The payments industry is already obsessed with speed.

Headlines boast about the arrival of instant payments, real-time tracks and millisecond processing time, as if speed is the only measure of progress. However, this quirky focus on speed misses the basic fact: businesses not only need faster payments—they want smarter, more reliable, and more strategic payment systems.

Based on my experience working with the Enterprise Platform, the winner will be the winners who dominate the payments for the next decade. They will be the right combination of speed, reliability and intelligence to understand when they matter, and how to provide every unique use case with the right combination of speed, reliability and intelligence.

ACH is not dead yet – it is developing

Although it predicted its demise,
ACH Network

$33.6 billion of $33.6 billion in payments were processed in 2024, totaling $86.2 trillion, indicating speed is not everything. The continued growth of ACH settlements on the same day shows that businesses need faster choices while maintaining cost-effectiveness and reliability, making ACH the backbone of B2B payments.

This evolution reflects a more nuanced understanding of the need for payments. For example, wage expenditures do not need the same urgency as payments for emergency insurance claims. Monthly supplier payments are able to afford to wait for batch processing to save costs, while real estate closure requirements are resolved immediately.

The most successful payment platforms recognize this reality by providing flexible rail options rather than forcing a certain degree of all methods. Businesses need the ability to choose between ACH, RTP, Fednow or wire transfer based on their specific requirements for speed, cost and certainty.

Meet the real challenge: operation ready

Real-time payments require a comprehensive operational transformation. Everything else must be kept pace when money moves right away: fraud detection, customer support, reconciliation and dispute resolution.

I see too many companies that think real-time payments are just technological upgrades – that’s not the case. This is an operational overhaul and most teams don’t make up anything 24/7. this Faster payment barometer for 2025

When implementing the real-time payment function, 38% of companies were found to face a 24/7 operational support gap. Unlike traditional payment systems that operate during working hours during overnight processing, instant payments create expectations for 24/7 services.

Real-time fraud detection is also particularly complicated. Traditional methods that rely on post-transaction analysis lose their effectiveness immediately and irreversible payments. This requires investment in predictive analytics, machine learning models, and complex risk management systems that can make accurate decisions in milliseconds.

Reconciliation challenges are equally important. Real-time payments generate continuous data flows rather than neat date batches, requiring new financial reporting and account management methods. As a result, organizations must rebuild basic accounting processes to handle this constant flow of transactions.

Hide Benefits: Enhanced Data Visibility

Speed captures headlines, and instant payments can bring less obvious but equally valuable benefits: Comprehensive transaction data. Unlike traditional payment methods that provide limited remittance information, instant payment includes immediate detailed data for each transaction.

What is often overlooked is how well their finance team can operate when your finance team actually knows what is happening in real time. Not only is this better remittance data, but better decisions are made every day. Real-time access to detailed remittance data can be automatically matched, reducing manual reconciliation efforts, and immediately gaining insight into the cash process pattern. The financial team gains unprecedented visibility of payment status, disputed information and customer behavior.

The data richness of instant payments also supports a better customer experience. Businesses can immediately confirm payment receipts, detailed transaction history, and active communication about payment status – the features that build trust and reduce support burdens.

The actual value of AI: predictions about automation

As the payment industry joins a wider AI conversation, most of the focus is on automation and personalization. But the real strategic value lies in prediction and intelligent decision-making. Advanced AI enables organizations to predict cash flow demand, detect emerging fraud patterns, and optimize payment routing for multiple rails.

Forecast cash flow modeling:
Through real-time payment data, AI systems can analyze payment methods, seasonal trends and market conditions, thereby predicting liquidity demand with obvious accuracy. This can make more strategic decisions about working capital deployment, investment time and credit management.

Prevent fraud:
Rather than simply marking suspicious transactions, machine learning models can identify emerging fraud patterns and actively adjust risk parameters. This means that AI systems can improve fraud detection accuracy by analyzing real-time payment data compared to traditional batch-based methods.

Payment routing information: By taking into account factors such as cost, speed, receiver banking capabilities and historical success rates, the AI system can automatically select the best payment rail for each transaction. This clever orchestration maximizes efficiency while minimizing costs and failures.

Trust and resilience

Reliability, flexibility and speed are equally important in payments. Trust in the payment system can be built with consistent performance, transparent pricing, robust security and reliable customer support. On the other hand, even the smallest payment failure, instances of security breaches or service disruptions can harm business relationships far reduce transaction time slower.

With the industry’s current speed obsession, thriving companies will become companies that acknowledge payments as strategic business capabilities rather than simple utilities. They will leverage AI to make intelligent decisions, build trust through consistent performance, and create value through increased visibility and operational efficiency.

Real-time competition is not only about making money faster, but also about making money smarter, more reliable and has higher strategic value.