It used to be simple. You wanted something, you plunked down enough cash and coins to cover it, or paid by “plastic.”
Things are changing. Even as people are counting their pennies, new technologies are rapidly emerging designed to make it more efficient, secure, convenient, trackable, marketable, and just plain easy for retailers to get paid and consumers to pay.
Banks, as part of the payment food chain, ought at least to be aware of how things are changing at the point of sale as well as the automated teller machine.
It’s particularly relevant right now, following the recent innovations unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and the National Retail Federation’s annual conference in New York. Here’s a sampling of the somewhat bewildering array of new things soon to come to a corner store near you:
• Diebold Inc., in collaboration with Verizon, will integrate 4G LTE technology into its ATMs, providing direct communications with self-service terminals and the companies that service them—not just the financial institutions that own them. At the same time it will allow banks to connect to ATMs wirelessly, providing 24/7 status monitoring and notification, remote diagnostics, and ATM failure resolution. “By incorporating 4G technology, we have the potential to increase efficiencies, enhance security, and improve customer service at the ATM,” says Frank Natoli Jr., executive vice-president at Diebold. (See a short video of the new ATM, taken at CES by fellow ABA BJ blogger Dan Fisher.)
• NCR Corp. unveiled what it calls the first cloud-based POS software platform that enables retailers to manage transactions, track sales and inventory, process credit cards, and market to customers both on its touchscreen terminals and Apple mobile devices. The application will be downloadable from Apple iTunes. An optional integrated barcode scanner and a magnetic stripe reader will enable secure, integrated credit card processing with end-to-end encryption.
• Visa Inc. announced it is piloting a new service in Arizona where customers can buy and have dispensed to them immediately gift cards directly from ATMs. The cards themselves are made of sturdy but thin plastic capable of going through the cash mechanisms of existing ATMs. Better ATM Services is collaborating in this test.
• Microsoft released its Dynamics AX2012 product, which it calls “an end-to-end solution that includes cross-channel capabilities, social and mobile commerce, enriched point of sale, and powerful enhancements for merchandising.” It says such capabilities will help retailers deliver consistent, convenient, and personalized experiences for shoppers.
• ViVOtech showed off its new ViVOtouch, a mobile marketing software platform that enables retailers to deliver personalized content, offers, and loyalty programs to customers, while enabling interactive shopping experiences with NFC-enabled mobile devices.
• Wincor Nixdorf Inc. debuted its BEETLE/iPRINT, which it calls a “POS in a printer”—a small, sealed, fanless, minimum-maintenance system that offers maximum energy efficiency and low running costs.
• GoPayment, from Intuit, will offer a free credit card reader that connects through the audio jack of iPhones, iPads, and iPods, featuring a silicone sleeve that provides stability and support. Also, the swipe channel was improved to read cards accurately the first time.
• Not to be outdone, CHARGE Anywhere announced the compatibility of an audio jack magnetic card reader with its Mobile Payment Application for BlackBerry. The solution allows users to capture and export business data such as signature capture, invoice number, employee number, tips, and GPS location.
• And back to Visa, in probably the most telling announcement, said that NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research in Motion (which produces BlackBerrys) have been certified for use with Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point of sale, Visa payWave.
“This is an important step for Visa, its financial institution partners, and the mobile industry,” says Bill Gajda, global head of mobile product at Visa. “In addition to issuing plastic magnetic stripe or chip-enabled payment cards, financial institutions can now consider offering their accountholders a way to transform their smartphones into fully functional mobile payment devices.”
From here, it’s a short hop to the whole mobile point-of-sale phenomenon, but that’s something that’s blossoming on its own, and worthy of a separate column at a later date. Meanwhile, and curiously, there doesn’t seem to have been much recent innovation in coin slot or dollar-bill reader technology.
Sources used in this story include:
Diebold Innovates With World's First 4G LTE-Enabled ATM Concept
• Visa Inc. announced it is piloting a new service in Arizona where customers can buy and have dispensed to them immediately gift cards directly from ATMs. The cards themselves are made of sturdy but thin plastic capable of going through the cash mechanisms of existing ATMs. Better ATM Services is collaborating in this test.
• Microsoft released its Dynamics AX2012 product, which it calls “an end-to-end solution that includes cross-channel capabilities, social and mobile commerce, enriched point of sale, and powerful enhancements for merchandising.” It says such capabilities will help retailers deliver consistent, convenient, and personalized experiences for shoppers.
• ViVOtech showed off its new ViVOtouch, a mobile marketing software platform that enables retailers to deliver personalized content, offers, and loyalty programs to customers, while enabling interactive shopping experiences with NFC-enabled mobile devices.
• Wincor Nixdorf Inc. debuted its BEETLE/iPRINT, which it calls a “POS in a printer”—a small, sealed, fanless, minimum-maintenance system that offers maximum energy efficiency and low running costs.
• GoPayment, from Intuit, will offer a free credit card reader that connects through the audio jack of iPhones, iPads, and iPods, featuring a silicone sleeve that provides stability and support. Also, the swipe channel was improved to read cards accurately the first time.
• Not to be outdone, CHARGE Anywhere announced the compatibility of an audio jack magnetic card reader with its Mobile Payment Application for BlackBerry. The solution allows users to capture and export business data such as signature capture, invoice number, employee number, tips, and GPS location.
• And back to Visa, in probably the most telling announcement, said that NFC-enabled smartphones from Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and Research in Motion (which produces BlackBerrys) have been certified for use with Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point of sale, Visa payWave.
“This is an important step for Visa, its financial institution partners, and the mobile industry,” says Bill Gajda, global head of mobile product at Visa. “In addition to issuing plastic magnetic stripe or chip-enabled payment cards, financial institutions can now consider offering their accountholders a way to transform their smartphones into fully functional mobile payment devices.”
From here, it’s a short hop to the whole mobile point-of-sale phenomenon, but that’s something that’s blossoming on its own, and worthy of a separate column at a later date. Meanwhile, and curiously, there doesn’t seem to have been much recent innovation in coin slot or dollar-bill reader technology.
Sources used in this story include:
Diebold Innovates With World's First 4G LTE-Enabled ATM Concept
| About the Author John Ginovsky is contributing editor of ABA Banking Journal and editor of the publication’s TechTopics e-newsletter. For more than two decades he has written about the commercial banking industry. In particular, he’s specialized in the technological side of banking and how it relates to the actual business of banking. He previously was senior editor for Community Banker magazine (which merged with ABA Banking Journal) and was a staff writer for ABA’s Bankers News. |
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