Startup Canada will visit Calgary and Brampton for the final stops in their Startup Canada Tour, a five-city national in-person event series connecting early stage entrepreneurs with local support organizations and industry experts to drive their businesses forward.

Startup Canada Tour kicked off in Whitehorse on April 25, then travelled to connect with entrepreneurs in Halifax and Vancouver. In addition to the regional events bringing together a diverse group of early stage entrepreneurs with ecosystem support organizations, industry experts, and tools to aid in their growth and development, each stop also featured a ‘Pop-up’ Pitch Competition – an opportunity for local founders to compete for a $3,000 cash prize and a position in the Startup Global Pitch Competition Grand Finale in Brampton.

Championing Canadian founders and innovators

“During our first three Startup Canada Tour stops, we could hear directly from entrepreneurs about both the successes they’ve had and challenges they’ve faced in running their businesses over the last three years,” said Kayla Isabelle, CEO of Startup Canada. “At our Calgary and Brampton stops, we will be able to bring some of these stories to the forefront, highlighting areas where increased advocacy is needed from both the private and public sector to increase support for Canadian founders.” 

The final legs of the Tour will take place in Calgary on Thursday, September 28, at the BMO Centre at Stampede Park, and in Brampton on Thursday, October 26, at The Rose Brampton. The Brampton stop will be hosted in-person and virtually, allowing entrepreneurs nationwide to attend all workshops, panels, keynote presentations, and the Startup Global Pitch Competition. 

Showcasing entrepreneurs on a national stage

During the 2023 Startup Global Pitch Competition Grand Finale in Brampton, ten entrepreneurs from across the country will present their businesses live on stage, compete for a cash prize pool of $70,000, and export support for launching their business internationally. Wild Card ‘Pop-up’ Pitches will also be held at the Calgary, and Brampton stops, offering a $3,000 cash prize and an automatic spot in the Grand Finale in October. Applications to pitch in Calgary or Brampton are now open at https://bit.ly/2023-global-pitch.

“It was great to connect with the local ecosystems that support startups. UPS was busy sharing our experience on and off the stage with the future of business in Canada and around the world,” says Paul Gaspar, director for small business at UPS Canada. “Entrepreneurship is very much alive and thriving across Canada, we’re thrilled to be a part of the tour not only to provide our expertise, but to learn from business leaders across the country.”

Startup Canada Tour is presented in partnership with UPS, with Air Canada as the exclusive airline partner, and with program support from BDC. The Tour is also presented with the help of our ecosystem partners, including Brampton Innovation District, Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ Chamber of Commerce (CGLCC), Alberta Women Entrepreneurs, the Forum, Futurpreneur, Moneris, OWNR, Revolution HER, University of Waterloo, Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH), the Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada (WEOC), and media partner Media Planet. 

“It is an absolute honour for Air Canada to support Startup Canada’s remarkable mission,” says Idir Benkadoum, manager, B2B customer lifecycle at Air Canada. “By serving as their official airline, we have the privilege of enabling the entire team to travel across the country, empowering and celebrating the brilliance of Canadian startups and entrepreneurs.”

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Over the last couple of years, the pace of change has increased, especially for consumer shopping, selling and payment habits. Businesses are in the midst of a shift in overall methods of commerce. If the steps taken are done right, it bodes well for businesses in the future.

Despite recent challenges, some businesses hit the ground running at the onset of the pandemic and thrived. What’s the secret to their success? Square, a global technology leader providing tools and financial services for businesses, collaborated with Wakefield Research to find the answers. They conducted a survey of 1,000 customers and 500 retail businesses in Canada to gather their insights for the Future of Retail 2022. From this report, businesses can learn what it takes to evolve successfully in a changing world.

Keeping pace in a changing retail world

Automation is one area that is receiving plenty of attention. While companies are seeing it as a possible solution to ongoing labour shortages, it doesn’t mean replacing employees with robots. Automation allows staff to focus on more meaningful work. It’s a big trend with an estimated 93 percent of Canadian companies saying they use, or plan to use, automation technology to decrease the hands-on time of staff.

Consumers are turning to alternative ways of shopping beyond just online, including buying through live streaming and social media. During the pandemic, they’ve been accustomed to alternate channels and want options available to them. These seamless and easy-to-use omnichannel buying experiences are expected to grow in scale in the upcoming years.

It’s a win for businesses, too. Omnichannel commerce builds customer loyalty and provides multiple touchpoints for maintaining contact with consumers. The barrier for some retailers is a lack of knowledge about technology that prevents them from selling goods via newer online or social channels.

As Darryl Julott, Managing Lead at Digital Main Street, explains: “If you’re a smaller business, you need to look holistically at your business, your customers and your current omnichannel marketing strategy to see where you have gaps and where you can actually begin implementing a full-fledged strategy. You don’t want to get so far down the road and into the weeds with no direction. Pull back before you jump in — figure out how you’d be able to correct things and make adjustments on the fly.”

Consumers seek alternative shopping channels

Even as in-person shopping rebounds, the demand for e-commerce isn’t going anywhere. Retailers will have to adapt as consumers change how they want to buy and pay. The report findings show 61 percent of consumers prefer contactless payment, while 36 percent of retailers say they no longer accept cash. That makes adopting other payment solutions like mobile wallet apps, touchless card payments and QR payments a smart move.

Though consumers say they want contactless shopping, they still want connection, which is why conversational commerce is emerging as a leading trend for retailers. It allows businesses to meet their customers where they are. The data shows 47 percent of retailers reported they currently sell or plan to implement selling via text or chat. Customers are already embracing alternate channels with 23 percent buying retail items from salons and spas through social media channels.

Social media isn’t just about connecting, the report states. It’s about customer demand and translating it into sales. “By fine-tuning their message on all social channels available, retailers have a unique opportunity to meet millions of potential new customers and reach existing ones to help drive additional sales,” explains Brandon Levy, Square’s general manager, inventory, fulfillment and merchandising.

With change comes opportunity. Businesses can stand out by offering interactive, memorable retail experiences. Stores can break out of the box and experiment with inventive ways to keep customers engaged and spending more time with their favourite brands.

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Acre75 is a one-of-a-kind Canadian family-owned company. And it’s redefining what it means to shop local while enjoying the convenience of online shopping.

Acre75 is a one-of-a-kind Canadian family-owned company. And it’s redefining what it means to shop local while enjoying the convenience of online shopping. Located in Perth County, Ontario, Acre75’s online shop and subscription box service are stocked entirely with quality products made by makers in small communities with less than 30,000 population. Scrolling through the company’s product catalogue is like taking a small-town road trip across Canada. Acre75 is celebrating its fifth anniversary, so here are five reasons you’ll want to consider Acre75 for your next shopping experience.   

Convenience that makes you feel good supporting local 

More than 70 percent of Canadians have purchased goods or services online. While we like the convenience of shopping online, many of us also like the idea of supporting local businesses. Unlike most online shopping sites, Acre75 gives us both. And it has opened up a national audience for many local makers.

Quality products you’ll use

Acre75 sources high-quality products, ranging from home goods to all-natural bath and body products to gourmet food items and more. Locally made products are more valuable because of the amount of time and care that has gone into the making of these products, most of which are made by hand in small batches. These are the kinds of goods you’ll want to use and tell your friends about.

Businesses in small towns are the anchor of their communities. When you buy their products they can invest in their community, by supporting other local businesses, sponsoring local sports teams, arts clubs, and other civic groups.

You can be a difference maker

Businesses in small towns are the anchor of their communities. When you buy their products they can invest in their community, by supporting other local businesses, sponsoring local sports teams, arts clubs, and other civic groups. Income is recirculated, so when you support a small-town business, you’re also supporting an entire community. 

Feel good about supporting rural mental health

Acre75 founder, Virginia Ehrlich, is passionate about supporting mental health. Normalizing this conversation is especially important in small communities where there is limited access to mental health services and an increased sense of stigma around seeking mental health support. For that reason, one dollar from each Acre75 sale is donated to rural mental health awareness and initiatives. Over $4000 has been donated since January of 2020.

A subscription service you can’t wait to get

The majority of Acre75’s business is its popular and award-winning premium subscription box service, called Acre75 Gathered. A surprise of specially curated products from its stable of makers is sent to subscribers quarterly. Each box supports over six small-town Canadian businesses. There’s something special about knowing who made your product and where (even if you’ve never heard of that town before!) Included in each box is an information card describing the products and a fun fact about the communities they were made in. The boxes are delivered each season in June, September, December and March. Acre75 Gathered is a one-of-a-kind experience. You won’t find a subscription service that features only small-town Canadian makers anywhere else. 

“Acre75 is proof that no matter where you come from, even if it’s in the middle of nowhere, you can be successful. I’m looking forward to continuing to grow my little local corner of the internet over the next five years and beyond,” says Ehrlich.

The post The Convenience of Online Shopping with a Local Twist appeared first on HiveInnovates.

The pace that commerce has accelerated during the pandemic has changed the way businesses and consumers transact. With no sign of slowing, the continued reliance on digital payment technologies has been a keyfocus among businesses. Consumers have embraced new shopping and payment behaviours in a significant way and have come to depend on them.

Adopting digital payments has played a vital role for businesses of all sizes and in all industries. According to leading payments technology company, Global Payments, key trends have emerged and are explored in detail in their 2022 Commerce and Payment Trends Report. Payment experts, global businesses and issuers weighed in to provide their insights about which trends businesses should pay attention to this year.

Digital technology gains momentum in a post-pandemic world 

The results, presented as five key trends, are shaking up commerce in a positive way. For businesses, these insights are invaluable for evaluating current strategies and ensuring they are prepared to meet the needs of customers and partners.

1. Buy now, pay later means higher conversions

Businesses selling big-ticket items are accustomed to offering customers installment plans. This year, offering tailored and flexible buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans on smaller purchases is on track to be a top payment trend. Though primarily limited to in-store transactions in the past, the availability of BNPL has now expanded to online purchases.

An estimated 65% of merchants plan to adopt this payment option, according to Global Payments. Consumers have shown they are comfortable making larger purchases when they have the option of BNPL. Features like opt-in payment plans and BNPL plans can be offered at check-out to split their payments and set-up installment plans.

2. Adapting to changing customer expectations is key

Meeting a customer’s expectations these days should include the ways they prefer to pay at checkout. The pandemic amplified the need for businesses to allow customers to pay digitally, both online and in-person. As such, the acceptance of digital wallets, QR-code payments, payment links, and online invoicing have proven to meet the needs of digital-savvy consumers and businesses alike—addressing concerns for safety and expectations of convenience.

As online shopping habits continue to form, businesses should also review their ecommerce platforms, ensuring their product pages are optimized and the checkout process is frictionless.

3. Customers expect a connected buying experience

When mapping a customer’s buying journey, businesses should aim to look at the bigger picture–from beginning to end. Connecting every point of the buying process to support a strategic commerce ecosystem has been shown to deliver better outcomes. Integrating gift and loyalty programs, for example, help attract new customers, retain existing customers and drive revenue.

Brand affinity and familiarity are driving factors for many purchase decisions. That’s why digital commerce strategy should focus on adopting ways to create a superior experience for customers while also providing key metrics and analytics to help run and grow business. Often, businesses rely on many different providers to deliver what they need which can be inefficient–a better option is to choose a single-source provider that can provide a robust suite of options at the start.

4. Data security remains a priority

Handling customer data means businesses should adhere to the latest guidance and follow proper protocols for data security. It’s a topic that will drive some of the greatest challenges for businesses this year.

Cybersecurity Involves ensuring data privacy policies, procedures, and protections are met. Technology Can help protect data. For example, tokenization—where sensitive data is modified and stored with “tokens” which have no real relationship between the token and the original card number–provides an added layer of security to protect data.

It’s recommended that businesses re-evaluate their policies and procedures at least once per year and consult with a payments partner for recommendations and solutions.

5. B2B payments get digitized

Businesses transacting with other businesses are continuing to see the reciprocal role that digital commerce plays. With more of the workforce remote, businesses need to ensure payment obligations are being met with suppliers, driving the need to digitize B2B payments. It’s estimated that digital B2B payments are expected to increase from 121.5 billion in 2020 to 200 billion transactions by 2025, according to Capgemini.

The benefits of a streamlined digital B2B payments approach includes better cash flow management, greater efficiency and less money spent on paper supplies and postage to name a few.

The post Businesses and Consumers Embrace Digital Payment Technology appeared first on HiveInnovates.

The University of Calgary’s Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking is bridging the gap between students and the new economy nationwide.

One of the biggest issues that innovation ventures face is a lack of easy accessibility to skilled talent. Establishing firm connections with talented individuals opens doors for collaboration, economic development, and continued prosperity for Canada. 

That’s why the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking offers many immersive talent experiences and workshops along with its social innovation and entrepreneurship training programs. They instill students from all disciplines with strong collaboration and problem-solving skills, resiliency, and a forward-thinking mindset that’s ready to grow and affect change to create a better future. 

The Hunter Hub creates, inspires, and supports future changemakers through its diverse curriculum, extracurricular, and experiential learning activities and programs. They build innovation initiatives across campus and beyond. They understand the new economy’s needs, which is why they strive to build a community of interdisciplinary innovators within the university while connecting with talent outside it. 

Honing future-ready skills

A new national initiative, Experience Ventures, is geared toward doing just that by giving students the chance to make an impact alongside real-world innovators. For aspiring student changemakers, these opportunities help to demystify and increase accessibility to the innovation community nationwide. 

Led by the Hunter Hub, Experience Ventures is a national initiative that has partnerships with eight other top Canadian universities so far. Having just launched in July, it’s had over 2,000 students participate in a wildly successful pilot year. 

“Our students are matched with early-stage startups and social ventures. Together they work to solve a defined real-world problem and build a solution,” says Keri Damen, the Executive Director of the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking. “Plus, students are paid for their experience, eradicating any potential financial barriers and increasing access to innovation opportunities from all backgrounds.”

With flexible working models, participants have a certain number of hours they must fulfill, and projects can be tackled as individuals or in teams. Students can apply what they’re learning in the classroom while integrating into local innovation ecosystems and building their networks.

Our students are matched with early-stage startups and social ventures. Together they work to solve a defi ned realworld problem and build a solution.

Advance your career

“We want to keep our brightest student innovators in our local communities supporting startups,” Keri adds. “Our students are getting hired by these ventures after the program ends.” Plus, the initiative was specially designed to reach rural and underrepresented communities, ensuring that the future of innovation is diverse in thought and representation by being accessible to everyone. 

Experience Ventures opportunities are open to students from 14 faculties at UCalgary and its partner universities — encouraging cross-discipline team building and mutual respect. Everyone gains experience in transferrable skills that will be useful in any industry, including risk management, collaboration, and the ability to spot opportunities. 

The university is actively looking for more partnerships to make this program available to more students. “The University of Calgary is on a very exciting trajectory in innovation,” Keri explains. Offering initiatives like Experience Ventures is why the school ranks number one for research-based startups in Canada amongst university institutions.

Building Canada’s innovation economy

The University of Calgary is also the youngest school to be ranked as one of the top five research universities in the country. The institution believes that research forms the necessary foundation for innovation and economic development. Not only are they finding that more students are going into innovation, researchers are now also increasingly considering the real-world impact their research might have. This crossover into entrepreneurship ensures that the school’s innovation ecosystem will continue to grow and thrive.

Experience Ventures gives students the sense of community that’s been lacking during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly through their upcoming Experience Ventures National Hackathon. Collaborating with interdisciplinary teams, participants will work with industry experts to solve a problem — this one being wellness. Students will build networks, test solutions, and learn how to strategize. The top teams compete at a national competition for $5,000 worth of cash prizes. 

The post How to Create Future Changemakers? Give Them Real-World Experience appeared first on HiveInnovates.

As digital payments increase, potential fraudsters get sharper and smarter. Visa is helping to protect Canadian businesses and consumers through technology and education.

The exponential growth of e-commerce during the pandemic saved many small businesses and gave consumers a safer way to shop.

As we enter a new phase of the pandemic, this trend is expected to continue growing. “In Visa’s Summer 2021 Installments Pulse Survey, 55 percent of Canadians said they will stay with e-commerce habits adopted in the pandemic, and we see that trend reflected in the payments ecosystem,” says Maryam Saeed, Head of Risk, Visa Canada. However, with the rise in e-commerce, fraudsters are shifting their focus to take advantage of this accelerated digitization. Saeed says there are three core components as we think about threats: data, consumers, and infrastructure.

“We’ve seen an increase in account takeover activities due to weak security hygiene by consumers, such as clicking on links in unsolicited emails, using the same password for multiple accounts, and falling victim to romance and phishing scams,” she explains.

Fraudsters continue to target e-commerce websites with digital skimming, using malicious code or enumeration attacks to gain access to payment information as well as ransomware — where fraudsters hold data and systems hostage for ransom. These activities remain a global threat with no signs of slowing down.

A trusted partner with the right solutions to minimize risk

Despite the complexity of this rapidly changing payment landscape, Visa’s payment ecosystem remains strong. Over the past five years, Visa has invested roughly nine  billion dollars ($9B USD) globally in multiple fraud detection systems to help protect cardholders and the payment ecosystem. As a global leader in security and fraud prevention, Visa vigilantly monitors this ecosystem for a wide variety of threats and applies a three-pillar approach of people, technology, and process to assist the ecosystem participants in identifying, mitigating, and preventing these threats.

As a global network of networks with access to insight on global trends, Visa is committed to sharing this knowledge and expertise with Canadian businesses and consumers. Visa also works as a partner within the payment ecosystem, communicating fraud events and recommendations to its issuers and acquirers to help protect cardholders. “We have a suite of products and services for our clients to help reduce fraud and prevent it before it even happens, and to combat against increasingly sophisticated fraudsters,” says Saeed. 

Take steps to keep your financial information safe

According to the 2022 Visa Fraud Prevention Survey, Canadians aged 55 and above are the most vigilant in their financial transactions, with 55 percent reporting that they’re more cautious than they were pre-pandemic.  

“Be cautiously suspicious when giving out personal information. It’s also very important to never disclose your PIN, banking login credentials or passwords. Common red flags in email phishing schemes are inaccuracies, spelling errors or missing information,” says Saeed. “Similarly, if someone calls you claiming to be your financial institution asking you to share personal financial information, either call your financial institution or ask questions to determine whether the caller is legitimate. By protecting themselves, Canadian consumers can continue being our partners in helping to protect the payment ecosystem,” says Saeed. 

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A flexible, customizable food service POS system is a necessity in a competitive world where customer demand determines the future of the industry.

Having a flexible, customizable food service point-of-sale (POS) system has become a necessity in a competitive world where customer demand determines the future of hospitality. Givex is a company that can help restaurants adapt, evolve, and meet this challenge.

A POS solutions provider

GivexPOS is the platform of choice for some of the world’s largest brands, serving 113,000 locations in 110+ countries. It provides merchants with customer engagement, point-of-sale and payment solutions in a single platform, which integrates with 1000+ technology partners. 

The robust platform supports simple or complex gift card programs, customized loyalty programs, stored value or loaded tickets, a powerful omnichannel point-of-sale system with options that include fully integrated payment processing, kitchen display systems, inventory controls, labour management, kiosks, handheld ordering tablets, and merchant-skinned online ordering websites. 

Flexibility and customization are the key to success

A POS platform that supports clients by delivering on flexibility and customization is one of the most important features the food service industry needs in a fintech partner, particularly in a post-COVID-19 age. 

Hospitality Technology’s 2021 POS Software Trends Report: Accelerating Innovation, notes that, when it published its 2020 report, “Restaurant operators and solution providers were pushing POS software toward digital and online like never before, seeking to deliver convenience and efficiency to customers, whether in the dining room or off-premises. The pandemic and economic downturn of the past year only accelerated that trend, as restaurants scrambled to pivot to off-prem and meet customer demand for contactless transactions and efficiency, while ensuring as much ROI as possible.”

Working with an adaptable cloud-based POS system was one of the few ways merchants could quickly pivot their businesses to include omnichannel delivery, efficient third-party integration, and modules to allow for expansion and change.

During the pandemic, Meltwich, a Toronto-based fast casual chain with close to 30 locations, quickly moved to online ordering to meet customer demand for off-premises dining. It did so seamlessly, integrating Givex’s POS system into its delivery platform, offering uninterrupted service to its customers. And, because Givex’s platform provides customizable reports, campaign management templates, and an easy-to-use analytics tool, Meltwich was able to gain insights to enable it to implement system-wide changes efficiently.

A POS system that delivers on speed and quality

Clients have also found that working with a single source provider not only delivers customized solutions, but it also saves time and is cost-effective when the provider has all the resources needed to support the business under one platform.

Canadian coffee chain Second Cup, with more than 200 locations across Canada, was already using Givex for gift cards, loyalty programs and POS when Foodtastic — an operation with 650 restaurants across 21 brands — acquired it.

“When I joined Second Cup, I had only known Givex as a gift card solutions provider,” said Tom Hogan, VP of Foodtastic and Second Cup Canada. “As I started to integrate myself into the platform, I realized that a great point-of-sale system was just the tip of the iceberg.”

Givex worked to add historical data from the operation’s previous provider, offered full inventory management solutions, and integrated third-party providers into the customized platform, all within a tight deadline.

“Our existing POS was not supporting the growing needs of our business,” recalled Hogan. Givex was given a deadline of December 31, 2020, to complete the project. “With having to source, train and deploy technicians across the country, deal with different infrastructure at each location, and manage different cafe partner expectations, I’m sure there were some sleepless nights for the team at Givex. Through it all, they remained steadfast in hitting the mark.”

Since project completion, Hogan has seen a significant uptick in efficiency and speed of service across Second Cup’s stores.

A bright future

In the fall of 2021, Foodtastic selected Givex as its point-of-sale and customer engagement platform across all its 21 restaurant brands. Rolling out Givex’s POS system and Customer WebSuite (CWS) solutions across its brands was a massive, yet successful, undertaking.

Andy Huang is the chief operating officer of The Captain’s Boil, another Givex restaurant client with over 20 locations. “For more than five years, GivexPOS and other Givex technologies have helped improve our operations, from the kitchen display system ensuring that our food is served hot, to the robust inventory and recipe application helping control our food costs. In addition, its system seamlessly integrated with a third-party app to help manage our labour costs, and we’re very pleased with the preliminary results of the loyalty program we recently implemented with Givex.”

By demonstrating its ability to adapt to the changing landscape and offer flexible and innovative technology throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Givex was able to expand its robust tech suite and partner with new international clients over the past year, increasing its total number of customer locations to more than 100,000. 

“It’s important for us to be able to provide our clients with up-to-date, innovative technology that makes the most sense for their immediate needs,” said Mo Chaar, Givex’s Chief Commercial Officer. “That includes offering our clients complete flexibility to ensure our solutions work with other vendors, as well as ensuring that we can offer seamless integration with those products — a move that is unprecedented within the industry.”

In 2021, Givex announced the launch of GivexPay, an integrated payment processing solution, enabling the company to enhance its service offering, gain access to the latest payment innovations, and scale globally with one integrated system. 

“With this launch, we can better serve merchants looking for an all-in-one management solution that includes gift card programs, customized loyalty programs, kitchen display systems, inventory controls, kiosks, handheld ordering tablets, online ordering apps, POS, and now payment processing, with the support and scalability they need to grow,” commented Chaar.

All in all, Givex provides owners and managers with a seamless and completely customizable POS experience. The same factors that make Givex easy to use and implement mean that scalability comes naturally for the systems. 

The post Delivering The Goods: A Flexible POS System Keeps The Food Industry Running Smoothly appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Mediaplanet sat down with retail thought leader Darryl Julott to get his views on the key retail trends going forward.

Tell us a bit about your backstory?

I have taken an unusual path between my education and work experience (I was even a garbage man for a few years in Toronto). Since I have always worked in the non-profit space and small business has always been in my blood, Digital Main Street (DMS) was the perfect opportunity to combine both passions and continue to help small businesses when they needed it the most. 

The pandemic moved things around for many businesses. What is here to stay? How has the full conscious shift in consumer behaviour affected shopping local? 

Seeing a conscious shift in how consumers embrace shopping local is one positive of the last few years and I do believe it is really here to stay. People realize the importance of these small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in their community. I also think businesses have realized the absolute need to embrace digital transformation. 

Do you see a future where brick and mortar and e-commerce create a singular in-store experience?

We are already seeing it, and regardless of size, the most successful brands are creating a seamless experience for their customers. This integration will be essential for retailers as they continue to fight for consumer spending and foot traffic. Innovation will be driven out of this as well, as brands continue to look for ways to differentiate and connect with their customers.

With digitization taking over, in your opinion, what are ways owners can keep their information and transactions secure? Is it by leveraging payment partners? POS system?

It’s more important now than ever. Mastercard notes that 50 percent of all SMBs have experienced a cyberattack. Most are not prepared to deal with it or the potential fallout. Ensuring you have a proper POS system in place is a great start, as well as ensuring you understand the risks from a cybersecurity standpoint and what products can provide the best protection for your business. 

How has your work with Digital Main Street and Retail Insider created your vision of the future of retail? 

I believe I have a well-rounded view of the retail industry by examining the industry through the lens of both small and large retailers. DMS is helping SMBs prepare for the future, which is going to be critical as technologies that are already present in larger retail environments, such as augmented and virtual reality, and others, become more prominent and part of our day-to-day retail experiences. 

The post An Insiders Take on the Future of Retail appeared first on HiveInnovates.

As the payments landscape evolves, financial institutions and other organizations must strive to stay consumer-centric and competitive.

The payments industry is currently undergoing significant disruption. Financial institutions, fintechs, and other organizations are all competing to keep up with customer expectations and to make payments faster, easier, and more convenient. This requires core infrastructure transformation, new product innovation, and adhering to the new regulations and legislations popping up to accommodate the industry’s transformation. Payments modernization has never been more important or diverse in strategic opportunity, choice for participation, and positioning organizations for the future.

Industry-wide disruption

“If you look back 10 or more years, the payments experience was characterized by quite a bit of friction for the end-user,” says Geoff Rush, Partner and National Industry Leader of Financial Services at KPMG in Canada, a leader in financial and payments services. “It took a lot of effort to complete a payment and often a lot of time for it to clear. What we’re seeing now is a lot of innovation to take that friction out of the process.”

Higher customer expectations are driving the trend. “Customers are expecting more on the service level, which includes the cost, efficiency, and visibility of their payments,” says Edwin Isted, Senior Manager at KPMG in Canada. And the non-traditional entrants into the payments ecosystem, big tech or fintechs, are shaking up the ecosystem significantly, forcing incumbent financial institutions to evolve and innovate.

Full-service payments support 

With organizations striving to meet customer expectations, stay competitive, and future-proof their businesses, they’re also now having to contend with new regulations and legislative changes around payment service providers, new digital currencies like crypto, and other disruptions. These compounding factors are driving an accelerated pace of innovation in payments, says Rush. That’s where KPMG comes in.

“We’re one of Canada’s largest professional services providers,” says Rush. “We’re well-known for our advisory, technology, and analytical services.”

Included in KPMG’s financial services management consulting business is its payments practice, which helps organizations manage risk, enhance regulatory compliance, optimize customer and digital strategies, and improve operations.

“Our payments team is industry-agnostic,” says Cody Greer, Senior Manager at KPMG in Canada. “We help both traditional payment clients — such as wholesale banks, commercial banks, investment banks, retail banks, central banks, card associations, and payment market infrastructures — as well as non-financial institutions like retailers, technology companies, fintechs, transit providers, and governments with payments transformation.

Embracing open banking

“One of the trends we’ve seen and which the Canadian market is about to embark on is open banking,” says Isted. Open banking refers to banking that provides third-party financial service providers open access to consumer banking, transaction, and other financial data from banks and non-bank financial institutions through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs). 

“Open banking is very interesting because we’ve seen a variety of models to enable it,” says Isted. “On the one end of the spectrum, you’ve got a pure legislative requirements-driven approach, while on the other end, you’ve got a purely market forces driven approach,  and then you have something in the middle which is sort of a hybrid of both. Open banking isn’t just about payments. It’s a fundamental change to many organizations in terms of how they view their data assets internally.”

“This is again about reducing friction and making lives easier for the end-customer,” says Rush.

What really separates us is the calibre of our people on an individual level. We’re the friendly firm and not only do we bring really great insights and help our clients achieve great results, we’re also great people to work with, and that’s hard to replicate.

Encouraging innovation   

“Modernizing the Canadian payments infrastructure can have enormous benefits to all Canadians, and other countries are already there,” says Rush. “At the core, what we’re trying to do with open data sharing is to create a more innovative and competitive payments landscape.”

“Open banking and payments modernization aren’t separate things,” adds Isted. “They’re both bringing more efficiency, lower costs, and require greater integration than before.”

From enabling real-time payments for both businesses and consumers to increasing operational efficiencies and boosting revenue for financial institutions, there are many benefits to open banking and payments modernization.

Open banking adds complexity, however, which the Canadian market is currently grappling with. “There are things that need to be in place to enable open banking, such as the surety of the actors involved,” explains Paul Jackson, Director of Payments Modernization at KPMG in Canada. “Being able to verify their digital identity becomes key.”

“To put this in place therefore requires some massive changes — changes to regulation, changes to incumbent players, technology infrastructure and processes, and even education and changes to consumer behaviour,” says Rush. 

Prioritizing payments modernization   

Payments modernization is therefore a critical priority, and organizations must work quickly to evolve their payment models and core infrastructure, adopt digital channel experiences, and innovate.

“We focus on three primary areas: payments modernization, getting financial institutions ready for the SWIFT mandates around ISO compliance, and strategy around payments across multiple industries,” says Isted.

“The new international data standard (ISO 20022) and open banking aren’t small transformations that organizations can just plug into,” says Greer. “These often require years of planning, testing and execution to ensure that they are ready on time. And compliance is only one half of the journey. At the same time, they need to consider the competitive and customer impacts in their new reality.”

KPMG assists its clients with a broad range of services related to payments transformation, from payments strategy and implementation to process reviews, automation and digitization, payment products, market research, risk assessments, and more.

Leading the way 

For organizations looking to tackle these changes and thrive in the payments landscape of the future, turning to a leader in financial and payments services like KMPG is a smart move.

“As a national industry leader, we’ve got some extremely talented professionals who are very deep in their areas of expertise,” says Rush. “But what really separates us is the calibre of our people on an individual level. We’re the friendly firm and not only do we bring really great insights and help our clients achieve great results, we’re also great people to work with, and that’s hard to replicate.”

The post Embracing Payments Modernization and Open Banking Is Good for Business appeared first on HiveInnovates.

When many people think of St. John’s, Newfoundland, and Labrador, they picture its scenic harbour, colourful houses along Jellybean Row and historic Signal Hill. While they are very much a part of the provincial capital, there is another story that offers a modern-day perspective for St. John’s — a vibrant city focused on innovation and technology, where companies are thriving.

There are many advantages the city offers businesses large and small, including a well-trained, educated workforce, an enticing lifestyle, and a welcoming, increasingly diverse community with a passion for adventure and creativity.

The St. John’s advantage

Many companies, specializing in sectors like technology, ocean research and the environment, have already recognized St. John’s as an emerging city well worth investing in, including Verafin, a financial crime management software development company that has become a true Canadian success story. Recently purchased for $2.75 billion USD, it employs 800 local people — 600 of which are graduates of Memorial University, consistently ranked as one of Canada’s top research universities.

There are more than 165 companies in the local technology sector, employing over 6,400 people and generating in excess of $1.6 billion in revenue. In a recent study, 92 percent of tech sector companies surveyed planned on expanding. They’ll be able to do that in St. John’s, thanks largely to its top-notch workforce.

As the last two years have shown, the pandemic is causing major changes in our priorities, including how we live and work. In many large cities across the country, residents are leaving in hopes of finding a better quality of living. They’re moving away from large urban centres to find a sense of belonging and purpose.

Finding a better work-life balance

By contrast, the St. John’s region is experiencing its largest inward migration in nearly 50 years. It ticks a lot of boxes for those seeking something different. When it comes to housing prices, for example, prices continue to soar in major cities, making home ownership nearly impossible. In the St. John’s metro area, where the average household income is $116,411 and the average house price is $307,619, it is within reach. It’s a big reason why many young professionals and families are moving to the area.

For companies, the bounty St. John’s offers is a tremendous advantage for attracting top-tier talent that can play a vital role in creating successful businesses.

Add into the mix the people and the land itself. Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are famously hospitable and proud of what their province offers, including some of Canada’s most stunning scenery and green spaces. The East Coast Trail is a hiker’s paradise, stretching 336 kilometres and passing directly through St. John’s. There’s also more than 100 kilometres of ocean views and scenic mountain biking trails nearby, creating one of Canada’s top outdoor destinations.

For companies, the bounty St. John’s offers is a tremendous advantage for attracting top-tier talent that can play a vital role in creating successful businesses. It means an engaged workforce that enjoys a healthy work-life balance. Now is the time to discover St. John’s and learn why it’s an ideal place to invest in, to live and to grow your business.

The post What Makes St. John’s a Vibrant Hub For Tech and Research Companies appeared first on HiveInnovates.