Although there is no default mould for a payment professional, or team, our research has shown that there are certain shared qualities. Across countries and sectors, there is a difference in terms of gender and age range. This piece will provide a full breakdown of the gender split within this field and suggest why this could be the case. It will also look to explore the top five payment-related attitudes, biggest motivations and the culture and size of teams.
Research methodology
We approached 500 online payment decision-makers across 5 countries. 100 payment professionals were surveyed from Poland, Sweden and Russia, 102 from Italy and 107 from the UK. This internationally diverse group worked across a number of verticals: retail, travel, gaming, gambling and forex. We targeted decision-makers, namely MDs, Head of Payments, Payments Managers and Finance Directors from companies with revenue of £1 million-plus. Our questions ranged from the challenges and barriers faced in their industries to personal motivations and objectives. Read on for the results of these interviews.
Anatomy of a Payments Professional
We wanted to explore whether there were any common characteristics shared by payment professionals, regardless of country or sector. To ascertain this information, we asked a few questions focused on demographics.
Gender
Our research showed that 89% of the payment professionals we spoke to were male, with female representation at 11%. These figures may seem unbalanced but with initiatives dedicated to the involvement of more women into fintech, these numbers are set to rise.
Age group
There was slightly more variety in terms of age group, but there was still a clear winner with 76% interviewed in their 30s or 40s. The smallest age group was the over 60s at 1%, followed closely by the under 30s at 5%. Those in their 50s made up 18% of the group. The concentration of payment professionals in their 30s and 40s could be attributed to the need for experienced, yet innovative individuals who are technology savvy.
The payments team culture and size
Culture
67% of payment professionals would describe themselves as stable, but flexible when needed and focused on gradual improvement. Our research revealed that the vast majority (74%) are excited about improving their payments performance. This bodes well for the industry as it is sure to result in innovation, more efficient processing and the ability to accept payments more securely.
Team
The size of payment teams fluctuated across the verticals and countries interviewed. None of the payment professionals from Sweden belonged to a team of over 30 individuals. This could be explained by their payment legacy; they have an abundance of highly skilled individuals who are well trained to operate efficiently in this area. In the UK, there was the highest proportion of people who favoured a particular team size with 40% opting for 11-20 people. Similar to Sweden, the UK has been leading the way in payments for a number of years and have consolidated the most effective team size through experience. Gaming had the lowest percentage (2%) of the smallest sized team and an inclination towards a larger group. Compared to retail and travel, gaming is still a relatively new vertical and may lean towards bigger teams whilst they are consolidating the role of payments.
Combining data from all the countries, it was revealed that the most popular team size was 11-20 people (35%) followed by 6-10 (31%). Larger teams of 30 plus were the least popular with only 7% working in a team of this size.
However, despite the sizeable nature of most of the teams, 76% say it is challenging to find highly skilled payment professionals. This may account for the limited number of teams exceeding 30 members. Alternatively, the preference for smaller teams may hint at how a tight-knit team can assign workloads more effectively and streamline processes. They could also have trusted payment partners that function almost as if an in-house member of the team, therefore, removing the need for extra people.
Payment professionals’ biggest motivations
Finding out the motivations of payment professionals was highly informative as it allowed us to move away from collective figures and find out what made individuals tick. The most common points of motivation were meeting targets and delivering positive business outcomes (46%), leading a team to success (43%), learning new things and the continual improvement of knowledge (39%), plus spotting flaws and errors as the basis of improvement (35%).
All of these motivations are focused on both personal improvement and the wider development of the company. This combination is likely to lead to driven individuals who are passionate about optimising their business’ payments performance.
However, only 1 in 7 payment professionals would say that the goals of their team are aligned with the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the wider business and broader commercial objectives. This could suggest that more effort needs to be made to form a cohesive company strategy that clearly outlines the role of payments in the business’ development.
Top 5 payment-related attitudes
Although, there are discrepancies across the board in areas such as, motivations, culture, team size and anatomy, there were a few clear trends which emerged in terms of attitude.
Efficiency
Efficiency is a key attribute for payment professionals to possess and implement across their work. It is an integral aspect to incorporate into the payment processes of a business. Consumers demand an efficient and seamless payment experience and professionals working within all industries need to ensure they comply.
Innovation
Innovation does not need to be solely defined as coming up with new ideas every day, it can also mean having an imaginative approach or a creative thought process. Payment teams need to always be advancing and transforming to stay ahead of their competition and not stagnate. Providing a selection of alternative payment methods to your customers is an easy way to innovate and stay on top of demand. It is important that payment professionals can foresee trends relating to APMs and offer them accordingly.
Flexible
A reactive and adaptable attitude allows for quick responses to the latest innovations within payments. The pace of change is rapid and payment professionals need to be flexible to keep up. However, it is also important to recognise that out of those interviewed 67% classified themselves as ‘stable but flexible when needed’, emphasising that providing a constant service is a priority.
Committed to gradual improvement
In such a dynamic industry, gradually improving may seem like a tentative approach, but it can be necessary to ensure the aforementioned stability. Jumping on every payment trend and innovation can be tempting, however, it can also be unproductive if it’s the wrong fit for your business. It is more valuable to take time and consider the direction your business is going in and how improvements to payment processes can support this development.
A desire to optimise payments performance
The willingness, and even excitement, to learn more about payment performance is the key takeaway from our research and speaks volumes about the positive direction that the industry is heading in. This optimisation can come in many forms and our whitepaper expands on how this can be achieved.
For more insights into the world of payments, retail trends and tips for optimising your performance, download ‘The Performance Pulse’ whitepaper today.