OpenWay CTO Dmitry Yatskaer Outlines Strategic Shift Toward Delivery Discipline to Maximize Long Term Payment Platform ROI

OpenWay CTO Dmitry Yatskaer explains why disciplined delivery, not just technology, is the strongest predictor of long-term success in payment platforms.

By: AXL Media

Published: Apr 2, 2026, 7:42 AM EDT

Source: Information for this report was sourced from OpenWay

The Critical Role of Execution in Payment Transformation

The payments industry is increasingly recognizing that the failure of digital transformation programs rarely stems from poor boardroom strategy, but rather from a lack of discipline in delivery. According to Dmitry Yatskaer, Chief Technology Officer at OpenWay, the value of a powerful platform like Way4 remains latent without a rigorous execution model. Many institutions treat platform selection as a purely technological decision, focusing on architecture and roadmaps while overlooking how the system will be configured and evolved. OpenWay’s experience suggests that delivery discipline is the true driver of return on investment, as it determines how quickly a business can adapt to shifting commercial and regulatory demands.

Accelerated Timelines and Scalability Benchmarks

OpenWay has provided empirical evidence of its delivery model through several high-impact global projects. In one instance, a large-scale acquiring transformation was fully delivered in nine months, supporting a processor that eventually grew its merchant base to two million customers. Another project involved the launch of a digital multi-bank processing platform on AWS, which went live in just four months. Additionally, a wallet platform managed to scale to 40 million consumers and 700,000 small businesses within three years of its initial nine-month launch. These benchmarks suggest that disciplined delivery does not merely prevent delays but serves as a catalyst for rapid market expansion.

Discovery Discipline as a Foundational Requirement

The discovery phase is identified as the period where financial returns are most at risk due to misaligned expectations between vendors and clients. Denis Kvitka, Head of Delivery at OpenWay, argues that the deepest issues in payment projects often arise from a shared vocabulary that masks different underlying assumptions. While clients bring deep business expertise, vendors contribute platform-specific knowledge that must be harmonized before any technical work begins. Failing to address these gaps early leads to expensive corrections later in the project lifecycle, making discovery a strategic necessity rather than a preliminary administrative step.