hobex: Mobile payment solution with full control for businesses

The possibility of cashless payments has already improved customer satisfaction in many sectors, including the hotel business, gastronomy, retail, and e-commerce. Now, M2M even extends the payment options by making the system mobile – customers can now pay with their smartphones. The Austrian provider hobex equips its mobile terminals with SIM cards from T-Mobile to provide end-customers with an innovative, improved service.

Trying to pay at a restaurant can be aggravating. In some cases, you’ll have to wait for the waiter multiple times: to tell him you want to pay; for him to return with the bill; for him to show up again to take your credit card and to give him your tip. M2M solutions like mobile payment terminals enable customers to use their smartphone for settling the bill, making life easier for everyone involved. Such terminals are equipped with SIM cards, so guests can use them to pay anywhere on the premises, even outside on the terrace.
hobex serves about 20,000 clients in several European countries with a total of more than 27,000 terminals. Around 5,000 of its clients already use mobile terminals: In the sales, trade, tourism, and healthcare sectors, for instance, payment terminals with a mobile network connection make it easy for end-customers to pay onsite. hobex provides its clients with the terminals and is responsible for the administration of the devices – the clients simply pay a package price and don’t have to worry about anything else.

M2M Service Portal: the easy access platform
For hobex, the challenge in implementing a cellular-based solution was to improve cost transparency, prevent SIM card abuse, and increase data security. With T-Mobile Austria’s M2M Service Portal, operators can manage all of their M2M SIM cards centrally on a laptop or tablet screen.
The Web-based application provides access to all SIM cards and enables the administrator to check and evaluate connections and costs. T-Mobile Austria gives users encrypted access to the Service Portal website via the Internet. The Service Portal can also be integrated into the customer’s applications and processes via an API interface.

Mobile payment solution with full SIM card control
The dashboard on the portal’s homepage can be individually configured to only show relevant information and to allow quick access to further details, including mobile numbers, IP addresses, network statuses, as well as the number of connections, their duration, and the volume of data that was transmitted over a specified period. Administrators can block, decommission, or cancel cards, or even change the tariff.
The dashboard immediately shows when a previously specified limit is reached or misuse is identified, for example outside of a specific country or in a different, unauthorized wireless network. While hobex ensures security levels in compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI – DSS) and other standards, T-Mobile is responsible for protecting the sensitive data transmitted in its secure mobile network.

Full cost control
“With T-Mobile’s M2M solution, we have full control of all SIM cards and all costs,” says hobex’ technical manager, Josef Kohlmann. “When you have 5,000 SIM cards in use, you don’t want any surprises at the end of the month.” hobex uses T-Mobile’s flexible – and customizable – pool tariff that all of the SIM cards tap into. For clients who operate abroad, administrators can activate individual roaming packages via the M2M platform to avoid high connection costs. Costs are transparent and calculable, security is guaranteed, and customer satisfaction is improved – all thanks to M2M.