Agentic Commerce Will Transform Payments, Expert Predicts

Elevon Executive Foresees ‘Agentic Commerce’ Revolutionizing Business Transactions

In a recent discussion on the future of payments, Michelle Mellish, Head of Tech Partners at Elevon, articulated a vision where “agentic commerce” will fundamentally alter how businesses and consumers interact financially. This emerging paradigm, Mellish explained, represents a new frontier in payment acceptance, promising unprecedented efficiency and integration.

Understanding Embedded Payments: Simplifying Transactions for All Businesses

Mellish began by clarifying the concept of embedded payments, defining it as the seamless integration of payment acceptance capabilities into existing hardware or software that businesses use for their daily operations. “Put very simply, embedded payments is the integration or the connection between a payment acceptance uh capability and either a piece of hardware or a piece of software that a business might use to run their everyday needs,” she stated.

Elevon’s core business involves providing payment processing services, accessible through various channels. The company’s strategic focus is on broad ecosystem connectivity, ensuring their services are readily available to businesses of all sizes. Mellish highlighted a key distinction in how larger and smaller businesses approach payment integration.

“A larger business might employ a whole team of people who really are there to focus only on payments… A small business might not have that luxury. They don’t have that capacity or that budget,” Mellish observed. “So, it’s the role of embedded payments and and payments businesses to really take on that hard work of connectivity for them um and guide them through so that they can offer the same experiences that you and I as consumers and everybody now expects in the digital age.”

Tailored Support: From Digital Self-Service to Hands-On Guidance

Addressing the needs of a small, independent cafe in London looking to integrate Elevon services, Mellish outlined a flexible support model. Businesses can opt for a fully digital, self-service experience, managing everything online at their own pace. Alternatively, those requiring more personalized assistance, especially first-time payment acceptors, can receive dedicated guidance.

“If they do want a little bit more handholding and they actually want to talk to somebody who can help them understand what the range of options are and perhaps it’s the first time that they’ve accepted payments, then there’s that option too,” Mellish explained. For businesses that have already invested in hardware like point-of-sale systems, Elevon ensures its payment solutions are pre-integrated, allowing for easy activation.

Expanding Horizons: Beyond Payment Acceptance

Looking ahead, Mellish expressed excitement about the development of Elevon’s global embedded payments partner team. The company aims to deepen its integration within an expanding ecosystem and explore embedding additional products and services that benefit partner companies.

“So, that’s not just offering payment acceptance, but then we’re saying what else could really help and benefit the businesses that we work with,” Mellish elaborated. Potential offerings include reconciliation tools, direct links to accounting platforms, payout services, fraud management solutions, and digital banking functionalities. This strategy positions Elevon as a comprehensive business support provider, not just a payment processor.

Partnerships: Leveling the Playing Field for Small Businesses

Mellish emphasized the significant benefits of partnerships between payment companies and software platforms. These collaborations empower small businesses by providing them with the same extensive choice and flexibility in payment options previously enjoyed primarily by larger enterprises.

“What we’re doing is some of the hard work for them in connecting the dots um and pre-integrating our solutions,” she stated. This reduces friction and the overall cost of ownership, allowing businesses to manage a single integration rather than multiple, freeing them to focus on core business operations.

Navigating the Payments Landscape: Advice for Businesses

Acknowledging that the sheer volume of choice in the payments market can be overwhelming, Mellish advised businesses to meticulously assess their specific needs. “What I would advise is to make sure that a business is really looking at what their individual needs are,” she recommended. These needs can vary based on a business’s lifecycle stage, from the immediate requirement to get operational quickly to the critical importance of cash flow management.

Mellish encouraged businesses to continually re-evaluate their needs as they grow. She also addressed common reasons for businesses switching payment providers, noting that while many startups select the first available integrated provider for speed, they often evolve to seek more sophisticated solutions after a year or two.

“There are some themes there,” Mellish said. “What we typically see is that the the you know the startup very eager to get going… but maybe a year or two years later they just become a little bit more sophisticated and they realize that um okay that was really easy to set up but there’s some pitfalls here.” She highlighted the importance of balancing digital self-service convenience with the availability of human support for advice and problem-solving during growth phases.

The Role of AI and the Dawn of Agentic Commerce

Artificial intelligence is already playing a significant role at Elevon, enhancing customer onboarding and enabling approximately 80% of customers to begin accepting payments on the same day. AI also facilitates efficient customer support by triaging inquiries to the most appropriate agent.

However, Mellish’s most profound excitement centers on the concept of “agentic commerce.” “What we’re very excited about now is looking at agentic commerce and how um agentic commerce will change everything that we do and everything that our customers do. It’s a whole new channel of acceptance,” she declared, signaling a transformative shift in the financial technology landscape.

The discussion, hosted by Times Radio in partnership with Elevon, underscored the dynamic interplay between technology and finance, emphasizing the ongoing innovations that are making financial transactions faster, easier, and more integrated for businesses worldwide.

Source: Michelle Mellish believes 'Agentic Commerce Will Change Everything' | Finance Insider (YouTube)