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5 Minutes With, Diane Vogt, President of ETA
By Gene Retske |
The Prepaid Press was a media sponsor at the recent Electronic
Transactions Association show in Las Vegas and we were impressed
with the attendance and the enthusiasm there, so we asked to speak
to ETA president Diane Vogt. In addition to her leadership role
in ETA, Vogt is also First Data’s president of enterprise
customer development. Her long history in financial services and
electronic payments did nothing to quell her enthusiasm for the
industry and its potential.
GR: What was your impression of the show?
DV: The show was outstanding. It met with much success. It has become
the “show of the shows” with the networking. A lot of
business is conducted at that show. We have representation from
gift cards to telecommunications to biometrics. We had for the first
time, five international companies that were software developers.
There is a broad range of whatever touches the payment industry
and all the services that surround it.
GR: What is the mission of ETA?
DV: ETA’s mission is really two-fold. It started with the
ability of people to network. That is still key. That is the one
thing that our members say about the show. The ability to network
and know what is going on in payments. The newest and greatest.
The second is education. ETA has one of the best education courses
around on how to become an ISO, how to run your business, what you
need to know regarding compliance. It is a whole array of programs
centered around the ISO community, which is the ETA. We are focused
on serving our members.
GR: Who are the members of ETA?
DV: ETA was founded for ISOs, Independent Sales Organizations, so
the ISO community is the biggest part of our membership. We have
financial institutions, processors, and vendors. And, you, but you
don’t fall into a category.
GR: We’re just the media.
DV: (laughs) That’s right.
GR: What are the major issues or trends that you see in the payment
industry?
DV: There are a lot of things that are like a cloud around the industry,
not just ETA, but the industry in general. Much of the discussion
now centers around interchange increases, the cost of accepting
payments, what are the feds looking at. It all started with the
original Wal-Mart lawsuit. A lot of people are looking at the next
couple of years and what will change, will there be a continual
increase in cost for the merchants?
GR: What do you see as the prospects for prepaid in the payment
industry?
DV: There is a definite market for prepaid. Once more and more consumers
see the benefit of prepaid, you will see the adoption rates increase.
Just look at gift cards in this country. The first gift card came
out in 1995, electronic. Blockbuster was the kickoff. Look at it
today. There is not a retailer in America that does not have an
electronic gift card. You go into a supermarket now, and you can
buy fifty gift cards.
GR: I buy a lot of them. Makes gift buying for grandchildren easy.
DV: But, in 1995, people didn’t feel that way. Look how quickly
it was adopted. The same will happen with prepaid. You will see
an industry that will adopt prepaid, and consumers are going to
want it. They just haven’t realized the benefits of what they
can do with prepaid yet.
GR: What are the other big trends in the payment industry?
DV: Alternative payments. An alternative to the Visa and MasterCard
credit card brands. People are looking at less costly forms of payment.
Could be private label. Could be ACH <ed. Note – Automated
Clearing House>. Could be co-branding. Could be PDA. There is
a lot of discussion about the cost of accepting credit cards transactions
today. Retailers are looking for a less costly form of payment.
And biometrics.
GR: Biometrics?
DV: Yes, the new technologies like thumbprints and iris scanning
that are being tested.
GR: Would that replace the card itself?
DV: It could. If they know who you are by your thumb, why would
you need a card? Your thumb will not be the same as someone else’s.
GR: Let’s hope not, unless it’s somebody really rich!
DV: Wouldn’t it be great not to carry a wallet? If you truly
want convenience, everything could be done through your cell phone.
You wouldn’t need anything else. Your cell phone could do
everything for you. There are a lot of pilots in different areas
of communications that are being tried throughout the United States.
Time will tell which ones survive, and which ones don’t.
Diane Vogt is President of the Electronic Transactions Association
and president of enterprise customer development for First Data.
Visit ETA online at www.electran.org.
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