Why Merchants Get Better Results When Their Payment Systems Work Together

Adding payment processors is relatively straightforward. However, transforming a collection of processors into a system that delivers substantially improved payment performance proves to be a much greater challenge. This disparity is highlighted in the August/September 2026 edition of PYMNTS Intelligence and PayPal Open's "Connecting What's Next: Open Infrastructure for the Future of Commerce" report.

Companies possessing all five core orchestration capabilities reported payment processing completion gains of at least 2%, compared to only 7% of companies with just one or two capabilities. This 71-percentage-point gap sheds light on the trend of merchants incorporating multiple payment service providers (PSPs). Merchants may opt for additional PSPs to enhance redundancy, boost acceptance rates, opt for competitive routing, or gain access to local payment methods.

However, the report suggests that simply having more providers does not necessarily translate to enhanced payment processing benefits. The more significant improvements appear among companies capable of managing these providers as a unified network. This observation suggests that payment orchestration maturity is a practical concern rather than a mere infrastructure label.

Nonetheless, a merchant can possess multiple processors yet still lack the capability to redirect transactions dynamically, update routing rules, seamlessly transfer to a backup provider, or use credentials independently of a specific processor. These gaps can constrain the value merchants derive from having multiple connections.

The report does not pinpoint a single orchestration capability as the source of the performance difference. Instead, it associates the strongest results with companies that have assembled the complete set of capabilities. This distinction carries weight. Dynamic routing can determine where a transaction should be sent; however, its effectiveness relies partly on the routing logic staying current and on having another processor available when the preferred route encounters issues.

Similarly, adding more processors does little to reduce dependence on individual providers if payment credentials remain linked to them. The report's examination of vaulting and tokenization exemplifies this point. Centralized credential management can isolate stored payment credentials from a specific provider, enabling merchants to maintain continuity across their payment environment without maintaining separate credentials for each processor.

The report also underscores the importance of adding payment methods without substantial technical overhauls as a capability defining full orchestration. This enables merchants to expand their payment operations without repeatedly re-establishing the underlying infrastructure. The primary opportunity lies in bridging the gap between possessing orchestration components and having them working cohesively to alter payment outcomes.

The report concedes that only a small fraction of companies have deployed all five capabilities. For merchants already investing in multiple processors, this finding raises a tangible question regarding the efficacy of those investments: whether the infrastructure is resulting in better completed-payment performance. The 78%-versus-7% divide indicates that the answer largely hinges on the extent to which the orchestration build has been realized.