Moneynet, the Italian Payment Institute, wanted to offer its merchants a single, all-in-one Android solution, providing several services integrated with new value-added business apps. We interviewed Marco Di Cosimo, CEO of Moneynet, to discover the difficulties they had to overcome, why they chose to work with Ingenico and what success looks like.
LOOKING AT THE ITALIAN PAYMENT ECOSYSTEM, WHAT HAVE BEEN THE CHALLENGES IMPACTING MONEYNET?
The Italian payments market was practically immobile between 1990 and 2015 with very few changes to the landscape. However, in the last five years the industry has undergone a series of major transformations:
First, there has been the birth of payment institutions and Fintechs, who have positioned themselves at the forefront of innovation including new devices, modern technology, and digital native thinking.
Second, the influx of new foreign multinationals to the market has forced operators to rush to find smarter ways to operate, or risk being left behind.
Finally, the strong concentration process active in the sector and the introduction of PagoPA (a payment interface) introduced a big competitor on the public side.
SO, WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE THAT ANDROID WAS THE RIGHT DIRECTION FOR MONEYNET TO TAKE?
Given the premise I defined before, the transition to Android represented an obligatory choice for us. Android technology guarantees an innovative and adaptable approach, allowing companies like ours to offer and deliver services in a more flexible and immediate way.
Our business model is principally focused on acquiring and value-add services, that is an offer of vertical services complimentary to pre-payment services and functionality to grow a merchant’s business.
Focussing on acquiring and value-add services
However, Moneynet did not decide to gradually introduce Android into its terminal range but made a much more drastic choice. Our project, or better – our challenge, was to totally replace our existing technology, moving to a pure Android range in the shortest possible time; for us that was four to five months. To do this, we also had to rewrite and renew all our existing value-add solutions.
The project was high risk and not easy to complete in the time available. It was a great challenge, but one we knew we must tackle successfully.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR MERCHANTS AND END USERS, WHAT VALUE ARE YOU BRINGING TO THE MARKET?
Moneynet is not a big player in the Italian market, so to beat the competition it must have an offer based primarily on customer loyalty which is essential to our merchants. To do this, we need reliable technology, personalised services, and low costs. Android technology provided an excellent opportunity for us to achieve this result.
First, the technology is friendly and flexible and can represent an evolution for the merchant towards simplicity and familiarity, like a smartphone.
Secondly, Android creates the ability to add a large variety of services on the payment terminal, and Moneynet’s strategy goes principally in this direction, not only through payment itself, but also personalised services.
And finally, the technology is reliable and can be . This aspect is very important for us because it reduces the cost of delivery and maintenance support.
DO YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THOSE WISHING TO SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENT A SIMILAR ANDROID PROJECT IN OTHER COUNTRIES?
It’s very difficult to give advice in our sector because there are many variables, and each company has its own experience and talents. In general, I can say that our decision to migrate our technology onto Android was a response to the question ‘what is the right choice and why’, because this decision was a very important factor for success.
There is no doubt that the result has generated a strong implementation for both Moneynet and Ingenico. But the true benefit is what it is generating for us in terms of efficiency and time to market. The transition to the world of Android must be executed in a carefully controlled manner. My advice is therefore to be decisive and courageous, without hesitation.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR MONEYNET?
First, electronic payments are constantly evolving and there will be no turning back the clock. Second, there is no doubt that the market is under tremendous cost pressures. Users want to have more functionality but spend less to obtain it. Finally, a very strong concentration of the sector is taking place.
With this situation in mind, Moneynet will need to continue to enhance its service offering to its customers to be successful. But if we want to win in the long term, we must have not only the best technology, but also imagination and courage. Because without them I think it’s impossible to win.
