How to choose and use your payment services 3

(3/4)
This short blog is number three out of a series of four, addressing steps a merchant organization should take to choose & use their payment service provider.

Future environment
Now it’s time for your organization to define what your future should look like without any of the restrictions you might currently have.  Look at your short-, mid- and long-term E-commerce strategy and design it the way you would ideally like to see it work. Identify  the key processes as they are deeply related to your E-commerce strategy. Evaluate each step in your process and clarify why it’s important to your organization. Now you have agreement about how the future payment strategy should look. At this instant you need to apply any restrictions you might have which cannot be negotiated, i.e.  system-, regulatory- or corporate requirements as well as back-office or risk management functionalities and so forth. After these requirements have been applied to your E-commerce strategy, you are ready for the next step.
Gap Analysis
A critical step in any assessment & improvement initiative is performing a gap analysis. It identifies the deficiencies between your current and future requirements and highlights the magnitude and scope of the change required in order to choose and use the best payment service provider. This information is critical for creating a first RFP, assess and short-list payment service providers and bring about the desired result. In addition, it allows you to 1) determine whether a phased implementation of the new PSP or services is appropriate, 2) prioritize implementation tasks, and 3) develop a realistic timeline and budget for the implementation.
After completing your gap analysis, you may determine that your e-commerce strategy is a little too optimistic or expensive, necessitating changes to the picture of the future environment. Go ahead and modify your vision based on your learning introducing must haves and nice to have.  Modify any RFI/RFP documentation and don’t forget to communicate the changes and the expectations to the involved parties.