Consumer adoption, the cloud and business models Canada’s biggest concerns, finds Consult Hyperion’s first ever Digital Money Unconference event in Canada
UK Digital Payments experts’ Unconference reveals Canadian payments industry’s views on digital money
Canada‘s first Digital Money Unconference revealed the major concerns of Canada’s payments industry about mobile and digital payments. Co-organised by Consult Hyperion,the UK’s leading consultancy in the field of secure electronic transactions and the team behind the UK and New York Unconference events, with leading Toronto-based payments consultants Debbie Gamble and Pierre Roberge, the event saw delegates discussing how to meet consumer needs, the role of the cloud, four versus three party business models and the future of NFC amongst other topics.
The Unconference format follows a participant-driven agenda with discussion topics decided on the day and explored in round table and workshop formats rather than in conventional PowerPoint type conference presentations. Concerns raised by attendees included:
· Can all payments related activities by supported by the cloud?
· What barriers exist to consumer adoption?
· How will the role of banks and the associations change in a mobile future?
· Is the 4 party model for payments outdated?
· Will hardware, software or a combination secure mobile transactions?
· Will E-SIM become the common standard to drive NFC forward?
· How can we stop regulation stifling innovation?
Conclusions reached included that there was a need for a neutral body involving all stakeholders to regulate digital currency in Canada, that NFC was here to stay and that it offered Canada an opportunity to differentiate itself by improving the consumer experience and that cloud benefits were yet to trickle down to all players in the ecosystem.
The event took place on Tuesday 15th January in the MaRS Innovation Centre, and was sponsored by ACT Canada, Royal Canadian Mint, DonRiver and MaRS Discovery District. The Unconference sold out to attendees from the finance, payments and related industries.
Delegate Grant Colhoun, CEO at Paymentronics Inc. said, “I recently attended the Digital Money Unconference in Toronto and to say that it was fantastic would be an understatement. I have been in the payments industry for over a decade and have attended at least 50 trade shows and events. This was by far the best event that I have attended in the industry. The unstructured ‘unconference’ format allows the following benefits; 1) the attendants get to choose and discuss the topics that matter to them, 2) The round table discussion allows you to view the topic from other people’s perspective and to discuss it in a deep context, 3) Most importantly, these events are about networking. The round table format allows you identify people that you actually want to network with by observing their mindset. I would highly recommend this event to anyone in the industry and I personally plan on attending all of the ‘unconferences’ globally going forward.”
“We’re really pleased with how successful the Unconference was in Toronto, and the feedback has been brilliant,” said Dave Birch, Global Ambassador of Consult Hyperion and Chairman of the Digital Money Unconference. “This is the second North American Unconference event that we’ve hosted and the format is really popular, giving all attendees the chance to discuss topics we may not have come onto otherwise. Attendees were completely engrossed in the event too and it was really popular across social networks with loads of tweets posted between sessions using #DMUToronto. We’re really looking forward to hosting more in the future and are pleased that the events are enjoyed.”
About Consult Hyperion (http://www.chyp.com/)
Consult Hyperion is an independent information technology consultancy that has spent more than a quarter of a century advising leading organizations around the world. Consult Hyperion helps these organizations to reap real benefits from technological change in the field of secure electronic transactions ranging from retail payments to automated public services, and from transport ticketing to mobile banking.
Consult Hyperion is uniquely qualified to advise on turning great business ideas into working systems by helping customers to evaluate new business concepts, develop new products and services from specification to customer roll-out, and certify complex systems responsible for handling people’s money. As wholly independent consultants, with a reputation founded on integrity, their particular expertise in helping banks and other card issuers migrate from magnetic stripe to chip in the UK and Canada will be of real value to US organisations about to start down that path.
The three main sectors the company operates in, worldwide, are: financial services, including card schemes, banks, retailers and others; telecommunications and media; and the public sector, including central governments and transportation authorities.
For thought leadership in the fields of digital money and digital identity, visit our ‘Tomorrow’s Transactions” blog athttp://www.chyp.com/media/blogand the associated podcasts at http://www.chyp.com/media/podcastsor on iTunes (“Tomorrow’s Transactions”).
Future events from Consult Hyperion include:
· the next Digital Money Unconference, which will take place in London on 11th February 2013 at National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. The event is currently sold out with a waiting list in operation at http://www.meetup.com/BarCampBankLondon/events/97682272/.
· Tomorrow’s Transactions, the rebranded Digital Money Forum, which will take place in London on 13th – 14th March 2013 at One, America Square. Delegate places are still available at http://www.chyp.com/tomorrows-transactions/forum-2013.
