A platforms collaboration that glides globally

Of all the industries that bore the brunt of the pandemic, it was perhaps tourism that was the most visibly shaken. The lines we're so familiar with in big cities, synonymous with tourist attractions and general inquiry into undiscovered places, disappeared overnight as everyone sheltered in place. For a lot longer than expected. And for quite some time, the global tourism industry shouldered the pain of the world's unmoving inhabitants.

For many, this also meant standing still, paralysed by lack of money coming in. But for others, it meant breathing room to plan for the possibility of a better, more structured, and more streamlined future. One such business was Palisis, a global ticketing system, as they planned for both their streamlined future and customers.

For Head of Sales, Josef Birchler, the essence of the project was simple: to simplify. They wanted an embedded payments solution that'd ring true for all of their users globally, a solution that'd be easy to operate and to scale as they enter new markets.

Before the pandemic hit, a lot of their onboarding and consolidation processes had been siloed in a very traditional manner. As COVID-19 kept their users from processing, their objective was to ensure that when the tourists returned, it would be easier than ever before to pay – no matter who they are or where in the world they are paying. And that was where Adyen came in.

Given the global nature of Palisis users and that a lot of their payment and ticketing devices would need to be used outdoors, Palisis's demands of Adyen were twofold. They required both sturdy POS devices and a solid, quick onboarding process to allow hundreds, even thousands of users, to get up and running on the platform with ease.

Palisis covers multiple sales channels from ecommerce to in person and call center sales. In the past, they were working with multiple payment gateways as there was no solution on the market adequately covering all channels and the breadth of the markets they operate in, which is currently 120 countries.

This fragmentation of their payment operations created a hesitance internally to integrate deeply with any of their previously used payment gateways. This led to a clunky user experience regarding know-your-customer (KYC) checks during the onboarding process. Instead of an automatic process, there was a coalition of spreadsheets, documents, and online onboardings. Given the amount of providers they were working with, there were also discrepancies in pricing for their users.

Additionally, Palisis were hoping to combine a handheld ticketing machine with a POS device, which Adyen now offers as a function in its new Android terminal. These new terminals are all-in-one devices that help businesses conduct a range of functions from a single device, leading to a big reduction in queues.

The solution to a complicated payments problem is often a simple one: and for Palisis, it comes down to Adyen for Platforms (AfP), which Palisis rolled out in March 2021. Initially, the solution was localised to Europe and was later launched globally.

AfP was the preferred course for Palisis as it meant the company could consolidate its payment partners and enter new markets with ease. Consolidation also means fewer contracts, lower cost, and less time spent on partner management. "Adyen offers a wide range of coverage in terms of countries and extends this constantly," notes Josef. "In the end, the well-documented API with its features really helped." The global nature of the business, operating in 120 countries, and the global capabilities of AfP would ultimately prove a perfect collaboration. No matter where in the world Palisis' users were onboarding, they could be processing payments in no time at all and receive the same consistent user experience and payment capabilities. Additionally, they are afforded the benefit of the huge amount of local payment methods available on AfP.

Palisis were also among some of the first Adyen customers to begin processing on our brand new S1F2 Android terminals. "Together with the new Android devices, we can offer our users one payment gateway for all channels, including a seamless setup process for our users within our systems," continues Birchler, who initially rolled out the new devices to Western Europe, then launched hundreds more, having seen the success of the initial rollout. The new terminals have proved popular, specifically with outdoor-operating merchants.

Consolidating partners and implementing new technologies always comes with a question: was the promise of success worth the investment in time and resources? For Palisis, the answer became evident quickly, and as tourism returns globally, it will only produce more encouraging numbers.

"Across the board, there was a massive decrease in resource demand on various departments; from finance, development, procurement and sales. For sales especially, the ease of setup increased the arguments for our system," says Josef. For finance, there was now just one data source for settlements - Adyen's Customer Area. For development, there was a single supplier, so there was less manual effort and time spent on integrations. There was a decrease in setup and shipping for procurement, and one source of truth for sim cards, and terminal repairs services.

Given Palisis' pilot of Adyen's new S1F2 Android terminals, they're only just realising the impact of a consolidated ticketing and payment system. As tourism returns to pre-pandemic levels, the efficacy of their investment in the new technologies is only being realised. "We will continue to add new functionalities from AfP to make the experience for our users as easy as possible. This will include an extended portfolio of hardware, like self-service terminals for indoor and outdoor usage based on Adyen technology coming this year to serve the needs of our clients," says Josef.

Given the demands of the modern consumer when it comes to time, efficiency and accessibility, the benefits of a consolidated, speedy system to a tourism-dependent provider like Palisis are innumerable. Implementing one global platform to handle all their payments has proved to be time efficient for internal teams and their clients; the investment pays off in hoursandcents.