Elavon ‘elevates’ fans’ payment journey



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Rohan Bloice on Coliseum Europe Image: Rohan Bloice & MJR Group Ltd./Coliseum

Rohan Bloice has been responsible for providing and managing bespoke payment solution consultancy, design, implementation, and commercial strategy at Elavon since 2020.
 

About Elavon

Elavon is the innovative, secure and global partner for one’s payment processing needs, whether you do business online, mobile, or in-person. For more than 30 years, Elavon has been a leader in payment processing, leveraging the world’s best technologies for its partners from large worldwide enterprises, to small businesses. Elavon is consistently rated among the top global payment providers, with more than two million customers trusting them to process their payments business.

It provides payment expertise so that one can focus on running and expanding their business, while increasing their revenue potential and empowering customers to do business with them. Elavon’s advanced security features, streamlined business management tools and customer-centric service are all managed with the help of its dedicated relationship management teams.
 

In a nutshell:

  • Elavon securely handles over $300 billion worth of commerce;
  • Elavon is trusted and currently serves two million customers;
  • Elavon is backed by the strength of its parent company U.S. Bank;
  • Has deep vertical expertise and customized payment solutions;
  • Onboard with flexible integration including semi-integrated and turnkey hosted solutions;
  • Protect cardholder data at all points in the transaction lifecycle with its layered security approach;
  • Operate in over 36 countries, supporting partners and their customers’ needs for omni-commerce payments;
  • Connect easily with 24/7, in-house multilingual customer support and a dedicated relationship management team;
  • A top five acquirer across both Europe and the United States with over 1.3 million customers worldwide; and
  • Elavon’s single international processing platform makes it easier for one to do business locally or across the globe reliably.

 
Via an exclusive presentation to ‘Coliseum’, Rohan Bloice, Large Corporate, Elavon Europe, UK, tells how fan satisfaction is at the heart of Elavon’s payment operations and explains the importance and benefits of tailored payment solutions to innovate and drive revenue. He also presents a case study of the Co-op Live Arena which is under construction in Manchester, England (UK) and provides details of how Elavon will be a part of the fabulous facility’s payment journey.
 

Who are Elavon?

Explained Rohan Bloice, “For the last 30 years, Elavon has been helping millions of customers throughout the world grow their business through payment solutions.”

Rohan added, “We literally show you the money! And what I mean by that is for 30 years we have been the primary processing engine for every kind of payment transaction. So, out of six million transactions which are done seamlessly every day across the world, we are the engine behind them. “we are reliable, fast and innovative.” Elavon and its parent company US Bank partner with some of world’s leading brands such as the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).
 

Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA)

The Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a professional basketball league in the United States. It is currently composed of 12 teams. The league was founded on April 22nd, 1996, as the women’s counterpart to the National Basketball Association (NBA), and league play started in 1997.
 

U.S. Bank and WNBA

Earlier this year, the U.S. Bank was named a WNBA Changemaker, a collective of purpose-driven companies that harness their power to elevate women in sports and support the league’s mission around advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. As a supporter of the league, the U.S. Bank serves as the Official Bank of the WNBA.
 

U.S. Bank

The U.S. Bank is a full-service bank that provides a wide range of products and financial partner that understands the corporate and commercial banking needs for global organizations.
 

Make Some Noise! Co-op Live

The 23,500-capacity Co-op Live is an indoor arena currently under construction in Manchester, England (UK). Due to open in 2023, it will have the largest maximum capacity of any indoor arena in the United Kingdom.
 

Elavon role

The Oak View Group (OVG), the venue management company behind the development of the 23,500-capacity Co-op Live arena in Manchester, struck a deal in April this year with Elavon, which it said will underpin Co-op Live’s cashless venue status.
 

The UK’s Biggest and Best Arena

  • 23,500 capacity.

 

Most Sustainable in Europe

  • 100 percent electric, carbon-neutral;
  • 10,500 solar panels; and
  • Payments technology contributing to sustainability.

 

£365M Investment

  • Built by locals and with local suppliers.

 

£1.50N economic impact

  • Job creation, local impact.

 

Oak View Group Innovation Portfolio

  • Fan experience/innovation technology leaders.

 
Rohan added, “We are very privileged to be part of the Co-op Live Arena as it will be a great venue and a great project to be partnered with as the payment solution provider”

He continued, “The Co-op Live Arena will be the biggest entertainment arena with 23,500 capacity. Co-op Live Arena will not simply be a closed-door, post-event venue but one that will be used by the community and country at all times which is quite unique. It will be a destination location that drives fan engagement and where the fan experience will be enhanced by innovative payment solutions. We want to build and be part of venue/stadium portfolio in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States. Elavon want to continue being an integral part of the fan engagement journey, the experience one wants to be a part of when one goes to a venue.”
 

Revenue driver

Rohan stated that payments is sometimes viewed as being “The black box that sits on the beverage and retail counters but there is much more value add that innovates and drives revenue.”
 

The Challenge

Co-op Live payments strategy is integral to the fan experience and digital journey
 

Cashless

  • All transactions fast processing.

 

Mobile App

  • Event ticket on app mobile ordering personalized offers.

 

12 Lounges and Club Spaces

  • 100 premium seats and VIP experiences.

 

32 Bars, Restaurants and Marketplaces

  • 16 kitchens; and
  • 510 beer taps.

 

Seamless

  • Technology landscape to drive a digital fan experience and digital fan engagement.

 

Single fan view

Fielding all data touchpoints to provide a single fan view.

He continued, “The challenges ahead of Elavon and the Co-op live Arena technology partners is ensuring that the fan experience and digital journey is cashless throughout the whole experience. The transactions being generated by the high volume of fans will demand secure, reliable and fast processing.
 

Challenges galore

  • The challenge of serving food, beverage and retail to thousands of very excitable fans within concentrated time pockets so the importance of fast and reliable transaction times is huge.
  • Elavon see a rapidly growing increase of card, contactless and alternative payment methods globally in the industry which demands a swift and reliable fan experience.
  • The welcome challenge is to capitalize on that positive increase. Elavon wants to further drive that volume and revenue through its payment platform.

 

Sustainability

What is interesting is that Elavon as a payments partner and the innovation that goes along with that contributes to sustainability be it the building, the operations or the energy provision and the payments also have a key role to play in reducing that carbon footprint – “We are one payment vehicle that can provide time complacency. And time complacency is definitely challenging.”
 

The Solution

 

Fast and Easy Transaction Processing

  • Intuitive and user-friendly point of sale interface reducing interaction and transaction time.
  • One international processing platform
  • Single source payments reporting and data analysis/feeds.

 

Mobile App Functionality

  • Payment platform across all mobile app functionality.

 

Cashless

  • Acceptance of multiple cashless payment methods.

 

Seamless Single Fan View

  • Recognition. Loyalty rewards.

 

Partnerships and Integration

  • Strong partnerships with innovation providers; and
  • Comprehensive technical integrations.

 

Understanding fans’ psyche

He pointed out, “How are we going to provide a fast, seamless QR reliable payment process? Well, as we all know the most important fact to a successful venue stadium build and design is understanding what we want to achieve. So, it is understanding the fan psyche and what do they want, have we consulted with them? Are we complying with their absolute demand, to that fan experience? You look at their portfolio in the United Kingdom, in the United States, it is all about fan engagements and delivering those requirements. So, the solution such as intuitive and user-friendly point of sale making the total payment as quick as possible, one international card processing platform gives you that reconciliation and also that power in multiple currencies as well. Comprehensive integration in the backend with platforms well designed to use have been feeding that payment data into the backend of those platforms as well. Switching the catalyst seamlessly and again you go back to that single fan experience. How do we maximize a potential payments platform? Then also the key is to spend time and understand all the data with that fan experience and build that customer journey and on top of that to get the view of where it serves as a payment platform concerning those requirements.”
 

Observations

 

Fan Journey

  • Is key to the innovation strategy; and
  • Comprehensive integration into fan touchpoints.

 

Fan Engagement

  • Fan/Member not just a number; and
  • Incentivize and rewards.

 

Payment Options

  • Fast and easy transaction method across all process.

 

Queue/Volume Handling

  • Agile and interchangeable to adapt to peak fan volumes; and
  • Platform capacity design.

 

Payment journey

He further pointed out, “So, as far as observations are concerned one should have open and transparent discussions with the various project entities early on so that you can understand where you want to be and what you want to achieve. With the almost aggressive rise in fan volumes that will no doubt continue to increase, ensure the focus is on a solution that can not only manage the volumes but can also manage the speed of transaction required to power the fan experience. “
 

Sum-up

Rohan summed up by stating, “The Co-op Live Arena technology team have been phenomenal to collaborate with in designing a world leading payment solution. Payment innovation has a real pent-up demand and so how do we capitalize on that now is the moot question to be addressed.”

Rohan Bloice believes in making the fans’ payment journey a seamless one and the Gen Z supporters in stadia today want to interact with a super smooth payments system where they can pay in any way they want. And the Elavon payments system scores full marks on this!

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