http://www.isoandagent.com/news/Roam-Offers-One-Stop-Shop-For-Mobile-Payments-3014227-1.html

Roam Offers One-Stop Shop For Mobile Payments

Ed McKinley
May 24, 2013

Roam, the Ingenico subsidiary formerly known as Roam Data, prides itself on supplying ISOs with all four of the components necessary for accepting mobile payments.

“From the perspective of an ISO, they get a complete end-to-end solution,” says Scott Holt, Roam vice president of marketing.

That includes hardware in the form of card readers, not the mobile devices. The readers accept magnetic-stripe, chip-and-PIN or chip-and-signature cards, depending upon the market, Holt says.

Second, Roam offers a core mobile application, called ROAMpay X4, and smaller apps developed for customers as adjuncts, Holt says.

Next come what the company calls “tools.” A suite of portals known as “management tools” help independent sales organizations or merchant administer devices, transactions, receipts and a virtual terminal, he notes “Development tools” help integrate the Roam application into broader apps.

Fourth, Roam offers payment processing through its gateway and professional services that work with major retailers and larger acquirers on everything from white-labeling the product to integrations, Holt says.

To qualify for Roam’s white-labeling — the rebranding of a product by a company that buys it – acquirers are required to order certain quantities of hardware or other goods or services, he says.

“Most ISOs take our service ‘as-is’ – our standard, off-the-shelf turnkey solution,” Holt notes.

ISOs are free to choose among the four components without signing on for all of them, he says.

“We try to tailor a solution to meet the needs of the ISO,” Holt maintains. “Most ISOs want the whole suite of services.”

With ROAMpay X4, the company now augments mobile payment acceptance with point of sale capabilities that include inventory control with images and identification numbers.

While introducing that platform, the company decided to scrap the name “Roam Data” because it’s not really a data company, choosing instead to call itself simply “Roam.”

In June, it plans to launch a reader that accepts chip-and-signature EMV cards, a lower-cost alternative to chip-and-PIN EMV, Holt says.

“Companies are interested in that as a way to stay one step ahead of the game,” he says of the chip-and-signature EMV reader. “We don’t see necessarily replacing it.

Meanwhile, Roam is seeking more ISOs to promote its products and services, Holt says.

“The ISO community is where the business began,” he says. “They remain a very core part of our business, and we’re always looking to grow our ISO base.”