After two decades in payments, I’ve watched scale become less and less of a competitive advantage. Don’t get me wrong, networks are still the engine, but the old playbook isn’t working the way it used to. Sustained and competitive growth requires a new framework, and I believe that 2026 will be the year that diagonal thinking becomes a strategic approach in our industry.
Understanding the three payment models
Before we go further, let me define what I mean by horizontal, vertical and diagonal payment systems. Horizontal platforms like Stripe or Adyen process payments at scale across any industry, moving money efficiently between systems. The problem? They have no idea what’s happening around that transaction. Take healthcare organisations patient payments. The money moves, but the horizontal platform can’t handle any exceptions, issues, or real-world complexity. All that stuff happens manually, which is why healthcare wastes billions on administrative inefficiencies.
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Vertical solutions solve for that context. These platforms embed deeply into industry-specific workflows, but they hit a wall when you need them to work across multiple use cases. A platform optimised for paying insurance claims can’t handle research payments. A construction payment tool can’t run employee incentives. You solve one problem deeply, but only one. Diagonal thinking combines both approaches: pairing the scale of horizontal platforms with the workflow depth of vertical ones. You get one system that works across industries and clients but adapts to the specific operational reality of each workflow.
Why now?
Looking at the evolution of payments, the 2000s belonged to networks and processors competing on reach and reliability while the 2010s were about API-first platforms that democratised access, then vertical payments that embedded finance into specific industries.
This decade? It feels different. I think 2026 is when organisations realise that neither horizontal nor vertical approaches alone actually solve business problems and start looking for something better. The data backs this up.
McKinsey found that vertical-specific software now captures more than half of payments-adjacent spend among US small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Embedded payments are on track to grow more than 30% annually through 2034. What this shift tells me is that payments win when they actually fit the workflow, not just when they process transactions efficiently. But how many companies are using multiple verticalised platforms to meet their business needs.
What diagonal infrastructure actually means
Take a leading US public research university, one of our clients. Like most large institutions, they don’t think about “payments” as a single system. Different departments handle different use cases, from research participant disbursements and student athlete per diems to employee recognition and rewards, and they all operate independently.
Each with its own compliance rules, approval process and timelines. A horizontal platform could process these payments, but it wouldn’t understand the context surrounding each. On the other hand, stitching together a collection of vertical tools would just create more systems and nonstop integration challenges. The university took a different approach. Each department has its own programme, with its own admin login and setup based on what the team actually needs. Those admins only see their programmes, but underneath it all, the infrastructure is shared. It’s all built on the same engineering foundation and APIs, just configured differently depending on the payment.
The results?
From the admin’s perspective, it feels simple and contained. And from the institution’s point of view, it’s scalable and far easier to manage. The payment just happens, correctly, compliantly and invisibly. That’s what diagonal infrastructure looks like in action. The university was ahead of the curve, having the vision and scale to build a system that fit their exact needs. What’s changing now is that three technology shifts are making diagonal infrastructure accessible without building from scratch.
First, modern APIs let payment platforms serve multiple clients while customising workflows without rebuilding core infrastructure. What used to require months of engineering can now be configured in weeks. Second, embedded finance infrastructure makes it practical to build workflow-specific experiences without becoming a bank. And finally, AI-powered automation handles the operational complexity that used to require people or expensive custom systems. So today, configurable platforms can deliver the same workflow depth to hundreds of organisations without custom development for each one.
In my experience, however, the technology alone isn’t the differentiator, it’s understanding where workflows actually break. Healthcare providers don’t want a “better payment system,” they want claims processed accurately and reimbursements and refunds received predictably. All while delighting the payee with speed, ease of use and choice. That’s the core insight behind diagonal thinking: the opportunity is in serving the workflow, not just processing the transaction.
Where the industry is heading
The payments industry is splitting. On one side are horizontal platforms optimising for reach, and on the other are vertical players zeroing in on workflow depth but often struggling to scale. The biggest opportunity is emerging in the middle, where diagonal solutions combine infrastructure scale with workflow intelligence. I think the next big winners in payments won’t be processors. They’ll be platforms that move money so seamlessly users don’t even think about payments.
When payments become truly embedded, they stop being a category you “choose” and start feeling like part of the operating system. Stripe won by making integration effortless. The next wave will win by making integration invisible. I don’t think the next decade will go to the biggest network or the lowest fees, it’ll go to the platforms that embed payments so deeply into workflows that users forget they’re there. That’s what we’re seeing at Dash Solutions.
The best payment systems are the ones users don’t think about, they just work. Invisibility is the new scale, and I believe the companies that learn to think diagonally in 2026 will shape what comes next.
Stephen Faust, CEO, Dash Solutions
