TPS at CARDS AFRICA 2011 (22nd-25th March)

TPS are a key sponsor of Cards Africa 2011, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa, a key event for executives in Retail, Financial Services, Cards, Payments, Mobile Money, Microfinance and Government. TPS will have a key note speaker at the event, and we will showcase:  Banking applications under S1(Postilion), Ingenico and VeriFone  hardware, software development and terminal management and Stratus continuous availability servers. See you at Cards Africa 2011.

TPS was at the S1 Executive Payments Day in Ghana on October 13th

TPS was at the S1 Payments Executive Day which was held in Accra, Ghana on the 13th of October 2010.

The focus of the day was to share experiences with respect to building a modern payments infrastructure. There was a lot of discussion on identifying new priorities for the payments industry and mapping out strategies for success. Other areas of interest were on card technologies and card issuing methods as well as latest trends in ATM deployments. Strengthening security and minimizing the pain of compliance remain of common interest as security is a concern in the technology business that continues to evolve.

There were over 60 delegates and the networking and learning opportunities were great. Vitalis Gumbo the TPS Head of Sales noted that the meeting generated good opportunities to share experiences and to consolidate customers’ views with respect to planned projects and consider further opportunities.  

TPS at the Econet Expo Exhibition 18th – 20th November 2010

TPS took part in the first ever to be held, Econet Expo Exhibition in Harare, Zimbabwe from the 18th to the 20th of November 2010. There were 30 exhibitors and over 15 000 visitors over the 3 days.

The focus of the Expo was to demonstrate the diversity of businesses Econet is involved with at different levels as well as to show the current trends in Technology.  We were showcasing our wide range of Point of Sale (POS) terminals with the different applications including our latest application that has just been developed to facilitate Bill payments at Point of Sale. The visitors were excited to learn that they will be able to pay their bills such as Utility bills (e.g. electricity) at outlets that have the Paybay point of sale terminals and that these terminals will be in selected retail outlets like supermarkets and in selected banks. Payments will be done using cards as well as cash payments on the point of sale. A lot of work is in progress with the utilities and retail outlets and once agreements have been reached the lists of participating partners will be advertised.

The other benefits that excited customers were:

Convenience of multiple payment points effectively a countrywide payment network. Longer hours and diversity of payment points as customers will enjoy the convinience of paying their bills whilst they shop. No more change challenges, this was a popular one for the Zimbabwe customers following the adoption of the US dollar a number of businesses have been struggling with giving customers change with some resorting to using smaller retail goods such as sweets and pens as change ítems. So the option to swipe the exact amount is welcome.  

The issue of security is a growing concern as the volume of cash in trade grows, the use of terminals to manage the security risk was recognized as important by many customers.

The utilities on the other hand showed interest in the product because of the prospect of building a whole new distribution channel with no extra investment.  

Another product we were showcasing was the opportunity for Electronic Airtime Sales both as a business opportunity for the retail sector and directly for customers as a convenient option to buy airtime in different retail environments including supermarkets, banks, restaurants etc. This was also popular with the retail sector primarily because of the business opportunity with no extra investment. The market were excited to learn that the terminals are issued to the retailers for free as long the agreed sales volumes are achieved and that the Voucher Management system offered by TPS allows business owners full control as reports are produced and sales are closely monitored. 

We had on demo our flagship product the Postilion switch. This is always a hit with the visitors as they try and relate to the concept of how the Postilion switch works, switching funds from the Point of Sale terminals, ATMs’, Internet Banking through the transaction manager to the Banks host system. We had a number of new business areas showing interest in the Postilion system including non traditional players. We look forward to the next Econet Expo Experience.   

 

Stratus strengthens reach in five African countries by signing reseller agreement with TPS. (May 2010)

Stratus Technologies has announced the signing of a new reseller partnership with Transaction Payment Solutions International, which will see the companies collaborating to bring Stratus’ leading breed of continuous availability solutions to a host of new customers across the African continent over the coming months.

“This partnership has been on the cards for some time now,” says Dick Sharod, regional director for Africa and Middle East at Stratus Technologies. He noted that TPS has been a strong advocate, providing Stratus ftServer solutions to its customers via partnerships with existing geographic resellers of Stratus for some years now.”

With Stratus looking at additional measures to strengthen its reach into Africa and TPS looking to build a stronger value proposition around continuous availability, when an opportunity to formalise a partnership presented itself a couple of months ago, both parties jumped at the opportunity.

Sharod says that Stratus new partnership with TPS allows it to continue driving its expansion into the African market and to do so with a focused partner that has an integrated approach to the financial services market.

“TPS’ core-business is focused on providing payment solutions to large companies in the banking POS and ATM arena, and with offices in Mauritius, Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe the company has already established a healthy trade history in the market segment we understand well.” Sharod says.

“Add to this the fact that official partner status gives TPS a direct conduit to Stratus’ technical teams, sales support, training and the accreditation required to render services around the Stratus brand and it is clear that both parties are benefiting heavily from this new arrangement,” he says.

Ophias Sherewa, managing director of TPS says his company is delighted with its new partnership and has full faith that it will assist Stratus in building greater awareness and traction to their brand in the African market.

“Since the bulk of our customer base is in the financial services market, there is little tolerance for downtime and instability,” Sherewa says.

“We’re passionate about the Stratus infrastructure because it builds a solid, failsafe platform on which we can deliver our software and services portfolio – and most importantly focus on delivering what our customers need in terms of functionality and performance and guaranteeing the level of uptime we’re required to provide.

“Stratus Technologies is a respected name in the business and that’s the reason we believe this new partnership will grow from strength to strength over the coming months,” he concludes.

TPS gives away exciting prizes in the Electronic Airtime Top Up Promotion – Zimbabwe, on the 16th of April 2010 (May 2010)

TPS is a major distributor of electronic airtime at point of sale in many outlets in Zimbabwe including supermarkets, banks and service stations among others. In a drive to promote more electronic airtime usage, the company ran a campaign encouraging customers to buy electronic airtime over a period of 3 months with the attraction of 10 prizes of USD$1 000 each plus the grand prize of an Opel Corsa pick up truck. All customers buying electronic airtime were eligible to enter the promotion, with the promotion pay off line being It’s so easy the Paybay way!

The car was won by Mr James Mwareka whose winning coupon was for airtime worth USD$2. Mr Mwareka noted that he had invested a lot of money into airtime during the promotion – this was in line with our key messages during the promotion – the more you enter the better your chances of winning!! 

TPS will be working on more exciting initiatives to promote our full product range under the PayBay brand.

TPS at ZITF 2010 (April 2010)

TPS was part of the vibrant activity at the Zimbabwe International trade fair (ZITF) 2010. The fair traditionally attracts a diversity of international exhibitors and as the Zimbabwean economy continues to recover TPS took advantage of the opportunity to showcase our range of products and services as we continue to develop and build on our portfolio taking advantage of technological developments.

More information on ZITF is available on their website: zitf.net

TPS Zimbabwe hosts Breakfast Meeting for Zimbabwe Bank MDs’, CEOs’ and Heads of IT. (Dec 2009)

TPS Zimbabwe together with some of their technology associates: Stratus, represented in the region by their strategic partner, who are also a TPS strategic partner Cornastone from South Africa, Ingenico from France and S1 Corporation (who have recently consolidated their Postilion brand under S1 Corporation – S1 is listed on the Nasdaq in the USA) were also present at the event, represented by their team from South Africa. In total 40 guests attended the event including members from the media.

TPS highlighted that their technology partners make a difference to their business. The focus of the meeting was to gather business leaders – to share knowledge and insights on technology developments from world class players in the technology sector to bring focus to 2010 initiatives and beyond, as well as to play a part in influencing business decisions. The underlying debate was that Knowledge is power – though this was short meeting – it was geared to share knowledge and generate discussion.

Cornastone made a presentation on: An overview of high availability solutions aligned to the business critical uptime requirements in Financial and Retail Services. This was of interest highlighting to customers the potential losses that often go uncalculated and unaccounted for.

S1 Corporation s’ (www.S1.com) presentation topic was: Ensuring continuous availability through Active / Active. This presentation generated a lot of interest touching an area focusing on delighting customers through continuous availability.

Ingenico (www.ingenico.com)  shared with customers insights on: Delivering world class payment solutions. The focus was on demonstrating the diversity of payment options for customers as well as exploring the scope of new markets including Microfinance. The meeting was noted to have been thought provoking by the participants