we start 2021 with a new investment

How do you assess 2020 in terms of the needs and adjustments that accelerated digitalization has imposed on your business?

CaSys entered the business year of 2020 with the slogan “2020 is digital. Say Hello! ”. This slogan arose from the strategic commitments of the CaSys Management, to emphasize the full digitalization of processes and meet the market needs of new and innovative services that will contribute to the efforts to build a modern digital society.

The accelerated digitalization and rapid growth of the use of information and communication technologies is a main factor of globalization and makes a significant contribution to the development of the economy, living standards and the well-being of society as a whole.

As an independent card processor offering services from all segments of the card industry and digital payment channels, CaSys has played a significant role in the process of adapting to the conditions imposed by CoVid-19 pandemic, with continued support for the development of electronic payments and new digital payment channels.

In the past period, in addition to ensuring continuity in the delivery of services to our customers, we are developing new services that will provide additional benefits for our customers and their users – card holders and retailers. We offered “System for monitoring and prevention of risky and suspicious transactions in real time”, additional services of ATM terminals in the direction of digital branch, novelties in the communication with banks that will provide new features in mobile applications used by their customers, the latest 3DS 2.0 protocol for secure online payments, new card products, sticker and minitag. 2020 was a turbulent year, but in CaSys we managed to achieve the plan we set, and even more than that.
How much has the team, the processes, the day-to-day responsibilities changed?

As a responsible company in the conditions of the CoVid-19 pandemic, CaSys continuously takes a series of measures to provide the necessary preconditions for all existing services to its clients and to continue to provide them without any interruption, while at the same time to protect the health of its employees.

The management team provided all preventive measures for protection of the health of the employees – regular disinfection of premises and work surfaces, procurement of protective visors, panels and disinfectants, installation of thermometers at the entrance to each of the work units, as well as reorganization of work in shifts and from home. The responsibility of the employees who have consistently responded to all the challenges in the new ways and pace of work must be emphasized here.

The CaSys team is composed of highly qualified experts and colleagues with many years of experience in this industry. Human resource is the most valuable in the company in which we invest a lot, and we appreciate it a lot. Last year, we strengthened the team with 11 new colleagues who fit in well with the work dynamics and the technology we work with. Only a good and compatible team can realize successful projects. We are committed to continuously nurturing and strengthening our team.
What is the core business of CaSys?

Our company is an independent processor that offers services to commercial banks, financial institutions, and other interested subjects in the field of card payment operations and electronic commerce. We offer services for card personalization, processing of transactions from ATM and POS terminals, we are connected to the MasterCard and Visa card networks, we offer services in the field of e-commerce, duty center etc. CaSys is an IT company, which is a certified processor by Mastercard and Visa, and offers its customers technical solutions as well as their implementation.

Although we may be the most recognizable for the cPay – e-commerce system, I want to emphasize that we offer services of equal quality in the field of the card industry and digital payment channels.
How do you assess the citizens’ trust in electronic payments and online shopping?

During the CoVid-19 pandemic, changes occurred in many segments of everyday life. Many people made their first online orders and payments for products and services. The advantages and benefits of e-commerce have come to the fore: the convenience and security of ordering and paying for a wide range of products and services from home – without physical presence and having them to your home address. In these circumstances, users of this method of payment have realized that online bill payments are simple, fast and secure, in contrast to previous experiences with waiting in lines and unnecessary health risk exposure.

In conditions of a pandemic for many Macedonian businesses that had to temporarily close their sales facilities, e-commerce is the only channel to offer their products and services to customers.

The statistics show rapid growth in e-commerce purchases. This is due to the conditions created by the pandemic, the increased supply, but also the increased confidence in e-commerce among customers. The fact that purchases at domestic e-shops are more numerous than foreign ones is gratifying, which was not the case in the past. This is due to the factors mentioned earlier, but also due to the increased trust gained by constantly informing and educating customers what to look out for, how to behave in the virtual world, ie where to leave their personal data and payment data.

Education is a continuous process to which we are committed and work on together with the banks, associations and all stakeholders in this industry.
What is your role in stimulating the development of e-commerce?

Our role is to provide a secure and modern infrastructure that will enable retailers to integrate their online stores and give shoppers a safe place to buy and leave their data quickly and easily.

As a processor, CaSys provides an e-commerce platform, and together with the banks, it offers it to interested parties who aim to sell their products and services online. The CaSys eCommerce system – cPay, meets the standards for secure online shopping with 3D Secure 1.0 and 2.0 protocol. This gives the customers a high level of security and the ability to authenticate with biometric data.

The system offers a possibility for fast and simple integration of the online stores, and with its functionalities realization of different business models depending on the needs of the retailers.

Our efforts to improve the situation, increase trust and supply in e-commerce are continuously realized with promotional periods for financial relief together with the banks with which we offer the service on the market, enhanced support to retailers and customers through our communication channels, and collaborations with all stakeholders in the industry. We engage in campaigns and events where we believe our contribution will help improve all aspects of electronic payments.
Which are the biggest challenges in terms of electronic payment security?

The development of technology and its increasing application has imposed the need for high awareness among all stakeholders and concrete activities aimed at addressing the security challenges of electronic payments: establishing an infrastructure resistant to cyber threats; identifying and implementing appropriate protection solutions; promoting a culture of information security in order to comprehensively understand, build and enhance the necessary protection capacities; strengthening capacities for prevention, research and future risks; and cooperation and exchange of information at national and international level.

The CaSys e-commerce system and the entire infrastructure are continuously in accordance with the standards and regulations of Mastercard, Visa, PCI DSS, ISO, ZLP for data security.

CaSys, as part of the card industry, is constantly up to date with the latest advances in security enhancement. We are continuously subject to controls and certifications from the card networks and industry standards in order to determine compliance with them.

In the past period, CaSys has successfully completed the project for implementation of the new standard for secure e-commerce 3D Secure Protocol 2.0. The new standard for card holders provides an increased level of security through additional authentication and provides the opportunity to introduce authentication with biometric data in the near future. The main goal of implementing the new standard is to enable e-commerce with the highest level of security when shopping online and at the same time provide a sophisticated and improved user experience.
You start 2021 with an investment, what will it mean for the quality, stability and security of your services?

We start the new 2021 with an investment in a new production line – a machine for personalization of cards with additional modules for personalization of stickers and the possibility of automatic packaging of the card in an envelope. The growth of the number of personalized cards, as well as the number of new clients, imposed the need for this investment in order to increase the capacities and quality, but also to ensure continuity of the personalization service and to provide value-added services for the clients.

Continuous additional hardware and software upgrades are planned to further increase the capacity and stability of the systems. We would like to mention only some of the most important ones such as the modernization of the platform and the development of a new interface for communication with the eCommerce system cPay of CaSys, which will enable easier and faster development of new functionalities, easier and faster integration of retailers and payment institutions and achievement of a better user experience.
What kind of 2021 do you expect?

Dynamic and focused on the vision and strategic commitments of the company for digitalization and introduction of innovative payment services that will bring us closer to the global trends. We continue on that path in 2021, a path that we believe is the only right one.

This will be a year of reanimation and revival in segments of the economy that were severely affected by the pandemic. Our company is constantly on the move and ready to help these processes. The introduction of electronic payment channels is undoubtedly the fastest and most efficient way to contact current and potential buyers, conquer new markets and collect liabilities.

This will be a year of investments for maintaining the security of the infrastructure, improving the capacities and introducing new and modern solutions for the clients.