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SMS texts are now reliable; bank on it

You don't tend to have point-of-sale terminals for credit cards in small mountain-top chalet shelters; so Neilson Holidays is using text messages to validate purchases on its ski slopes.

According to Adelante Systems, a UK e-commerce solutions developer, this makes Neilson Active Holidays the first to take up its mobile phone system for credit card payments. But it's not the first to approve it: the system has already been given the OK by two banks - HSBC, and GiroBank.

Adelante's new SMS-based, point of sale service, called MobilePOS, is currently being trialled by Neilson Active Holidays, part of Thomas Cook Tour Operations. MobilePOS significantly reduces the risk of card fraud by eliminating the need for companies to store paper based card details or transmit them via open voice communication.

MobilePOS provides a company's mobile workforce with the ability to collect and process payment for products and services in any currency, from any location covered by the GSM mobile phone network, using completely standard SMS as the transport.

Service card and payment details are sent via an SMS text message to the user company's existing card clearing account via the Adelante secure system. The card payment is then authorised (or declined) and the result is texted back to the salesperson's mobile phone, typically within 15 seconds. The system is currently being evaluated for approval by "other leading high street banks."

Neilson Active Holidays, currently trialling the service with its ski reps in Andorra, is the first company to go for the idea. Using MobilePOS Neilson reps take payment for a range of additional activities, from day trips to other resorts, to heli-skiing, to pub crawls using the SMS text messaging facility on their mobile phones.

"We have already noticed major benefits using the MobilePOS service," said Andy Boyce, Overseas Systems Manager, Thomas Cook Tour Operations. "The SMS transaction service has reduced our administration cost. Because the transactions are authorised instantly, all keying errors and declined cards can be dealt with at the time.|

Previous manual processes caused delays in the processing of transactions and in cases where errors or declines occurred, the resort staff sometimes did not get this information until several days later. "This was clearly not ideal from both the company and its customers point of view," said Boyce. "MobilePOS was also inexpensive to deploy and improves cash-flow by processing transactions at the earliest possible time. The system also proved very easy for our staff to use".

The SMS text messaging is digitally encrypted by the GSM network and customers can watch whilst the SMS message containing their card details is deleted from the sales person's phone once authorisation has been received.

Companies deploying the MobilePOS solution can access a secure management suite via an Internet browser. Using the management suite they can add and remove users from the system, set permissions, perform office based payments and refunds and order reports providing a breakdown of transactions across their mobile sales force for management and bank reconciliation purposes.

"MobilePOS utilises existing standard mobile technology and costs very little to implement, whilst providing companies with a secure, fast and efficient way for their remote workers to collect payment for goods and services," said Darrell Bluck, Business Development Director, Adelante. "The diversity of organisations that could benefit from this service is extremely wide, from holiday and party plan companies, to plumbers, taxis and market stall holders. The potential market for mobile transactions is huge."

Adelante Systems Ltd, based in Berkshire, develops and supplies a range of e-commerce services and solutions, clients include Isle of Wight Council, BBC and The FA. Fuller details about Mobile POS from the Web site.