Chip&Pin at Kiosks Gets Cheaper

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By Ken Grubb, Director and General Manager, Secure Retail.
 
There has been a lot spoken and written about chip and pin card payments for kiosks. And a lot of myths, smoke and mirrors regarding what can be achieved against what costs. In the initial era of integrating C&P terminals into kiosks, there was always the cost of the hardware and then the costs of getting the solution approved by the banks. As we all know, the kiosk market is fraught with small roll-outs to ‘test the water,’ and if the customer looked at the costs against the small order he then had to place, the costs did not stack up - so back he went to his coins and notes!

Pin Money
 
When the first solutions became available to the market place, there were large integration costs being quoted by the payment service providers, as they had to complete the testing with the banks. At this early stage there were considerable costs involved and the banks were reviewing all their procedures for kiosks, which obviously added even more to the costs, and the time taken to complete the work.
 
We are now seeing generically approved solutions from payment service providers that offer ease of integration, no up-front costs for the integration work ( if the hardware supplier and the bank have agreed generic accreditation for that particular solution) and accreditation can be now achieved in 8 weeks or less. We are also seeing solutions offered where the EFT software will sit in a separate ‘box,’ where this unit then takes control of the transaction and even passes through the templates for the printing of the receipt. These solutions can also offer MDB interface so that they can work with vending application markets, although it should be remembered that not all MDB is the same!
 
Paying Off
 
The ease of integration can be demonstrated by Secure Retail’s customer base, who have integrated both the Dione and the Sagem solutions that the company supplies. There are successful solutions now being used across a wide spectrum of applications and market sectors - from mobile top-up and fast food ordering to book dispensing and payment of Council Tax. The possibilities grow daily.
 
Chip and pin integration into a kiosk is no longer the daunting task it once was. There are a lot of different solutions available now, so you’re bound to find exactly the right one to satisfy both your application and your market requirements.