A record number of electronic transactions are expected at retail stores this festive season, and the company that will handle most of the electronic funds transfer (EFT) switching with the banks, is confident its systems will cope.
"Key to ensuring that systems will cope during peak periods such as this, is capacity planning based on a sound understanding of the potential demands coupled with best of breed products. This is complemented by our own strategic custom technology and solutions in a fully redundant environment, incorporating complete disaster recovery," says Mike Smith, EasyPay MD.
The EasyPay system uses internationally proven products, such as Sybase data warehousing, Postilion EFT switches, Fiorano enterprise service bus technology and business intelligence from Business Objects, explains Smith.
EasyPay is expecting a bumper year-end trading period because of the steady growth in economic activity in the past ten months.
"In October, we recorded the same number of debit and credit card transactions as we did during the peak period last year," says Smith.
EasyPay is the transaction services division of Trust Transactions company Prism Holdings. Prism emerged the joint winner with Anglo American of the research and development leader category at this year`s Technology Top 100 Awards held in Johannesburg.
[VIDEO]The award is in recognition of Prism`s technological excellence in developing its Incognito Transaction Security Module - TSM 410, which is an important component of EasyPay`s services for EFT switching, cellular airtime sales and prepaid electricity sales.
EasyPay handles the payment of municipal, Eskom, SABC, Telkom and other accounts at check out counters in several large retail chain stores.
"In addition to the number of debit and credit card transaction volumes being almost double any other month, account payments are also concentrated over a shorter period of time as people prepare to go away on holiday," says Smith.
He also attributes general growth in the number of retail customers paying accounts at till points to increased awareness and confidence in the EasyPay offering, as well as the security and convenience provided by a payment method of this kind.
This December, EasyPay expects to process about 1.25 million account payments, based on a projected 25% increase on last year`s figures.
The year end sees a spike in the sale of gift vouchers, cellular airtime and the issuing of television licences through the EasyPay system, which all contributes to the heavier than normal load. Smith predicts airtime sales will double last year`s peaks to set a new record of about 16 transactions a second over a ten-hour day.
EasyPay remains vigilant regarding emerging technology, Smith says, and continually upgrades systems in line with this, particularly for ensuring scalability.
"We are migrating to a service-oriented architecture in order to integrate a growing number of different services. The company is investigating grid computing as a way of optimising computing resources and sees mobility as an exciting prospect for the future," says Smith.
EasyPay`s service expertise and Prism`s security payment technology have attracted attention from overseas players in the electronic payment market. Smith says his company has been involved in setting up several similar payment systems in Europe and the Far East.
"We have figured out how to do things well in this niche market and with the use of payment technology having global relevance, companies in the Middle East and Europe are paying regular visits to see what EasyPay does and how we do it."
Share