The new solution applies intelligent transaction tools, including a robust rules engine and data science, helping merchants increase authorization rates for card-on-file transactions by as much as 10 percent.

Authorization Optimization is designed for businesses with high volumes of digital payments. Examples include the burgeoning subscription economy, which relies heavily on recurring payments, and businesses like ride-sharing platforms that depend on customer-initiated digital transactions via stored payment information.

“Nearly $15 billion in ecommerce revenue is missed annually, because merchants haven’t had a reliable authorization optimization strategy,” said Nandan Sheth, Head of Global Digital Commerce at First Data. “With our new Authorization Optimization solution, we’re providing our enterprise clients with powerful back-end support, fueled by industry-leading data intelligence. This insightful intelligence is used to boost authorization rates, as well as helps merchants retain more customers through a deeper understanding of their portfolio.”

First Data’s Authorization Optimization solution is powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, and a team of data scientists. The solution’s enterprise insights portal offers a holistic view of authorization information by card type and issuer. Its machine learning rules engine provides merchants proactive management of a merchant’s card on-file database, which helps reduce services cancellation while securely updating new payment information, without customer intervention.

Authorization Optimization has proven to dramatically increase revenues for merchants. For example, First Data recently implemented Authorization Optimization for a multinational digital gaming merchant. By applying these new capabilities, the client was able to successfully process tens of millions of dollars’ worth of transactions that would have otherwise been declined.*

First Data’s Authorization Optimization solution also enables merchants to conduct their own analytics — in a single dashboard — on a wide variety of data types. This includes card volume, authorization and decline rates, card types, geography, customer demographics, repeat customer data, and average ticket size, among others. By conducting extensive and customized benchmarking of data in real-time, operational adjustments can be made on an as-needed basis to enable merchants to better manage operations and understand their customers.