GROW Conference 2014: Vancouver’s Payfirma offering frictionless payment, plus a lanyard that gives you free perks

Vancity Buzz is excited to partner with GROW Conference 2014, bringing you a series of in-depth articles featuring the brands, brains and breakthroughs that will be at its 5th year. Heading to the hyper-connected hills of Whistler, BC, August 20-22, GROW dives headfirst into the Internet of Things, from robotics, drones, smart devices, and the connected everything.

This article is the second in Vancity Buzz’s GROW 2014 Series, featuring Vancouver’s own seamless payment provider, Payfirma.

In today’s competitive and rapidly evolving retail landscape, business owners need solutions to make the checkout experience as frictionless, simple and delightful possible. As more and more businesses embrace payments innovation, one company is offering the streamlined payment solutions businesses need- all under one account.

Payfirma is a Vancouver-based payments company that enables businesses to accept credit and debit card payments in their stores, online, and on tablets and mobile devices. This year, CEO and Founder, Michael Gokturk will take the stage at GROW to speak about his history in payments innovation and how making it easier for customers to pay can ultimately determine the success or failure of a business. It’s not just about creating better products, it’s about creating better experiences.

Founded in 2011, Payfirma was the first to introduce mobile payments in Canada. Their original mandate? Frictionless payments: to make it simple for all merchants, from your neighborhood food truck, to your plumber, to major retailers to accept card payments using their smartphone. But unlike their competitors, Payfirma saw mobile payments as just the beginning. The company soon took on a larger mission of helping businesses build their dreams by providing them with solutions to take payments online, in-store and on mobile devices all with one account. It was a revolutionary breakthrough in streamlined payment processing.

Today Payfirma boasts a full range of payment solutions, from mobile POS, to developer-friendly eCommerce payments, to recurring billing. All of these connect to an online payment platform which merchants can sign in to from anywhere and view their payment data in real time across all their channels. While the benefits to the business owner are undeniable, the consumer also stands to gain with the option to pay when, where and how they like and, through features like digital receipts not paper ones, with a more streamlined, positive experience.

This year, attendees at GROW are going to witness this dedication to frictionless payments first hand. GROW is teaming up with the Gibbons Hospitality Group to debut paperless drink tickets thanks to Payfirma’s NFC (near field communication) enabled lanyards. Using the same technology that allows you to tap and pay with your credit card, attendees can tap their nametag at participating locations and receive a free drink and other benefits. Part of the grander scheme of GROW is to make Whistler the most connected resort in the world. These NFC-enabled lanyards are a perfect example of connecting businesses and consumers seamlessly, creating not just better products, but better experiences.

“We wanted to do something different and create a pleasurable experience for GROW conference attendees”, says Gokturk. “You’re already wearing a lanyard, so it’s one less card to carry and one less piece of paper to lose.” Gokturk says this is just the beginning for contactless purchasing environments, especially as the evolution continues away from cash and cards towards more convenient methods of paying for things in our daily lives.

“As we continue to adopt and adapt to mobile payments and trusting new payment forms more readily, we will inevitably spend less time checking out and more time shopping and engaging with the brands we love. Creating better experiences for consumers is the key to future success.”

To hear Michael Gokturk speak, please purchase tickets to the GROW Conference, here. For more information on Payfirma, please click here.