Category: News

News

Payments Perspective – June 2024

Post author By user
Post date June 27, 2024

Payments Perspective

- June 2024

Welcome to the first edition of Polar Moment’s Payments Perspective. Each month our trusted consultancy experts will share some of the key events and trends shaping the payments landscape. Read on for our highlights from June 2024.

Money 20/20 Europe: The Fusion of Humans and Machines

The theme of this year’s Money 20/20 Europe conference in Amsterdam was “Human X Machine”. It emphasised the growing interdependence between human expertise and machine intelligence in financial services. The keynote address by former French President François Hollande underscored the geopolitical dimensions of fintech innovation. As we see it, the emphasis on AI and machine learning at this event aligns perfectly with the industry’s push towards more efficient, personalised, and secure financial services.

Apple Pay's Shift: Moving Away from BNPL

Apple has recently decided to discontinue its Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service, which launched in 2023. This move, made barely a year after its initial launch underscores the competitive nature of the financial services industry. Apple will now integrate instalment loan options from established providers like Affirm and Klarna directly into the Apple Wallet. Businesses should prepare for these changes by ensuring their payment systems are compatible with a variety of BNPL providers.

Mastercard's Digital Transition: Phasing Out Manual Entry

The card scheme’s decision to end manual card data entry in the EU by 2030 marks a significant step towards a fully digital payments ecosystem. This transition is indicative of the broader move towards automation and increased security in payment processing. Companies must prepare for this shift by investing in robust digital infrastructure and enhancing cybersecurity.

We hope you enjoyed this June update and look forward to more updates on the world of payments in our next edition.

Subscribe to receive next month's edition of Polar Moment's Payments Perspective

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Polar Moment Customer Satisfaction Survey 2024

Post author By user
Post date March 18, 2024

Polar Moment Customer Satisfaction Survey 2024

At a Glance:

Overall satisfaction score of 10 out of 10!
100% of respondents said they would recommend Polar Moment.
Supporting The Proper Blokes Club charity.

Survey Results:

Polar Moment is committed to providing great customer satisfaction. We work hard to nurture our customer relationships and this shines through in our 2024 survey. Respondents commented on how Polar Moment provided expert advice and fulfilled all their project requirements.

In terms of overall satisfaction, every respondent scored Polar Moment an incredible 10 out of 10! All respondents said they were very likely to recommend Polar Moment to a friend or colleague. We’d be very happy to ask any of the respondents to talk to prospective clients: please get in touch if you are interested in this.

What Our Customers Said:

When asked what did we succeed on: "Agility, responsiveness and availability for support and technical advice. Offering pragmatic solutions to thorny problems and offering commercial flexibility to deliver an oft-changing road map."

Ewan Smith

Red Bee Media

When asked what did we succeed on: "Pro-active approach in terms of highlighting issues that we were not previously aware of and continually chasing other stakeholders for their deliverables and updates to ensure timescales were met and costs minimised. Communication was always clear and effective."

Tanya Parker

Goodbox

Charity Donation:

Every year Polar Moment selects a charity to receive a £10 donation for every completed survey. This year The Proper Blokes Club was nominated by one of our directors, John Rozek, who regularly joins the club’s walks. The Proper Blokes Club is a fantastic charity. It gives men the opportunity to walk and talk, making sure no one is alone in their struggles. We are proud to be supporting this cause.

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Our Commitment to Climate Action – 2024 Update

Post author By user
Post date January 23, 2024

Our Commitment to Climate Action - 2024 Update

23rd January 2024

Polar Moment and the Latitude 91 group continue to strive to meet demanding environmental, social, and sustainability commitments, aiming to be the best business we can be. As members of the SME Climate Hub (www.smeclimatehub.org), we are committed to achieving net-zero status by 2050.

In Spring 2023 we calculated that our total emissions for the previous financial year were 23.1 tonnes of CO2e. This is a fifth of the average emissions for an IT industry company with a similar turnover. We reduced this in the last financial year to 12.3 tonnes of CO2e.

How Did We Achieve This Reduction?

Meeting and Exceeding Targets

In 2023, our target was to halve both direct and indirect emissions by 2025. Today, we proudly report a 47% reduction. So, we’re almost there, two years ahead of target!

This achievement clearly demonstrates our dedication to reducing our carbon footprint.

News

Polar Moment 2023: A Year in Review

Post author By user
Post date January 19, 2024

Polar Moment 2023: A Year in Review

19th January 2024

As we bid farewell to 2023, Polar Moment reflects on a year marked by achievements, hurdles, and unwavering dedication. Join us in revisiting the key projects that have defined our journey throughout the year.

Payments Facilitation and Cash Management Platform

Polar Moment developed a business transformation platform, enabling our client to become a total solution provider by expanding its cash management services to include payment card acceptance. Working alongside compliance advisor FSCom, we helped our client become an Authorized Payment Institution. We then developed a unique AWS cloud-based payments facilitation platform, including a market-leading web portal for our client’s merchant customers. Following the successful rollout of the solution, we were invited to develop their cash management platform to provide a unified cash and card solution. This encompasses the web portal, settlement, invoicing, and transaction monitoring.

Acquiring Services

A leading hotel operator sought Polar Moment’s expertise in securing cost-effective acquiring services. Leveraging our insights into market rates, we successfully assisted them in reducing costs, resulting in one of the most competitive acquiring rates in the sector.

Public Transport Card Success

Polar Moment architected and managed the development of a public transport card payment solution. This card system, akin to London’s Oyster Card, enables users to purchase transport tickets and add funds to their cards through terminals located in convenience stores. The initiative has seen the sale of over six million cards, with more than one billion passenger journeys recorded to date.

Planet – Payment App Development

Polar Moment developed a number of innovative payment apps for the PAX IM30 Android-based payment terminal. These apps allow customers to make purchases using various unattended devices (e.g. vending machines) that use Planet’s payment SDK.

GPT’s PoolPay Innovation

Game Payment Technology (GPT) is the disruptive payments start-up in the amusement industry. Latitude 91, Polar Moment’s parent company, is one of the shareholders. This year, Polar Moment developed PoolPay – a groundbreaking solution enabling players to use a single payment terminal to pay to play any of the pool tables within a pub or similar venue.

2023 has been a year of growth, collaboration, and impactful solutions. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our clients, partners, and the Polar Moment team, whose contributions made these accomplishments possible.

As we look ahead in 2024, exciting developments await. Stay tuned for upcoming projects and initiatives from Polar Moment!

News

Latest News from GPT – August

Post author By user
Post date August 31, 2023

Latest News from GPT

August 2023

Game Payment Technology (GPT) is a joint venture between Polar Moment and JCM Global, a world leader in transaction and payment technologies, to drive the amusement and gaming machine industry forward with cashless payment solutions.

Here are the latest updates about Game Payment, the market-leading cashless payment solution developed and operated by Polar Moment.

Play in July:

Although play on fruit machines reaches its lowest point at this time of year, Game Payment continues to grow. The amount deposited by players grew again in July and the number of machines played saw a very healthy increase. The growth in player numbers is remarkably consistent throughout the year – as the graph below illustrates.

Multi-Machine Use:

Game Payment is quickly becoming the preferred way of paying in the pub. For instance, before and after playing ten games of pool, a Wolverhampton player took a few spins on the nearby King of Games fruit machine. Some players in Andover have two favourite pubs and play pool using GPT in both. It’s all about convenience and fun with Game Payment!

Reflex Game Master 2:

Exciting news! Reflex have recently launched their Game Master 2 cabinets. Game Payment is now available using either hardware or software solutions on the following machines:

Game Master 2 – EVO Cat C Menu
Game Master – EVO Cat C Menu

Our software-based solution uses the GBG EFT protocol, allowing cashless play without needing to install any hardware. Alternatively, you can use a TP-SLU to connect to Game Payment.

For players, the main difference between these options is how they connect their app to a machine. The TP-SLU will allow the player to find the machine using Bluetooth (see screenshot to the right). Both solutions allow the player to scan the QR code presented on the machine. Otherwise, the player experience is the same.

Cash Vs Cashless:

Research shows that for small retail businesses, the cost of an average transaction for cash is 9.1% (1). These costs factor in cash management and reconciliation costs as well as back-office and banking charges. Card payments are at least 50% cheaper than cash, on average.

The bigger picture though, is that arcade operators are losing revenue from the cash-averse. A nationwide study on behalf of Samsung found that only 14% of people in the UK always carry cash – and just 8% of 18-to-29-year-olds (2). Even a handy ATM won’t necessarily appeal to these people.

References:

News

Expert’s Playbook for Payments System Implementation

Post author By user
Post date August 21, 2023

The Expert's Playbook for Payments System Implementation: Best Practices and Insights

21st August 2023

Having spent 26 years working with payments projects across the retail sector, I’ve seen first-hand how challenging it can be to implement payments systems. There are many factors that can impact the success of a payments project. In this blog post, I’ll share my expert playbook for implementing a payments system, including best practices and key insights.

John Rozek

Polar Moment director

Understand clearly what you are trying to achieve:

Do not start by designing the solution. Start by establishing what you need to achieve as a business, and what the customer experience should be. Do not restrict this just to payments: this is only part of the story. Consider the whole user journey.

Define your project scope and requirements upfront:

Once you are clear on the desired customer experience, then you can define the project scope and requirements. Do not try and design the solution at this stage. There are many approaches for delivering payment solutions. Working with payments experts will help you understand the options available and the implications of each.

Choose a development partner with practical experience:

Payments is a complex world. Look for a development team with practical experience in working with a broad range of payment solutions. Weigh up the benefits of developing bespoke solutions against adapting existing software solutions. Work with the development team to decide which technologies are most appropriate considering your organisations standards. Also, consider cloud-based options.

Take a phased approach to development:

Payments system implementation is a complicated process that requires careful planning and execution. Taking a phased approach to development will help to minimise risk. Establish how your team will work with your chosen development partner. Decide how you are going to review the outputs throughout the development project. Set your testing strategy and agree your acceptance criteria. Know how you are going to implement the solution. Consider the benefits of piloting before rollout.

Prioritise resilience, transactions speed, ease of use, security and compliance:

Payment systems are the heart of your business. If your system is down you cannot trade, revenues are lost, and customers walk away. The user experience must be intuitive and transaction speeds need to be fast. Payment systems are a high-value target for cyber criminals. A data breach will have a massive financial impact and damage your company’s reputation. Consider how to design your system to minimise the costs of complying with PCI:DSS (payment card industry – data security standard), the standard used within the payment industry to protect cardholder data. Ensure these features are built into your solution’s design from the project outset.

Test rigorously:

Payments systems must be tested thoroughly to ensure that they work as intended and are free from bugs and other issues. Plan for comprehensive testing throughout the development process, including functional testing, performance testing, and security testing. Polar Moment’s customers welcome our advice on test environment set up and management using both virtual and physical servers. We recommend development, test, pre-production and live environments. We are expert in the leading payment test tools, including T3 from Iliad.

Plan for ongoing maintenance and support:

Once your payments system is live, it will need ongoing maintenance and support. Work with your development team to plan for ongoing maintenance and support, including software updates, bug fixes, and customer support.

Conclusion:

Implementing a payments system can be a complex and challenging process. With the right development team, you can ensure success. At Polar Moment, we have a team of developers with practical experience in working with some of the world’s leading payment vendors and processors. With ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 accreditations, we can take full end-to-end responsibility for your payments software delivery. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you implement your payments system.

News

Latest News From GPT

Post author By user
Post date July 31, 2023

Latest News from GPT

31st July 2023

Here are the latest updates about Game Payment, the market-leading cashless payment solution developed and operated by Polar Moment.

Play in June:

The very hot weather clearly affected play on fruit machines: the hottest days saw significantly less play than the more temperate ones. Despite this, the daily average spend in June was the same as in May, so the underlying trend is still firmly upwards. Interestingly, the average deposit per player rose by 13% last month as the most dedicated players were less distracted by the heat.

Growth in Cashless Payments:

The popularity of cashless payments is growing across the world. Mobile wallet payments accounted for 35% of transaction values in 2022 (up from 32% in 2021). GlobalData predicts this will carry on and that mobile wallet payments will be used more than cards by 2026.

100% Uptime:

Game Payment has been running continuously without an interruption in service since its launch. That’s now 40 months!

Player Analysis:

Data analysis is one of the many added-value features of Game Payment. Here’s some of the surprising facts it reveals.

Players aged 30-40 spend the most, though there are more players aged 18-30.

However, the 60-70 year olds are the biggest individual spenders, spending more than three times as much, on average, as 30-50 year olds and more than six times as much as 18-30s!

That’s not due to one or two high-rollers – there’s a large group of them.

Inspired Machines:

We are pleased to announce that the following Inspired machines can now be Game Payment-enabled:

Prismatic
iPub2
iPub3

News

The Roundup: Highlights from Q2 2023 at Polar Moment

Post author By user
Post date July 27, 2023

The Roundup: Highlights From Q2 2023 at Polar Moment

27th July 2023

As the second quarter of 2023 comes to a close, we are excited to share the progress we’ve made in delivering software development and consultancy projects to some of the world’s leading organisations. Let’s take a look at some of what we’ve been up to over the past few months.

New Customer: Axcel Group

We’re delighted to announce that we’re working with Axcel Group, a prominent player in the hospitality industry. With 12 hotel chains, most operating as franchises under major brands, Axcel Group sought our expertise to achieve the best pricing for their acquiring services. It’s been a rewarding journey so far, and we are excited about the possibilities that lie ahead.

Game Payment Technology

Following JCM’s investment in the first quarter, we’ve been working on GPT’s technical roadmap and development plans. The focus is on exploring markets beyond the UK.

We’re thrilled to share that a 6th major UK pub chain has come on board to trial Game Payment in two regions.

Our Other Activities This Quarter Include:

As we head into Q3 we look forward to more payments projects . Are you looking for payment industry specialists? Contact us today to explore how Polar Moment can deliver exceptional payment experiences to your customers.

Payments Perspective

- June 2024

Subscribe to receive next month's edition of Polar Moment's Payments Perspective

Polar Moment Customer Satisfaction Survey 2024

At a Glance:

Survey Results:

What Our Customers Said:

Charity Donation:

Our Commitment to Climate Action - 2024 Update

How Did We Achieve This Reduction?

Meeting and Exceeding Targets

Polar Moment 2023: A Year in Review

Payments Facilitation and Cash Management Platform

Acquiring Services

Public Transport Card Success

Planet – Payment App Development

GPT’s PoolPay Innovation

Latest News from GPT

Play in July:

Multi-Machine Use:

Reflex Game Master 2:

Cash Vs Cashless:

The Expert's Playbook for Payments System Implementation: Best Practices and Insights

John Rozek

Understand clearly what you are trying to achieve:

Define your project scope and requirements upfront:

Choose a development partner with practical experience:

Take a phased approach to development:

Prioritise resilience, transactions speed, ease of use, security and compliance:

Test rigorously:

Plan for ongoing maintenance and support:

Conclusion:

Latest News from GPT

Play in June:

Growth in Cashless Payments:

100% Uptime:

Player Analysis:

Inspired Machines:

The Roundup: Highlights From Q2 2023 at Polar Moment

New Customer: Axcel Group

Game Payment Technology

Our Other Activities This Quarter Include:

Enabling Ticketless Bus Travel in Ireland:

Exploring Innovations in EV Charging:

Payments Centre of Excellence:

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