Through the wiPlatform, Pilot's clients will be able to accept any mobile transaction, from mobile coupons and vouchers, through to mobile rewards and loyalty programs, and mobile payments.
"There are many exciting and valuable third-party mobile transaction based applications being developed in the hospitality space, everything from mobile payments to loyalty, rewards, coupon and voucher schemes," says Pilot Software MD, Glenn Miller.
"But integrating each of them separately into POS software prevents agile development, and quick turnaround. Not only does each integration increase the chance of errors and conflicts, it is inefficient and resource heavy."
Miller says Pilot currently has 13 third-party mobile application projects in the pipeline, with new requests coming in at the rate of at least one a month. "We have to constantly juggle third parties based on fluctuating priorities, and it's putting a significant strain on our development resource base as well as our relationships. We - and the market in general - need a seamless, standardised solution, to fast track applications access to our customers".
wiPlatform provide an interface between POS systems and third party mobile transaction service providers, with a proven track record at a number of national retailers and hospitality businesses. The timing and partnership made perfect sense. says Miller. "The POS provider integrates to wiPlatform just once, then any third party mobile transaction service integrates to wiPlatform. This frees POS providers to focus on developing and improving their own products."
"wiPlatform is proven, stable and already commercially active in many of South Africa's major retailers and hospitality groups," says Miller. "We're confident that it's the most efficient, cost-effective way to bring new third-party mobile transaction capability to the point of sale."
"Our job as a POS provider is to give our clients in the hospitality industry rock-solid POS software, that is easy for their staff to use, provides a fast transactional experience for their customers, and simplifies their back-office administration," says Miller. "With WiPlatform we're now also able to give them flexible access to any value-add application in the market, without being distracted from our core business."
