Perhaps no other part of the payments industry sees change as consistently as merchant acquiring. ISOs not only contend with changes made by their acquirers, processors and the card brands but also with a constant rotation of customers, employees, business practices and products. Through a series of question-and-answer articles with industry professionals, ISO&Agent Weekly hopes to provide insight into how companies anticipate and manage change while maintaining a productive and profitable enterprise.
This week's questions are for O.B. Rawls, senior vice president of sales at Tasq Technology, a Rocklin, Calif.-based point-of-sale terminal distributor. Rawls recently joined Tasq, where he will oversee all of the company's sales and service in the United States and Canada. Most recently, Rawls was senior vice president of international sales at Hypercom Corp., a Phoenix-based point-of-sale terminal maker.
ISO: How do you see Tasq evolving over the next three to five years?
OBR: TASQ is a services company that sells hardware to the point-of sale industry as well as the associated services of deployment, call center activities and merchant supplies. I see us evolving as the market changes, especially in light of the fact that almost one in five new merchant accounts established today is a soft or virtual merchant account. While hardware sales and repairs will continue to grow, we will create additional focus to provide services and solutions to the new markets. Mobility products will provide new services opportunities as well.
ISO: How do you rate innovation among point-of-sale equipment makers?
OBR: We live in an ever-changing market place where competitiveness drives innovation in the terminal world. Today's security standards have raised the bar among the manufacturers and they have all responded with value-driven, feature-rich and secure products.
ISO: Does a single terminal manufacturer dominate in everything a terminal should do?
OBR: I don't believe so. Our world is cyclical, and we see the terminal companies periodically rotate their market positions. A lot of the marketplace considers the terminal to be a commodity. In reality, they all do the same functions, and success is driven by marketing, reliability and total cost of ownership.
ISO: What is the impact of consolidation among terminal makers? Could distributors, such as Tasq, find it harder to negotiate on price as the number of suppliers shrinks?
OBR: There are three global suppliers of product, and market supply is bountiful.
ISO: What is the Tasq outlook for the U.S. market? Where does Tasq see sales coming from?
OBR: We service the entire North American marketplace in the United States and Canada. We support 31,000 different part numbers, inclusive of hardware, PIN pads, check readers, contactless devices and supplies. Our growth comes from the expansive market growth in the United States and Canada. Our industry is robust–just look at the host of new products evolving today (wireless, mobility, pay-at-the-table, contactless)–these products, in addition to loyalty and prepaid card services, create new opportunities for merchants and the participants in our business.
ISO: Are you involved in Tasq's Canada business? If so, how?
OBR: Tasq Canada provides a mirrored set of services in Canada, and, of course, these products are tailored to the specific needs of the Canadian merchants.
ISO: How does the Tasq distribution model work? You have a sales force that calls on ISOs, merchant acquirers and others–correct?
OBR: We have a direct sales force and a telemarketing unit.
ISO: What are the advantages and disadvantages of working with a distributor versus going direct to the manufacturer? Does the customer need to be of a certain size to go direct?
OBR: We provide a just-in-time business model for hardware, repair and supply purchases, which works well for the smaller customers. Our larger customers choose us over the manufacturers because we aren't just selling hardware; we provide a total solution to the largest customers featuring terminals and peripherals and all inventory management services such as deployment, merchant initiation, help desk services and repairs. Our customers oftentimes find our prices to be better than the OEMs due to our buying scale.
ISO: Anything else you'd like to add?
OBR: Canada is providing significant growth opportunities to us and, as we move toward the future, we are evaluating opportunities for global expansion beyond North America.
