As customer expectations have risen thanks to new platforms and products, so too has the level of technological sophistication as artificial intelligence, chatbots, drones, telematics and apps have become common in multiple industries. The insurance industry is now at a critical juncture as carriers seek to transform their claims processes, using new technologies to meet rising customer expectations and reduce costs.

Selling things online can be complicated. There are web shops to design, product descriptions to create, and payment methods to set up. The latter is probably the single most important part of the process - for a very simple reason.

If your customers can't pay, they won't buy.

So how do you accept payments online? Let’s look at it step by step.

1. Evaluate your business

The first thing you need to do is to take a good look at your business. Here are some questions to ask:

How large is your business?

Form3 is a cloud-native payments technology company, providing an award winning platform that delivers a complete end-to-end ‘Payments-as-a-Service’.

Form3 enable financial institutions to create amazing products and experiences through:

In my last Blog I suggested that regulation of the crypto markets would be one of the main issues for 2020 and beyond. There seem to be urgent need for more clarity on many cryptocurrency issues. The EU Fifth ALM Directive came into effect early January, while ESMA announced its plans to develop a legal framework for cryptocurrencies in 2020. In the US the Crypto Currency Act of 2020 is being discussed in the House of Representatives. My prediction that a growing number of regulators worldwide would more prominently enter the crypto stage this year will come true.

The boss of Travelex has broken his silence about a cyber attack that forced its staff to use pen and paper and halted travel money sales at some banks and supermarkets.

The firm has released a number of short statements since cyber criminals held the firm to ransom on 31 December.

But in a video message on the firm's website, boss Tony D'Souza said the IT system used by in-store staff was working again.

However, while he said the system used by staff is now working, there was no word on when the firm's main UK website would be returned to service.

Form3 was founded in 2016 to help create better experiences for customers and their users when moving money globally. Our mission is to leverage technology to lower barriers and open up payment clearing and settlement scheme access to financial communities globally in order to move money in real-time.

Reapit, the UK's largest estate agency platform, has joined the IPN Consortium, a gaggle of industry players developing a distributed ledger technology-based system that lets customers go through the entire home buying process through their mobile phones.

Tink today announces it has completed a €90 million investment round. This investment round follows Tink’s €56 million investment round in February 2019, which makes today’s funding Tink’s largest to date.

 Wirecard, the global innovation leader for digital financial technology, and EasyTransfer are collaborating to enable seamless mobile payments for digital-native Chinese students. Together the two companies are launching a new mobile payment and loyalty app designed for Chinese students studying outside of China. Approximately $3.8 billion in tuition payments were transferred via EasyTransfer in the first year alone.