TORONTO, March 3, 2010 – Canadians will soon be able to leave their wallets at home thanks to a wireless payment sticker trial launched by EnStream LP, Canada’s leading mobile commerce company. The Zoompass Tag ^TM is a wireless payment device designed in the form of a sticker that can be attached to a mobile phone. The Zoompass Tag ushers in the future of mobile payments by allowing consumers to tap their phones at checkout to make purchases at retail stores.

In 2009, EnStream launched the revolutionary Zoompass™ mobile application and began offering Canadians the first version of a mobile wallet. Available at www.zoompass.com and accessible on most mobile phones in Canada, Zoompass already allows users to send money quickly and securely to friends and family.

“The new Zoompass Tag goes even further by allowing Canadians to make their regular store purchases quickly and securely, using only their mobile phone.” said Robin Dua, President of EnStream LP. “All Zoompass users will soon be able to pay for their morning coffee, gas at the pump, and lunch at a fast-food restaurant with a quick tap of their mobile phone.”

By tapping a mobile phone with the Zoompass Tag on a contactless reader at the point-of-sale, payment is automatically drawn from the user’s Zoompass stored value account. Contactless payments remove the need for coins and cash, plus time spent waiting in lines and digging for change. Canadians can look forward to having exact change ready via their mobile phones whenever they need it.

Customer’s financial information is stored on secure servers, not on the mobile phone, so even if the phone is lost or stolen, the customer’s Zoompass account remains secure. Together, the Zoompass Tag and Zoompass application allow consumers to monitor their purchase transactions in real-time.

“Every transaction is logged in the Zoompass application and can be instantly seen on the mobile phone. This is very handy to track purchases and budgets in real-time,” added Dua.

The sleek and appealing sticker measures 43 mm by 33 mm and can be easily affixed to any mobile phone.

“This is the most advanced wireless payment sticker available in the Canadian market today. Our Convego® Air Mobile sticker is the only sticker of its kind with a flexible body and a unique shuttle distribution method. It is the only sticker being trialed by the leading Canadian wireless carriers for use on their mobile phones”, said Kim Madore, VP Emerging Technology and Market Development for Giesecke & Devrient, producer of the Zoompass Tag.

The Zoompass Tag can be used at most contactless payment ready locations. Leading retail merchants such as Tim Hortons, McDonalds, Petro Canada and Loblaws will accept payment through the Zoompass Tag as these merchants are rapidly adopting contactless payment terminals in an effort to offer convenience to consumers and save costs.

The trial is offered to select Zoompass clients and is expected to last up to 3 months. The pilot will allow EnStream to evaluate many aspects of the mobile payment experience and shape the way Canadians pay for goods and services in the future.

It is appealing... but it is the same thing as my Starbucks or Timothy's card. I load them and then I use these when purchasing my coffee.

Key to this announcement is the following phrase: "payment is automatically drawn from the user's Zoompass stored value account."

I want it to take the money out of my bank account directly... The problem with this method is that I have to maintain yet another account. I want integration... not fragmentation!

The little sticker is not as appealing to me as the press release makes it sound: "...sleek and appealing sticker measures 43mm by 33mm and can be easily fixed to any mobile phone."

I know this is a step forward, but it seems too much like a step backwards.

Nevertheless progress is progress...

Remember - this is a carrier lead initiative. To be honest with you I am waiting for the banks. I have a feeling they can do a better job at it.

Integration... not fragmentation!

Regardless of whether it is the first time your mobile workers receive a device, or if you are deploying a new application, your people and your processes will never be the same. Mobility changes the way we work; it is transformational and because of this you need to pay very close attention to your processes. If you are not looking (and I mean really looking) at how to best integrate your new technology or application into your existing workflows you will be faced with anything from poor adoption to outright failure.

So what do I mean by process peddlers?

Process peddlers may be vendors, mobile application developers or even the junior resource in that other department on the fourth floor. These process peddlers talk about the importance of process mapping but at the end of the implementation, all they have done is connected a few boxes with some arrows (current and future state workflows) without adding value to the ultimate success of your project. Sadly enough, I have seen them far too many times. In fact I have even worked with them or had to come in and fix their mistakes to try and revive a failing implementation.

In case you don’t get  through the long post here are the two main takeaways:

1. Process peddlers are a waste of resources.
2. Real process integration experts are invaluable to the success of a mobile implementation.

This was actually our most popular post over at the Mobile Strategy Blog for 2009 and we wrote it towards the end of the year and with some frustration after seeing and hearing so many people claim their expertise in process integration. We want to turn it into a little PDF and perhaps a series. The entire post at the source.