REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF TRANSACTION WORLD MAGAZINE

SOCIAL MEDIA

by Bruce Burke

PLANES, TRAINSAND MOBILITY

A pioneer in electronic point-of-sale systems,Bruce Burke has extensive experience in

electronic transactions, point-of-sale, eCommerce and mCommerce. He can becontacted at abc@gulfbayconsulting.com

or by phone at 727-612-5775.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF TRANSACTION WORLD MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2013

I was recently on a United Airlinesflight making my annual trek to SanDiego for the CTIA’s Enterprise &Applications event. This year it’s beenrebranded as MobileCON, but is stillfocused on enterprise, applications andM2M as it was in previous years. Duringthe flight most of the passengers werewatching the movie “Battleship” on the outdated glass tube screens affixedand protruding from the cabin roofwhich, ironically enough, earlier dis-played a video message from United’spresident & CEO, Jeff Smisek, explaininghow they were making huge investmentsin new technology.

Although it can’t be seen from theirarchaic, low-resolution video monitors,air travel does seem to be embracingmobility more quickly than some of theother legacy industries. The airlinesembrace the use of bar codes, QR codesand mobile app check-in for flights. The announcement for in-flight servicereminded the passengers that the airlineis no longer interested in handling your dirty old greenbacks and will only accept credit & debit cards by virtueof a handheld payment device. In hisvideo message Smisek indicated thatUnited’s clients were, by nature, mobile,and their technology investment wasmade to get travel information into the hands of customers faster and betterthan ever before.

Airlines, airports, hotels, rental carsand other transportation services have atremendous opportunity and are a tight-ly-knit enough ecosystem that theycould, collectively, help mobile paymentservices gain some significant ground.Most, if not all, airlines are offeringbranded reward credit cards. The oppor-

tunity to enroll in their rewards programis presented with your peanuts, bever-ages, in your seat pocket and on periodi-cal racks attached to the cabin of theplane. But some airlines and other hospi-tality companies are beginning to pushthe envelope, offering some uniquetwists using a combination of mobiledevices and payment capabilities.

For example, during a recent trip, mywife and I returned to the airport for ourflight home. As we were both hungry, we stopped at what looked like a fairlydecent restaurant to look at the menu. It was propped up on an easel per usual,but the similarities ended there; the menu was displayed on an iPad andwas interactive.

We were then escorted to a high, pub-style seating area with an iPad, electricoutlets and a credit card reader installedin the countertop in front of each seat.The hostess showed us the basics and leftus to browse the menu. A waitress camearound as I was trying to figure out howto order a diet coke and showed us someof the finer points of the menu includinghow to select the temperature to whichI’d like my burger cooked. She demon-strated how we’d finalize our order andeasily swipe our card to pay. Since ourorder was sent to the kitchen electroni-cally and was queued into a backend sys-tem, it came out quickly. I thought aboutthe reduced staffing, steps saved andoverall efficiency of the restaurant andthought, “why isn’t everyone in therestaurant business doing this?”

I was still in awe of the effective andunwired nature of the eatery when weleft, only to find that from the restaurantforward, the entire Delta terminal at NewYork’s La Guardia airport was a sea of

iPads. There was one in front of virtuallyevery seat in the terminal. The main con-course of the terminal offered more casu-al, quick-service types of food and bever-ages, which were delivered right to yourseat with ease and efficiency.

Of course the iPads could also be usedto discern flight information via theDelta app, which was preinstalled andvery accessible. The touchscreens alsoincluded a few simple games and accessto Internet. I think it was the quietest airline terminal I’ve ever visited in myentire life, and for any fellow Macophiles,a virtual utopia that must be witnessedfirst-hand.

I’m writing this piece just following theanniversary of Steve Jobs’ passing, andthinking about how proud he’d be to findhis most iconic creation being used by somany in such a modern societal setting.

To relate this to your ISO business,take the models of the airlines and theairport and overlay them onto your business model. What processes could be more efficient for your customers and your business using mobility andalways-available information? Whatservices can be more easily offered andmade more accessible by seamless elec-tronic payment capabilities? I have tothink more food and drink is being soldusing this system. Many sales will occursolely due to the novelty, if not the convenience factor.

If you’re not a believer in concept of mobile first, take a trip over to theDelta terminal in New York’s La Guardiaairport; you’ll quickly become an advocate of the concept and will proba-bly start trying to find a way to leveragethese concepts and strategies for your own business. !