Case studies Blog 2022

MacKay Meters -Accelerating Time to Market with a Seamless Integration

Written by Conn Byrne | Oct 21, 2024 9:40:09 PM

About MacKay Meters

Founded in 1960 and headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada, MacKay Meters is a global leader in the parking technology industry, with over 60 years of expertise. Specializing in the development and manufacturing of advanced parking meters and integrated parking management solutions, MacKay Meters serves municipalities, universities, airports, and private parking operators across North America and beyond.

MacKay’s product portfolio includes both single-space and multi-space meters, powered by sustainable solar energy and enhanced with wireless communication technology. These advanced features enable real-time data collection and remote management, significantly streamlining parking operations. Known for their durability and reliability, MacKay Meters' solutions help clients reduce maintenance costs, improve operational efficiency, and enhance customer convenience.

In addition to its innovative hardware, MacKay Meters offers a comprehensive suite of complementary parking management tools, including mobile payment solutions, enforcement software, and data analytics platforms. With a focus on sustainability and user-friendly designs, MacKay Meters remains at the forefront of parking innovation, helping cities and private operators meet the evolving demands of modern urban mobility.

The Challenge

Overcoming integration challenges with a flexible payments partner. 

As a leading innovator in parking technology, MacKay Meters set out to integrate advanced card-present EMV payment solutions into their next-generation parking meters and pay stations.

However, when pursuing a direct certification with a top hardware manufacturer, the company encountered several obstacles common in the payment device integration process. These challenges began delaying their time to market and diverted crucial resources away from core software development initiatives.

Beyond overcoming these integration complexities and accelerating time to market, MacKay also aimed to position its payment offering for widespread adoption. This required finding a payments partner who could provide both full-service acquiring and the flexibility for software clients to maintain their existing payment processing relationships by bringing their own MID (merchant account). This flexibility was essential to minimize disruption for their diverse customer base and ensure Mackay never lost a software sale due to payment relationship friction.

MacKay Meters embarked on a search for a payments partner that could deliver on all fronts. They needed a partner who could simplify payment integration while offering a processor-agnostic solution.

The Solution

Payment integration with Payroc’s flexible solutions. 

To overcome the certification complexities and time-to-market delays, Payroc stepped in to manage the hardware certification process with the device manufacturer. By certifying the hardware directly to the Payroc Processing Platform, Payroc eliminated the need for MacKay Meters to take on this lift. This enabled MacKay to integrate payments more efficiently.

Payroc’s cloud API provided MacKay with a streamlined integration path to the Payroc gateway, allowing them to deploy their parking meters and pay stations, complete with embedded EMV-capable payments functionality, with minimal complexity.

In addition, Payroc’s ability to offer pre-certified terminals of MacKay’s choosing, combined with the flexibility of the processor-agnostic Payroc Path program, was crucial. This gave MacKay the freedom to accommodate their software clients’ existing payment processing relationships by allowing them to bring their own MID (merchant account).

Payroc’s deep experience in the unattended payments space, along with its true omnichannel platform, further solidified the partnership. Payroc’s solution not only met MacKay’s current needs but also positioned them for future growth, including support for in-app payments.

The Results

Achieving milestones with scalable, modern technology. 

Partnering with Payroc has enabled MacKay Meters to achieve significant key milestones in their efforts to enhance payment capabilities across their parking solutions.

  • Seamless Contactless Payments: One of their standout successes includes the deployment of EMV contactless payment technology across thousands of parking meters and pay stations in a major US City, offering users a seamless and secure payment experience. This large-scale rollout showcases MacKay’s ability to meet the growing demand for modern, cashless payment solutions in high-traffic urban areas.

  • Integrated Mobile Solutions: In parallel, MacKay has successfully introduced its NovaPay parking application to the market, providing an integrated mobile payment solution for parking operators. With plans for further geographic expansion, MacKay is positioned to continue its growth and innovation in the parking technology space.

  • Scalable Flexibility: These results underscore the value of the Payroc-MacKay partnership in delivering scalable, processor-agnostic solutions while providing flexible payment options for their clients.

Simple. Seamless. Scalable.

The partnership between MacKay Meters and Payroc highlights an innovative approach to payment processing in the parking technology industry. By leveraging Payroc’s reliable cloud API and processor-agnostic Payroc Path program, MacKay Meters has successfully integrated EMV-capable payments across their parking meters and pay stations, providing a seamless and secure payment experience. This collaboration has not only streamlined MacKay’s payment integration process but also enabled them to offer flexible payment solutions to their diverse customer base. As a result, MacKay Meters is positioned for continued growth and innovation, meeting the demands of modern urban mobility with advanced, scalable payment technology.

 
What their team said...

"Partnering with Payroc has been a game-changer for MacKay Meters. Their expertise in unattended payments and seamless integration solutions allowed us to accelerate our time to market while keeping our focus on core software development. Payroc’s processor-agnostic platform and ability to support our clients' existing payment relationships has been instrumental in driving widespread adoption of our products. We’re excited about the future of our partnership as we continue to expand and innovate."

James MacKay
MacKay Meters