IBM and Visa announced the industry’s first collaboration that brings the point of sale everywhere Visa is accepted, by allowing businesses to quickly introduce secure payment experiences for any device connected to the Internet of Things (IoT). The collaboration brings together IBM’s Watson IoT platform and cognitive capabilities, with Visa’s global payments services that are used by more than 3 billion consumers globally.
The companies share a vision and commitment to embed payments and commerce into any device, from a watch, to a ring, an appliance or a car. Under this collaboration, companies can infuse secure payments across their entire product lines using the Visa Token Service, a new security technology that replaces sensitive payment account information found on payment cards with a unique digital identifier, via IBM’s Watson IoT platform. As a result, they could support payments and commerce on many of the 20 billion connected devices estimated to be in the global economy by 2020.
“IoT is literally changing the world around us, whether it’s allowing businesses to achieve unimaginable levels of efficiency or enabling a washing machine to ensure we never run out of detergent. And behind this transformation are companies like Visa and technologies like IBM’s Watson IoT platform,“ said Harriet Green, general manager, IBM Watson IoT. “This combination of IBM’s industry leading IoT technologies with Visa payment services, signifies the next defining moment in commerce by allowing payments on any connected object, with new levels of simplicity and convenience for everyone.“
In the future with this collaboration, all of IBM’s Watson IoT Platform customers will have access to Visa payment services via the IBM Cloud. As a result, rather than approaching businesses on a one-by-one basis, all customers will have access to these capabilities. That will allow building personalized commerce experiences and proactively making recommendations based on consumers’ unique needs. As part of this collaboration, the companies will also ensure that all consumer information remains secure by leveraging Visa’s Token Service.
Telecom operators are no longer using AI only for network optimisation and routine operations. They are applying it to faster product development and customer conversations. Matija Ražem says AI enables prototypes in hours, quicker market testing, and automation of many standard support questions. The next step may be a world where personal digital agents interact with agents from telecoms, banks and other large organisations.
ReversingLabs is developing agent-based approaches to security operations, while warning that the expertise needed to manage such systems will become even more critical.
Infobip has officially introduced RCS BusinessOS, an end-to-end operating layer designed to assist mobile network operators in launching, managing, and monetizing RCS for Business.
