It's not always the first thing you think of that makes the experience. When you go skiing, you remember the slopes, the mountains, the Après Ski. You don't think of beeping your ski pass - unless it doesn't work. In that case, the memories made can be markedly different. That's where SKIDATA enters the equation.
Established in 1977,SKIDATAis a global market leader in access and revenue management. That means entry to the Alpine ski slopes,stadiumswith 70,000 capacities like Old Trafford, airports that cater to millions of travellers, as well as shopping malls, spa facilities, amusement parks, and everything in between. It's their way of keeping the world turning.
In this article, we speak to three members of the SKIDATA team: Willem-Jan Balk, VP of Northern Europe, Florian Schneeberger, SVP of Marketing and Technology, and Senior Product Manager, Martin Treiblmayr. We cover their unique business model, payments across regions, and working with our team.
One platform, 10,000 installations
Usually we talk about platform and marketplace business models in the context of an eBay or an Etsy, where sellers connect to shoppers under one brand umbrella. In SKIDATA's case, their platform provides access solutions to other businesses. With 10,000 installations in over 100 countries, and multiple users of differing sizes and verticals, SKIDATA is a wide-reaching platform like no other. Their global network led to conversations about their experience as a platform business.
Payments need to be the least of SKIDATA's worries. So whether it's payment methods, or PCI compliance, working with our team means they can spend less time on implementation and certification, and more time being a great partner to their users. As of July 2021, we're working with their team in Europe, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, and Australia. Florian adds:
“The Adyen strategy to offer a simple to integrate, easy to scale platform fits perfectly to the SKIDATA environment and culture: making complex technology very simple and easy to deploy for our customers. Also the superior technology stack, tailored APIs, and platform scalability played a key role in the decision to work with you.”
Adyen for Platforms: Flexible onboarding for a diverse list of merchants
Using Adyen for Platforms, SKIDATA can track and reconcile payments with just one integration for all countries and channels. In addition, our built-in Know Your Customer (KYC) checks provide a uniform onboarding process for the 100s of car parks, ski slopes, and other access points signing up for SKIDATA every year. For the uninitiated, KYC checks ensure users meet regulatory requirements and evaluate risk levels. Regulatory requirements vary from region to region, so a built-in automated process can save time, hassle, and enable merchants to accept payments sooner. With Adyen for Platforms, SKIDATA's users benefit from a localised sign-up, staggered info collection, and user-friendly UI. Onboarding is also paperless, saving time (and trees).
Arguably the most important piece of the puzzle is that they only require one contract across regions, and SKIDATA can accept payments in multiple local currencies. As Florian notes:
“Since using Adyen, customer onboarding and payment processing has become simpler. Adyen for Platforms allows SKIDATA to on-board unlimited customers globally at the same time using Adyen’s automated hosted onboarding page. We also benefit from better transparency for all of our transactions.”
A point of sale solution for moving parts
Many payment providers use legacy technology, requiring integration and certification for each point of sale terminal. For SKIDATA, that just won't do; their international footprint means countless moving parts, people, and merchants, across continents. Florian explains how it was in the past:
“Before working with Adyen we were dealing with heterogeneous providers, numerous local integrations and contracts. Specifically the onboarding of customers and complex payment chains in all our countries was a challenge for our market organisations. With Adyen things are so much easier.”
Now SKIDATA is in full control. Integration with Adyen is one-off, and they can manage their terminals remotely. Martin explains how this has supported them with local payment methods and PCI compliance:
"We're able to manage all of our terminals in one place, we're less dependent on third parties, and we can add local payment methods like WeChat Pay and Apple Pay with the click of a button. Most importantly, we can reduce PCI scope for our users thanks to Adyen's end-to-end encryption."
With control and transparency high on SKIDATA's agenda, they approached us to work on a new project, SD Pay.
SD Pay
SD Pay is a white label solution powered by Adyen. Its merchants can use the payment method on a flexible basis, with no subscription required, while a backend payments solution comes with the trusted look and feel of SKIDATA. This means the parking operator will not have to adopt and maintain another party for payments. Martin explains why it's of benefit:
"Our customers expect payments to be fully integrated with parking access systems. It just makes it so much simpler for a customer to deal with one company rather than with a parking access provider, plus a payment provider, terminal vendor, and acquirer. SDPay powered by Adyen makes this super-easy. Onboarding, integrated reporting, all in one place.”
Stress-free parking
Unless you're a little masochistic, parking your car isn't fun. And you've likely experienced at least one of these parking nightmares:
- You've stood in a meandering queue waiting to pay for parking. It takes you over your parking time limit, charging you for 4, instead of 2 hours, of parking.
- You've pulled up to the exit gate to pay with cash, and a queue is forming behind you. You've less cash than you realised. You have to back out, much to the fury of other drivers.
- You've parked, you've gone to the metre, you've received a tiny printed piece of paper to keep hold of and remember during your 6-hour shopping expedition. You lose it of course. Now what?
SKIDATA's QR code solution makes things more enjoyable, letting users pay via app or mobile web, with info stored on their smartphone. No queueing, no cash, no tiny bits of paper. They scan a code, and get an e-receipt. It's been especially beneficial for some of the company's larger merchants.
A pilot at Schiphol
Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport was the first location to use SD Pay. Schiphol is one of Europe's largest airports, with over 72 million passengers passing through each year. It has upwards of 20,000 car parking spaces. Despite zero marketing activities or activation to encourage drivers to pay online, Schiphol saw a significant uplift of parking payments from POS to ecommerce. The simplicity of paying via QR code meant that drivers skipped queues and machines.
"Through Schiphol's partnership with SKIDATA & Adyen, we can offer visitors contactless payments through QR codes. Not only was this relevant during COVID, but in the long term, it has created a better checkout experience. Already, 4% of our visitors were able to find the QR code without us actively promoting it."
As the world returns to business-as-usual, people will be returning to the airports, slopes, spas, and stadiums with unparalleled excitement. SKIDATA will be there to give you access with a little help from Adyen.
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