Zain Kenya incorporates new features on the Zap Platform
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Zain Kenya has upped the game in the mobile commerce market by incorporating three new software solutions to the Zap platform aimed at securing and expediting the cash transfer process.
Speaking during the launch of the solutions, Managing Director Rene Meza said besides securing transactions, the three services Zap Distro, Zap Master Pay and Zap Tranzact will revolutionize the operations of small and medium enterprises by easing the transaction processes.
Zap Distro service, a web portal tool, will enable Zap super dealers and large chains who have other agents under their flagship manage their accounts. It is envisaged that this tool will assist the distributors to manage better their Zap dealership businesses by enabling them to monitor their daily transactions, check their Zap account balance, and allocate and deallocate money to their various agents, said Mr. Meza. Zap has a network of more than 3,000 agents countrywide. Through the portal, the dealers will also be able to draw funds directly from their bank accounts and store them on their virtual Zap accounts as float for onward allocation to their agents network.
Mr. Meza said that since the Zap service was launched five months ago, the company had entered into several partnerships in a bid to increase the uptake of mobile commerce in the country. He said following extensive research, Zap had unveiled the Master Pay solution to ease the cash administration process especially for SMEs. Zap Master Pay will enable small and medium enterprises or organizations to send funds to an allocated number of people. With Zap Master Pay, SMEs will be able to send funds to up to 1,000 Zap accounts at a time. The employees will then be required to withdraw the cash at the nearest Zap outlet, he said. The tool will especially be suited for firms that process casual employee wages as it will eliminate the need for keeping bulk cash within the work place. Master Pay is expected to reduce the cost of processing payments via cheque or other methods and also address the risk of transporting cash to and from the bank and internal fraud.
To meet needs of players in the service industry such as insurance companies and distributor enterprises, Zap Tranzact will be used as a remittance solution to enhance efficiency of the cash collection process. Using the solution, organizations will be able to collect funds from their clients spread out through out the country. The funds will then be transferred directly to their bank accounts. Mr. Meza also disclosed that an additional interface for Zap merchants has been included on the Zap platform to enable organizations collecting revenues through Zap to monitor customer transactions in real-time. Zain’s key partners like KPLC and MultiChoice Kenya, who have had huge success in subscription payment services through Zap, can now monitor their transactions online as well as bank reconciliations.
