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Philippe
JulienVP Strategy and Efficiency, Secure
Transactions, Gemalto
The ICT wave means speed and convenience. For consumers, getting a card should be instantaneous. And it should be more personal, both through the card body and the portfolio of tailored services that comes with it. Fast e-Services can replace the traditional mailing of information as when, for example, delivering a PIN code.
The cherry on the cake is when every transaction gets a reward. Card holders become more deeply involved, empowered at every step of their card experience. Paying should be as efficient, fast, enjoyable and rewarding than any other ICT application.
In addition, on-line banking is becoming an opportunity for the banks to better know their customers and build a trusted relationship. It seems to me that the gap is closing between “cool” Internet services like Facebook, Twitter, Instant messaging and so on, and the payment card experience. It’s a sign of times!
When payment becomes an “experience”, not just an “act”
Not all of us want “cool stuff”. But as a rule it seems that people are willing to embrace innovations whenever they make a product or service more personalized. There are three aspects of “personalization” that touch people’s hearts and imagination: Image, Reward, and Communication.
“Image” relates to the huge opportunities offered by the card body to carry features (photos, tags, text etc.) that are chosen by customers. These features promote intimacy, so that the card becomes a companion of the payment experience rather than just a device.
“Reward” increases mind-share, since it offers card holders instant recognition and incentives from their banks or retailers. The payment experience becomes a journey with wins, milestones and successes. People love rewards.
Finally, “Communication” creates the comfort of having frequent personal interactions with the card provider. e-Services can boost their frequency. A bank’s portal could soon become the host for powerful social networks where people seek answers to their financial questions, both from the bank and among their peers. The overall time spent on these interactions is set to increase while card providers face the challenge of increasing customer intimacy. Could their portals become the first place people go whenever they have a question?
Innovations increase business efficiency too.
While what ultimately matters is enhancing the card holder experience, Gemalto’s solutions also increase the efficiency of the card issuance process for financial institutions. Processing card data between multiple personalization sites in a secure, fast and cost effective manner is a key ICT challenge. It requires both technical skills and management discipline to control data flows. As market leader, Gemalto has been involved in every major EMV migration program, and the support offered by our experienced consultants can make all the difference to your project. In the last 9 months, we have worked with our customers on several hosted-services projects and large scale programs, ensuring that large volumes of payment cards were seamlessly deployed.
So our business isn’t just about providing cards, it’s also more and more about the e-Services surrounding card issuance, ultra personalization solutions for card holders and large scale IT projects supporting massive deployments.
In this way, the payment industry is becoming a successful part of the big ICT picture.
* ICT: Information and Communications Technology
