E2 Poll Wrap-Up: New Payments in Your Plans

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Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands
And make a stash

Now, however, companies worldwide are looking to make it safer and easier for customers to pay for goods and services. The race to ease started with personal checks and bank drafts, and today we're seeing a veritable explosion in new ways of transferring value from one entity to another. The question for many companies is which of those new ways they're going to accept.

That's the precise question we asked our readers in the most recent Enterprise Efficiency poll, New Payments in Your Plans. The answers indicate that there are new payment options coming for a number of companies and their customers -- and the payment options aren't necessarily what the largest banks are promoting.

The two most popular options planned for new acceptance bypass many of the trappings of traditional financial services organizations entirely. PayPal was the most common response in the survey, with over 43 percent of those answering indicating it's in their company's plans, with Square-based or smartphone payments just behind, with 42 percent. It's hard to know whether this indicates an unhappiness of merchants with the fees charged by financial organizations for process credit cards or a rise in the number of "un-banked" consumers who want to use something other than cash for their retail transactions.

In the comments to the poll, there were hints regarding the surprisingly small number who indicated that chip-and-PIN cards were on their enterprise "to-do" list. E2 blogger Joe Stanganelli pointed out that, "...contrary to popular belief, EMV is *not* inherently more secure than standard magnetic stripe cards..." That was echoed by E2 community member batye, who pointed out that based on his training and experience, "...EMV offer new ways to exploit... by hackers/skimmers..."

There's also a question about whether some of the lower-ranking responses are already in broad acceptance by most companies. (Hello, cash, at 32 percent.) Regardless of specific reasons, though, it's obvious that the options for payment are increasing -- and both merchants and consumers will benefit. Let us know which of these options you think will bring the most opportunity -- and which, from a consumer perspective, you're looking forward to using (or are planning to keep far, far from your wallet.)

Which of the following are you likely to begin accepting as payment in the next 12 months? (Choose all that apply.)