by Ronny | May 13, 2013 | features
Let’s face it, most brick and mortar businesses don’t have an IT department and most cannot afford the costs of hiring an IT specialist, although we all know how vital internet enabled systems are to running a successful business in today’s competitive world. In fact, it is so important that when POS systems go down, especially during the transaction process, they hit a businesses’ bottom line hard and fast. The problem is that WiFi is unreliable. How many times have you had to check your router or call your cable company during your busy hours? If you are lucky and patient enough to talk to someone after hours on hold, you still have to remember and have access to your username and password (which probably is the unchanged one your internet provider automatically registered you with) and then you still may need to set up an appointment for a technician to visit. All of this while you have a business to run and customers who do not like the inconvenience of paying in cash. This whole process makes troubleshooting internet problems a nightmare. At GoPago, we are well aware of this pain point and that is why we have partnered with Verizon, the nation’s premier 4G data provider, to bundle a 4G internet data plan with every GoPago LIVE system. As soon as you turn on your system, it’s ready to go. No need for internet configuration, no WiFi passwords to remember. As Leo Rocco, GoPago CEO and Founder is fond of saying, “It’s like that euphoric feeling when you were a kid and the present you got included...
by Ronny | May 3, 2013 | features, news
Pictured above from left to right: David Herzog, VP of Partnerships and Alliances; Martina Plaza, Office Manager; Leo Rocco, Founder & CEO; Kelsey Mitchell, Program Manager; and Steve Elefent, Chief Strategy Officer A year ago yesterday, Tech Republic published an article about an emerging trend, Solution as a Service, which could take over the other SaaS (Software as a Service). The article pointed to this new trend as a “revolution in a revolution” and as something that “would start with traditional Internet-related problems (such as search or content distribution)” and later move to other verticals. While attending the Electronic Transaction Association Expo these last few days, it became evident that there is evolution from Software as a Service to a Solution as a Service approach in the payments space. GoPago LIVE, our total commerce in the cloud product suite, is a comprehensive, bundled solution that stretches beyond software. It integrates all the hardware, software, and internet connectivity, while providing customer service that is both predictive for the merchant (eliminating system downtime) and proactive for future needs. Leo Rocco, GoPago Founder and CEO, stated, “There’s a big idea of evolving the paradigm of ‘Software as a Service’ to ‘Solution as a Service.’ The solution includes hardware, software, 4G data connectivity and best in class customer service; that’s our package and I believe that’s where the industry needs to go.” This change means that merchants will no longer have to invest large upfront licensing and maintenance fees for software from one company and pay additional large upfront costs in hardware from another company. An upfront licensing fee for POS software can...
by Ronny | Apr 26, 2013 | features, news
Mobile payments are estimated to hit one trillion dollars by 2015. Fortunately, we equip our merchants with the technology to accept this influx of capital. Each and every one of our GoPago LIVE point of sale systems comes integrated with the mobile storefront allowing merchants to receive both mobile orders and mobile payments from their customers’ smartphones. The GoPago app, which has been downloaded by more than 100,000 people in San Francisco, allows customers to browse, order and pay from a merchant on their phone before they arrive at the location. This ability to save time and skip the line streamlines the whole transaction process for both merchants and for consumers. Lou’s Cafe has been using the mobile storefront to broadcast their business to their customers’ iPhones and Androids for nearly a year. Through the implementation of the GoPago mobile app, Lou’s Cafe reports an average of 15 mobile orders per day. Employees say that GoPago saves them at least an hour a day because they get to spend less time answering the phones and managing the lunch rush lines. Furthermore, the customers experience increased satisfaction and visit more often as a result of the efficiency. Nearly half of their GoPago users are repeat customers who “feel like VIP when they skip the line and are recognized by name” according to T.J., manager of Lou’s Cafe. Through the tablet Lou’s Cafe can message their customers and notify them what time their order will be ready, push rewards and discounts and send them special personalized messages. The operational improvement is so significant that T.J. has said, “If we could, we’d...
by Ronny | Apr 22, 2013 | features, news
Everyone at the San Francisco GoPago headquarters is familiar with Piper’s Cafe and the owner, Chip Adkins. He was one of the first to sign up for GoPago LIVE and has provided our customer support, marketing and engineering teams with great feedback, praise and suggestions. His contributions have been invaluable. As a startup looking to provide the best POS system for all brick and mortar merchants, there’s nothing more important to us than engaged customers who partner with us to improve our product and service. We welcome and encourage that level of feedback from all our GoPago Live users: enterprise corporate cafeterias, food trucks and small mom and pop shops. Here is an in-depth look as to why Piper’s Cafe in Kentucky chose GoPago LIVE as their solution to transact and interact with their customers. Piper’s Cafe in Covington, Kentucky, took five years of planning and dreaming before Chip Adkins and Charles Killian were able to make it a reality. They wanted the whole cafe and the whole customer experience to be different, new and totally in line with the future. From their homemade ketchup to their locally sourced ingredients everything had to be well thought out and have their seal of approval. The point of sale system was a vital component in their plan. A simple cash register would never cut it. Dumb, old fashioned technology would hold back the promise of their vision. Originally leaning towards Square, because of fixed rates and sleekness of a tablet POS; they wanted more in a POS solution. They wanted the ability to broadcast their business to their customers smartphones and...
by Ronny | Apr 12, 2013 | news
Steve Elefant brings more than 25 years of experience to GoPago as Chief Strategy Officer. Steve Elefant joins GoPago, Inc. to lead the growth in new channels and further develop GoPago LIVE, an all-in-one cloud POS with an integrated mobile payments platform. Previously, Mr. Elefant was a Senior Strategic Consultant at Google, Inc. in the Payments group. Mr. Elefant has over 25 years experience in overall company strategy, products, end to end encryption, mobile, business development and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Elefant is a serial entrepreneur having founded seven startups, including a large ISO, and is a former venture capitalist. “For more than two decades, Steve Elefant has been a leader in the payments industry. We are excited to have him leading our strategy and ISO partnerships as we build the best-in-class total cloud commerce solution,” said Leo Rocco, GoPago Founder and CEO. “Steve’s experience, knowledge and vision are exactly in line with the future of GoPago. Steve and I will work on the most robust suite of products including an mPOS, ecommerce and an open (SDK) platform.” Steve Elefant said, “I have looked at all of the solutions and without a doubt, GoPago has the most robust cloud-based commerce, point-of-sale and mobile ordering platform on the market today. I look forward to working with the team as we lead this payments and Point of Sale revolution and roll out an even more comprehensive solution!” Mr. Elefant has a proven track record of strategic focus for new opportunities and enhancing existing technologies. He joined Heartland Payment Systems as a consultant, helping them bring its Software as a Service (SaaS)...
