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Financial Services: Payments & Processing

Payments & Processing CX Stack Framework

Payments and processing contact centers serve two distinct audiences, merchants (B2B) and cardholders (B2C), often from the same operation. Every minute of downtime for a merchant is lost revenue.

Map your current capabilities across all 7 layers: 35 checkpoints. Mark what you have, what you need and what is planned. Your answers stay in this browser tab.

Figures for this segment

No public benchmark exists for these figures in this segment. Measure your own with the tool named beside each.

Payments & Processing: the 7-layer CX stack

For each capability, mark whether you have it, need it or have it planned.

0 of 35 marked

Layer 7: Analytics & Governance

0 of 5 in place

Measure and govern. Vendors in this layer include NICE, Verint, Qualtrics.

  • Merchant satisfaction tracking segmented by volume tier and industry
  • Transaction dispute analytics with chargeback ratio monitoring
  • PCI compliance audit readiness across all interaction channels
  • Technical support resolution analytics by terminal type and issue
  • Settlement discrepancy tracking and root cause analysis

Key risk: Chargeback ratios exceeding card network thresholds

Layer 6: Routing & Orchestration

0 of 5 in place

Route the work. Vendors in this layer include Genesys, NICE CXone, Five9.

  • B2B vs B2C routing separating merchant and cardholder queues
  • Merchant tier routing prioritizing high-volume and enterprise accounts
  • Technical support routing by terminal type, gateway, and integration method
  • Risk and fraud routing for suspicious transaction patterns
  • Settlement and funding urgency routing for merchant cash flow issues

Key risk: High-value merchants waiting in general queue during outages

Layer 5: Conversation Management

0 of 5 in place

Hold the conversation. Vendors in this layer include Zendesk, Intercom, Freshdesk, Salesforce Service.

  • Secure merchant portal with case management and knowledge base
  • Screen sharing for terminal configuration and gateway troubleshooting
  • Proactive outreach for settlement delays and processing changes
  • Developer support chat for API integration and webhook issues
  • Cardholder dispute intake with required documentation collection

Key risk: Developer support quality not matching technical depth required

Layer 4: Reasoning & Planning

0 of 5 in place

Decide the next step. Vendors in this layer include Ada, Cognigy, Forethought.

  • Transaction lookup bots with real-time authorization and settlement data
  • Cardholder dispute intake bots collecting required Reg E information
  • Merchant statement and fee explanation bots
  • Terminal activation and basic troubleshooting bots
  • Settlement status and funding timeline bots

Key risk: Bot mishandling dispute intake and missing required data fields

Layer 3: Policy & Guardrails

0 of 5 in place

Set the rules. Vendors in this layer include Verisk, Ethoca, NICE Actimize.

  • PCI DSS Level 1 compliance across all interaction channels
  • Card network dispute handling rule compliance
  • Reg E and Reg Z compliance for consumer transaction disputes
  • Merchant underwriting and risk monitoring integration
  • Anti-money laundering controls for suspicious merchant activity

Key risk: PCI scope creep as channels expand beyond voice

Layer 2: Workflow Execution

0 of 5 in place

Do the work. Vendors in this layer include Salesforce, Pega, MuleSoft.

  • Merchant onboarding workflow with underwriting and terminal provisioning
  • Chargeback response workflow with evidence collection and network deadlines
  • Terminal replacement and shipping workflow with configuration migration
  • Rate review and repricing workflow for merchant retention
  • Merchant account closure workflow with reserve hold and settlement

Key risk: Chargeback response deadlines missed due to manual evidence collection

Layer 1: Data Access

0 of 5 in place

Know the customer. Vendors in this layer include Adyen, Stripe, Worldpay, Fiserv, Global Payments.

  • Payment gateway integration (authorization, settlement, batch data)
  • Terminal management system connectivity (deployment, configuration, firmware)
  • Merchant portfolio system (pricing, statements, risk flags)
  • Card network portals (Visa Resolve Online, Mastercard Connect)
  • Cardholder account data for dispute resolution and fraud investigation

Key risk: Fragmented data across acquirer, processor, and gateway systems

Mark at least 18 capabilities to see your profile (0 of 35 so far).

Sources and assumptions

Every figure on this page is a published figure checked on the publisher's own page, a labelled planning assumption you can test with your own numbers, or a worked example.

No public benchmark

  • Average handle time, payments processing contact centers. No regulator or trade body publishes handle time for this segment. Measure yours in AHT Decomposition.
  • First contact resolution, payments processing contact centers. No regulator or trade body publishes first contact resolution for this segment; SQM Group's "Financial" figure covers its financial clients as one group. Measure yours in FCR Leakage Diagnostic.
  • Customer satisfaction, payments processing contact centers. No public CSAT percentage exists for this segment; ACSI and J.D. Power publish index scores on other scales.
  • Self-service containment, payments processing contact centers. No regulator or trade body publishes self-service containment for this segment. Measure yours in AI Deflection Reality Check.