Interviewee: Liang Yu

Designation: General Manager

Company: VeriFone Systems (China) Inc.

The SMART Sense: VeriFone has always been known predominantly as a hardware provider, particularly for POS terminals. Recently, VeriFone CEO Doug Bergeron announced the company’s strategic move to solutions. How does this play out for VeriFone in China?

Liang: Since 1993, VeriFone China has been providing quality POS terminals driven by worldwide best practices. Today, VeriFone remains the only global provider in China, a highly competitive market largely dominated by domestic vendors.  Our product portfolio is delivered through cutting-edge technology, keeping in pace with global industry standards and leading the market in innovation. Our strategic decision to focus on solutions company-wide has provided another differentiator for us in China, as we look at introducing ways to value-add our relationship with customers and enhance their business through more intimate solutions tailored for their business. As an example, we recently launched our Gift Card Solution aimed at providing a holistic system from printing and packaging of gift cards, right down to the redemption portal and accounting system for medium to large enterprises – uncovering a new revenue opportunity for our customers.

The SMART Sense: China is one of the key markets for VeriFone. Share with our readers what can we expect from VeriFone in this emerging market.

Liang: In February this year, VeriFone China celebrated the launch of our brand new company name – VeriFone Systems (China). This was a significant milestone for us, as it represents our continued commitment to the market and ongoing investment in the country. We expanded our application development team, opened new offices in East and South China; with more expansions in the pipeline including the growth of our field services team and local partnerships.

The sheer size and potential in China cannot be explained simply. We believe that the right approach to develop China’s payment industry is to work together with partners on the ground. We embarked on a partner recruitment program this year to seek strategic partners across various sectors, from Finance to Telecom, and Petro to Transportation.  Through our partners and clearly defined segmentation, we hope to grow our reach country-wide, from tier-1 cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou into tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

The SMART Sense: The talk on mobile payments seems to be drawing much louder volume this year. What are VeriFone’s contributions / involvement in pushing this latest payment trend forward in China?

Liang: Mobile payments is a very popular topic in China. A majority of the country’s Finance industry has started looking into the feasibility, and is discussing implementation possibilities and pilot trials. VeriFone’s commitment to offer NFC-enabled payment solutions has positioned us very well in the marketplace, as businesses turn to our experience and expertise as they approach this latest trend. We were invited to sit on the Mobile Payment Technology committee in China, and are working with The People’s Bank of China to develop the mobile payment standards for China.

In 2011, we announced the partnership with Google and top retailers to deploy the Google Wallet, an Android app that allows consumers to use virtual versions of their existing plastic cards stored on their phones. Through a simple tapping motion at VeriFone's NFC-enabled payment systems, consumers can take advantage of promotions and redeem coupons.

This year, we announced an agreement with Isis, the joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, to integrate the Isis Mobile Commerce Application in current and future NFC-enabled product lines. Through this strategic agreement, the participating companies will collaborate to target large retail and petroleum/ convenience merchants in previously announced Isis launch markets of Salt Lake City and Austin in the U.S.

These are experiences that we will look at folding into our interactions with customers in China.