Tag Archives: payments

Payments International 2015 – Day 2 report #PayInt15

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Today I was at Payments International 2015, which is one of the main annual industry events. Endava are the principal sponsors (that’s my disclaimer) – a colleague spoke at the event yesterday, and I’m speaking tomorrow. I was busy elsewhere yesterday, so today was my first day at the conference.

“Apple bites man”

The first keynote talk was from Ben Hammersley, the Editor-in-chief at Wired magazine, but he also does the speaking circuit and he made an interesting documentary about cybercrime earlier this year.

Continue reading Payments International 2015 – Day 2 report #PayInt15 →

Weekly reading list

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Internet of Useless Things - well worth a quick read, even on the throne
The Internet of Useless Things – well worth a quick read, even on the throne

Here are the best articles that I’ve read during the last week:

Warc – Measurement issues hit TV– regular readers will know my frustration with measuring TV audiences. Their time has come, just as they are reporting a sharp decline in audiences. But in an industry based on advertising revenue, the measurement companies are being urged to create ways of showing increasing audience sizes. Bizarre but inevitable.
25 years of Photoshop | Adobe Photoshop 25th anniversary – This one made me feel old. Some beautiful imagery here.
Apple Pay is now the number one mobile payment solution at Staples – When reading any headlines about Apple Pay, remember that Apple Pay has paved the way for contactless technology in the US, which is still growing at a good rate here in the UK.
The Internet of Useless Things – I loved this (thank you Matt) from Rehab, who we’ve done some great work with at Endava.

Continue reading Weekly reading list →

Digital Media predictions in 2015

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Each year I forecast some predictions in the Digital Media/ Internet world, and at the end of the year I score those predictions to see whether they came true or not.

1. Self-service: Next generation self-service offerings

Expect to see more companies offering portals for customers to service themselves.

For instance, think of the last time you bought an airline ticket – you probably bought the ticket through a website and checked in online or through your smartphone.

This will become more commonplace. I can’t remember the last time I put coins in a parking meter – I use my smartphone to pay for parking instead.

Through 2014 we’ll see coins used less, and you’ll be calling help desks less because you’ll be buying and servicing your needs online instead. Continue reading Digital Media predictions in 2015 →

Review of 2014 predictions

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Blackberry shares in 2014 - at 49% growth, there are worse things you could have done with your money
Blackberry shares in 2014 – at 49% growth, there are worse things you could have done with your money

How did my 2014 Digital Media predictions from last December turn out?

2014 has been another interesting year in the digital world. The end of a terrible recession has forced most companies to place digital at the heart of their strategy. #Fintech has become a recognised term for banks, insurance companies and other financial services organisations trying to update their systems to become ‘digital‘.

1. TV will change

Last December I predicted Ultra HD will become production ready, 3D TV will disappear and we’ll start seeing transparent TVs on the market. Continue reading Review of 2014 predictions →

Isn’t Uber super?

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Uber - an example of how mobile apps are transforming industries that the web couldn't reach
Uber – an example of how mobile apps are transforming industries that the web couldn’t reach

I’ve started using Uber in the last few days, and it’s transformative to the taxi industry. It’s one of those concepts which makes you think “I wish I thought of that first”. But not everyone agrees, and unfortunately for them, that resistance is probably one of the success factors in any consumer digital transformation offering.

In essence, Uber is a mobile app to call a taxi. It replaces the call to the minicab/ taxi office, and provides more functionality than the old model, because as soon as you call a car, you can literally watch that car drive towards you on a map. Continue reading Isn’t Uber super? →

Bitcoin introduction, key facts and opportunities

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The number of Bitcoin transactions per day looks like it's waiting for a major retailer to join the party
The number of Bitcoin transactions per day looks like it’s waiting for a major retailer to join the party

Firstly, I want to set some context about Bitcoin and this article. I started this blog when I found myself explaining something to one person, then another, and another, and I thought there had to be a more efficient method of distributing information (together with my opinion!) Three years later, this mantra still holds true. However this article has taken the longest to write because when I have met people to discuss Bitcoin, every conversation seems to approach the subject from a different perspective and I’m asked many great questions, so I’ve delayed this article while I’ve tacked those extra points to this article. At times I felt that I should just write a book, but I never had the guts to ask my wife for the time during our summer holiday!!!

This article is split into five sections mainly to specifically answer some presumptions that people have about Bitcoin:

  1. Introduction, and Bitcoin key facts
  2. Anonymity & Illegality
  3. Opportunities
  4. Conclusion
  5. Further reading

Continue reading Bitcoin introduction, key facts and opportunities →

The Future of Digital #Payments

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Yours truly at Endava's Future of Payments Event
Yours truly at Endava’s Future of Payments Event. The audience isn’t asleep – they’re tweeting insights from the presentation, or watching the football

For the past 3,000 years payments hasn’t been the most exciting industry, but in the last 5-10 years, there have been dozens of new entrants into the market.

It took 3,000 years to give us pretty much seven payment options: coins, banknotes, debit cards, Diners club, Visa, Mastercard and American Express. In the last ten years, we’ve seen an explosion of disruptive players, all driven through the adoption of the Internet and/or mobile technologies.

Yesterday we hosted an event “The Future of Digital Payments” in London at the magnificent, if slightly warm, Royal Exchange. It was one of the best attended Endava events that we’ve held, despite the World Cup and Wimbledon trying to compete with us!

Continue reading The Future of Digital #Payments →

Do you work in Skopje or in the payments industry?

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I’ve got a busy few weeks coming up – next week I’m visiting our new delivery centre in Skopje, Macedonia where I’m planning to meet some local creative agencies and generally lend a hand in the new office. If you work in Skopje and would like to meet next week, please drop me a line.

Endava's Future of Digital Payments event in London at the end of June
Endava’s Future of Digital Payments event in London at the end of June

And then on the 26th June, I’m speaking at an Endava hosted event in London called “The Future of Payments”. I’ve almost finished my presentation, and I’ll share parts of it here over the coming weeks. The payments industry is undergoing massive change at the moment, with new innovative competitors appearing almost weekly.

These changes are creating huge new opportunities – with technology innovations around identity and mobile creating a payments ecosystem which is probably going to look very different to the current one.

If you’d like to come to the payments event, please contact me and I’ll give more information.

Digital Finance Masterclass London, 2014

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Earlier today I gave a short presentation to the Digital Finance Masterclass in London. I only had ten minutes, followed by 8 sessions of pretty intense ‘Digital Surgeries’ – a great format, but quite tiring.

Before the event, I had been told that the Digital Surgeries were like speed dating – thankfully I got married before speed dating, because I can’t imagine going through that process in a relaxed, sociable setting.

With only ten minutes for the first presentation, to a varied audience across Financial Services, I focussed on the following topics, shown in the attached Slideshare presentation:

  • Putting the User First
  • Development
  • Cloud
  • Mobile first?
  • The future

Continue reading Digital Finance Masterclass London, 2014 →