How to Reduce Cash Transactions with Smart Card Payment Systems to Tackle Covid-19?
Welcome to the fourth and final post in our series on a cashless society where Vince Graziani, CEO of IDEX Biometrics, discusses how to reduce cash transactions with smart card payment systems to tackle Covid-19.
We have talked a lot recently about cashless payment systems and how the move to operating in a cashless society is fast becoming a reality. Our willingness to switch to cashless payments as both individuals and organizations is because we can see the virtues from both a convenience and crime reducing point of view. Using the advanced and more highly secure biometric systems not only makes it easier to keep our cash secure, it also makes it easier for the police to track down any activity on our accounts.
Covid-19 and the Need to Reduce Cash Transactions
The beginning of 2020 has opened up a whole new set of issues globally; the impact of the emergence of a new Coronavirus or Covid-19 virus as it’s more specifically known, has created a global financial and health crisis on levels, not seen since the World War II. This has prompted businesses, government agencies and individuals to ask bigger questions about how our present society functions and how it must function in a more secure way to avoid being vulnerable.
We have quickly witnessed how existing industries can come crashing down in the blink of an eye, and our interdependence both on each other and on cash also makes us incredibly vulnerable to a global crisis such as this. Up until now, we have taken for granted our freedom to travel effortlessly between countries and come and go as we please.
The World Health Organization recently stated that the Covid-19 virus can live on paper cash, as reported by Hospitality.net (https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4097504.html). They go on to state that liquid-covered notes can be passed from one infected person to another, increasing the spread of the virus. Cash is also more readily used by people in supermarkets and in market stalls where food is also being handled. All of these factors together increase the likelihood of spreading the virus.
So, keeping this in mind, going for a cashless contactless payment option will reduce the risk. Biometric contactless cards are entirely personal and retained by an individual holder without any risk of sharing with others.
It is now more apparent than ever that if we are to make society less vulnerable to attacks of any kind, then having a cashless society is the only way to go to achieve this vital goal. Smart payment systems will likely only increase in use as more and more people realize how quickly a virus can spread in today’s society.
The previous post in our series on a cashless society looked at the use of contactless payment cards to reduce risk of Coronavirus COVID-19.
