A global payments organisation was faced with the sudden threat of a European challenger, sponsored by  governments and representing a potential significant threat to market share and revenue. The challenger was approaching the organisation and its competitors demanding that they license their proprietary technologies to allow it to enter the market, and support “co-badging” or co-existence of their brand with the challenger brand on a single payment card.

I was asked to provide a summary for executive leadership that was detailed enough to do justice to the issue but still digestible without specialist expertise, and would support them in making a decision on technology licensing and co-badging.

I had no expertise in the specific technologies under discussion, but pulled together SMEs in several technology teams as well as legal experts to get the information I needed. I used this to draw an end-to-end summary of how the payment flow worked in our existing network, what the challenger would need in order to create their own network, the regulations and our own rules affecting what we did and didn’t have to help them with, our options and their likely responses including working with our competitors.

The CEO found the material clear and comprehensive, and used it to support a decision not to engage with the challenger in the way they had demanded. As a result of this, and other organisations taking a similar stance, the threat has now receded.

• Internal Engagement and Communications
• Business Strategy
• collaboration
• creative problem-solving

• Organisational Agility & Effectiveness

• Financial Services