The Future of Payments: Smart Routing, AI, and Orchestration
In a fast-moving financial landscape where failed transactions are more than just a minor disruption—they are a potential revenue killer— Brady Harris, CEO, IXOPAY offers a compelling view on the next evolution of payments. From AI-powered orchestration to optimising transaction success rates, Brady reveals how smart payment infrastructure is redefining the customer experience for global merchants.
FinTech BoostUP: What innovation in payments excites you most right now?
Brady Harris: Without a doubt, it’s the way AI is reshaping the payment landscape. AI is more than a trend—it’s a transformational force. At IXOPAY, we’re harnessing it to power dynamic smart routing, enabling payments to be directed to the most efficient PSP or acquirer in real time—at two, three, even five times the usual speed. When you integrate AI with data analytics, you unlock a new level of operational insight. For us, this isn’t just about speed—it’s about building what we see as the next generation of payments: intelligent, adaptive, and deeply customer-focused.
FinTech BoostUP: Many still confuse payment orchestration with traditional gateways. How do they differ?
Brady Harris: I like to say payment orchestration is a “gateway on steroids”. A traditional gateway handles a single payment path—authorisation, settlement, done. But orchestration unifies disparate PSPs, detects the optimal route for each transaction, and dynamically reroutes as needed. This means you can push millions of transactions across multiple providers globally, improving authorisation rates and minimising failovers—two pain points merchants are constantly battling.
FinTech BoostUP: Do you have a real-world example of orchestration in action?
Brady Harris: Absolutely. One of our clients had over 150 employees dedicated to managing payments infrastructure—multiple PSPs, reconciliation, compliance, fraud checks… it was overwhelming. Once they implemented IXOPAY’s orchestration layer, they reduced operational load drastically, saved millions annually in infrastructure costs, and most importantly, achieved a smoother customer checkout experience. This is vital—small improvements in transaction success rates can translate to thousands of additional completed payments per month, especially for enterprise-scale merchants.
FinTech BoostUP: Let’s break down smart routing. What makes it so valuable?
Brady Harris: Smart routing is the engine of orchestration. When a customer initiates a transaction, our platform evaluates network performance, location, fees, and provider uptime in real time. It then directs the transaction to the best-performing PSP. This doesn’t just improve authorisation rates—it also reduces cart abandonment. Imagine a customer’s card being declined due to outdated routing logic. They leave the site. You lose revenue. But with real-time routing and failover, we prevent that.
FinTech BoostUP: How does IXOPAY help reduce fraud and improve transaction success?
Brady Harris: While orchestration is focused on routing and reliability, fraud tools work alongside it. Merchants want fast, low-cost processing—but not at the expense of increased fraud risk.
We’ve built an extensive partner ecosystem that includes third-party fraud solutions like Kount and Riskified, integrated directly into our API. We also offer in-house tools for both pre-authorisation and post-authorisation fraud detection. We call it 360-degree protection—and it works in perfect synergy with the orchestration layer.
FinTech BoostUP: Global payment trends are shifting. What’s your take?
Brady Harris: Europe often leads in innovation—whether it was EMV adoption or open banking frameworks. These solutions typically emerge through regulation, and the U.S. catches up a couple of years later. Now, we’re seeing the rise of APMs (Alternative Payment Methods), such as account-to-account (A2A) payments, especially in regions like the UK and Nordics. With the ACH network in the U.S. moving trillions annually, APMs are beginning to compete with traditional card networks. We’re already investing in expanding our orchestration stack to support these methods which will give merchants and consumers choice, flexibility, and cost-efficiency, no matter the market or payment type.
FinTech BoostUP: And what’s next on the horizon?
Brady Harris: The future is real-time, global, and data-driven. Merchants will demand frictionless orchestration, smarter fraud prevention, and seamless support for the existing payment types. IXOPAY is building toward that—giving merchants the infrastructure to scale confidently, optimise every transaction, and deliver experiences that bring customers back.
Editor’s Note: Brady Harris is CEO of IXOPAY, a global payment orchestration platform helping businesses enhance success rates, reduce costs, and streamline global payment operations.
