Accenture Launches Mobile Wallet Platform

 

Lee:
Lee: “Platform will help our clients to understand which offers to extend to which consumers and when”

Accenture has launched a Mobile Wallet platform that features integrated analytics and big data capabilities, recommendation tools and security elements. The company says it provides a robust, modular platform for a trusted digital payments ecosystem that Accenture clients can operate for enhanced customer services.

The platform enables users to manage and operate all their cards, including credit, debit, transport, loyalty and gift cards. It also manages all proximity transactions and payments, which can be made through Near Field Communications (NFC) technology or QR codes, with the relevant enabled cards presented at compatible Points of Sales terminals. Users can also use the Accenture Mobile Wallet to send money to other users or future users.

“The key to a vibrant, viable digital commerce ecosystem is a robust platform to underpin its operations,” said Jin Lee, global managing director at Accenture Mobility. “This platform will help our clients – be they banks, mobile operators, merchants or a partnership of them all – to understand which offers to extend to which consumers and when. The platform then provides the functionality with which to pay for those offers, while gathering data to continue the learning and relationship-building process with that individual.”

Building on an existing solution, the Accenture Mobile Wallet platform now includes the Accenture Recommendation Engine, an integrated big data solution developed by Accenture Interactive and delivered via the cloud or on-premise through Accenture Analytics, which offers personalised recommendations to customers in real time. The engine enables businesses to filter recommendations based on predefined business and merchandising rules. This will automatically suggest which offer should be presented to customers, based on analytics performed on buyer identification data at the point of interaction, such as when they enter a geo-fenced store’s perimeter.

With Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons integrated to further increase the granularity of those geo-fences, merchants will be able to define keywords attached to zones in-store, contact the Accenture Mobile Wallet and find out the preferred offers related to that zone. The Accenture Recommendation Engine then tailors that offer according to existing user data and their registered preferences for its use, to deliver the most relevant offer to the consumer’s device via the Mobile Wallet.
In addition to a front-end design overhaul, extensive API exposure of all major platform modules, and availability of the solution on all major mobile OS’s, other significant upgrades to the platform include Trusted Service Manager and Push Payment functionality, and Accenture Customer Insight integration.

Trusted Service Manager allows banks or other service providers to send and personalise smartcard applications dynamically and securely. A newly-requested debit card can be installed in minutes, with all relevant details saved in the secure zone of a device. The tool also allows for remote removal, blocking and other status actions related to cards stored, in order to protect the user in cases of lost or stolen devices.

Push Payment Functionality enables users to pay for goods without the need to share account data with the merchant. Users can check out by ‘pushing’ the money to the merchant before goods are released, as opposed to the ‘pull’ payments typically in use.

Accenture Customer Insight integration enables insights and analytics of the wallet users, including custom segmentations based on campaign behaviours and offer preferences for targeting.