NSW government invests in new payment technologies
The NSW government has issued a statement which has outlined its commitment to upgrading some of the payment technologies it utillises. It will be investing in new technologies that will support contemporary payment methods such as PayPal and emerging solutions such as Apple Pay.
Service NSW has begun building its whole-of-government Payment Services Platform, focusing on enterprise transactions and payments processing. Sydney based company, Azuron, has commenced work on the initial stages of the project.
According to NSW minister for finance, services, and property, Dominic Perrottet, the upgrades are happening because people still deal with out-of-date payment methods when transacting with government agencies.
“While consumers and businesses are embracing newer forms of payment, many public sector agencies are stuck in the past, limited by old infrastructure. It’s time for government to support our citizens in paying the way they want to – and that’s using new payment methods online or on mobile devices,” he said.
As a result of the reform, the technologies will eventually support new payment types such as MasterPass, VisaCheckout, and Apple Pay (when available in Australia) amongst others, and aims to reduce duplication of payments infrastructure and streamline payment processes.
The platform will also eventually be made available as a service to all NSW government agencies to reduce multiple payment systems and streamlining the receipt of monies to cut down further bureaucratic red tape.
“This will help keep costs down across all agencies and opens the door for more innovation in consolidating, standardising and digitising the multiple billing platforms that exist across government. It will considerably improve the way we do business,” Perrottet said.
The building blocks of the solution are expected to be integrated with existing government systems over the next 12 months, and the Payment Services Platform is due to be in service for transactions delivered through Service NSW by the end of the year.
