LAS VEGAS, NV (September 11, 2014) –- In a session titled “En route to a cashless 2.0?” payments expert Brian Scott participated in a discussion yesterday on the future of wearable payments technologies. The session’s audience was composed of The Money Event attendees in Las Vegas to participate in Super Mobility Week events.
When asked about the must-haves of future mobile pay technology, Scott, a vice president for payments processor The Members Group (TMG), shared these four essential qualities of a desirable application:
1. Ubiquitous – Consumers will adopt mobile pay tools that allow them to pay anyone or any merchant regardless of the device.
2. Easy – Only if an application is easier than swiping a card or scanning a barcode can a solution truly deliver value.
3. Rewarding – If consumers don’t get “something else” out of it, they’ll have a hard time abandoning their traditional rewards cards.
4. Secure – With payment data in high black-market demand, consumers are nervous to move money through any application they don’t trust.
In a nod to the event’s location, Scott emphasized his final point: “Security has become table stakes for any new technology that deals in personal or financial data. Consumers are becoming increasingly leery of sharing their information, financial or otherwise.”
Scott also shared details about TMG’s recent development of a wearable payment application for Google Glass. Called See2Pay, the app lets consumers make small-dollar purchases at the point-of-sale with a swipe of the touch pad on the eyewear frames.
The role of near-field communication (NFC) and tokenization in the development of wearables was a big topic of discussion during the event, as well. Scott emphasized TMG sees NFC and tokenization as two of the key drivers of mobile pay technology. Also bandied about was the value of mobile couponing. Scott says this is one more value point pay technology providers will turn to for working in the consumer incentive piece.
“It’s difficult to convince any new user group to try something for the first time,” said Scott. “Providers must be intentional about encouraging that first experience. Of course, they also need to have that experience nailed down so repeat use isn’t an uphill battle.”
About TMG
The Members Group (TMG) is dedicated to creating customized, technology-driven card processing and payment solutions for credit unions and community-based financial institutions across North America. Innovations in fraud management, loyalty programs, alternative payment systems and analytic reporting, and the competitive advantages they create, have helped TMG forge a new standard in offering cutting-edge credit, debit, ATM, prepaid card products and a P2P payment solution. For more information, visit www.themembersgroup.com or follow @TMG on Twitter.