The 2020 FIS Fintech Accelerator follows four highly successful programs produced by FIS and The Venture Center. This year’s Accelerator will be conducted entirely virtually and will include an additional six-week pre-accelerator, providing opportunities for greater collaboration and faster innovation for FIS customers.
In this series, we talk with FIS “Fintech Champions” who are working with this year’s cohort to help develop and bring their ideas to fruition. Here we feature a Q&A with Ty Tyree, VP, loyalty product at FIS, who is working with 2020 cohort member Mall IQ.
We hope you enjoy hearing from the FIS Champions, and encourage you to register for the upcoming Virtual Demo Day on October 14, from 11:00am – 1:00pm CST. Register here.
1. What challenges do you see today that fintech solutions could address?
Customers get distracted. They are wing-loaded with more and more responsibilities every day – stuffed calendars, jobs, kids, social media, friends and volunteering. We must find a way to cut through all the distractions to provide frictionless access to offers and rewards. At FIS, we partner with retailers and financial institutions who want to provide real value to consumers. Consumers don’t have time to come find us to peruse the offers and rewards that we may have laid out for them. We need to inject our offers and rewards into the consumer’s purchase path so they can quickly and effortlessly evaluate whether or not they want it – whether or not they value it. Fintech can help cut through the distractions and guide customers to better values.
2. What stands out about Mall IQ and why was it chosen to be a part of the FIS Fintech Accelerator?
I am excited to partner with Mall IQ because communicating with consumers in the context of where they are is a critical component to the success of loyalty. I’m sure you’ve had those phone calls where, halfway through, you realize that it is a horribly inconvenient time for the person on the other end of the phone. I once realized during a conversation with a doctor that she was in the middle of performing surgery. That’s the timing that we want to avoid with our customers. Mall IQ has cracked the nut on knowing where a customer is, whether it is on the third floor in a mall at a shoe store or on the first floor of that mall in a food court. With insight like that, we can have conversations with our customers that are relevant to their location – and we’ll never accidentally ping a doctor with an offer while they are in the middle of performing surgery.
3. How do you hope your involvement in the FIS Fintech Accelerator helps FIS’ clients?
I hope that, through this FIS Fintech Accelerator, I can help bring more relevant solutions to our partners and our clients. Customers need a hand. Let’s give it to them.
To learn more about and the full roster of 2020 cohort companies, sign up for Demo Day.