Podcast

A hard pivot: How businesses abruptly switched to digital commerce

PayDirt: A PaymentsSource Podcast with Daniel Wolfe

Nandan Sheth, Fiserv's global head of digital commerce, talks to PaymentsSource Associate Editor David Heun about the unprecedented challenge of bringing businesses into the digital age in an environment where many are adapting only out of necessity.

We used to explain the rough transition to digital payments by saying that small business owners got into their job to sell hamburgers, not to manage a website or protect payment card data. That's why fintech vendors had to make sure they handled the complexity of digital payments and security in a way that anyone could understand.

But even the most tech-savvy business owner never expected that they would only be selling online when a pandemic drove all of their clients out of their stores. And compounding the issue is that many consumers are changing their shopping habits reluctantly — they weren't clamoring to order their groceries or their fast food by delivery; they're doing this out of necessity.

The one thing that businesses have in their favor — regardless of size — is timing. Regardless of demographic, most consumers know how to buy something on Amazon or how to look up their bank balances through a mobile app. This means we have a much smaller learning curve — and a much bigger toolset to help consumers and business owners adapt.

And failing to adapt isn't an option.

Today you'll hear Nandan Sheth, Fiserv's global head of digital commerce, talk to PaymentsSource Associate Editor David Heun about this unprecedented challenge.