Driving IoT Progress at Mobile World Congress

I felt fortunate to be among the 107,000 delegates from 205 countries attending this year’s Mobile World Congress, held earlier this month in surprisingly chilly Barcelona.

Showcasing everything from connected cars, to virtual reality, 3D printing to amazing app ideas—the exhibition and conference content at MWC gave visitors a chance to discuss the future of mobile and explore the world’s most cutting-edge, mobile-enabled products and services.

4 Reasons Why You Must Future Proof Your Technology

What does future proofing your technology mean? In my view, it means preparing your bank to deliver the best customer experience possible--today and tomorrow. Research from Greenwich Associates indicates that the customer experience and ease of doing business are key drivers of loyalty. Extracting value from your technology investments so you can provide a superior customer experience is not only important because of the impact on service, but also on loyalty.

I want to focus on 4 reasons why future proofing your technology is important. These insights are a sneak preview into some of the findings from our upcoming whitepaper produced with Ovum, the annual Global Payment Insight Series.

Fraud Awareness Month Canada – Return of the Lost and Stolen (and Authenticating Wearables in Canada)

A couple years ago, I penned a blog post to commend the Canadians on what made their culture so resilient to fraud that it developed the lowest fraud rates in the Northern Hemisphere. It got a bit of circulation and created significant positive feedback. This time, I would like to bring awareness back to Canada about a potential threat as it relates to the increasingly popular Tap payment channel.

Increasing Collections & Satisfaction: Real-Time Payments for Loan Servicing

The old adage that “cash is king” is precisely that: old. In today’s world, convenience is king and real-time payments deliver it in spades. Consider that convenient ways to pay can reduce late payments by up to 76%, while reducing call center volumes by up to 83%, and it’s no wonder lenders are expanding their offerings over time to include checks, ACH, debit cards and now real-time payments.

GDPR: Modern Wealth It Is In Your Digital DNA

Hands up if you don’t really know what GDPR is… don’t worry, you’re not alone in fact, 6 in 10 people have never heard of it.

And why should the average consumer know about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)? The regulation itself, which will become enforceable in May 2018, is designed to stop businesses using our data without our knowledge or consent. And that consent means complete transparency on how our data is being used. This sounds like a very reasonable expectation for consumers to have, which of course begs the question; why hasn’t this been the standard up until now?

Fintech Frenzy and Fun: Money20/20 Asia

I’m in vibrant Singapore for day one of the inaugural Money20/20 Asia... or is this day two? I’ve lost all concept of time this week (and didn’t realize how close Singapore is to the equator… it’s like wicked hawt outside!) And I’m joined once again by my ever-intrepid Rantings colleague to rant about what’s happening in this fun-filled world of payments.

A Master Class in Convenience: Faster Payments for Higher Education

Paying for college can be a real pain, and the act of paying tuition itself has not kept up to speed with the times.

According to Aite Group, 40% of tuition payments are made by ACH (electronic check), making it the most popular method of payment for higher education. Yet, these payments can sometimes take several days to process. In a world where college students send and receive over 120 text messages per day, immediacy is key. Especially when large dollar amounts are being spent. Students and parents demand that payment options conform to their expectations of speed, to prevent their accounts from being overdrawn.

The Hidden Cost of Digital Payments for Retail Payment Players

It is not exactly breaking news that non-cash payments are on the rise globally, with column inches dedicated to the launch of digital financial-inclusion projects. But going cashless is not only a challenge for humanitarian endeavors, or developing countries. We all agree that removing cash from the system will save payments players big bucks in the future, but we must also consider the immediate impact of digital transformation on the legacy infrastructure of the powerhouses of the payments ecosystem.

A Prescription for Profitability: Real-Time Payments Come to Healthcare

When it comes to important numbers in the healthcare sector, you’re probably familiar with 120/80 (that’s ideal blood pressure for the non-medically inclined), but I’d like to introduce you to two more numbers: 15 and 47.

15 is the percentage of healthcare spending due to billing and payment inefficiencies, while 47 is the percentage of patients who would leave a hospital for a better payment experience¹.

Telcos Have a Unique Opportunity to Drive Mobile Payments

We are witnessing a significant and inevitable shift in digital payments towards mobile commerce. In the next ten years, we will see an exponential expansion in the number of devices and applications we will use to make mobile payments. You could pay for your groceries on your mobile, for delivery at home, then two days later receive a message from your fridge alerting you that the milk is running low. By the time you get back home, a new bottle of milk could be waiting for you, thanks to real-time delivery, even by a drone.