Listen to this articleSince 2009 Invenco Group has been developing revolutionary payment solutions, primarily for the petroleum retail market. It’s Outdoor Payment Terminals, Electronic Payments Server and Forecourt Controller combine to provide an open infrastructure that can support a wide range of global payment technologies, point of sale, back office, head office, media and entertainment solutions. Below is our recent interview with Craig Panter, Chief Business Development Officer at Invenco Group:
Q: Who are the primary users of Invenco Group and what are some of the key challenges you are helping them solve?
A: Invenco is far more than just a hardware company. Invenco develops its solutions from the ground up including the firmware and middleware software and a whole range of Invenco Cloud Services. Because we understand every bolt, wire and byte of our products, we can be highly disruptive in delivering high value products at a very competitive price point.
Q: You’ve recently partnered with Tokyo headquartered, Tatsuno Corporation; tell us something more?
A: Invenco sells through a global partner base, primarily through its partner brands. Very early on we gained four of the major OPT manufacturers as partners as they recognized there was more of an advantage in using our product than investing in the cost to build their own.
From this base, we have added seven more of the world’s largest players in the petroleum retail technology market including NCR Corporation, Diebold Nixdorf and Petrotec. Tatsuno Corporation as Japan’s foremost fuel retailing pump and automation firm fits effortlessly into this global partner line up. It has over 60% market share of petrol pumps in Japan and exports to over 75 countries.
As a leading petrol pump player in emerging markets in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Malaysia we are excited by the opportunity Tatsuno brings to extend Invenco’s market share in these areas. It is also an opportunity to open-up new territories and market segments.
Tatsuno is also seen as being a true pioneer, delivering Japan’s first petrol service station (SS) POS system, level gauges for underground tank inventory management systems and petrol depot related equipment. Invenco is looking forward to continuing this history and work closely with Tatsuno in bringing new innovations to its customer base.
Recommended: Q: What is unique about Invenco and how does it stand out from competition?
A: Invenco is a truly disruptive player in the self-service payment industry. It is a sector that is highly regulated, particularly in petroleum retail which has traditionally made it very much a closed loop, dominated by a handful of major players who tightly controlled access to their systems.
Invenco has successfully flipped this on its head by delivering an open platform that will integrate with any sub-system including Point of Sale, Site Systems, Forecourt Controllers and payment platforms. It means Invenco OPTs can be retrofitted into any enclosure – no matter who the pump provider, kiosk or stand manufacturer might be.
This is enabling Invenco’s rapid global expansion; with both its hardware and software being based on an open platform it can configure its systems to work within any specialized retail environment. It’s an openness that extends to Invenco products being sold under OEM white label or directly under its brand – depending on what best suits its partner or customer situation.
It makes Invenco the easiest to do business with, especially as individual retailers can now build their own apps directly onto Invenco’s platform to deliver content to their screens (no need for a middle man). It also enables them to deliver the same consistent customer experience across all of their OPTs regardless who manufactured the original pump casing. This capability extends to other integrators who can include Invenco apps within their own eco-system and make them available across the Invenco community.
It has also resulted in the building of a range of Invenco Cloud Services to help businesses manage their Invenco assets and save costs on delivering content, media, servicing and upgrades to its hardware units. It sits apart in a highly competitive market for delivering not just high value but highly competitive product features and benefits across its entire solution set.
Q: Can you give us more insights into your products?
A: Some of the key innovations Invenco has developed include the world’s first OPT with 12-inch touch screen. This is EMV certified, fully contactless enabled and supports the delivery of high resolution graphics and video to the OPT. The recently released Invenco Cloud Services suite also provides a range of service and entertainment solutions based on Invenco’s open platform. Not the least of these being Remote Key Insertion which means terminals can be remotely updated by service technicians in the field – no more costly delays in returning the payment terminal to a service center for key insertion.
One of the major challenges for fuel retailers in switching to an EMV environment is the requirement for a high-speed Ethernet network to underpin the technology. Invenco Link provides an ingenious way to transform existing wiring to meet the required specifications without having to dig up the forecourt or replace wiring in walls. It means retailers can seamlessly switch from their legacy solution to the EMV network with a considerable reduction in the time, resources and finances required to do this.
The challenge for forward-thinking fuel retailers is meeting the constant need for speed – pay-and-go as fast as possible – with an equal desire to build a convenience and quick-service-restaurant business around the core petroleum retail business. Invenco’s open, cloud based platform enables retailers to link the customers experience at the pump with loyalty promotions, upsell, ordering at the pump and voucher based services which can be paid for and printed by the OPT.
This enhanced customer experience is driving sales of its high-resolution touch screen technology as the world is hungry for a better retail experience – even when they’re buying gas.
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Q: What are your plans for next four months?
A: The next major event Invenco is focusing on is the fuel retail equivalent of a World Cup – the NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores) conference and trade show in the USA in late October. It is where fuel retailers from the world over go to learn about new product releases and understand what the future technology roadmap for their business could look like.
Invenco historically uses this event, through its US partners, to showcase not only what we are about to deliver to the market but our future vision for the industry. With the shift to EMV and the rise of contactless and mobile payments it is an exciting time to be working in the self-service payment space and we are looking forward to being even more disruptive in the future, than we have been to date.
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