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SecureNet |
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June 17, 2013 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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An End-to-End Credit Card Payment Processor, SecureNet’s Unique PayOS℠ Enables Merchants to Accept Any Payment Type Anytime, Anywhere through Point-of-Sale, eCommerce and Mobile Acceptance while Delivering Cost Effective Solutions |
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SecureNet’s PayOS℠ offers
the most innovative payment technology operating system directly connected
to the major card networks available in the market. SecureNet’s PayOS
enables merchants to accept any payment type, anytime, anywhere through
point-of-sale, eCommerce and mobile acceptance. Sophisticated payment APIs
and flexible architecture simplify integration and empower merchants and
developers to design and control their own payment roadmap while monetizing
their business solution. As a direct payment processor, SecureNet delivers
cost effective solutions by passing on significant cost savings to
merchants, resellers and partners. Processing over $19 billion in annual
transaction volume, SecureNet enables universal commerce for over 16,000
merchants and some of the most well-known brand name partners. For more
information, please visit www.SecureNet.com. With over 18 years of experience in advancing commerce in the payments industry, Brent delivers skilled leadership for SecureNet’s growth initiatives and market expansion strategy as Chief Executive Officer.
Brent is an experienced industry leader, providing strategic direction for the evolution of multi-channel, seamless payments integration, as well as oversight of long-term strategy initiatives and the daily operations of all business divisions.
Prior to joining SecureNet, Brent played a vital role in a number of successful executive management teams including CEO of FundsXpress Inc., a successful online banking startup, and Senior Vice President and General Manager of ePayments at First Data Corporation. Brent also served as Vice President of Marketing for Great American Insurance Company, where he was responsible for developing industry-leading comprehensive online and offline marketing strategies.
When Brent finds a rare moment away from the office he can be found at his Texas ranch, likely planning his next hunting or fishing expedition. |
Credit Card Processing
SecureNet
888.231.0060
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Interview
conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – June
17, 2013 CEOCFO: Mr. Warrington, what attracted you to SecureNet? What experience do you bring to the table that was needed at the company? Mr. Warrington: For the past twenty years I have been involved in financial technology and the electronification of payments. I had built another payment business prior to this one, which successfully sold to First Data Corporation. It came to a point in time where this opportunity presented itself with a little different, unique type of platform with a sweet spot in the electronification of payments space. It was a great opportunity and it has been exciting thus far.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about SecureNet? Mr. Warrington: SecureNet is an end-to-end credit card payment processor. We are unique in the industry in that we process all of our transactions and credit card payments directly through the card associations enabling merchants to accept payments through point-of-sale, eCommerce and mobile devices employing one merchant account.
CEOCFO: You said that you process payments directly; would you explain that? Mr. Warrington: Yes, absolutely. Traditionally, the way that this industry works is usually through several layers between the processors and the merchants, the eCommerce provider or the mobile provider. We are unique and different from most other players in the industry in that we do not have those layers. Our technology stack allows us to utilize the full breadth of our robust software without creating layers between our merchants and our payment engine. We have the ability, because we own our own platform, to process transactions end-to-end without any of those stopping points or third party layers. We are also unique in that we are a completely cloud based technology, which is different from the other traditional processors in this space who have later generation technology that does not allow them to be as quick or nimble or mobile as we are, to be able to adapt to changing market conditions.
CEOCFO: Do potential customers understand the differences? What is the “aha moment”? Mr. Warrington: We have seen an evolution over the last year with mobile really taking off, the advent of the digital wallet, and new players entering the market such as Square and so on; the merchants have become very savvy in their payment technology buying decisions. Merchants are starting to drive, from their perspective, what they want their overall payment strategy to be. Historically, the way this has worked is that processors have dictated to the market what the merchant’s strategy should be. The ecosystem has completely changed over the last year and the companies that are able to quickly adapt to meet those emerging needs will be successful. The “aha moment” comes when the merchant realizes our platform enables them to accept payments whenever, wherever they choose; point-of-sale, eCommerece, or mobile – all from a single merchant account.
CEOCFO: Are there particular industries of focus? Mr. Warrington: Not particularly. Our platform empowers merchants and partners of all sizes, in any vertical. More interesting is the type of business. The fastest growing portion of our business is eCommerce. While we do have a large portion of “card present” traditional point of sale merchants, we are helping, through our partners, enable merchants to move online with a successful payment strategy.
CEOCFO: I have interviewed a number of payment companies and many say that it has come down to be quite commoditized; how cheaply can you do it. How do you present the differences? How do you get around people who are just looking price wise? Mr. Warrington: There are, certainly. I would say that many of our competitors in this industry are volume / commodity players. Commodity players always tend to say that payments are a commodity, because it gives them a degree of comfort from where they stand. However, what we have learned over the last twenty-four months are two things; first of all, with all of the growth and movement towards eCommerce and “card not present, integration is paramount. Your platform technology must enable these innovative companies disrupting the space the ability to quickly and easily integrate into your platform and give them complete oversight into their merchants’ transactions. People are moving buying decisions online, which is disruptive in itself to what the traditional point of sale model has been. Secondly, we have learned that mobile is real. Mobile has been dismissed in the past. However, with the growth in smartphone technology, mobile is becoming a dominating presence in merchant processing and in the point-of-sale space. That in itself combined with disruptive technology and a disruptive shift in consumer behavior would indicate to me; and we certainly see it through our business, that we are seeing a separation of what is the traditional “commodity business”, to what is the real trend in credit card and merchant processing
CEOCFO: How do you stay on top of technology? How do you know what to keep your eye on and what might go away quickly? Mr. Warrington: We are extremely active through our product management organizations in the industry and working with our largest partners and merchants. We certainly participate at every level within the industry. We recently picked up our business and moved it to Austin, Texas, so we could be more tightly in tune with the flow of technology and eCommerce, given Austin’s growth and what is becoming a dominating presence in electronic payments. We have inserted ourselves in every way in the relevant flow of direction for this market and our overall business. We develop in house, so we employ on site here in Austin all of our development staff. That allows us to move very quickly and very rapidly. It is a point that I made earlier. Because of the fact that the nature of the architecture of our platform being .net and in the cloud we are able to do things in half the amount of time of traditional processors. Therefore, we can capture trends through development cycles and shorten time to market significantly from any of our competitors. Plus the fact that we own our own platform does not limit us in any way or form to any third parties as to the breadth and scope of which we decide to capture a trend.
CEOCFO: How do you reach perspective customers? Mr. Warrington: We have a series of relationships that allow us to gain access to specific markets that we target. An example of that is Bigcommerce. Bigcommerce is one, if not the fastest growing web based provider of storefront inventory management and control. We partner with them to provide processing solutions to their eCommerce partners and merchants that they bring online. We have partners such as traditional independent sales organizations and integrated solutions partners that resell our products and services. We also sell directly to merchants of all sizes and have some very notable enterprise clients.
CEOCFO: What surprised you most as SecureNet has developed and grown? Mr. Warrington: I think, when I took over this position eighteen months ago, it was that a lot of where we thought the market was going to go was still pretty ideological. It was just at the advent of Square. I think what surprised me the most is how our technology has aligned itself as quickly as it has to the rapidly changing needs this very disruptive period in merchant payments and credit card processing has brought over the last eighteen months. What surprised me the most is how we have been able to adapt as quickly as we have to the trends around mobile payments and mobile technology. We give our partners the ability to either integrate through our library of mobile API connectors or through our mobile point-of-sale application and hardware. Our flexible architecture simplifies integration and empowers merchants and developers to design and control their own payment roadmap. We are not simply a payment processor. We are not a volume player. We are a technology company first and foremost.
CEOCFO: I know you have had a number of changes or additions to your team in the last few months. Is it all in place now, or are you still looking to make some changes? Mr. Warrington: My team is locked in. I am excited to be able to bring in a whole new team and move the company and restart the culture. Essentially, over the last year we have turned over fifty percent of the company. Part of that was by choice and design. We positioned ourselves for the future, to be more adaptive and ready for where this market is headed. We have brought in a seasoned and payments experienced team to help me build this business. Hands down, we are the fastest growing payment processor in the country.
CEOCFO: What are the intangibles that you have looked for in your people? Mr. Warrington: We are still in the very entrepreneurial stage of our company. I like the blend of experience and discipline, but I like it cut with a self motivated, entrepreneurial style. To me, that continues to help foster and drive innovation and continues to drive the thinking of how we do things differently than all of our competitors in this industry. You try to find a blend of both, because this is a very disciplined business. What we do, as far as managing; we are on a run rate of nineteen billion in processing volume. It is highly regulated and highly audited, so there is a high degree of discipline and precision in what we do. However, there are intangibles that I try to mix it with. I love the degree of self-starting, and being what I like to call entrepreneurial “scrappy”. That is how I have always described my leadership style whenever I have taken over and I promote that style amongst my team. I definitely promote an autonomous environment as well.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about your recent agreement with Storeplacer? Is that a typical agreement that you might see, going forward? Mr. Warrington: Yes, absolutely! Storeplacer is a perfect example of an up and coming, technology platform serving a unique value and purpose for eCommerce and other companies as they move online. We were able, in a very short period of time, to do a cross integration with their platform allowing us to bring their value add to our channel. At the same time it allows us to extend to them the need that they have to be able to complete the transaction end to end.
CEOCFO: Why should investors and people in the business community pay attention to SecureNet? What makes you an exceptional company?
Mr.
Warrington:
We are in a unique position in that we are an end to end
payment processor, technology driven company that has established itself in
a very short period of time, of being the “go to” or one of the premier
providers of mobile payment processing. We also own the economics of the
transaction, end to end, which gives us another unique competitive
differentiator from many of the other providers in the industry that are
nothing more than gateways. Behind a gateway a lot of things have to happen
for a transaction to be completed and that is something that we own and do
in house at SecureNet, end to end. |
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“Traditionally, the way that this industry works is usually through several layers between the processors and the merchants, the eCommerce provider or the mobile provider. We are unique and different from most other players in the industry in that we do not have those layers. Our technology stack allows us to utilize the full breadth of our robust software without creating layers between our merchants and our payment engine. We have the ability, because we own our own platform, to process transactions end-to-end without any of those stopping points or third party layers.”- Brent Warrington |
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