When anything solid turns into a gas without first becoming liquid, that’s sublimation, according to Wikipedia. When the surface layer of snow or ice turns into fog or steam without melting, this is an example of sublimation. What does this have to do with payments? If the topic is Internet of Things (IoT) then sublimation is the word thrown around a lot to describe the disappearance of the financial institutions’ branding.

The IoT is pushing the payment to the background. Once a person sets up a card in the IoT to use for payments (like pushing the Amazon dash button to reorder detergent, or asking Alexa to order a pizza), then every time you want something, the payment is already in place – which is a great convenience for the consumer, but a major challenge to a credit union that wants to move up their card in the virtual or digital wallet. And even more importantly, not only is the payment already in place, but it’s “hidden” during the transaction, changeable only through a buried menu item.  The physical plastic card has been turned into a concealed payment capability – sublimation has occurred! When a consumer is ready to make a purchase, how does the credit union ensure that their payment card, be it credit, debit or virtual card or tokenized payment, is top of mind or top of wallet?

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