How can you make your product or initiative stand out in an uber-competitive payments industry?
For starters, you can explain it well in 250 words.
Yes, it can be tempting to try and blow away others with revolutionary concepts or head-turning features. But if you can’t explain how and why your product impacts end users and the payments industry at-large, not much else will matter.
That’s what PYMNTS.com heard from Kelley Knutson, executive vice president, TSYS International, and Martin Fielding, CEO at The Card & Payments Awards, in a recent conversation about what differentiates the contenders from the pretenders in the payments and banking spaces.
Established in 2006, The Card & Payments Awards, in Fielding’s words, “recognizes things that are really good about the banking and payments industries” in Ireland and the UK.
Fielding says that the awards were established to “remove some of the doubt and concern,” that plagued the payments industry in those countries in the mid-2000s, and to emphasize the good in the industry – which benefits consumers – instead.
Knutson, who serves on The Card & Payments Awards’ judging panel, says TSYS found the concept “very appealing,” and that it addressed a “gap in the market” in terms of recognizing the potential that exists in payments.
“I think personally for me and for TSYS generally, we feel it’s perfect for how we want to position ourselves within the industry. But more importantly, for how we want to see the industry be successful: whether it’s clients or non-clients and even some of our competitors, too.”
Knutson then went on to describe what he called a very “independent” judging process, and elaborated on what he looks for when it comes to picking those who truly stand out in payments.
“I think for me and some of my colleagues who are on the judging panel, it’s probably simple concepts that are effectively communicated that have very tangible results,” Knutson said.
He acknowledged that while having a “wow factor” can be important, effectively communicating how that solution will impact end consumers – and why it should matter to the industry as a whole – is the real key to success.
Fielding also emphasized the need for simplicity when speaking about the application process, stating that no matter how complicated a product or initiative is, if it can’t be summarized 250 words or explained in 1,000 words, that idea is probably too big.
“In one word, what we’re looking for is brevity,” Fielding explained. “But not brevity at the cost of explaining what it is that was good about the program, what you were trying to achieve, what you did achieve and why you should be considered for an award.”
Knutson agreed, and said that while those on the judging panel all came with unique perspectives, a company’s ability to emphasize how the market will react to its entry is paramount to success.
“It’s a great platform not only to be educated on what’s going on within the payments industry, but to really reward entries who’ve tried to keep it simple,” he said. “And who talk about why consumers would want to use that product or service, or how they’re being serviced.”
To hear more Knutson and Fielding on the awards and on what makes payments companies stand out, listen to the full podcast here.
*If you have trouble with the audio player above, click here.
Kelley C. Knutson
Executive Vice President, TSYS International
Kelley C. Knutson is currently Executive Vice President, TSYS International, with day-to-day and strategic responsibility for revenue growth execution, global business development, relationship and product management outside North America (US, Canada, Mexico and Central America) reporting to the President, TSYS International. Additionally, Kelley is responsible for monitoring and driving strategic initiatives with TSYS partnerships in Europe (TMS EMEA Managed Services [JV with Dimension Data]), China (Minority Share in CUP Data) and Japan (Majority Share in GP Net). Kelley is a member of the TSYS Management Committee and is the most senior TSYS executive based outside North America.
Prior to TSYS, Kelley was CEO / Acting Chairman of Clear Money Ltd. (Clear), a provider of Electronic Bill Management Services to UK billers and financial institutions. Before Clear, Kelley was SVP of GE Capital’s Global Consumer Finance (GCF) cards business and was responsible for developing and executing GCF’s cards strategy and driving card-based consumer finance initiatives across the globe. Prior to GE Capital, he was SVP, Visa International, responsible for developing / marketing Visa’s debit products and introducing e-commerce solutions (security, chip and remote banking) throughout Europe. While at both Visa International and EMEA, he held a variety of roles related to domestic / international interchange strategy, product profitability, product development / management and risk management initiatives. Before joining Visa, he worked for Simpson Paper Company, TRW and General Dynamics where his focus was on product / marketing strategies, pricing and risk / portfolio management.
Kelley holds a BS in Accountancy and a MBA in Finance / International Business and is an executive director of numerous TSYS entities throughout the globe and he is a member of the Institute of Directors (IOD) in the UK.
Martin Fielding
CEO, The Card & Payments Awards
Martin Fielding is a trained accountant who worked for Deloitte in the UK until 1989 when he was recruited by a client to run their new investment management subsidiary. From 1993 to 1997 he was CEO of Europe’s largest card registration company CPP. He then worked for US companies SITEL and JC Penney Insurance Group in Europe providing services to the card sector which reinforced his perception that there was an opportunity to create an event in the UK and Ireland to celebrate the successes of Europe’s largest market for credit and other cards. He started planning for this event in 2004 and the first event then called The Credit Card Awards was held in London in February 2006 with 650 attendees with support from prime sponsor TSYS. The event has since been widened to cover all forms of card and alternative payments and has become the largest networking event in the banking calendar with 1,400 senior people from all the top 20 card issuers in the UK and Ireland attending the sell-out ceremony each year.
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