Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Interview with Kelly Passey, EVP of Business and Product Development at Access Development (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: So what is mobile, and what is social doing to your business? What are trends in your business that relate to mobile and social?

Kelly Passey: For us mobile is really exciting and important for our business model. It is a huge access point as a channel for the customers of the clients we support to get access to deals we put out on the marketplace. Mobile “Grouponing” for us is a huge initiative. We believe it is a substantial direction for our company to continue to build out our network of merchants and small businesses that want to promote themselves via mobile. We have about 140,000 merchant locations under contract giving mobile offers and coupons. We believe that is the largest in North America.

What we are excited about in that model is that while we all hear about the wallet strategies and mobile payments, at the end of the day that value proposition as to why I would use my mobile wallet and tap rather than swipe my card, we believe there are some gaps there that need to be filled on consumer adoption versus the value to the consumer and merchant. For us mobile is very exciting.

SM: Could you explain to me how the mobile couponing will work in the scenario you described? Let’s go back to the first scenario where you are managing a loyalty program for Allstate and where you have a bunch of merchants. How would mobile couponing work in that scenario?

KP: Allstate is a motor club – their customers are travelers and they are on the go. For them to be at a home office, log onto a computer and print a coupon is not as relevant. But for them to potentially download an Allstate application with mobile deals and coupons, branded under the Allstate name, is huge. It is relevant, viable and timely. Allstate could provide that to their members. They are traveling all the time, so they want to get a deal at the next hotel, for example.

SM: So the usage model assumption is that somebody like Allstate, which has a loyalty program with you, also gets a mobile app, that is what they promote to their membership and that is the vehicle through which mobile coupons are distributed?

KP: That is correct. That doesn’t get to the mobile wallet piece, but it is an example of how mobile couponing can be a benefit for one of our client organizations.

SM: That makes sense. What about social? Let’s take the same example.

KP: That is a newer one for us. We have a social media platform we actually support more on the merchant side with than corporate. Most of our corporate clients have their own social media divisions, whereas our merchants or small business owners definitely do not. They ask us, “What can you do for me? I know I need to do something with Facebook, but I have no idea how to use it.”

SM: I am not so excited about that one, because there are numerous social media services companies. But what you described in the loyalty program vis à vis bringing small merchants into that, I find interesting.

KP: I think it is very interesting with regards to the payment side. Whether it is Google Wallet or Visa, there are major players and brands and small startups that are trying to figure out that mobile wallet/mobile payment world. Proactively we say, “We have an opportunity to leverage this channel with value and mobilize our content.” I think we are maybe a step ahead of the curve – they are still trying to figure out the technology platform to make the payment side work. Meanwhile we have the offer, content, and value to drive consumer adoption.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Interview with Kelly Passey, EVP of Business and Product Development at Access Development
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