The Global Payments Ecosystem Has Grown Too Complex

For a top financial services enterprise, the global payments ecosystem is like a massive multi-lane highway that connects millions of endpoints and enables business to continue uninterrupted.  

The movement of payments and transactions is the most fundamental interaction in commerce. But instead of a simple on-ramp to the global payments ecosystem, many enterprises have been forced to build and manage thousands of individual, private lanes to every partner, data center and cloud provider. The complexity of these connections can quickly become unsustainable.  

66% of enterprises say their IT environments are more complex than they were just two years ago. This complexity means that IT teams are stuck spending time on routine network maintenance, instead of the strategic initiatives that drive a business forward.    

Every individual network connection point is another potential vulnerability. Financial institutions handle vast amounts of sensitive customer data – a single breach can lead to identity theft, large-scale financial fraud, and catastrophic reputational damage.    

In this blog post, you’ll learn how a single managed, streamlined connection can address this compounding complexity and minimize risk. 

What makes modern networks so complex for financial services institutions? 

For the financial services industry, the challenge of network complexity is magnified by the unique demands of the industry. It’s not one issue, but rather a convergence of several factors that creates a perfect storm of complexity, cost and risk. 

The modern financial enterprise also doesn’t operate in a vacuum; it sits at the center of a sprawling ecosystem of partners. This includes hundreds of acquirers, processors, market data vendors, alternative trading systems, and cloud providers.  

The rise of multi-cloud strategies, adopted by 89% of enterprises, adds another layer, requiring secure and efficient integration between on-premise data centers and public clouds. Each of these partners requires a secure and reliable connection, multiplying the management overhead exponentially.    

When the difference between profit and loss can be measured in microseconds, finance relies on specialized ultra-low latency connections. This adds further complexity as it often requires physical colocation within specific data centers to be as close to exchange matching engines as possible. 

The high cost of complexity: security breaches and stalled compliance 

Real-time market data feeds, transaction logs, risk analytics and compliance reporting generate a constant, high-velocity stream of information – one where any latency or packet loss can have immediate financial consequences. 

The financial impact of a single data breach reached an all-time high in 2023, costing an average of $4.4 million per incident. For the financial services industry, that figure is around 30% higher again, averaging a staggering $5.7 million. These figures represent catastrophic financial loss, reputational damage and a loss of customer trust that may not be regained.    

Beyond the immediate threat of a breach, there is the persistent burden of regulatory compliance. Managing and proving adherence to critical security standards (such as PCI DSS) across disparate network connections is a major task.  

Perhaps that’s why only 43% of organizations manage to maintain full compliance, leaving the vast majority exposed to significant risk and potential penalties.    

TNSConnect: Your private on-ramp to the global ecosystem 

Abandon the costly and inefficient patchwork of individual lanes and take advantage of TNSConnect – your single, secure, fully managed on-ramp to the global payments ecosystem.    

TNSConnect replaces your complexity with a single, streamlined connection from your enterprise locations, data centers or cloud partners to the thousands of global endpoints and partners already on the TNS network. This connection is fortified by TNS’s Level 1 PCI DSS-certified global private network across the board, built and secured specifically for the payments and financial industries.  

By partnering with TNS, you offload the fundamental blocking and tackling to us. We handle the vendor relationships, the security monitoring and the infrastructure maintenance, so your IT teams can focus their energy on innovation and strategic initiatives.

A simplified network enables secure global expansion at speed 

In a traditional networking model, provisioning new secure connections can take months, creating a significant drag on your ability to enter new markets or onboard new partners. TNSConnect enables seamless global expansion through your existing connection. Our approach creates consistency, allowing your enterprise to rapidly deploy new sites with the same reliable and compliant solution every time. 

You can’t afford downtime. And right now, you may not even know when it occurs – over a third of network outages in data centers are caused by third parties. TNSConnect provides real-time analytics and alerts that trigger when traffic diverges from the norm, so issues can be fixed before they escalate. 

Stop juggling countless connections and start building a unified global network. TNSConnect provides the secure, high-capacity access you need to the world’s leading data centers and partners.