Payment systems migration

Overview

Banks and processors move payment systems for many reasons: a vendor end-of-life, a version upgrade, consolidation after a merger, a shift to cloud or managed hosting, or the need to support newer message standards. Whatever the trigger, the platform carries live money and cannot simply be switched off.

Run Ventures provides implementation services to clients worldwide: dedicated migration teams working alongside your own staff, proven methodologies and tooling, and a turnkey approach that covers planning, data conversion, interface work, testing, cutover and stabilisation.

We take a total-system-integration view. A card platform touches the switch, the core, fraud tools, scheme connections, reporting and settlement, so we plan those dependencies together rather than one system at a time.

What we do

• Assessment & options

  Comparing in-place upgrade, replatforming and re-hosting against cost, risk and the timeline your business can accept.

• Migration planning

  Dependency mapping, phasing by portfolio or product, and a cutover plan with clear go and no-go points.

• Data conversion & interfaces

  Cardholder, account and transaction data mapping, reconciliation and the interfaces to core, schemes and third parties.

• Testing & rehearsal

  Test strategy, parallel running where it helps, and full cutover rehearsals before the live weekend.

• Cutover & stabilisation

  Dedicated teams on site through go-live and the hypercare period that follows, with rollback paths kept open.

How a migration runs

We start with what the platform actually connects to: the core, the schemes, fraud and risk tools, reporting and settlement. That map decides the phasing, whether by portfolio, product or region, and where a parallel run is worth the cost.

Data conversion and interface work run alongside testing, with reconciliation built in from the first rehearsal rather than added at the end. The live cutover is the last of several rehearsals, not the first full run.

Managing risk

• Clear go and no-go points. Agreed criteria, decided in advance, so cutover is a decision rather than a debate.
• Rollback kept open. A tested path back until the new platform has proven itself.
• Hypercare. Teams stay on site after go-live while volumes and exceptions settle.

For a worked example, read the card migration case study. Migrations often coincide with EMV and acceptance changes and with ISO 20022 readiness.