Serko Receives Second Patent on NFC Expense Management for the U.S. Market
Securing an integrated travel payments solution in the emerging payments space.
Auckland, New Zealand. 30 August 2017 ' Serko Ltd. (SKO.NZ), a leader in online travel booking and expense management for business, today announced that it has received a further Near Field Communication (NFC) expense management patent (USP#9,704,110) for the U.S. market; extending the previously granted innovation patent, awarded in 2015.
The newly issued patent extends the functionality of NFC payment on a mobile to include matching of travel itinerary elements or expected payments during a trip, to those paid for at point-of-sale. This process will set Serko apart from the other expense management companies who rely heavily on Optical Character Recognition (OCR) matching.
Serko recognised the need to extend its previous patent in the emerging payment space, as the world moved to NFC payments via the 'Tap and Pay' process with technology such as Apple Pay.
Serko CEO, Darrin Grafton, said, 'We can all imagine a future where we tap and pay for any business or personal transaction, and where this process is seamlessly integrated back into our expense management platform - without the need for any manual intervention. Extending the ability to tap and pay for hotel and other services, as well as splitting and managing business and leisure transactions in a single process, is a key requirement we are hearing from travellers. We have not just included normal transactions but loyalty points, virtual cards, vouchers, coupons, tokens and emerging payment currencies (bitcoin, ether etc) too.'
More information
Louise Caldicott, Porter Novelli, for Serko
Phone: +61 2 8987 2112
Email: lcaldicott@porternovelli.com.au
Follow Serko
On Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/company/serko-ltd
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/SerkoOnline
About Serko
Serko is Australasia's leading online travel booking and expense management solution provider and is listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange Main Board (SKO.NZ). With its HQ in Auckland New Zealand, and offices in Sydney Australia and Xi'an City China, Serko employs more than 100 people worldwide.
Serko Enterprise, which includes integrated travel and expense management capability, is used by more than 6000 organisations and is sold by most Travel Management Companies in Australasia.
erko.travel is Serko's small and medium enterprise proposition targeting companies in Australia and New Zealand with less than 150 employees. It allows smaller organisations to self-onboard and make/change bookings online at no cost 24x7.
Visit www.serko.com and www.serko.travel for more information.