Mass collaboration on the internet is shaking up the business world, says Lucey Technology, which has introduced a 1.24pc rate to process credit-card payments online.
“All businesses, and especially SMEs, pay too much to process payments online. Businesses have been charged anything from 2-5pc to process payments online,” explains Ian Lucey, managing director of Lucey Technology.
“We decided rather than join in with these large fees instead we would attack the problem. Big businesses have a much higher bargaining power and companies such as airlines can be charged less than 1pc.
“By utilising the combined bargaining power of our customers Lucey has agreed an amazing rate of 1.24pc to process credit-card transactions. This is less than half the cost of the main incumbents in the marketplace.”
Software as a Service
Lucey Technology delivers its offering using the software as a service (SaaS) business model, in which customers pay a monthly fee determined by the number of users and level of services they require.
Ian Lucey, founder and chief executive of Lucey Technology, founded the company with the goal of taking services usually available to larger businesses and making them available to smaller customers. Lucey Technology’s software is developed using Microsoft’s SharePoint platform.
Among the services Lucey provides are online payments, digital signatures and documents sharing, such as quotes, sales orders, invoices, contracts and legals, architectural/engineering designs, medical and dental records, media files and many more. It also incorporates instant messaging, VoIP phone and video calling.
“An accountancy firm usually files tax returns electronically, but still needs to send them to the client for signing,” says Lucey. “Allowing a client to sign off on his/her tax return electronically saves on time and allows the accountant to be paid more quickly.”
How it works
The underlying technology is a mixture of in-house custom development and Microsoft’s technology stack including MS Sharepoint, MSN, Windows Live and MS Dynamics. The result is Lucey oCE (Online Customer Engagement), a state-of-the-art technology at a fraction of the price and a Microsoft architecture that the user is familiar with. Businesses do not need to change their existing systems as Lucey oCE complements their existing systems.
“Efficiency is improved and overheads reduced as routine tasks are brought online, leaving the business to focus on value-add interactions with their customers,” continues Lucey. “The online-payment facility means improved cash flow and the offering to the customer is improved because transacting online is more convenient for them, too.”
The service costs from €10 per month. Depending on the requirement, users can provide their clients with some of the lowest online payment rates, accept digital signatures, share 1GB of files and utilise MSN functionality, including 256 bit encryption, VoIP and video calling to interact with their clients.
By John Kennedy
Photo: Ian Lucey, founder and chief executive of Lucey Technology.
