OmniPayments addresses society’s ever-changing requirements for cash, and more!

News keeps arriving almost every week of one society, or another, hoarding cash. This news is breaking even as we know that in some societies, the goal of becoming cashless is still the prevailing belief. Surely, armed with a smartphone or tablet, any informed society can do business without ever reaching into their wallets. No, cash is a legacy tool or instrument of finance destined for nothing more than museum exhibits. But then again, these same societies have run up considerable debt and for many, simply having cash on hand is the best budgetary vehicle available. Spend it and it’s gone. Purchasing clothes or tickets to the game – that’s a toss-up, but then again, shopping for food well, it never is exciting but then again, there are reasons why food and indeed clothing are classified as necessities.

But there is another reason why cash is still popular and among those highly regulated societies – Venezuela comes to mind – real wealth is only measured by how many American dollars you have stuffed under your mattress. Or window flower pots as one former hoarder told me recently! Yes, back in the days of the cold war there were many residents living behind the “iron curtain” who survived on hard currencies flowing into their country from relatives and friends living overseas. One surprising headline to appear stated that “The young and the restless aren’t that way anymore. The latest generational studies show that millennials are increasingly risk averse, hoarding cash instead of making investments, even more than older generations. That comes as a surprise, as traditionally older generations tend to be more averse to risk.” Who would have guessed? Such a sophisticated and well-educated demographic strongly advocating the end of cash and they too are hoarding cash instead of putting it to work!

And yes, there is one more demographic we need to consider – the worldly traveler. Have you ever wondered why there are so many tour buses hustling along autobahns, highways and even backroads? Have you stopped to consider how choked Europe’s major rivers are where luxury river cruise boats are almost touching as they pass each other? Have you ever wondered why your favorite photo-op setting is impossible to snap without crowds walking between your camera and the view?

There is no question that we are in the midst of a golden era of travel, so much so that there are early signs that some economies are putting the brakes on just how many people can enter one site or another. Just recently, one US newspaper even went to great lengths to suggest that local US sites are a less crowded alternative to equivalent, more crowded European destinations – and yes, I am talking about you Prague, Paris and Florence, just for starters. And in this golden era of travel, cash is being relied upon for all that small stuff that we do when travelling. Increasingly, frequent travelers don’t exchange cash when leaving a country – they set it aside to be used when next visiting the country. As for ATMs then airport ATMs have become everyone’s friend and  frequent travelers know where every airport ATM can be found! Whether out of a need to hurry or simply being overly concerned with security, cash has made waves of late and whether hoarded in some countries or by millennials a lot closer to home, the transition to a totally cashless society appears to have been put on hold for the time being.

In the August 22, 2019 feature Awash in cash — It’s not just demographics, it’s global tourism that was just published in ATMmarkeplace.com OmniPayments’ consultant, Richard Buckle highlighted just how many ATMs have traffic passing through at least one NonStop system. Yes, “the world’s networks of ATMs curiously enough are still driven by HPE NonStop systems,” Buckle unashamedly highlighted. But it was Yash Kapadia, OmniPayments CEO, who provided the strongest argument in favor of cash, ATMs and NonStop systems when he said, “When it comes to supporting ATM networks and providing a payments switch. NonStop simply makes my life a whole lot easier.” Forget that a NonStop system has never been hacked – it’s architecture makes external threats almost meaningless – and don’t forget either that these servers just don’t stop running, no matter what might happen to components!

As Yash told ATMmarketplace, “Cash is not only king for the financial institutions we serve, cash keeps societies whole in the sense that, with cash, a large proportion of a country’s population enjoys a level playing field when it comes to paying for that all-important little stuff!” Furthermore, according to Yash, is that in our markets up and down the western hemisphere where OmniPayments has been successful, the company has stepped up to where it is now a HPE VAR for NonStop. Perhaps, just as importantly, OmniPayments has become one of the earliest adopters of virtualized NonStop and has built out a finance-industry specific cloud so OmniPayments’ clients can test, pilot and even introduce new functionality without investing in any NonStop systems hardware ahead of time.”

There is no question that in time, digital currencies will reign supreme in many countries. Furthermore, there is no question that the need to hoard cash for any reason will lesson. However, there will always be societal dissidents with a disdain for what is acknowledged as simply normal and the most efficient means by which to complete any transaction. It wasn’t all that long ago when no international traveler left home without American Express travelers checks as now, it’s all about the cards we carry – “What’s in your wallet” becoming the latest catchall for travelers. And for these diminishing few there will always be cash and with cash there will be means by which to obtain cash and underpinning it all and indeed integrating cash with the many digital currencies that will emerge in time will be NonStop systems. And delivering the payments solutions that financial institutions require will be OmniPayments!  In the coming weeks as RUG events are being held, don’t miss out on an opportunity to discuss you plans for processing cash and whatever comes next with OmniPayments’ representatives. We welcome all inquiries and of course, you can always reach us by phone or via email any time.

Yash Kapadia | CEO
Yash@OmniPayments.com | tel +1 408 446 9274
http://www.omnipayments.com