Mercator Advisory Group Expands Payments Innovation Coverage: Tim Sloane Appointed VP, Payments Innovation
Boston, MA (PRWEB) June 05, 2014 -- The payments industry is evolving rapidly with new entrants from Silicon Valley, the influence of mobile technologies, the development and enhancement of transaction-driven value-added services, and new dynamics impacting traditional lines of business. Mercator Advisory Group, the leading payments research and advisory services firm, believes the market is entering a cycle of development that requires a more organized analytical view of these changes across existing payment segment boundaries.
To reflect Mercator Advisory Group’s commitment to excellence in payments research, the company has created the position of Vice President of Payments Innovation and appointed Tim Sloane, founding member of Mercator Advisory Group, to fill the position. In this role, Sloane will be responsible for oversight of payments innovation themes across services and will have direct responsibility for and oversight of content and service in our Emerging Technologies Advisory Service and Prepaid Advisory Service.
Robert Misasi, Mercator Advisory Group’s President, states: “We believe this coverage of innovation across services is of critical importance to all of our members. In our opinion, the Emerging Technologies and Prepaid market segments represent a critical area where payment forms are converging to establish new business opportunities that threaten existing implementations.”
In the company’s new structure, Pradeep Moudgal continues to serve as Director of the Emerging Technologies Advisory Service and Ben Jackson has been promoted to Director of the Prepaid Advisory Service, both reporting to Sloane in his new role. Sloane originally served as director of the Prepaid Advisory Service and will continue to work with members of that service in addition to members of the Emerging Technology Advisory Service.
Misasi said that he is grateful to have a senior team member dedicated to payments innovation and Sloane’s appointment serves as an indicator to Mercator Advisory Group’s members that they are receiving the highest quality research and advice in this critical area.
“I cannot think of a stronger analyst to serve in this role. Tim Sloane has been with Mercator Advisory Group since our inception in 2003 and has been covering payments disruption in the form of prepaid products and services, infrastructure, and business models for some time, garnering industry-wide recognition in this critical area,” Misasi commented. “His views on the future of payments, payments technology, and strategic growth have been a hallmark of his coverage. This post will give him the vantage point to extend this analysis on a coordinated basis with our Emerging Technologies coverage.”
Sloane looks forward to working with Mercator Advisory Group members, many of whom are already leaders in today’s emerging markets, to establish a research agenda and framework that drives the development, evaluation, and adoption of innovative new payment products.
“Emerging payments are at a critical point in their evolution. Products deliver high value in specific target markets and deliver a better customer experience; often using non-payment and non-settlement related functions to deliver incentives, receipts, and an easier checkout process. However, the market is fragmented and supports so many different solutions for different use-cases that it is difficult for our members and their customers to easily identify the solutions relevant to their business needs,” Sloane said. “This lack of a common vocabulary results in a blurring of lines between similar offerings (think mobile wallet, cloud-based payments, NFC, HCE, etc.). Mercator has been in this situation before.”
In 2004, Sloane initiated a prepaid taxonomy that has been heavily adopted and used to establish market size and definitions to support the payment segment. More important, the taxonomy identified each use-case specific (payroll, gift, government disbursement, etc.) segment of the prepaid market. Sloane said that establishing a sophisticated payments innovation taxonomy and measuring market growth will help the industry establish common terms and identify where the industry is delivering change that consumers value.
Mercator Advisory Group’s business model has been focused consistently on serving the company’s clients through Membership Services, Consulting Services, Primary Data Services (the CustomerMonitor Survey Series product), and Mercator’s PaymentsJournal.com platform. Sloane’s appointment is part of this ongoing trend by the company.
“Our analysts are all payments industry specialists first and are tasked with specialized areas of focus for their research reports and services second. It is the synergy across these activities that enables us to serve our clients effectively and efficiently and has fueled our expansion over the past decade,” Misasi stated. “Put simply, no firm has both the research and the consulting/operational experience that Mercator is able to bring to the table. This combination is truly unique.”
For more information and media inquiries, please call Mercator Advisory Group's main line: (781) 419-1700.
For free industry news, opinions, research, company information and more visit us at http://www.PaymentsJournal.com.
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About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.
Brent Watters, Mercator Advisory Group, (781) 419-1700, [email protected]
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