Nowadays, in the IT market for the financial and retail sectors.
There are few solutions that are convenient for both buyers and sellers at the same time.
Bank card recognition is one of the solutions. This article focuses on this issue.
Value of Bank Cards
To begin with, bank cards have deeply rooted in our day-to-day life.
They displaced cash in the field of retail and services.
Cash, of course, never goes away, it’s highly valued on the market, so let us not go into particulars.
The development of communication technologies and merchant acquiring services makes it easier to accept plastic cards.
Thus opening an unlimited world of cashless payments for any retail outlet.
Online retail sales are replacing offline stores. Indeed, unlike cash, which takes its prominent place, bank cards allow you to make a quick payment online, simply entering payment details
Problems with Cards
However, there is one trouble – you have to constantly enter your bank card data.
Modern gadgets with voice assistants, fill-in modules, hints, interpretation, recognition seem to have completely weaned humanity from manual data entry.
It’s really convenient when there is no need to tap. And, when you make a purchase, you have to enter 16-19 digits that are poorly interpreted from a human point of view. But they make up the bank card number.
Just remember how many times you entered the wrong card number when making a purchase or a transfer?!
It’s especially inconvenient when you make purchases on a crowded bus, standing in the cold, etc.
Especially when you are used to the fact that a similar purchase in an offline store (or even a tram/bus ticket) takes a second, the card should be entered into the reader at the point of payment
These drawbacks of card payment form directly transfer for sellers.
It goes without saying that no one wants to lose a customer who is one step away from making the payment.
But due to inconvenient, troublesome, and time-consuming activities, the buyer is so sick and tired that cancels payment processing.
The statistics say that the number of unfinished transactions reaches tens of percentages.
It’s obvious that the online payment process should be as simple as offline.
It should be in a snap, by presenting a bank card to any of payment terminals:
- mobile phone
- tablet
- computer.
Way to Easy Bank Card Usage
And all that is done thanks to bank card recognition system.
Imagine how easy it is to transfer money to a colleague for lunch by pointing your smartphone camera at the card!
Or how convenient it is to buy plane or train tickets without exhausting text input.
Modern technologies allow you to recognize not only bank cards, but also ID cards and passports!
Just think of the benefits when it comes to marketplaces and other retail sectors and services!
In addition to convenience, recognition systems allow you to avoid fraud.
The implemented technologies recognize information and verify the authenticity of a payment card holder.
Bank Card Recognition Technology
Thus, theoretically, the bank card recognition technology is advanced and essential.
It’s worth implementing on the condition that it’s properly designed. But practically, the situation is not as rosy as it seems.
Today, most IT companies give their prevalence to the free card recognition SDK.
It’s impossible to believe, but it has not been updated for more than 4 years. Take it for granted!
Blockchain is gaining momentum. The government is already discussing the “rise of the machines”.
Payment systems are evolving, banks are implementing new designs and types of plastic, and cutting-edge technologies, such as bank card recognition, are stuck in the past.
Unfortunately, there is nothing new, the free SDK does not offer anything except the usual embossed cards.
Moreover, where did the trend “require” to place the card into a defined field come from?
It seems to us that this approach is confusing and ridiculous, a computer forces a person to do something right, but not vice versa.
There is “human machine learning” with all its consequences.
And the last but not the least, the accuracy and recognition time play a primary role.
It is extremely annoying when the payment process with a bank card takes more than a second.
New Payment Services
Smart Engines has done its best to implement the bank card recognition technology that fully meets the requirements.
In payment services, Smart Code Engine allows you to scan and recognize the following debit and credit cards:
- VISA
- MasterCard
- American Express
- JCB, MIR
- Maestro
- Union Pay
- Diners Club
- and other payment systems issued by various countries worldwide.
The system provides extraction of not only the card number (12-19 digits), but also the expiration date and the owner’s name.
It supports all types of bank cards: embossed, indent, and flat printed, with standard horizontal or off-standard vertical ID data alignment, and cards with lettering on averse and reverse side of the card.
Good tidings we bring, bank card recognition with the IBAN, which is widely spread in the European Union, has become available.
The recognition accuracy of the card number reaches 99.68%, at a speed of 0.04 seconds per frame.
Today, Smart Code Engine is used by Tinkoff Bank, MTS Bank, Gazprombank, and Home Credit Bank in their mobile applications.
Our bank colleagues have already concluded that free SDK is totally not worth the trouble and opted for quality.
Be ready to follow “a penny-wise, pound-foolish” strategy, it’s up to you.
Petr is a serial tech entrepreneur and the CEO of Apro Software, a machine learning company. Whenever he’s not blogging about technology for itechgyan.com or softwarebattle.com, Petr enjoys playing sports and going to the movies. He’s also deeply interested in mediation, Buddhism and biohacking.