NFC mobile payments are making way for a frictionless society, but hurdles still remain.
Sure, an addiction to mobile devices and constantly being connected to one another have made people more willing to embrace new technology, but the adoption figures of mobile payment services show it’s still a small population using this option.
One of the major reasons for this, despite advancements in tech, is that there’s still friction across the fragmented mobile payments market. In most scenarios, a consumer still has to pull up an app or find a barcode to scan; there’s no universal system that each mobile payments app uses. Compared to paying with a credit card, it’s not always a drastically different payments experience, at least from the payer’s perspective.
But that doesn’t mean that mobile payments lack the potential to make an impact on your business.
Enter NFC mobile payments, the frictionless way to pay using mobile payments technology. Because people are already adept at using wireless tech, grasping the concept of NFC technology to enable a faster, better payments experience shouldn’t be difficult to do. Thanks to innovation in Bluetooth tech, the concept is becoming easier to integrate into payment processing products.
As seen by the latest line of Apple products — including the iPhone without a headphone jack, or the MacBook without USB ports — it’s clear that Bluetooth technology is the wave of the future. Even if your customers haven’t jumped on the mobile payments bandwagon yet, you should be prepping your equipment to connect to where the rest of the technology world is headed.
The Perks of NFC Mobile Payments
There’s one concern that comes to mind with mobile payments that rely on a Bluetooth wireless connection: security. The added benefit, however, is convenience.
The question remains: how can businesses balance the need to have enhanced security while offering a fast, convenient way to pay?
The answer to that question can easily be addressed by having a better understanding of why using mobile payments and wireless NFC technology is a more secure and convenient way to pay.
Every transaction made via a device that enables NFC mobile payments harnesses the power of tokenization and encryption of payment credentials — similar to EMV chip cards. This means instead of transmitting credit card data, a one time token is created that is only associated with that transaction, instead of a customer’s cardholder account. And then, as is the case with mobile payments options like Apple Pay and its TouchID fingerprint recognition (biometrics tech), it provides instant confirmation that the purchase is being made by a legitimate, authorized user.
Compared to using a credit card, which could easily be stolen and used by the wrong person, mobile payments and NFC technology ensure the transaction is being properly conducted between a person and business — which means there’s less of a chance that the purchase will be disputed later. Moreover, removing a physical connection between the payment and the device prevents the data from being transmitted across a terminal in a manner that’s more vulnerable to hacking.
Compared with the time it takes for an EMV chip card to process at checkout, NFC mobile payments are surely the faster route. In fact, many mobile payments pundits have suggested that the frustration over chip card transaction speed will encourage more people to use mobile payments. Why? The fact that it involves tapping a phone at the terminal, providing a fingerprint verification, and completing a transaction in about the time it takes to blink.
Staying relevant in the commerce ecosystem means having the latest equipment with the newest tech. Increasingly, this means being able to accept NFC mobile payments. That enables your business to accept payments anytime, anywhere and through any device — which can easily be done by working with Payline as your payments partner.
Anna Kragie is a content contributor for Payline Data. She previously wrote for PYMNTS.com, as a Sr. Content Producer, where she focused on financial services and payments innovation, fraud and security, emerging payments, and FinTech news, research and thought-leadership content across the payments industry.
