience it is integrated with.
3. Leveraging Partnerships – The API economy is all about partnerships. Which 3^rd party API you are leveraging and the benefits it provides you can create a dynamic partnership between parties. Partnerships are needed to design new experiences and by leveraging APIs, these partnerships can be established more quickly, effectively and in turn lead to innovation.
4. Safe Play – When discovering which APIs to use, it is important to have a place to safely play with new designs and technology. When a ‘safe-play’ mentality is part of an organization’s culture, it enables creation freely without the fear of failing.
5. Disrupt Innovation – Just because things are working, that doesn’t mean you stop working at improving – even if that means disrupting yourself. If you continue to challenge your business and keep the customer’s needs first, the drive to innovate will never stop.