Welcome To
The Bottom Line

Today in 2019, a mere decade since texting overtook voice calls in cellular bandwidth use, it can be difficult to find someone even willing to engage in an old-school telephone conversation. Voicemails are declining even faster. According to Forbes, several large corporations have offered to retire voicemail for non-client facing employees and were surprised by the level of uptake.

Against this backdrop, it’s interesting to note the prominent role played by voice technology in the next generation of financial solutions. The growing interest in Robo-advisors could see this become a popular model among those seeking a digital banking breakthrough, and everyone is racing to enable their products through the likes of Alexa, regardless of vertical.

One of SRM’s core values is initiative – having the grit and drive to go above and beyond to offer what people need, without needing to be asked. With this value in mind, our very own Kim Hennessy initiated organizing Strategic Resource Management’s companywide service day. On Friday, May 31, SRM reps from our Memphis, Tenn., headquarters as well as offices in Dallas, Philadelphia and the Virgin Islands, all took part in dedicating a day to volunteer with a local nonprofit of their choosing.

When we weighed in on FIS’ March acquisition of Worldpay, I predicted that a TSYS/Global Payments combination might be in the cards. Two months later, a “merger of equals” announcement between those leading players has me wishing I had spent a bit more time in Vegas.

The payment processing landscape has shifted dramatically in the past four months, with four of the major acquirer/processors making moves this year (Fiserv kicked off the action by joining forces with First Data in January). Traditional payments providers are pursuing greater scale and a broader suite of services in their quest to achieve profitable growth and stave off competition from fintechs entering the market with disruptive models.