iPay88 Holding Sdn Bhd, an NTT Data company and a leading Malaysian-based provider of online payment solutions in ASEAN, shares its aspirations towards its Payment Dream which the company estimates will conceptualize into a reality as early as Year 2023. Executive Director of iPay88, Chan Kok Long describes the Payment Dream as a situation whereby people can purchase products and services without having to make any action of payment, at all.
He says, “Imagine walking right in and right out of a mall – where you watched a movie, got your hair done, had lunch, ordered a new TV set and completed your groceries; all without having to carry any cash or credit cards, or even stop at any cashier counter to verify payment. Yet, every service and item that you procured while at the mall is accurately deducted or credited, in real-time, to your purchase and banking records.”
Chan says that this is iPay88’s Payment Dream, and riding on the IoT trend today, the dream could become reality as early as 2023.
“IoT is going on full-steam now as Big Data, Analytics, Cloud and 5G come together to enable a totally connected world of smart devices, sensors and systems. And iPay88 sees that in this same world – payments, or the action of procuring something, will become 100% autonomous, almost like a basic-reflex in the payment systems that consumers interact with.”
There are, however, areas whereby advancements will be required for this ‘Payment Dream’ to happen, which iPay88 is following closely in pursuit of its strategic partnerships and own R&D investments.
This includes the current IoT standards that determine the communication between end devices such as wearable consumer devices and different points of sales that are still lacking. Autonomous online payments involve massive, yet small amounts of individual transactions. So while 5G networks will be ideal for IoT to thrive, the Payment Dream would just require wide and comprehensive coverage areas of stable connectivity ie. no ‘drop lines’.
Meanwhile, Biometrics technology has already advanced to accurate facial identification. This needs to be integrated between IoT-based POS, with databases of banking accounts that are managed by authorization and verification systems. e-Wallets and payment applications incorporated in mobile phones or chip-ready wrist bangles, have to be wirelessly and securely integrated with the consumers’ banking accounts.
Chan shares that this Payment Dream is already happening in isolated pilot projects in some other parts of the world such as in the US and China. Additionally, he adds that iPay88 is open to work with strategic partners to pursue its Payment Dream.
