Member News

ImpulsePay, the UK’s leading Payforit provider, is using C3’s Fusion IVR to develop interactive consumer assistance as the company undergoes a period of expansion, with new merchants coming on board and Payforit transactions increasing month-on-month.

The company, pioneers of the Payforit mechanism, was already using a competitor’s IVR solution but that didn’t provide the granularity of control, or the flexibility, that ImpulsePay required as a dynamic and growing business.

“Fusion IVR offers us significant functionality, at the same time as being incredibly easy to use” says Adam Williams, Chief Operating Officer at ImpulsePay.

“This means we can quickly launch advanced voice services and change them at the click of a button. That level of flexibility is important to us as we continue to grow the business.”

With Payforit gaining real momentum, ImpulsePay has been working on new developments, such as enhanced single-click payment, which has helped merchants significantly increase their mobile revenues. The company has also been busy expanding its customer services team to ensure quality of support remains high as the business continues to grow.

“We are always working hard to make sure ImpulsePay provides the best Payforit offering available.” says Adam. “An increase in overall capacity, as well as heavy investment in our server infrastructure, means we’re able to provide the most robust Payforit solution on the market.”

ImpulsePay is deploying Fusion IVR as a hosted service, initially to develop intelligent scripts for its customer service lines.

Frictionless mobile payment in fast-growing Indonesian market endorses Bango’s leadership in Direct Operator Billing.

Bango has launched direct operator billing for Microsoft’s Windows Phone Store with the Mobile Network Operator ( MNO ) Indosat in Indonesia. This enables Windows Phone users to easily purchase digital content without the use of premium SMS messages or the limitations of credit cards. Instead, users enjoy one-click operator billing, charging the cost to their phone bill, without the need to register personal details.

The introduction of operator billing super-charges mobile commerce. Where Bango has introduced operator billing to developed markets with high credit card penetration, the sales of digital goods has routinely increased by 300% to 400%. Where it’s introduced to emerging markets Bango has seen increases in the range of 1000%. Recognizing this transformative effect, Microsoft has overseen a gradual expansion of operator billing in the Windows Phone Store. Microsoft research reveals that operator billing, when offered, is preferred by 75% of Windows Phone users who have access to it and drives more than double the number of paid downloads compared to credit card billing. In markets such as Indonesia, Bango data shows that over 90% of customers use operator billing, for many, it is the only way to pay online.

Microsoft has partnered with Bango for the launch of operator billing in Indonesia due to the depth and quality of Bango’s existing operator connections across a range of app stores and operators. Bango powers mobile payment for a number of the world’s leading app stores. Existing app store connections include Blackberry App World, Facebook, Opera Mobile Store and operator-led connections into Google Play. Bango has also announced an agreement to provide payment services to Amazon and Mozilla’s soon to launch FireFox Marketplace. Bango recently announced it had reached 100 mobile operator connections globally, and a reach of more than one billion mobile subscribers.

Bango’s launch in Indonesia is part of a broader strategy to focus on fast-growing emerging markets, where the operational challenges are greater and Bango can demonstrate its technology leadership. Earlier this year Bango strengthened its balance sheet with new investment to underwrite its growth in these emerging markets.

Commenting on the announcement, Bango CEO Ray Anderson said: “Bango is experiencing huge interest from the operator community in markets where other payment methods are scarce, with operators in Indonesia and India particularly engaged. Today’s launch is exciting as it marks our first integration with Windows Phone Store and further progress in Indonesia, a country with the largest smartphone market across all of South East Asia.”

“Mobile operator billing gives consumers a convenient payment option with significantly higher conversion rates than credit cards, greatly benefiting Windows Phone 8 customers and developers,” said Todd Brix, general manager, Windows Phone Store, Microsoft Corp. “We’re happy to see companies like Bango and Indosat working together to expand monetization opportunities for developers and provide seamless purchasing experiences for Windows Phone users.”

President Director & CEO of Indosat, Alexander Rusli said “we are happy to be partnering with Bango to make operator billing in Indonesia attractive for app stores and content providers. This partnership between Indosat and Bango is the first of its kind in Indonesia. This shows our commitment to providing the best value and experience for Indosat customers. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Bango, extending the reach of frictionless payment to all.”

Indosat is a leading MNO in Indonesia, with around 50 million mobile subscribers. The Indonesian smartphone market is seeing rapid growth, with the research firm GfK reporting a 37% increase in the year to March 2013, and overall volume sales of 15.8 million units. Even with such growth, smartphone penetration has only reached around one third of consumers, pointing to strong growth for several years to come.

Bango continues to work with Microsoft to expand operator billing in the Windows Phone Store and expects to announce further progress in the coming months.

Boku, Inc., the global leader in online mobile payments, today announced a partnership with PlayJam the premier global platform for games on TV. The partnership brings carrier billing to smart televisions and other consumer electronics around the world, including devices from Samsung, Panasonic, LGE, Vizio, Western Digital, Google TV and VESTEL.

This agreement allows more than 90 Million consumers to use their mobile phone number to purchase games, upgrades and other services on PlayJam’s global marketplace. PlayJam’s network represents over 45% of all games played on Smart TVs in over 100 territories worldwide and serves over 150 TV apps on a wide variety of CE manufacturer devices. Users can checkout simply by entering in their mobile phone number with the charges appearing on their carrier bill.

“We’re committed to bringing a seamless gaming and payments experience to all of our customers, regardless of market or device, and mobile payments through Boku will play a critical role in that commitment.” said Charles Tigges, Chief Commercial Officer for PlayJam. “In some instances, a customer in the United States might use Boku to checkout on an LGE TV with one of our game publishers. In Germany, a Samsung TV owner might purchase a new game directly from PlayJam using Boku. Regardless of device, market or game title, the reduced friction available through carrier billing offers a great experience for the consumer, and that’s a benefit to everyone.”

PlayJam-enabled devices offer customers access to the Boku® mobile payments platform in more than a dozen different markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Poland and others. The PlayJam platform SDK offers game developers an easy way to enhance and monetize their games across all Smart TV brands with features like mobile game controller application, pre-roll advertising, in-app payments, pre-paid card, save state, leaderboards, tournaments, social integration, gamer profile and more.

“Mobile payments has grown steadily in the past half decade, moving from online purchase of virtual goods into numerous different vertical markets,” said James Patmore, Managing Director EMEA for Boku. “Through our partnership with PlayJam, Boku is helping to further advance the mobile payments market, bringing the convenience and security of carrier billing directly to smart TVs in consumers’ homes around the world.”

RJ Media, the company behind the hugely successful PsychicSofa.com, is investing in a new multi-channel contact centre solution that will enable the business to be more flexible in its service delivery whilst increasing revenues through incremental billing.

RJ Media offers psychic and other live services via a number of channels and is always looking to improve the experience for customers; many of whom are long-term clients.

The new multi-channel contact centre solution from C3 will help RJ Media to add value across its full range of services through easy payment options, integrated agent management, greater web integration and improved E-wallet loyalty.

Fusion Contact supports PCI Compliant credit card billing modules for easy ‘tokenised’ payments and extended end-of-call billing. The system also incorporates C3’s Fusion Multi Channel IVR Toolkit, giving RJ Media the control to rapidly develop and deploy interactive voice response ( IVR ) services to meet changing market demands.

“We are all very excited to incorporate C3’s multi-channel contact centre into our current business model,” said Richard Sawyer, partner at RJ Media.

“ The advancements in C3’s software will allow us to progress with our goals and visions for the foreseeable future without any of the limitations we have previously experienced. The new software gives us the freedom and flexibility to develop existing services, bring new products to the marketplace and continue to leverage our competitive advantage throughout the RJ Media product spectrum.”

Shagufta Malik, General Manager RJ Media, added: “We operate in a very competitive market place and our customers put a premium on our agents’ expertise. The investment in Fusion Contact will enable us to differentiate our services, add value for our customers and simplify the related administration.”

RJ Media has worked with C3 for over a decade. Fusion Contact represents an update to the company’s existing C3 virtual contact centre solution that will provide the foundation for future growth through continued innovation.

For the first time ever, Eurovision Song Contest viewers across Europe voted using their Android smartphones, thanks to technology provided by TECTONIC® Interactive, a start-up based in London’s Tech City.

TECTONIC® Interactive were selected by digame mobile, the official voting provider for the Eurovision Song Contest, as their technology partner. Tectonic Interactive provided the high-capacity gateway for voting by Android devices across all participating European countries.

With the Official App of the Eurovision Song Contest, Eurovision has ventured further than the realm of telephony and SMS voting, signifying a key move forward for the largest voting show in the world.

Tectonic Interactive was selected because their specialist technology handles the voting peak from TV viewers and app-users during the 15-minute vote window.
The Tectonic Platform connected the viewers’ Android app to digame’s pan-European voting system based in Cologne, Germany.

The technology was developed by two ex-BT employees who recognised that more and more viewers are interacting with TV shows using their smartphones and tablets and that TV Broadcasters needed a platform that is reliable, secure and highly scaled. Andy Shaw ( ex Business Development Director at BT Agilemedia ) and Wojciech Nowak ( ex Head of Technology at BT Agilemedia ) helped develop the UK’s largest phone voting platform whilst they were at BT and they have now turned their hand to do the same for IP-connected devices.

Alex Moulakakis, MD digame mobile GmbH said:
“We only work with strong partners who understand the demands of Europe’s largest interactive TV event. From companies across Europe, we turned to Tectonic Interactive because they have the technology, the expertise and the team we knew we could rely on – and they did a great job. We look forward to working again on future projects.”

Andy Shaw, Tectonic Interactive’s CEO said:
“The Eurovision Song Contest is Europe’s largest voting show and it was an honour to be picked by digame as a key technology provider for the voting by tablet and smartphone. When millions of people want to have their say, they just expect it to work – and it did. We are happy to be part of the team that delivered a great service. We are now looking forward to help making it bigger and better next year.”

Wojciech Nowak, Tectonic Interactive’s CTO said:
“You need highly optimised technology to handle this number of interactions in such a short period of time accurately and securely. Working with cutting-edge technology at this scale means that Tectonic Interactive do all the difficult back-end stuff, so that the app developers can focus on the user experience and being creative. For us, the difficult bit is more interesting and that is our specialism.”