6 Reasons Why Halo Dot is a Game-Changing Technology in the World of Contactless Card Payments

Halo Dot is a contactless card payment technology that allows merchants to make sales and accept payments directly on their mobile phones. It has the potential to disrupt how payments take place in a digitally-driven world massively. Pierre Aurel, Head of Product at Halo Dot, explains the reasons why merchants and their customers should embrace this technology.

1. No hardware required
2. Security above all
3. Empowering micro-merchants
4. Low-value transactions
5. Easy to roll out
6. Global potential

1. No hardware required

Because Halo Dot can easily be integrated into any smartphone, merchants do not require additional hardware to process a card transaction. Furthermore, they also do not need to worry about expensive point-of-sale terminal fees or battling with slow connectivity, or running out of paper for receipts.

From a consumer perspective, the entire transaction is completely frictionless. It is as simple as tapping a card on the merchant's phone, entering their PIN number, and paying for a product or service.

2. Security above all

Security is central to the potential of the Halo Dot technology. In fact, it is more secure than online transactions and even eliminates the issue of OTPs not coming through to a customer’s mobile phone when safety features like 3D Secure are used.Halo Dot requires the bank card to be present to complete the transaction along with the customer who needs to enter their PIN. There is no way that a fraudster can intercept the transaction and card data, which is possible with e-commerce transactions.

Halo Dot, therefore, ticks all the regulatory and security boxes, giving merchants the peace of mind to focus on the ease of transactions and delivering superior customer service. Halo Dot provides a slick payment experience for merchants and customers while handling all the security, encryption, and payment processing behind the scenes.

3. Empowering micro-merchants

In developing markets like South Africa which have a significant township economy in place, Halo Dot can provide micro-merchants with the perfect payment solution to offer their customers. They can sign up, complete a FICA registration process, and be set up within minutes. And because Halo Dot is embedded at an application level, transactions are cleared instantly and show up in the merchant's e-wallet.

In turn, they can withdraw money from any ATM or pay another supplier within the Halo Dot ecosystem. There is a low barrier to entry with no merchant needing to ever go into a bank branch to set anything up or deposit or withdraw money. And because the merchant only pays at a transactional level, there are no subscription costs or device support fees to worry about.

4. Low-value transactions

Another way Halo Dot offers a significant advantage is that there is no minimum payment amount required. This means a micro-merchant can sell virtually any product or service with Halo to customers by simply tapping to pay. And with Halo Dot sending money directly to any mobile number or email address, there is no need for a merchant to have a bank account. This overcomes the massive problem of the high unbanked population in Africa.

5. Easy to roll out

Halo Dot is incredibly easy to roll out into any market. Thanks to the rise of cloud computing, the technology can be launched in any country within 30 minutes.Because it is software-based, it scales to any requirement, unlike hardware which is limited by a struggling global supply chain problem. No point-of-sale terminals need to be ordered, manufactured, or delivered. Everything happens from the palm of the merchant’s hand.

6. Global potential

This makes Halo Dot a globally game-changing technology that can reinvent how contactless payments are done. Thanks to the software-driven nature of Halo Dot, it can continually evolve to meet any market requirement whether it is for developed economies or emerging markets.

Halo Dot is all about removing the cost barriers of contactless payments and driving utility to merchants and micro-merchants all over the world. It is an innovative payment technology that enables merchants to accept secure contactless payments directly on their mobile phones - without any additional hardware.