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automating processes, such as product setup and customer pro- visioning, which typically require a lot of manual work. Then you speed up the process and reduce oppor- tunities for errors.
Paybefore: Some say process- ing is a commodity. Do you agree?
AW: If you’re talking about a traditional platform doing debits and credits—just a general ledger at scale—that’s a commodity. But there are a lot of unmet needs when it comes to offering a feature- rich payment product. That’s where we’re seeing convergence of loyalty and payments—whether it’s custom- er engagement or reporting and analytics. Being able to do the15 other things our clients need is what keeps us relevant and keeps us from being commoditized.
We take a whole product approach that doesn’t require integration with outside vendors. We were the first to launch card-linked offers in 2008. Many have launched since then, but what we’ve done is to create in-authorization couponing. For example, if you go to buy something and there’s an offer for 20 percent off, when you swipe your card the POS will deduct the discount automatically. This real- time capability combined with messages to cardholders can drive desired behavior—such as card swipe versus ATM withdrawal— and improve program profitability.
Paybefore: So, how do you see your role as a processor?
AW: Far from a commodity,
I think the single biggest thing that’s going to affect the output of your business is the process- ing infrastructure and what it enables you to do. The race track doesn’t matter if you don’t have a good car.
Paybefore: Payments is highly regulated and in prepaid, specifi- cally, we’re seeing compliance costs go up. How do you approach innovation in that environment?
AW: We’re more of an innovation enabler. A lot of innovation is happening in how our clients deploy our platform and the use cases they develop. Innovation doesn’t need to be a super algo- rithm; it can be a super use case.
Paybefore: What does mobile mean to you and your clients?
AW: We see three approaches
in the market. One is just doing what you do with plastic on the phone, which doesn’t make sense to me. The other extreme is to come out with some mobile fea- ture or application that misses the reality on the ground. They’re trying to do something on the mobile without connecting it to the real world. It’s not ubiquitous or scalable.
The approach we’re focused on is how to leverage mobile to bypass the limits of the existing infrastruc- ture. For example, mobile can be a channel for communicating supple- mentary information to improve the
consumer experience. Think of my earlier coupon example. We facilitate execution of the offer as part of the payment and use mobile to send a message thank- ing the cardholder for redeeming the offer. It’s all part of the same transaction and user experience. For mobile commerce to work,
it has to be integrated with the real world.
Paybefore: Your headquarters are in Silicon Valley. Is it inspiring?
AW: It’s expensive. ... It’s a great time to be in payments and work in a region so highly focused on disruption and innovation. I think payments is an industry ready for disruption, but there is one issue. The majority of Silicon Valley in- vestors are looking for return in three to five years. Building pay- ments infrastructure is not a three- to five-year investment. Payments is an extremely com- plex business. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Paybefore: Who will be left standing?
AW: No. 1 is substance. You have to provide something that’s differ- entiated and can stand the test
of time. The second thing is scale. And the third thing is really being global. The world is getting smaller and there are lots of opportunities for enabling cross-border com- merce. We’re driven by being relevant and meaningful in what we do. We don’t want to be just another also-ran.
volume 8 • spring 2015
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