Sound Based Payment technology enables contactless payments through sound waves. There is no dependence on any specific platform and the technology behind it enables payments on various devices such as smartphones, feature phones, card swipe machines and point-of-sale devices. A sound based payment system functions on Near Field Communications (NFC) technology.
NFC is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that makes the exchange of data between devices possible. NFC allows individuals to access information with an easy touch or tap on their device.
NFC Applications
There are three basic application fields of NFC:
- NFC-enabled devices act like smart proximity cards and assist in performing transactions like payments and ticketing called card emulation.
- NFC-enabled devices can read information stored in a RFID tag that are embedded in smart posters and labels.
- Peer-to-peer connection of two NFC-enabled devices enables information exchange between the same.
Since there are no additional hardware requirements to use NFC technology, it will enable a wider and inclusive ecosystem. It is predominantly, used for sound- based payments and is proving to be extremely advantageous for businesses as it impacts the way interactions take place in the sales funnel, between products and individuals, in business networking and interaction and in internal communication too. In addition to merchant payments, this technology can facilitate P2P money transfer between two mobile devices. The consumer initiates the payment and the merchant accepts, leading to data transfer using audible or inaudible sound frequencies.
Benefits of Sound based Payments
Economic Implementation
NFC users need not have a special device and it can be embedded swiftly to their mobile phones to read and write information. It doesn’t require any custom hardware to be built either. NFC tags are inexpensive, easily customizable, making them more compatible and versatile than technologies such as QR codes.
Polished Customer Experience
NFC helps simplify complex interactions. Customers merely require to ‘tap’ their devices to the installed NFC tags.
Effortless Transactions
NFC technology helps in getting relevant information quickly, thereby concluding the whole process faster, with no room for error. Be it implementing reward points system, coupon system, etc (at the POS counters) all of it can be taken care of automatically and with unmanned efforts.
Collection of Customer Data
NFC allows businesses to gather apt customer data easily. With this information, businesses can understand their customers better.
Protection of Information
NFC technology establishes secure channels and encrypts sensitive information like credit card numbers. Customers using NFC-enabled devices can enhance their security by using passwords and installing anti-virus apps. In NFC technology, encoding and locking are two distinct procedures. While the tags can be re-encoded multiple times, the encoded data cannot be altered after tags have been locked in. This means tags can well be locked to protect the information they contain from unwanted access.
Real Time Updates
Real time updates are important in this fast paced business network. Tracking employees and reading through their updated notes can all be done by NFC technology. Managers can track employees instantly to assign them a more efficient scheduling of the day, can save a lot of time spent to be physically present at the time of communication and could well be done with a NFC tag.
