At CCV, we’re always looking to push innovation in payment technology. As a team, we work across geographical boundaries with one shared mantra: let’s make payment happen. In the first part of this blog series we talked about our new Android-based payment terminals: PayDroid. In the first part, our colleagues tell us about the mission and the challenges. In this part, we share the rewards & results and future developments.
The Rewards & Results
After lots of hard work, the result is an Android-powered payment terminal, and a fully functioning CCVStore for our customers. There is still a lot of work to be done to attract and onboard new third-party partners, but there is lots in the pipeline. For the team, this has been a fascinating experience and a project not to be forgotten.
For Julian von Heydebrand, Software Developer, the rewards were twofold. In the first place, he has learnt a lot of new things. But this wasn’t the only rewarding outcome for him:
“For me, the most rewarding aspect was the realization that once we had a working setup for one particular Android-based device, it worked on the next one too. It was seamless. We started with a proprietary device with a heavily-modified OS, the CCV Mobile A920. With minor code changes, we were able to run our software on an off-the-shelf Android smartphone. This was an amazing feeling, to see that our chosen software architecture and integration for the Android platform was viable for the long-term.”
According to Julian, this means that CCV has a strong basis to get the solution working across different devices. Regardless of whether it’s a Samsung smartphone or a PayDroid proprietary device, there is scope for amazing things in the future development of this technology.
He also discovered some additional benefits by working with Android technology:
“I love the toolchain that Google mandates for the Android platform. It’s a bleeding-edge toolchain, which allows us to use the latest features of programming languages. Coming from an embedded world of development, you get used to the fact you need to use old toolchains which restrict you in the language features and library features you can use to implement solutions. This restriction translates to more work, less elegant solutions, and more error-prone code – because the better parts of the language which were developed later aren’t available yet. But this bleeding-edge toolchain allows us to use the latest and greatest for the best possible code we can conceive.”
The team has worked amazingly hard on this project so far, and it’s so rewarding to see it come to fruition. It is a revolution in mobile payments, and we’re excited for how this will shape the future of our industry.
Future Developments
The development of an Android payment terminal is a huge achievement, and it opens up exciting prospects for the future in every part of the CCV organization around Europe.
First and foremost, we look forward to launching plenty of new apps into the CCVStore. These will be designed to add value and help all CCV customers achieve more with their business.
Hakan Gümüs, Technical Product Manager, has been working with partners on a number of new third-party apps:
“There
are a few exciting apps coming up. For example, one designed specifically for taxi drivers to accept payments and track their transactions. We also have point-of-sale (POS) and cash register apps in the pipeline, and also some customer loyalty, calendar management, and staff management apps.”
We’re taking a customer-centric view by asking what our existing customers need for their business, and prioritising partner apps to fulfil that need. This collaboration with our customers is fun, because it means we can give them exactly what they need.
Richard Roos, Head of Software Engineering (CTP) & Product Owner, says there are still some interesting unanswered questions, but they can be tackled with collaboration and full consideration for the end customers:
“It’ll be fascinating to see how this solution can be applied to the self-service market. There is a big challenge in user interface design here, because in attended service there is always someone to control the device. For example, opening and closing a particular app for a particular purpose. But for unattended terminals in vending, fuel, etc. this is different. You need to ensure the device falls back to an operational state if a user doesn’t complete the journey of behavior which is planned.”
He sees another potential challenge to overcome for unattended self-service use:
“We need to make sure that these Android devices can’t be misconfigured by normal users. For example, if someone can get into the settings and shut off the network connection, the solution won’t work anymore. So we need to plan out the right type of restrictions, whilst maintaining effectiveness and ease of management for operators and merchants who use the machines for their business.”
Furthermore, unattended Android-powered payment terminals need to be easy and intuitive. Whilst staff at restaurants and shops are trained to use their systems, the everyday person at an unattended coffee machine or fuel pump might be seeing the device for the first time. It’s important that all ages and abilities are considered during the design process for self-service terminals working on the Android OS. – And this is why UX design became the foundation of our new product line and why our software team also had to build up even more experience & skills in this area.
Milestone
The successful development of Payment on PayDroid is a huge milestone for CCV, and it’ll be exciting to see how this solution evolves and grows over the next months and years. We’re keen to support visionary projects like these, driven by an engaged technical team who loves to solve problems. This type of development will always be challenging, and that’s what makes it so rewarding to see the end result in action.
Join us!
CCV is an ambitious growing business. We’re on the lookout for amazing technical talent in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium. Can you help us bring cutting-edge payment solutions to market? Check below for more information about CCV vacancies in your area.
Your career @ CCV in the Netherlands
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