90% of Organisations Still Rely on Outdated Spreadsheets Despite Bottleneck Problems, New Study Finds

The payments sector is still heavily reliant on outdated legacy systems, which is subsequently proving a bottleneck for businesses striving to maintain efficiency, compliance, and a competitive edge. This is according to AutoRek’s latest annual payments survey, which found that spreadsheets are still integral to financial operations in 90% of organisations, demonstrating a heavy reliance on what is quickly becoming an outdated solution.

Further findings reveal that 81% of organisations receive payment data in real time or once a day, and 83% process, action, and report this data with the same frequency. While spreadsheets offer familiarity, the manual processing involved, especially considering the high volume to payment data that needs processing, often contributes to errors, delays, and an inability to scale.

While this reflects a sector striving for agility, 64% of organisations are still processing and reporting data at a transaction level, which introduces bottlenecks and delays. Without automation, businesses face mounting difficulties in responding to customer demands, scaling operations, and maintaining their market position.

“Legacy systems and manual processes pose a direct threat to operational efficiency. In turn, this threatens compliance and market competitiveness. Organisations relying on outdated methods are not only incurring rising costs but also risking regulatory penalties and falling behind in a fast-paced industry,” comments Nick Botha, Payment’s Lead at AutoRek.

As businesses grapple with the rapid rise in the volume of transactions, a desire to embrace digital transformation has been felt across the payments industry. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions will significantly help both enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to adopt a modernised approach to processing payment data. Further findings from AutoRek’s study also reveal that the vast majority (82%) of respondents reported that automation is on their organisation’s roadmap, with 43% planning implementation within the next six to 12 months and 20% aiming to so within 18 months.

However, while the desire for transformation is clear, many require guidance and support to navigate the complexities of implementing new systems and processes. Addressing the challenges posed by legacy systems, fragmented standards, and manual processes demands a multifaceted approach rooted in modernisation, standardisation, and automation. These findings show the pressing need for organisations to modernise their approach to payment data management, embracing automation to enhance accuracy, improve compliance, and reduce costs.

“Our research shows a worrying disparity between how payments are made and how they are processed. Payment methods have become more sophisticated, yet the industry is still heavily reliant on legacy solutions to process transactions. This needn’t be the case when automation tools are now primed for mass, widescale, adoption,” adds Nick Botha.

For more information, AutoRek’s payment research report is available for download here.