Today, many leading financial institutions are striving toward successfully and efficiently delivering real-time payments across their enterprise. Of course, that’s easier said than done—enabling real-time payment networks and all use cases is without a doubt a daunting task. Fortunately, certain experts in the payments space can provide useful advice on the decision-making processes behind real-time payment modernization. To answer some of the complex questions surrounding real-time payments, PaymentsJournal sat down with Tim Ruhe, VP of Real-Time Payments at Fiserv, and Sarah Grotta, Director of Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group. PaymentsJournalUnderstanding the Roadmap to Real-Time Payments ModernizationPaymentsJournal Understanding the Roadmap to Real-Time Payments ModernizationPaymentsJournaljQuery(document).ready(function ($){var settings_ap24984291 = { design_skin: "skin-wave" ,autoplay: "off",disable_volume:"default" ,loop:"off" ,cue: "on" ,embedded: "off" ,preload_method:"metadata" ,design_animateplaypause:"off" ,skinwave_dynamicwaves:"off" ,skinwave_enableSpectrum:"off" ,skinwave_enableReflect:"on",settings_backup_type:"full",playfrom:"default",soundcloud_apikey:"" ,skinwave_comments_enable:"off",settings_php_handler:window.ajaxurl,skinwave_wave_mode:"canvas",pcm_data_try_to_generate: "on","pcm_notice": "off","notice_no_media": "on",design_color_bg: "111111",design_color_highlight: "ef6b13",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_number: "3",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_waves_padding: "1",skinwave_wave_mode_canvas_reflection_size: "0.25",skinwave_comments_playerid:"24984291",php_retriever:"https://www.paymentsjournal.com/wp-content/plugins/dzs-zoomsounds/soundcloudretriever.php" }; try{ dzsap_init(".ap_idx_255809_2",settings_ap24984291); }catch(err){ console.warn("cannot init player", err); } }); The road to real-time payments is a multi-stage journey One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding the adoption of real-time payments is that it has to happen all at once. In reality, that could not be further from the truth. The Real-Time Payments Journey “You don’t have to, if you will, boil the ocean all at once,” said Grotta. “You can be really thoughtful about this and get an understanding of what your competitors are doing [and] understand the makeup of your client base to get a better understanding of which aspects of real-time payments they might be interested in,” she added. Because real-time payments cover a variety of use cases, networks and operations, financial institutions can pick where they want to start and proceed with the modernization journey from there. In other words, “there are a lot of different components to real time. It is really a journey—a multi-year journey—that FIs are now starting on,” explained Ruhe. “There’s different networks, there’s different applications… [and] there are many other [real-time] services that customers want to enable across many different networks.” The role of FedNow and The Clearing House in real-time payments As those in the industry already know, The Clearing House’s RTP network was launched in 2017. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has announced the development of FedNow, which is expected to launch in 2023. Because it is so early in the process,