In Payment Orchestration, the Early Adopters Have the Last Laugh

By Tom Voaden, VP of Commercial at BR-DGEWhen payment orchestration first appeared on the scene, it was met with more questions than answers. It offered a fresh way to handle payments: a single layer that connects multiple providers and tools. But few were sure it would stick.

For digital-first merchants with global ambitions and tangled payment setups, it looked like a risk worth taking.Fast forward to now, and that early bet is starting to look like a masterstroke. The market for payment orchestration is projected to grow at nearly 25% a year until 2030.



According to Global Payments, 35% of businesses are planning to increase their investment in orchestration in 2025 alone.The early adopters, typically merchants scaling across borders with complex, multi-provider setups, have gained a head start. While others are still exploring orchestration or recovering from their attempts at in-house builds, those early movers are scaling faster, optimising more aggressively and delivering smoother customer experiences.

By adopting orchestration as an independent software layer that connects multiple payment service providers (PSPs) and value-added services through a single integration, they have simplified their stacks without giving up control.Why early adopters moved first, and why DIY didn’t deliverFor many, the push came from frustration. Businesses managing multiple PSPs and markets were dealing with broken integrations, fragmented reporting and no backup when something failed.

Expanding internationally was slow and expensive. Adding a payment method, like Apple Pay or a local alternative, was often far more complex than it ought to be.Payment orchestration offered a smarter way forward.

Not because it was fashionable, but because the status quo was unsustainable. It provided a path to consolidate, reduce development overhead costs and make better routing decisions.Some tried to replicate this logic in-house.

A few got started, but version one is rarely enough. Keeping up with changing APIs, building backup routes for failed transactions, managing secure card data through tokenisation, and plugging in new providers takes time and resources that most teams don’t have to spare.Most merchants don’t want to become payments companies.

They want performance, reliability and the ability to move quickly. That is why orchestration is increasingly something they choose to buy rather than build.What early adopters, and their partners, have gainedThe real benefit of moving early is time.

The chance to test, adapt and embed orchestration into a broader strategy, not just use it to fix problems.These merchants have moved past firefighting. They are steering volume based on acquirer risk appetite, launching in new markets without delay, and tailoring payment setups region by region.

Some are even moving on to their second iteration of orchestration, to meet evolving market, customer or technology needs. In some cases, this means replacing their legacy orchestrator with a next generation provider. Having been through the learning curve early on, they now have the knowledge and confidence to demand exactly what they need for their growth journey.

That kind of control is now a competitive edge.And orchestration is no longer only a merchant story. PSPs, gateways and acquirers are starting to adopt it as well.

Some are using modular standalone services like dynamic routing, while others are embedding orchestration into their offerings by partnering, tapping into orchestrators’ white-label solutions.We’re now starting to see orchestration unlock new revenue opportunities, connect legacy systems and support expansion without the need for a full-stack rebuild. This change in mindset, from reluctance to adoption, is helping providers strengthen their offering in meaningful ways.

The ecosystem wakes upThe value of orchestration is becoming harder to ignore. For acquirers and platforms, it is no longer just something merchants are directly interested in. It is a way for payment providers to modernise and stay competitive.

Some are looking to orchestration to reach regions they cannot serve directly. Others want it to unify multiple PSP connections under a consistent, merchant-friendly interface. In industries like travel, gambling and digital goods, where payment setups are especially nuanced, it helps streamline everything from fraud checks to payouts.

Tokenisation, the process of replacing sensitive card details with secure tokens, has become a popular starting point. As schemes push for greater use of network tokens, payment orchestration helps apply token logic consistently, no matter which PSP is processing the transaction. From there, many businesses expand into broader orchestration use cases.

The payoffWhat started as a tactical fix is becoming part of the foundation. For those who moved early, the benefits are stacking up: greater resilience, faster market entry and stronger performance.They have had time to refine their approach, test what works and embed orchestration into how they operate, not just how they recover.

That timing matters.The early adopters took a chance. Now they are setting the pace – and proving that in payment orchestration, the first to move really do have the last laugh.

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