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companies & people
Industry Views: Juggling Act
1How are you balancing rising compliance costs and innovation? Where are you investing?
Certain regulations can sti e innovation and creativity, which may interfere with our ability to enhance the prod- ucts and services we o er to consumers. These are often the very products and ser- vices consumers want and need, and which improve the consumer experience and expand access in the market- place. It’s safe to say that
2017 is going to be a very active year for our industry at the state and federal level, and across a variety of issues. What’s more di cult to say is how everything will ultimately play out. The key for our industry is to closely monitor regulatory activity and to be proactive in our engagement with regulators, legislators and industry partners.
—Robert Skiba,
executive vice president, regulatory and government a airs, InComm
The rising costs of compliance has become an inherent expectation across the industry and, while there have been many negative impacts, there also have been several positive byproducts, such as being able to balance these rising costs while continuing to invest time and capital in innovation. The approach our company has taken internally has been to nd ways
to create automated, platform-based solutions that enable compliance and reduce the costs of doing so. This has enabled the development of risk, cybersecu- rity and compliance technology that has opened new lines of sight and control capabilities within all lines
of defense. We’ve also gone beyond solving for our own internal problems to nding unique deployment and commercialization opportunities outside of the walls of the company. Not only has [this approach] generated revenue for our company, the unique nature of risk, security and compliance as a team sport, where all the “good guys” work together, has con- tributed to the broader soundness of the ecosystem.
Partnering with players in the early stage ntech and regtech industries also has become more important.
It takes their nimble, innovative ideas, which solve the new problems that have arisen, and pairs them with our deep incumbent relationships and understanding of what it takes to be enterprise-grade from a security and IT perspective.
—Tariq Scott Bokhari,
head of innovation and investment, FIS
From our initial concept that consumers would embrace the convenience of third-party gift cards at grocery stores to proving that grocers could bene t from gift card-driven traf- c and sales, to diversify- ing our product o erings with digital and mobile innovations, and success- fully leveraging gift cards
in the incentives industry, Blackhawk Network has continued to spearhead product and service innova- tion in the industry with innovative and far-reaching solutions. Although the costs of compliance have risen, Blackhawk remains committed to being a leading innovator in the industry and will continue to draw
on our superior resources—including our experi- enced compliance team—to maintain our position.
We’re continuing to help our partners grow their busi- nesses using branded value solutions—such as gift cards, e-gifts, loyalty and rewards—for commerce and incentives. Blackhawk also will continue to innovate its products and solutions to grow the use of branded value through loyalty, wallet and retail channels. For example, we introduced our digital pass technology, which enables gift cards, e-gifts, loyalty cards and rewards programs to integrate with mobile wallets.
—Teri Llach,
chief marketing o cer, Blackhawk Network
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