US Market Entry Strategy for Touchtech Payments
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This document provides a market entry strategy for Touchtech Payments entering the US market. It includes an analysis of the payments industry and segmentation of the customer market into banks and credit unions. A multi-phase strategy is proposed covering mission/vision, geography, funding, operations including personnel, and marketing such as trade show attendance. Challenges of internationalization like knowledge gaps, resources, and regulations are also reviewed. Recommendations provide a roadmap to target both banks and credit unions through building relationships at trade shows and establishing the right team and resources.
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US Market Entry Strategy for Touchtech Payments
- 1. US Market Entry Strategy forTouchtech Payments UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School Full-time Master of Business Administration
- 2. Agenda Introduction Project Scope Industry Analysis Customer Segmentation Market Entry Strategy Challenges to Internationalisation Recommendations
- 3. Introduction International market entry strategy for Touchtech Academic frameworks to frame understanding Segmented a market of 12,000+ institutions We produced a shortlist institutions Gained first-hand information from key decision makers in US financial institutions. 12,000+ Financial Institutions
- 4. ProjectScope Phase 1: Business Model Analysis Understanding howTouchtech compete in the market Phase 2: Market Analysis Detailed analysis of US market Phase 3: Academic Literature Review Focused literature review on best practice for start-ups, internationalisation, and growing & scaling an organisation
- 5. ProjectScope Phase 4: Researching Potential Customers Starting at a high level with 12,000+ institutions Complete list of high level potential targets Deep dive and shortlisting of the highest potential customers Phase 5: Market Entry Strategy A guideline forTouchtech Outline the risks involved, key contacts, and estimated required resources
- 6. IndustryAnalysis US Market Entry Strategy forTouchtech Payments
- 7. Industry Analysis High degree of competition Authentication market No preference of end-users Access to distribution network Reliance on partnerships Intricate selling process
- 8. Industry Analysis 12000+ Banks and CUs Role of new government Geographical distance Credit Union v/s Banks US Market Analysis
- 9. Industry Analysis MobileWallets3D Secure ShoppingTransactions Large scale identity management solutions Competitor Categories
- 10. Industry Analysis Product offeringLow High Maturityofproduct/BrandEquityLowHigh Competitor Diversity
- 11. Customer Segmentation US Market Entry Strategy forTouchtech Payments
- 12. Customer Segmentation US Banks & Credit Unions
- 13. Customer Segmentation US Banks & Credit Unions
- 15. Customer Segmentation Banks: Segmentation Method US Banks Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Asset Size > $100 bn < $100 bn, > $2bn < $2 bn 1. Assets:
- 16. Customer Segmentation Banks: Segmentation Method US Banks Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Asset Size > $100 bn < $100 bn, > $2bn < $2 bn 1. Assets: 2. Demographics: US Banks Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Population Under 18 18 – 35 yr Over 35 yr
- 17. Customer Segmentation Banks: Segmentation Method US Banks Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Asset Size > $100 bn < $100 bn, > $2bn < $2 bn 1. Assets: 2. Demographics: 3. Geographical: Identified banking clusters US Banks Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Population Under 18 18 – 35 yr Over 35 yr
- 18. Customer Segmentation Banks: $2b - $100b Assets
- 19. Customer Segmentation Banks: Assets & Demographics (18-35)
- 20. Customer Segmentation Banks: Assets, Demos & Clusters
- 22. Customer Segmentation Credit Unions: Segmentation Method US Credit Unions Group 1 Group 2 Asset Size > $2bn < $2 bn 1. Assets:Top 100
- 23. Customer Segmentation Credit Unions: Segmentation Method US Credit Unions Group 1 Group 2 Asset Size > $2bn < $2 bn 1. Assets:Top 100 2. Members:Top 100 3. Branches:Top 100 US Credit Unions Group 1 Group 2 No. of Members > 150,000 < 150,000 US Credit Unions Group 1 Group 2 No. of Branches > 20 < 20
- 24. Customer Segmentation Credit Unions:Top 100 by Assets
- 25. Customer Segmentation Credit Unions:Top 100 by Members
- 26. Customer Segmentation Credit Unions:Top 100 by Branches
- 28. Customer Segmentation 1. Strong retail / personal banking section? 2. Technology focused strategy? 3. Online banking capability? 4. Mobile banking capability? 5. Active on social media? 6. Decreased its number of branches over the past five years? 7. Customer focused strategy? 8. Customer complaints re login / payment systems? 9. Has new management / CEO been appointed? Banks & Credit Unions: Shallow Dive
- 29. Customer Segmentation 1. How user friendly is their login platform? 2. How bad are the reviews of their payment / login systems? 3. Do they currently offerApple Pay / Android Pay / mobile wallet or any other payment system? 4. Do they currently use aTouch ID technology or any other biometric technology? 5. What is the reason for the % change in branch numbers (if any) over the past 5 years? 6. Do they have a digital development program in place? Banks & Credit Unions: Deep Dive
- 30. Customer Segmentation Final List : Banks & Credit Unions
- 31. Market EntryStrategy US Market Entry Strategy forTouchtech Payments
- 32. EntryStrategy Touchtech US Market Entry None of which can be viewed in isolation Entry Strategy comprises of four elements -
- 33. Formulate a clear mission and vision statement prior to entering the USAStrategy Mission: Why we exist? Vision: What future we want to create? Mission andVision
- 34. Strategy Where to locate? - NewYork Which market to tackle? - East coast Banks - Nationwide Credit Unions What isTouchtech’s product offering? - Explore and establish quickly Structure, Geography and Focus
- 35. Finance Ensure sufficient resources for market entry 2+ years Establish and affirm cost structure prior to internationalisation. Understanding costs means you understand your product’s price point Costs and Financing
- 36. Operations Don’t get spread too thin? Increased risk of failure by entering multiple geographies simultaneously Personnel Establish the right team Senior US marketing and sales personnel with strong network connections Junior US personnel Original / founding Irish personnel Desired founding culture is embedded from initiation Original / founding Irish personnel continuity of desired standards and expectations – mission and vision Senior management support is imperative during entry phase strongest team members must be available to support market entry Leverage Enterprise Ireland’s industry networks as part of the marketing plan Resources Critical for Success
- 37. Operations Things to know Human resources - critical differentiators between success and failure. A key reason cited for market entry failure was shortcomings in personnel and support structures for the market entry programme. Human resources management costs are high and can be a barrier to entry. Structural barriers, bureaucratic barriers and cost barriers are low e.g. US company ex-Delaware can be established in three days Post establishment professional service costs are considerably higher than that of Europe e.g. accountancy, legal services Resources Critical for Success
- 38. Operations Understand the procurement processes of your clients Procurement processes for some tier 2 banks and large credit unions will be well-defined, involving multiple business units evaluating the new technologies. Example: Mountain America FCU’s Chief Risk Officer. (Information acquired through interview at recent CU conference, Belfast) CUSO’s (Credit Union Service Organisations) IT Dept. Risk Officer Procure ment Team Finance Officer Legal Officer CEO Procurement Process
- 39. Marketing Crucial to attend industry trade shows to gather first hand data No amount of secondary research can replace primary, in-person research! Attending tradeshows needs to be a disciplined process. Establishing contact and pre-arranging meetings Information gathered and managed in a dedicated report format Accessible and visible to all marketing and sales personnel UtiliseCRM software to manage process – make it a discipline Develop marketing materials based on customer feedback Exhibiting at trade shows Expensive - $10,000 to $40,000 Marketing Process for the US
- 40. Challenges of Internationalisation US Market Entry Strategy forTouchtech Payments
- 41. Challenges Lucrative returns possible but face an uphill challenge Attitude to risk from Organisation Previously un-encountered Barriers- 1. Knowledge 2. Resources 3. Regulations Challenges of Internationalisation
- 42. Challenges 1) Lack of Information Barriers to information Limited information Unreliable information Ability to identify opportunities 2) New norms of doing business 3) “Outsidership” Breaking into new markets Resistance Liability of Smallness Challenge 1: Knowledge
- 43. Challenges 1. Not just …..Although it is Essential 2. Scaling and the experience curve 3. Personnel 4. Networks $$$ Challenge 2: Resources
- 44. Challenges 1. Dodd Frank Act 2010 2. Regulation driving Institution consolidation 3. Regulation compliance driving IT uptake 4. Regulation fear of jumping ahead of the curve Challenge 3: Regulation
- 45. Recommendations US Market Entry Strategy forTouchtech Payments
- 46. Recommendations Strategy Finance Operations Marketing • Mission andVision • Geography • Focus • Funding • Costs • Logistics • Human Resources • Procurement • Customer Database and Learn! • Banks AND Credit unions • Trade Shows Roadmap forward for Touchtech
- 47. The Sky is the Limit
Editor's Notes
- Hello Everybody, Just incase everybody doesn’t know each other ill just reintroduce the team. This is Muirenn McCarthy, Finbarr Coghlan, Sumit Chopra, and Paul Murphy. Im Michael and I will be walking us through a quick overview of the presentation, and outline our project scope. Sumit will follow me with the authentication industry analysis, Muirenn will then take us through the customer segmentation. How decided on the target financial institutions. Finbarr will explain the market entry strategy which is crucial to the implementing the customer segmentation and unlocking value. Paul will explain the challenges to mitigate or they will limit your effectiveness and potential profitability in the market. Paul will then finish up with the final recommendations.
- Introduction Our brief was to provide an international market entry strategy for Touchtech Payments. We quickly realised that the USA is the most important market by far. In terms of technological adoption Potential market size Skills and talent available for expansion of the team Appetite of the users (financial institution customers) Potential for funding is well developed (e.g. new sources of capital). Therefore, we excluded Canada and South America as they would divide the focus of the project. We used various academic strategy frameworks to frame our initial thinking around Touchtech, the broader market, and Touchtech position in it. We produced a shortlist of banks and credit unions. This involved segmenting a market of 12,000+ financial institutions using a combination of our own methodologies. We used a combo of secondary research and primary research gained from interviews with key decision makers in financial institutions.
- Scope of the Project So for the purposes of this project we had two masters, 1. UCD and 2. Touchtech. So obviously some pieces may be more interesting to you guys, in a practical sense, than others. Ill walk you through how we went about building the report at a high level, so you get a sense of the report as a whole and how it all fits together. Phase 1. -> Business Model Analysis This focused on understanding Touchtech, and how they are going to compete in the market. This is where we used academic frameworks, and research in to the industry Phase 2. -> Market Analysis This involved a detailed analysis of the US authentication market. What was the competitiveness, were there substitutes, was there an appetite for tech and was the way the wider environment driving behaviours? Fundamentally this was to understand the space that Touchtech would be entering. Phase 3. -> Academic Literature We conducted a review of the available academic literature on best practice for startups, internationalisation, and growing and scalling an organisation. And specifically how it directly applies to Touchtech.
- Phase 4. -> Researching potential customers Researching potential customers in the USA, we started at a high level with 12,000+ institutions. We began to segment customers using a combination of factors. We formed a complete list of high potential targets meeting pre-agreed criteria. We then preformed a deep dive into this high level list. We then shortlisted the highest potential customers. Phase 5. -> Market Entry Strategy This is really an implementation guideline for Touchtech. What challenges and risks you will face. Key contacts required, and how to go about it.
- There is a high degree of competition in the marketspace with low differentiation of the competitors. High switching costs under the contract terms and retaliation by incumbents further make it worse for authentication platform proving companies to enter the market. This make the entry barriers into this market quite high. Partnerships do play an important role like Mastercard, VISA partnerships and those with card issuers/mobile wallet companies could help in getting initial push into the market Selling a product to financial institutions could be a difficult in light of many decision makers involved and long decision times Facing challenges in scaling the technology, ensuring flawless implementation, educating customers and more importantly getting early adopters who could validate the technology for early majority and late majority. Apart, there has been question to security of data base that could store highly confidential stuff like biometrics on a database and misuse that information. Additionally, getting access to distribution network in the market could be tough in case of high dependence on brand reputation
- With over 12000 institutions in US, the financial market from perspective of banks and CUs is highly diverse. The business norms would also vary from east to west coast of US. As far as regulatory norms are concerned in US, new government could have a role in changing the landscape of operation. Geographically, FIs are densely populated on east and west coast while there are few localized concentrations across few other states. Transaction costs of doing business are increased. Speed of adoption matters a lot to and credit unions are more receptive to new technology and can can trial and adopt new technologies quite early relative to banks. This relates to ownership structure of the credit union and less complicated decision making process.
- (Quantity of competitors is huge in market and this is just reflection on subset of various categories of authentication platforms that exist currently. Their competitors are niche areas where they are operating. While Touchtech is offering wide range products and not limited to a niche focus, unlike, its competitors) 3DSecure is still not very popular in the US despite it being available in almost every other jurisdiction in the World. Many US FI are still struggling to offer chip and pin based credit and debit cards. But this does not mean that TT’s technology can penetrate into US market because leapfrogging in technology is quite common. Apple pay, android pay, MS pay, Google wallet are already kind of using latest technology with Touch ID from apple being a close competitor to Touchtech and is already adopted my many CUs. With size into consideration, Apple and Google may be huge for Touchtech to compete with. Apart, the brand name/equity is also an important parameter to consider here. Ensygnia has also developed a patented platform for secure mobile transactions used for the confidential exchange of personal and financial information. 4G is global leader in providing large scale identity management solutions leveraging smart cards and biometric technologies and Immigration & Border Control, Voter ID and National ID are few agencies that utilize their service. Though they are not direct competitors but bearing their success and size into consideration, they can any day come on board to start providing services to Financial Institutions.
- Looking on the competitors from product offering and maturity perspective, the competitors look like this. 3D Secure is a mature product and present in market since long 4G solutions has a wide product offering range and quite mature as well
- In this section we will go through the methodology we used for segmenting the customer base in the US. The target customers for Touchtech are financial services institutions such as banks and credit unions. However as we know customers in any market have different requirements, resources, attitudes and processes. By segmenting the market, we can answer the basic marketing question of ‘what customers will we serve?’
- This map shows all banks and credit unions in the US. Each institution is represented by a dot, the location of the dot represents the location of its head quarters and the size of the dot represents the relevant size of its assets. All blue dots are banks and all orange dots are credit unions. Many of them are over lapping on the map but we identified approximately 12,000 financial institutions in total. We used multiple segmentation bases in order to identify smaller, better-defined target customers. The first step was to segment them by institution type – we separated banks from credit unions.
- This map shows all banks and credit unions in the US. Each institution is represented by a dot, the location of the dot represents the location of its head quarters and the size of the dot represents the relevant size of its assets. All blue dots are banks and all orange dots are credit unions. Many of them are over lapping on the map but we identified approximately 12,000 financial institutions in total. We used multiple segmentation bases in order to identify smaller, better-defined target customers. The first step was to segment them by institution type – we separated banks from credit unions.
- This map shows all banks in the US – roughly 6,000 of them. As before, each bank is represented by a dot, the location of the dot represents the location of its head quarters and the size of the dot represents the relevant size of its assets. This gives us a good indication fro where the large banks are located and where the main banking hubs are across the US.
- We further segmented the banks based on assets, demographics and geographical location. ASSETS: We divided the banks into three segments according to their asset size as shown in the below table. Group 1 banks in the above table consist of the top banks in the US such as Wells Fargo, Citibank and Bank of America etc. which are considered Tier 1 banks. Group 3 banks in the above table consist of relatively small local community banks which are scattered throughout the country and generally considered Tier 4 banks. We selected Group 2 banks for Touchtech
- DEMOGRAPHICS: Using US censor data, we then looked at the demographics within each state. We selected banks that were located in the top 15 states that had 18-35yr olds.
- Geographical Finally we divided the banks geographically based on most concentrated clusters / banking hubs. Although the other regions may have viable customers for Touchtech, it is not practical to focus on all regions at once. By focusing on the two prominent hubs where there are a greater number of banks, Touchtech will benefit further from the concept of diffusion. For example, if they secure a few banks, other banks in the region will more likely come on board.
- This map shows all banks in the US that have asset between $2 billion and $100 billion. As before, each bank is represented by a dot, the location of the dot represents the location of its head quarters and the size of the dot represents the relevant size of its assets. This brings us to about 350 banks
- This map shows all banks in the US that have asset between $2 billion and $100 billion in states with the highest number of 18-35 year olds. As before, each bank is represented by a dot, the location of the dot represents the location of its head quarters and the size of the dot represents the relevant size of its assets. This brings us to approximately 250 banks
- Our third cut bring us to approximately 150 banks This was done by focusing on the banking hubs of the east coast and west coast where there is the most concentration of banks. By doing this, Touchtech can benefit from the concept of diffusion. For example, if they secure a few banks, other banks in the region will more likely come on board. As before, each bank is represented by a dot, the location of the dot represents the location of its head quarters and the size of the dot represents the relevant size of its assets.
- Our approach to segmenting the credit unions was different to that of the banks. This map shows all credit unions in the US. We can see that these are smaller than the banks and more evenly scattered through out the country, they are not headquartered in clusters as banks are. Furthermore, we were able to attain more information on the credit unions such as number of members.
- We segmented the credit unions based on assets, number of members and number of branches. ASSETS: We divided them into two segments according to their asset size as shown in the below table. Group 1 credit unions in the above table consist of those above $2b in assets which were the top 100 credit unions by asset size Group 2 credit unions in the above table consist of those below $2b in assets which are very small local credit unions We selected Group 1 credit unions for Touchtech as they were considered more attractive and lucritive
- We then segmented the credit unions based on number of members and branches. We analysed the top 100 credit unions in the United States based on number of members and the top 100 credit unions in the United States based on number of branches. We felt the combination of these attributes would produce a list of the most viable credit unions in terms of highest number of transactions and hence most attractive to TT.
- This map show the top 100 credit unions in the US according to asset size We can see that these are quite spread out throughout the country with no dominant hub.
- This map show the top 100 credit unions in the US according to number of members While there are many in common with the above we can see that some additional one have come in and others have dropped off This indicates that the credit union with the highest assets may not necessarily have the most members or transactions Again we can see that these are not concentrated in one area but are dispersed throughout the country
- Lastly, this map shows the top 100 credit unions in the US according to number of branches And once again they are a slightly different combination to the above and are dotted across the states.
- By combining these 3 lists we produced a list of what we felt were the most viable credit unions in terms of highest number of transactions and hence most attractive to TT. The remaining 37 credit unions are shown in the above map.
- So with a list of approximately 140 banks and 37 credit unions, we embarked on the next stage of our customer segmentation process which utilised a more focused set of criteria to investigate each potential customer. This involved looking at the following aspects… Gauge their appetite for technology adoption We gathered this information for each institution from the company websites, news reports, social media pages and other websites. This gave us a broad overview of each of the institutions and allowed us to rule out any unsuitable ones. Using this criteria we reduced the target list from approximately 180 institutions to 120.
- We went deeper into each of the remaining institutions to find answers to a more focused set of questions and to score each of the potential customers. We tested their online and mobile capabilities for ourselves to get a feel for how user friendly they were and checked customer reviews. We gauged how progressive they were based on what type of technology they offered We reviewed their annual reports, watched YouTube interviews with some senior management, read articles they published to understand what they hoped to achieve in the near future.
- This allowed us to further reduce our list of potential customers to 55banks and 28 credit unions. This map illustrates where each of them are located the dots are not representative of their size for ease of viewing. You can see the banks in blue are concentrated on east and west coast while CUs are more spread out. We have provided a final shortlist with each of these institutions and their relevant contact details in the Appendices of our report.
- One of our first observations about TT is that there isn’t a Mission and Vision statement for the company. Our recommendation is to formulate a clear mission and vision statement prior to entering the US. The company is going to grow and as it does so it is important that the ethos, culture, the ‘TT way’ is maintained and nurtured. Every current and future employee needs to understand fundamentally why does TT exist? What it is that TT do? How do they do it? Why they do it? And what is the future vision of TT? For example it could be something like ‘We want to create a passwordless society, while increasing user friendliness and improving security measures for online payments in a seamlessly integrated product’ What’s important here is that you are able to articulate your mission statement on paper in a succinct message that resonates with the team and that will resonate with all future team members as the organisation grows into new geographies. The mission and vision will anchor the organisation and this will then permeate into all aspects of the business, critically having an effect on clients – you want this mission to be so engrained that your clients know what TT represent at its core. Research has shown that about ¾ of higher performing firms have comprehensive mission statements and corporate philosophies. These are mantras that companies works to which filter through the organisation from top to bottom. Every member of the Touchtech team needs to understand what Touchtech represents as a firm.
- One of our first observations about TT is that there isn’t a Mission and Vision statement for the company. Our recommendation is to formulate a clear mission and vision statement prior to entering the US. The company is going to grow and as it does so it is important that the ethos, culture, the ‘TT way’ is maintained and nurtured. Every current and future employee needs to understand fundamentally why does TT exist? What it is that TT do? How do they do it? Why they do it? And what is the future vision of TT? For example it could be something like ‘We want to create a passwordless society, while increasing user friendliness and improving security measures for online payments in a seamlessly integrated product’ What’s important here is that you are able to articulate your mission statement on paper in a succinct message that resonates with the team and that will resonate with all future team members as the organisation grows into new geographies. The mission and vision will anchor the organisation and this will then permeate into all aspects of the business, critically having an effect on clients – you want this mission to be so engrained that your clients know what TT represent at its core. Research has shown that about ¾ of higher performing firms have comprehensive mission statements and corporate philosophies. These are mantras that companies works to which filter through the organisation from top to bottom. Every member of the Touchtech team needs to understand what Touchtech represents as a firm.
- The US is a highly competitive market place for payment authentication and associated services. And although there may not precisely be like for like competitors there are players out there that can quickly pivot into one or more of TTs markets. In highly competitive markets with lots of competitors there will always be a battle on price and this cannot be determined until your costs are fully understood – this includes everything from cost of customer acquisition down to the operational costs of maintaining the office. TT need to understand how low they can sustainably price their product to potential customers. Peter Drucker is a famous professor in management accounting. His mantras is ‘If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’.
- One of our first observations about TT is that there isn’t a Mission and Vision statement for the company. Our recommendation is to formulate a clear mission and vision statement prior to entering the US. The company is going to grow and as it does so it is important that the ethos, culture, the ‘TT way’ is maintained and nurtured. Every current and future employee needs to understand fundamentally why does TT exist? What it is that TT do? How do they do it? Why they do it? And what is the future vision of TT? For example it could be something like ‘We want to create a passwordless society, while increasing user friendliness and improving security measures for online payments in a seamlessly integrated product’ What’s important here is that you are able to articulate your mission statement on paper in a succinct message that resonates with the team and that will resonate with all future team members as the organisation grows into new geographies. The mission and vision will anchor the organisation and this will then permeate into all aspects of the business, critically having an effect on clients – you want this mission to be so engrained that your clients know what TT represent at its core. Research has shown that about ¾ of higher performing firms have comprehensive mission statements and corporate philosophies. These are mantras that companies works to which filter through the organisation from top to bottom. Every member of the Touchtech team needs to understand what Touchtech represents as a firm.
- From our conversations with key personnel in Enterprise Ireland and other companies that have successfully penetrated the US market , a constantly recurring theme is the need to attain an adequate personnel balance. If developers, technical staff or key management are busy managing other markets it will seriously hamper penetration efforts. (Riordan, 2013
- Depending on the size of the institutions their procurement process will likely be quite different. In general the larger the organisation the more red tape there is to get through adding time to the sales process. Understanding the procurement processes of institutions is important and the nuances of each organisation can only be understood through direct meetings and recording as part of the CRM process. At a higher level it has been discovered that credit unions are much more proactive with embracing new technologies than banks. This is reflective of their ownership structure. What I mean here is members as opposed too shareholders. Shareholders are interested in profits primarily and members are interested in organisational efficiency and greater user experience of the service. Credit unions therefore stand on an equal footing to banks in the US and must be treated with equal importance. Associated with CU’s are CUSO’s (Credit Union Service Organisations). Some of the CUSO’s can service up to 100 CU’s and this will often include IT and Online functions including online banking, mobile banking, up take of mobile wallets, etc.
- It is important that first hand primary data is acquired and managed correctly. Not only in the context of tradeshows but in all business engagements. Every interaction should be managed proactively in a disciplined CRM fashion. Tradeshows in the US are excellent opportunities for meeting influential people from target organisations. And although some of these recommendations seem trivial they are absolutely key to building effective customer relationships in as short a time as possible. Need to pre arrange meetings before the conferences You need to document information gathered in a comprehensive and accessible manner for all members on the business development team You need to actively manage the follow up correspondence and actions from your meetings to keep on top of things All of this can be simplified by using CRM software of which there are many options out there. As an FYI exhibiting at trade shows is expensive so you must make the most out of these opportunities when they come about.