African payment service Ukheshe Technologies has launched its first certification-free phone-tap payment solution. This certainly isn’t the first tap-on-phone payment solution – not by a long shot. But it is one of the first to offer the same speed without the need for certification. Usually, these methods are expensive for small companies to implement. And it often takes a lot of work to get those methods working. Ukheshe is making it so that no hassle is required.
If you’ve never heard of Ukheshe, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. Ukheshe Technologies is an African company on the lookout for ways to support digital financial inclusion. It operates in several countries, and South Africa is on that list.
Ukheshe’s new certification-free payment service permits any NFC (near-field communication) enabled device to accept tap-on-phone transactions. No certifications (which is basically special software) are required in order to pull this off. You’ll just pull your phone or card out your pocket, tap it to the merchant’s POS system and you’re all good.
“The cost of a terminal is a hurdle to these businesses, not to mention the additional distribution and maintenance concerns. This new technology combats the high costs of app certifications in developing and implementing tap-on-phone solutions”, says Ukheshe head Paul Selibas.
Helping the world with digital solutions
No expensive fees are required anymore to set these up, and they can be set up in just a few minutes on any NFC-enabled smartphone. Of course, if a merchant has no NFC smartphone, a little extra cost would be required to get those digital transactions going. But compared to the prices of dedicated POS systems nowadays, you’d be better off not spending that money. At least this way you get a smartphone out of it too.
And if you’re worried about security when tapping your card on a store’s phone, don’t be. The service’s payment system uses the same protection as chipped bank cards.
“Ukheshe is driving down the barriers to entry in payment acceptance for businesses through simpler, more affordable functionality and low-friction sign-up. We are setting the trend; disrupting the traditional POS system. I think there will be many players rushing out to follow suit, because this is a game-changer,” says Selibas.
As easy as riding a bike
Using this new payment method is simple. When a merchant requires payment, they’ll need to turn on tap-on-phone functionality. After that, customers tap their card as they do at any other store and the purchase is complete.
The app created by Ukheshe is known as the Eclipse Payment Service App (EPS). EPS is launching in less than a month. You can expect the app on 1 July. That’s less than a month away. After that, just about any South African business can accept payments with little setup. As long as they have the right phone, obviously.