Apple Pay, Twitter Buy and enterprise data

Mike Ni asks whether we are ready for next-generation payment platforms that might straddle the B2B and B2C divide

The release of new payment technologies such as the Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled Apple Pay and Twitter's Buy button has prompted speculation as to how well they will perform.

Well-known brands such as Amex, Mastercard and Visa have already pledged their partnership to accommodate Apple Pay for their customers, and a number of American retailers and non-profit groups have signed up for Twitter Buy button testing on the social networking site.

It's clear both technologies will simplify the payment process for consumers – reducing the friction caused by tasks such as repetitive data entry and third-party verification steps – so on this level it's obviously a more convenient way to shop.

As to whether businesses can really juice out extra profits through such new methods, that's where the skeptics start to raise their eyebrows.

Merging social networking and online shopping has not proven to be an instant winner, even though social media has started to deliver RoI to B2B and B2C companies in recent times.

Facebook's early stint with Gifts and its Marketplace failed to make the cut, so what's different about the Buy button and what will more-calculated enterprise software buyers gain from new social payment platforms?

Some say the Marketplace and Buy Button is an oranges-to-apples comparison. Where one seemed to be an added feature to the Facebook platform, the other appears to be fully integrated user experiences – where partners can potentially make a sale (or sales) from any tweet.

Theoretically, this is great news for businesses and from a marketing perspective: retailer Twitter accounts can act as additional touch points for a brand to craft innovative promotions and ways for customers to interact with their brands given a seamless way to not only engage, but to actually transact.

This could be good news for customers as well if businesses take the opportunity to not only push content, but to really engage and create opportunities to serve each customer as an individual with content as well as actionable promotions and offers.

There are ways that businesses can benefit from Twitter and its new innovations. Firstly, contact between businesses using Twitter as an engagement platform will give extra insight into customers and produce a faster feedback loop.

In a competitive marketplace, the Business to Individual (B2i) concept – using data on consumer shopping habits to predict and to not only provide tailored customer content and offers, but personalised paths to interaction and service – is increasingly gaining acceptance.

Instant contact and payment as a new set of tools is what businesses should be getting excited about when it comes to Twitter.

But the implications of the Buy Button for enterprises and their resellers are rather more complex.

The Buy Button would create another touch point for resellers to message and push products to Buy Button customers, where estimates of projected usage by Twitter users are already unclear.

Also, the challenge faced by resellers in a world with more payment platforms is one of budget. Is the European channel ready to shift marketing budget from traditional sources to social media?

Even more so, it's unclear how the Buy Button would overcome the traditional obstacles of global payment systems. Twitter users hail from all around the world but enterprises and retailers tend to be centralised. Currency issues pose a threat to its implementation too.

The latest payment technology debutantes may be convenient – less "friction" is always a good thing – but they don't yet deal with the nuance that's needed for both consumers and businesses to make online payments in a global context.

The plan is for Apple and Twitter to make their payment innovations scale globally, meaning expansion to Europe, Africa and Asia after they pass their American probation.

Exploring the European market a little further, newly formed regulations such as those that formed the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) and the various taxation rules in each individual country, only create more barriers to market entry for the American technology heavyweights.

With new regulations in mind, European vendors and their channel providers must think about these business model innovations and how to experiment, package up and price their offerings in their various markets.

This is also a market which has been hit by customer database hacking and enterprise data leakage, for which pro-consumer European regulators are building guidelines for suppliers to the effective handling of data.

Also, some European customers are reluctant to use contactless cards – for warranted security reasons. One of the key concerns for every customer around new technology will always be the issue of security – and payment providers have a duty to allay those fears.

In an age where customers are becoming more concerned about their personal data, it's unclear how enterprises could benefit from these payment shifts. What is clear is that they won't come without risk for both enterprise and consumer, which Apple and Twitter need to overcome.

Mike Ni is chief marketing officer at Avangate