I love the business disruptors who are shaking up technology and the way we interact with it. I don’t resist it, I thirst for knowledge. The trick I need to master is wrapping my brain around how something works. 12 year olds already know how so many technological features work in our phones and devices, way before we do LOL.

In business there are some exciting innovations in the way we take payment coming our way and I love why they exist.

In this weeks paper, we hear the story of the new cashless cafe in QLD who is going to install a chip reader in reusable coffee cups, so you can go in with your cup and pay for your coffee with a scan of your coffee cup… Imagine that !

The coffee cups are by Frank Green. A compact thermoplastic cylinder in range of colours. There is a little red button in the top and inside hides a chip that connects to a new app called Cafe-Pay, which I haven’t checked out yet but I would imagine sets up a link between your bank account. I love this idea as I regularly have no cash on me and I’m always mindful of the minimum $10 for eftpos which doesn’t apply here.

From a business perspective its got some great angles. There is the gimmick side, which would spread the news quickly of the funky innovation and theres the social conscience channel through which to attract customers.

So lets look at digital payment options. We have seen the paypal device and how the banks now have apps with which to take payments, but did you know that twitter founder  Jack Dorsey has another company called ‘Square’ and they are about to launch in Australia. Square’s product is a 3 centimetre chip that can be plugged into a device that allows you to process credit card payments. Square will be up against Tyro, already being used by 16,000 businesses in Australia. Tyro are a mobile payments alternative to the banks, and their point of difference is that they keep the consumer cards details safe.

For more information on these disruptive technologies:

https://tyro.com/
https://squareup.com/au

http://pabloandrustys.com.au/

Jump in and do some research to see if these options might work for you, I’m certainly going to explore them. There is so much innovation, so many possibilities, its such an exciting time..
Until next week.
Hugs to you

Andy xxx