Mastercard Payment Gateway Services is a global white label SaaS payment gateway. The VP discussed challenges of being globally distributed including different processes/cultures and prioritizing a global vs regional roadmap. They transitioned to a SAFe-inspired squads model to increase feature readiness and collaboration. This involved investing in culture change and autonomy balanced with corporate strategy. Regional needs must also be understood to provide the right tools and value.

1. Insights from a global Saas:
Mastercard Gateway
by Mastercard Payment Gateway
Services VP of Global Product
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6. Simone Paul Tamussin: VP of Global Product, Mastercard Payment
Gateway Services
Insights from a global Saas:
Mastercard Gateway

7. 7
Who am I?

8. 8
My background
2001 –
Graduated in
Business
Economics
2007 –
Consumers
and Financial
Products lead
PayPal
Southern Eu
2011 – Head
of Acceptance
Poste Italiane
2016 –
Mastercard
Simplify
Commerce
EU Lead
2022 – VP of
Global
Product
Management
and
Development
MPGS
2002 –
Issuing
Product
Manager in
BPM
2018 – VP of
Core Product
Mastercard
Payment
Gateway
Services
2015 – UK
Gateway
Product
experiences
(Kalixa and
Realex)
2010 – Online
Banking

9. 9
So what?

10. 10
What’s a payment gateway?
Gateway and
platform fees +
APMs collection
fees
+ Acquiring fees (if
Payment Facilitator)
APMs Funds
Settlement
Acquirer
Issuer
Buyer
VAS & Alternative
Payment Methods & 3
Party Models
PSP
Gateway
Incentives &
rebates
Gateway and
platform fees
APMs Funds
credited
APMs merchant
fees
APMs
collection
fees
Acquiring fees (if
PSP is Payment
Facilitator)
Acquiring
fees
Acquiring
funds
settled
Merchant

11. 11
……everything is fine!!!!
If you now feel like this…….

12. 12
• 23+ years experience in the gateway space
• Pioneers in white label SaaS payment gateway that positions MA as a trusted enabler in the acceptance ecosystem
• 6 development hubs – NAM – EU – INDIA – AUSTRALIA
• X3 growth of # development teams from 2017 to 2022
>5 billion
transactions
annually
~100
countries
180+
global acquirer
connections
>30
payments methods
supported
200+
resellers
MPGS is a white label SaaS gateway solution with connections to 180+ acquirers across the
world

13. 13
The challenges we face as a global white label SaaS
Geographical distribution + different platforms + different
processes and cultures
Prioritisation
Global Roadmap vs Customer bespoke
Build vs Partner
Corporate Processes & Governance
Corporate Structure: Global vs Regional

14. 14
The challenges we face as a global white label SaaS
Geographical distribution + different platforms + different
processes and cultures
Prioritisation
Global Roadmap vs Customer bespoke
Build vs Partner
Corporate Processes & Governance
Corporate Structure: Global vs Regional

15. Our journey to
“SAFe” and the
Squads

16. SAFe….

17. AGILE
My first impression….
….but let’s go back to the journey

18. 18
…there was only one Agile
Release Train…
…with too many people…
…from too many
locations/time zones…
…it just wasn’t sustainable!
DEV TEAMS
SPM
PRODUCT
TEAMS
TECH OPS
SEA & POs
Once upon a time…………

19. 19
Pacific Glider
So we split the Train in 2
Silver Bullet

20. 20
How Pacific Glider “worked” at the beginning
REGIONAL
PRODUCT
GLOBAL
PRODUCT
FEATURES FOR
PRE-PI
GROOMING
SWAGS
AND
ANALYSIS
SEA LEADS
PRODUCT
OWNERS
WEEKS!
ONGOING
PI
“NO
AVAILABLE
TIME!!”
“NO SAFe TRAINING
- HOW DO I WRITE
CLEAR FEATURES?”
PRODUCT
OWNERS
PRODUCT
MANAGER
S
GROOMING
PI BACKLOG
READY FOR
PI
NOT READY
FOR PI
PI PLANNING
DEV TEAMS
PRODUCT
OWNERS
SEA LEADS
SEA LEADS
“UNCLEAR FEATURES!”
“WHO IS OUR PO?”
“WE NEED A SEA FOR THIS
FEATURE!”
“WE NEED TO BRING UNKNOWNS
INTO DEV!”
“THIS IS NOT AN M, IT’S AN XL!”
VP PRODUCT
AND ENG + RTE
“I HAVE TO MICRO-MANAGE
THIS!”
PRODUCT
MANAGER
S
“WHICH ARE THE
PRIORITIES?”
WHERE WAS OUR TRAIN HEADING TO??
WEEKS!

21. 21

22. 22
So we transitioned to a squads
model
REGIONAL
PRODUCT
GLOBAL
PRODUCT
INITIATIVES AND
PRIORITIES
PM POs DEV TEAMS
SQUADS
PI ROADMAPS
ART
PROGRAM
BACKLOG
BACKLOG
GROOMING
SEAs
PI BACKLOG
DEV TEAMS
POs
PM POs DEV TEAMS PM POs DEV TEAMS
DEV TEAMS
POs DEV TEAMS
POs
PI PLANNING
Benefits
COOPERATIO
N ACROSS
SQUADS
TRAIN
BACKLOG
GROOMING
• Increase in features
readiness;
• Better understanding of
scope and requirements;
• Remove bottlenecks;
• Reduce unknowns and sizing
errors;
• Provide more certainty to Dev
Teams;
• Increase velocity in Dev
Teams due to expertise built
within Squads.

23. 23
We made a huge investment in culture change
PRODUCT AND
ENGINEERING ARE ONE
TEAM!
LEARN FROM OUR
MISTAKES & NEAR
MISSES!
NO FINGERPOINTING :
REVIEW – DISCUSS –
SHARE – WORK –
IMPROVE ALL
TOGETHER
DIVERSITY AND
EQUALITY

24. 24
…………and they lived happily ever after?
•AVG readiness from around 50% to >80%
Feature readiness
•People now supporting each other and solving
issues within the Squad avoiding escalations
Collaboration
•From >60 to <10 risks to ROAM and from an
entire week to 3 days
PI plannings
•Rolled the model out to the other 3 release
trains and over 60 dev teams
Standardisation

25. 25
The challenges we face as a global white label SaaS
Geographical distribution + different platforms + different
processes and cultures
Prioritisation
Global Roadmap vs Customer bespoke
Build vs Partner
Corporate Processes & Governance
Corporate Structure: Global vs Regional

26. 26
Too much autonomy could lead to
MULTIVERSES
OF
GATEWAYS!!!
That’s
madness!

27. 27
Driving autonomy and ownership in the right way
We
want to
be
here!

28. 28
Delegate prioritisation within defined boundaries
Communities/Squads
WHO – WHY - WHERE
WHAT – HOW - WHEN
Leadership
and
Strategy
teams
OUTPUTS AND ACTIVITIES
OUTCOMES
IMPACTS
CORPORATE STRATEGY AND
VISION

29. 29
The challenges we face as a global white label SaaS
Geographical distribution + different platforms + different
processes and cultures
Prioritisation
Global Roadmap vs Customer bespoke
Build vs Partner
Corporate Processes & Governance
Corporate Structure: Global vs Regional

30. 30
How to work with regional teams?
Understand your
customer needs…..
…also the regional
teams are my
customers!!!!
…talk to them,
understand their
pains/needs, create
dedicated “personas”
and value
propositions……
…and provide them the
right tools to love and
embrace your product!

31. 31
Grazie - Thank you

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