Podcasts about blackhawk network

  When you think of ways to relieve stress, gift cards probably don't top your list. But new research from Blackhawk Network suggests they might be the unsung heroes of holiday stress management. In this episode, Ben Jackson chats with Sarah Kositzke, Senior Global Insights Manager at Blackhawk, about the company's 2024 holiday spending study.  Join us as we discuss:  The continued growth in gift card spending.  How consumers are turning to AI for their shopping needs.  The surprising role gift cards play in reducing stress before, during, and after the holiday season.  This episode was recorded on February 28, 2025—so some details may have changed by the time you listen.  Resources:  Get the Post-Holiday 2024 Research Infographic Now! | BHN   Upcoming Event: Don't miss the Innovative Payments Conference in Washington, DC, from April 29 – May 1! Learn from legislators, regulators, and industry experts about the forces shaping the payments landscape. Podcast listeners get $25 off registration with code Podcast (make sure to capitalize the first letter). 

In this episode of the Fraud Boxer podcast Jordan sits down with Arielle Caron to explore trust and safety in product development, with a strong focus on fraud prevention. Arielle, who has a 20-year background in the field, shares insights from her extensive career, which includes stints at Experian, Blackhawk Network, Etsy, and Airbnb.   Key Points Discussed:   -Arielle's Career Journey: From managing fraud and identity solutions at Experian to tackling content moderation and account integrity at Etsy and Airbnb. -Trust and Safety Challenges: How businesses handle trust and safety issues, including content moderation, fake reviews, and account takeovers. Content Moderation Techniques: The evolution from simple word filters to advanced methods like computer vision to combat fraud and inappropriate content. -Generative AI in Reviews: The complexities introduced by generative AI in creating fake reviews and other content, and how companies are adapting. -Deepfakes and Authentication: The challenges deepfakes pose to authentication and trust, with stories of phishing and fake video calls. -Off-Platform Fraud: The risks of moving customers off-platform to avoid safety measures and the importance of secure escrow systems. -AI Washing: The prevalence of false claims about AI-driven products in the market and the need for thorough scrutiny of such claims.   Jordan and Arielle emphasize the importance of robust trust and safety measures to maintain marketplace integrity and protect consumers from fraud. Tune in for an insightful discussion on these critical issues!   Arielle Caron - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariellecaron/ ------------- This episode will be brought to you by The House of Fraud. HoF is the only community started BY fraud fighters FOR fraud fighters. Don't get sucked into other vendor started or sponsored communities that only exist to eaves drop on you to pitch you later or sell their member list (

Discover the future of customer experience as we tap into the wisdom of industry leaders who are redefining the landscape. In this CX Pulse Check, Jeannie Walters asked CX leaders at CXPA CX Leaders Advance and Qualtrics X4: The Experience Management Summit what we should have our finger on the pulse of when it comes to customer experience today. We're peeling back the layers of integrated strategies and customer-first culture, offering you unique perspectives that could very well shape your next move in the world of customer experience.Suraj 'SUV' Venkitachalam from Cisco emphasizes the untapped potential within the data we already possess. Karen Lynch from Greenbook dissects the evolving role of CX within the corporate structure. Maggie Gentry from Community Health Network and Alpa Vyas from Stanford Healthcare talk about the transformative journey of patient experience. Jignesh Shah from Blackhawk Network chimes in on the art of memorable customer feedback, while Lorraine Schumacher, CX Executive Advisor, and Karyn Furstman of CustomersFurst bring us back to basics, reminding us of the importance of fundamental standards in the era of AI. And last, but not least, Tabitha Dunn from Hitachi chats with us about customer-centered growth.We're connecting the dots between CX metrics and tangible business outcomes like retention and referrals, ensuring that you walk away with actionable insights for driving loyalty and value.Guest List:Tabitha Dunn, CCXPHead of Global Customer Experience and Sales Technology at HitachiLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tabithadunn/Karyn Furstman, CCX, CCXP, XMPCEO & Chief Experience Officer at CustomersFurstLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karynfurstman/Lorraine Schumacher, CCXPCX Executive AdvisorLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorraine-schumacher-ccxp-145b6150/Jignesh ShahVP of Products & GTM leader at Blackhawk NetworkLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jshahdc/Maggie Gentry, CPXPDirector of Experience Analytics at Community Health NetworkLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-gentry-chnw/Suraj 'SUV' Venkitachalam Senior Director, Customer Voice Strategy & Execution at CiscoLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/surajsuv/Alpa VyasSenior Vice President, Chief Patient Experience & Operational Performance Officer at Stanford Health CareLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alpa-vyas-healthcare/Karen LynchHead Of Content at GreenbookLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenmlynch/Access our CX resources at experienceinvestigators.comWant to ask a question? Visit askjeannie.vip to leave Jeannie a voicemail! (And don't forget to follow Jeannie on LinkedIn! www.linkedin.com/in/jeanniewalters/)

In this Sports Geek Throwback episode, Sean Callanan interviews Steve Pastorino who was at the Las Vegas Lights FC and now Director, Business Development at Blackhawk Network. They discuss the importance of keeping the local community engaged and the early days of Las Vegas transforming into a sports town. Show notes - https://sportsgeekhq.com/podcast/throwback/importance-of-keeping-the-local-community-engaged-in-vegas-steve-pastorino

This week we are joined by Anna Uprichard, Vice President of Commerce for Blackhawk Network. We discussed how the £1trillion pound gift card market has developed over the years, how they can help drive customer acquisition, and how they may be an innovative solution to mitigating rising staff costs.

Join us for today's Retail Daily Minute episode as we dissect the latest trends in Gen Z shopping habits:YouTube maintains its dominance among U.S. teens, with TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram trailing closely.Affirm teams up with Blackhawk Network, enabling shoppers to buy digital gift cards and pay through manageable installments, catering to the soaring BNPL trend.Dollar General emerges as a Gen Z favorite, with 56% of Gen Z TikTok users considering purchases, driven by inflation concerns and TikTok's influence.Discover how Gen Z is navigating the digital and retail landscape, making informed shopping choices in an evolving world. Brought to you by Omni Talk – stay informed, stay ahead, and, most importantly, be careful out there!

Gift cards are expected to make up a larger part of holiday shopping budgets, according to new research from Blackhawk Network. In this episode, Jay Jaffin, chief marketing officer at Blackhawk, discusses the expected growth in gift card purchases, why cards benefit merchants and shoppers, and how banks and other companies can make use of the trend.   This podcast was recorded on November 6, 2023. Things may have changed by the time you hear it.    

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Jason Wolfe is the definition of a serial entrepreneur. He sold MyCoupons.com for roughly $23 million in 2000, shortly before the DotCom bubble burst. Jason rolled over his proceeds into successive wins with his companies Direct Response Technologies (acquired by Digital River for $22 million), Jambo Media (for $15 million) and Giftcards.com (by Blackhawk Network for $120 million). Pretty impressive. Even more so when you consider how he grew up. After growing up in the Milton Hershey School, an orphanage founded by Milton Hershey, Jason was living out of his car. He taught himself how to code by using books at the local library and CompUSA's 'Building the Perfect Web'. This led to building the first coupon website and launching his first internet business. From 1995 to 2000, Jason built the business, raising $500k in VC from Jupiter Media and garnering >$1 million in annual sales and 20 million page views per month. Today, he is building GiftYa, GiveInKind, and PerfectGift, which have the potential to be his biggest businesses yet. ​Jason's Challenge; Give more. Be Kind. Pull someone else up. Connect with Jason Wolfe Linkedin Website jason@wolfe.com​ Underwritten by Piper Creative Piper Creative makes creating podcasts, vlogs, and videos easy.  How? Click here and Learn more. We work with Fortune 500s, medium-sized companies, and entrepreneurs. Follow Piper as we grow YouTube Subscribe on iTunes | Stitcher | Overcast | Spotify

Tim Attinger is Co-founder and President of OvationCXM, with nearly 30 years of executive management experience in financial services, financial technology and digital transformation. Prior to Co-founding OvationCXM, Tim held executive roles in digital transformation and growth with successful exits at Monitise, a global mobile money platform acquired by Fiserv and Blackhawk Network, which went public in 2013. Before this, Tim had an extensive career with Visa. He managed a $1 Billion plus global portfolio of digital businesses, led product innovation development, and was part of the executive team that took Visa Inc. public in 2008. Preceding roles including building and managing strategic growth initiatives for First Data (now Fiserv) and managing client engagements for a host of Fortune 100 companies with Windermere, a McKinsey-spinoff boutique strategy consultancy.   Questions   • Could share in your own words, even though we did read your formal bio, in terms of your background, a little bit of your journey, how you got to where you are today, in your own words, and why you do what you do? • Can you share with us a little bit about why it's so important that organizations should have customer experience as a priority for their business. What can businesses do to differentiate themselves and set themselves apart? • There's a lot of digital or digitization that's happening across different industries, and because of the digitization, and also artificial intelligence, people are losing their jobs. It is as a result of increase artificial intelligence and they're increasing efficiency, but they're also reducing the level of human input that they're utilizing What are your views on that? • What are some of the key things that we need to think about in the customer journey? • Could you share with us what's the one online resource, tool, website, or app that you absolutely can't live without in your business? • Could you also share with us maybe one or two books that have had the biggest impact on you? It could be a book that you read recently, or even one that you read a very long time ago, but it still has left an indelible mark on your life. • Could you also share with us what's one thing that's going on in your life right now that you're really excited about - either something you're working on to develop yourself or your people? • Where can listeners find you online? • Do you have a quote or saying that during times of adversity or challenge, you will tend to revert to this quote, it kind of helps to keep you on track or get you back on track if for any reason you get derailed? Do you have one of those?   Highlights  Tim's Journey When asked about his journey, Tim shared that the funny thing about it is, it wasn't as though what you just read off was something he sat out to do consciously from the outset. And it was a bit of opportunistic starting in a consultancy, then it basically offered a role with a former client to help drive strategy and then recruited from there by some friends to go to yet another company.   So, he's spent most of his time in a particular industry and a particular kind of role. But it almost feels as though that was a happenstance rather than sort of a conscious thing that he was driving, which he guess means in retrospect, his career is a fascinating thing for him to see, because it's been highly varied, and at the same time, not necessarily overtly managed, if that makes sense.   The Importance of Prioritizing Customer Experience and What Businesses Can do to Set Themselves Apart in the Financial Sector Space Me: Well, thank you so much for sharing. We're in a very unique environment globally, as it relates to customer experience. And so, I'd like for you to share with us a little bit about why it's so important that organizations should have customer experience as a priority for their business. I know most of your experience is in the financial sector, so it'd be good to hear from your perspective, especially seeing that that space is a competitive space. What can businesses do to differentiate themselves and set themselves apart?    Tim shared that he thinks part of the challenge that enterprises find themselves in today, in particularly with respect to sort of customer experience, and how that intersects with digital transformation is that a lot of organizations are looking at customer experience as a way to optimize sort of touch points or channels of communication with customers, as opposed to sort of the way that we look at it, which is thinking about holistically the customers journey with an enterprise.   So, the customer's journey with a business, which is more than just an interaction, but it's a series of engagements as the customer tries to accomplish something in their lives or in their own business.   And so, he thinks part of the challenge that businesses have seen today is that they're thinking about touchpoints as opposed to customer journeys, which creates a challenge in how you solve for delivering great customer experience. And he thinks the reason why customer experience is increasingly important is, it's a fairly simple thing, but it bears repeating with most enterprises, that all of your revenue as an enterprise comes from paying customers.   So, the most important source of growth for your business is your customer base, frankly, the lowest cost position you can possibly have in any marketplace is to have a satisfied customer base that continues to do business with you.   So, he thinks customer experience is increasingly important in the marketplace because recruiting and then retaining and growing a customer relationship is increasingly challenging in competitive spaces. And those organizations that focus on doing it right, and particularly in orchestrating great customer journeys, which we can talk about in a little more detail. But sort of orchestrating great customer journeys will have a competitive advantage relative to organizations that are looking at the sort of either optimizing touchpoints or trying to re architect their entire sort of back-end business from a technology standpoint, as opposed to focusing from the customer back into their business.   Digitization and Artificial Intelligence – Reducing the Level of Human Input Me: Brilliant. So, you spoke about customer journey which I do want to talk about. But before we get onto the customer journey, what I wanted to find out also, especially seeing that this space is competitive. And there's a lot of digital or digitization that's happening across different industries, especially in the financial sector, for sure. And so, as a result of the digitization, and also artificial intelligence, people are losing their jobs. I'm here in Kingston, Jamaica, and over the weekend, I read an article in our local newspaper, stating that 100 persons in the BPO sector are going to be laid off. And I imagine that it is as a result of increased artificial intelligence and they're increasing efficiency, but they're also reducing the level of human input that they're utilizing What are your views on that?    Tim shared that it's unfortunate to hear that news, because the best kind of deployment for artificial intelligence, for machine learning, for automation, is not as a replacement for people, but as a compliment to them.   So, a large part of sort of the platform capabilities and again, just taking from context in sort of his company, OvationCXM, and how they think about it, but a large part of the deployment capability that they put in place is, is essentially helping people be better at the live interaction, and the live engagement and the direct engagement with a customer.   And he thinks about the sort of the analogy of the airline industry, when you think about sort of the check in process, if you've got a fairly straightforward, I just need my boarding pass, I don't have any bags to check, and I'm on my way to the gate, right. That's, something that absolutely, because it's always the same, it's never complicated. Automating that stuff is great, because what it does is it frees up the humans who are there to deal with the family of 5 who just had their flight cancelled, they've got a connection, the luggage is already on the way.   So, when you look at sort of AI and digitization, a lot of the initial investment has been in exactly what you're describing sort of these point solutions where I'm just going to try to automate conversations, and digitize a particular channel, but still I'm not looking at what is the overall customer experience of trying to navigate my entire enterprise? And who are the people, the people who are going to help me do that, the Sherpas who helped him sort of climb this hill that is getting himself live with a product or opening a business and having a financial institution helped him do that.   So, he thinks over the long term, the pendulum will swing back to equilibrium and organizations will realize that conversational automation is great for certain things. But having intelligence inside of systems to help deliver the right answers to the right people in the right moment in the context of what the customer is trying to accomplish and then having humans engaged with that customer is really he thinks where the industry is going to go.   Key Points to Think About in the Customer Journey Me: So, let's go back to the customer journey. So, the journey of the customer, for our listeners that I mean, I've had episodes in the past where we have guests that talk about customer journey. But because I want to get a little bit more granular, let's talk about the customer journey, let's say for example, in a financial institution, if you are, let's say, getting a product, like a credit card, for example, when you look at the journey that the customer will take from application until however long they use that card for, what are some of the key things that we need to think about in the journey? And is a journey just giving the customer the card? Because now we have new business, now we have a new loan that we've booked, or is it more so the maintenance of having that person on board.   Like in Jamaica, for example, one of my greatest pet peeves is, if you pay really well on your credit card, you automatically get an increase annually. I think a telephone call should be given to the customer to find out, “We see that you're a great customer in terms of payments, and we'd like to offer you an additional increase, is this something you'd be open to?” Versus just getting your statement and seeing that you've been given an additional X thousands of dollars on the card. But what are your views on that?   Tim shared that to back it up into sort of where his firm spends most of their time, which is in sort of business relationships. So, banks to take the analogy Yanique just had, imagine a bank helping a business owner who's opening a new business apply for a line of credit so that they can fund equipment and site improvements and setting up a payroll service so that they can sort of disperse funds to employees. And if you think about sort of journeys in 3 basic increments, they're sort of the discovery and buying journey, where he sort of figure out what it is he need, and who has it, and from whom he'd like to buy it.   And then once you finally committed to buying it from someone, what is one of the most challenging things they've seen in financial services is getting a customer from, “Hey, I'd like this solution from you, Mr. Bank, all the way through to it's working for me today and I'm finally live with it.” And in business banking, that process can be fairly complicated with multiple steps. Imagine what it's like as a small business owner applying for a lending relationship, you've got paperwork you fill out, there are forms you have to send in, there are credit checks that the bank does, there's an entire internal process of reviewing your risk and underwriting requirements that you don't even have any visibility into. And then somewhere out the other end of it, you find out whether or not you qualify.   And then on the tail end of the sort of what they call the Go Live journey, there's also the ongoing relationship, which is quite frankly, where most of the experience of a financial institution comes from, which is what's it like every single day for me to use this and solve problems? And what are some of the most important things in sort of thinking about, let's just take that Go Live journey as an example, most businesses are blind to what's happening.   I bought something from you and then it kind of disappears into a black hole, I don't hear from you for 3 or 4 weeks, except every couple of maybe twice you asked me for things completely out of the blue, I have no idea why and then. And then another couple of weeks go by and I get some kind of decision. It's sort of like one of the most opaque things that you can possibly imagine, as opposed to you think about the experience of that business owner, as a consumer when they take advantage of something like a food delivery product, or, God forbid, they just buy something from an online merchant, like an Amazon.   There are really clear steps that are communicated to you, here's where you are, here's where you're going, here's how many steps there are from here to there and step 4, we're going to ask you for something. It's as simple as saying, make it really clear to the customer, what are sort of the stops along the way on the journey that you're about to undertake with them, make them aware of where they are. And even internally in organizations that are trying to deliver to that customer, you quite often have departments that don't talk to each other. So, everybody internally is kind of like, who's got the ball? Who's got next? What am I supposed to be doing now? When does this get done?   And so, he thinks a large part of making experiences go well, it's just connecting all of those humans and systems and teams into a fabric that makes everybody aware of what everyone else is doing. Where are we in this process and communicating that in simple terms to the customer, so they know where they are.   When you think about it a large part of customer experience is just visibility. And, frankly, one of the best ways to disappoint someone is to not meet the expectations that they have. And so, a big part of having a journey go well is just setting expectation upfront, here are the 5 steps that we're going to go through, here's how long it's going to take, here's what we'll need where and when. And here's who you can talk to on this stage, right?   Me: Agreed, agreed, managing expectations and communication is so important.   Tim stated and invisibility, just simply where am I? Who's got this now? And what do they need so that I can make sure it's moving forward, because at the end of the day, the customer is just trying to accomplish something and the journey through your enterprise is just a means to an end, think about that small business owner, I'm just trying to open a business and start selling pizzas. I really don't want to be an expert in underwriting. I just want to know when it is that that process is done, what do you need from me to make it go as quickly as possible?   Me: Indeed. Because at the end of the day, they also have their customers that they're trying to get to serve, but they can't do that if you don't do your part.   Tim agreed that's exactly right. And so, one of the interesting things, you sort of brought up credit cards, one of the most important things that a financial institution can do for a small business owner, is give them a way to accept payment, right?   That sort of what they call accounts receivable, right, which is essentially managing your revenue from your own customers and making that something that's easy to do, that works every time that gets that money from your customers into your bank account on a regular basis. You can make payroll, you can buy supplies, all of that.   The role that banks play in helping small businesses survive and thrive, really is it's critical in those kinds of activities. So, if something goes bump in the night, or there's a hiccup in that process, being on top of it, and giving the customer an expectation when it's going to get solved is super important, particularly for businesses that basically need that cash flow to operate.   App, Website or Tool that Tim Absolutely Can't Live Without in His Business When asked about an online resource that he cannot live without in his business, Tim shared that what's super, super, super critical for them, they use their platform and then a combination of that, and then an online tool set called Miro, which is almost like it's a group whiteboard capability. They use that with their bank clients in the way that you do these things today, because everybody's all over the place, you get on an hour, or two Zoom call and they actually facilitate discussions with their clients on what exactly is it like from a customer's point of view to try to accomplish something inside of your bank.   What is it like from a customer's standpoint, and particularly, not just your bank, but also increasingly, I know, you've seen this, financial institutions are partnering with other companies and external providers and financial technology providers to deliver solutions to businesses. So, increasingly, it's not just, how are you doing things internally, but also, what does it like for the customer to get bounced between you and some other company they've never heard of that you happen to be sourcing a solution from.   So, that capability and the ability to map all of that out in real time with their clients and then so that they can see what that looks like today and then start working to make it better, has become a critical component of sort of how they help those banks improve their business.   Books that Have Had the Biggest Impact on Tim When asked about books that have had an impact, Tim stated that absolutely that's an easy one. In the interest of full disclosure, again, back to he didn't consciously set out in this path to be in financial services. He was originally studying to be a Literature Professor.   Me: You like to read.   Tim stated that he decided he liked it so much, he didn't want to have to do it for a living. So, after he finished his master's degree, as he was thinking about maybe do I or do I not want to go get a doctorate and become a professor. On a lark, moved out to the Bay Area in San Francisco and just backed into a job at a management consulting firm. And the founding partner of that firm encouraged him to read a book by a couple of his McKinsey colleagues called In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies by Thomas J. Peters.   And because he had almost no business education whatsoever, he eagerly dove into it. And the interesting thing about that book is that it's a fairly straightforward analysis of how have companies across a number of different industries been successful. And almost all of the stories come back to a fairly simple premise, that if you build your business from the marketplace back, you start with the customer, you start with a customer group, or a portfolio or a type of customer you want to serve, and then you design everything else about your business around being really great at meeting that need for that customer.   You think about sort of what the typical airline experience was before Southwest came on the scene, or what the typical shopping experience looked like before somebody like an Amazon came on the scene. It's like I'm going to rethink what it is a customer is trying to accomplish, what needs they're trying to fill, and then focus really intently on doing that very well, and strip away everything else that doesn't absolutely serve that need. And so, that was a real revelation for him, sort of as a newbie in the business world.   And that's continued to be a touchstone for every career stop he's had and particularly in the role that he has now, which is basically helping a host of different enterprise companies of various stripes, mainly in financial services now, but also in a number of other industries, get to that realization, focus intently on what is the experience of the customer in trying to accomplish something in their lives and how does he design what he's doing around meeting that really well. So, it's kind of come full circle for him from that sort first introduction to how good businesses operate.    What Tim is Really Excited About Now! When asked about something exciting that's going on right now, Tim shared what's really exciting for him, sort of as he's gone through his career, he's made a study of how businesses create ecosystems, sort of how networks of organizations come together around a common delivery to a customer or to a segment or to create a product, or solution and you think about the companies he's worked in Visa, Blackhawk, sort of which are network business models where you've got sort of, you build a platform, and then you have companies onto that platform and do business with each other through the capability you're delivering.   And they're finding in the business today, OvationCXM, which is their audio sort of customer experience management software platform, that they're starting to see the same kind of ecosystem dynamics that they have in sort of major enterprise banks and insurance companies and healthcare organizations. Partnered with a host of providers of services and solutions, whether that's financial technology, health tech, what have you and their customer experience management platform is becoming a way for them to collaborate and interact as an ecosystem in delivering great experiences to their customers.   And it's fascinating to see that sort of network effect begin to take off. Even something as simple as their customer experience management delivery platform in this industry, it's just fascinating to see network effects start to materialize in the software business, which is it's really exciting for him because he's spent a lot of his days helping to manage and grow network effect businesses, and they're starting to see that in theirs today. So, it's super exciting, at least for him, maybe geeky for most folks, but for him, it's fun to watch.   Me: Okay, it's like you're forming your own community.    Tim agreed yes, exactly. And that's the funny thing about it is that in the same way that communities are super important to our lives as individuals, right, and families, businesses are actually not that different, the immunities of companies that are delivering capabilities or delivering on something tend to be stronger, more resilient. And, frankly, more adaptive.   Where Can We Find Tim Online  Website – www.ovationcxm.com    Quote or Saying that During Times of Adversity Tim Uses When asked about a quote or saying that he tends to revert to, Tim shared that he does and it's from a longer poem by Rudyard Kipling and the entirety of which he doesn't remember off the top of his head, but one line in particular, which is about sort of one of the most important things you can do in times of duress is “Be the person who's keeping his head while everyone else around you is losing theirs.” And he thinks that has helped in a number of ways, in particular stressful situations, it is just to step outside of the challenge that you're currently in and realize that the only way to respond to and solve the challenges is to not let it cloud your mind. And he thinks that that quote has helped immensely in difficult times professionally.   IF ~ BY RUDYARD KIPLING (‘Brother Square-Toes'—Rewards and Fairies) If you can keep your head when all about you        Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,    If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,     But make allowance for their doubting too;    If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,     Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating,     And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:   If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;        If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;    If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster     And treat those two impostors just the same;    If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken     Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,     And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:   If you can make one heap of all your winnings     And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings     And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew     To serve your turn long after they are gone,    And so hold on when there is nothing in you     Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!'   If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,        Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,     If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute     With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,    Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,        And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!    Please connect with us on Twitter @navigatingcx and also join our Private Facebook Community – Navigating the Customer Experience and listen to our FB Lives weekly with a new guest   Links ·  In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America's Best-Run Companies by Thomas J. Peters   Grab the Freebie on Our Website – TOP 10 Online Business Resources for Small Business Owners  Do you want to pivot your online customer experience and build loyalty - get a copy of “The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience.” The ABC's of a Fantastic Customer Experience provides 26 easy to follow steps and techniques that helps your business to achieve success and build brand loyalty. This Guide to Limitless, Happy and Loyal Customers will help you to strengthen your service delivery, enhance your knowledge and appreciation of the customer experience and provide tips and practical strategies that you can start implementing immediately! This book will develop your customer service skills and sharpen your attention to detail when serving others. Master your customer experience and develop those knock your socks off techniques that will lead to lifetime customers. Your customers will only want to work with your business and it will be your brand differentiator. It will lead to recruiters to seek you out by providing practical examples on how to deliver a winning customer service experience!

Walter Paulsen is a Vistage Chair in Silicon Valley and leads a CEO Peer Advisory Group.  He is a CEO and founder in Silicon Valley across 10 different startups with six exits. Walter's most notable success was leading the launch and growth of Blackhawk Network's Gift Card Mall from an idea to $500 million and 80% share in the grocery channel. If you've ever enjoyed the convenience of buying a gift card from the Gift Card Mall, you've been his customer. Based in Menlo Park, CA, Walter is a sought-after expert on entrepreneurship, lean startups, corporate innovation, and leadership of high-growth companies. In this episode, Foo and Walter talk about the potential for technology to come out of the current economic situation stronger than before. They also shared insights on the importance of testing a business idea in the market before fully committing to it.Tune in to learn more!Connect:Strategic Advisor Board: www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-advisor-board/James Foo Torres: linktr.ee/jameslfooInstagram: www.instagram.com/jameslfoo/Imperium Authority: imperiumauthority.com/Walter PaulsenLinkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/walterpaulsenCalendar: calendly.com/wpaulsen

Agile at its essence is about delivering maximum value in the available time with the available people. Leila Pourhashemi, CIO and VP, Technology Business Operations at Blackhawk Network, joins us to share ways to deliver that maximum value.   Leila and host Briana Okyere discuss:   - Why influencing those outside your team might be more important than influencing those inside your team.   - The importance of moving from a project to a product mindset.   - The need to stop starting and start finishing work instead.   This episode is brought to you by Tonkean   Tonkean is the operating system for business operations and is the enterprise standard for process orchestration. It provides businesses with the building blocks to orchestrate any process, with no code or change management required. Contact us at tonkean.com to learn how you can build complex business processes. Fast.

Ajay and Vincent chat with Jay Jaffin, CMO at Blackhawk Network. He talks about diverse use cases as a marketer, and the effectiveness of a referral program for customers. Vincent sees a show on broadway, and Ajay plays 14 hours of tennis.

We welcome YOU back to America's leading higher education podcast, The EdUp Experience! It's YOUR time to #EdUp In this episode, YOUR guest is Greg Brown, President of Udemy Business, YOUR guest cohost is Lisa Honaker, Director, Expansion Sales at Highspot, YOUR host is Dr. Joe Sallustio, & YOUR sponsor is Unmudl! Want to know why every institution of higher education should be thinking about optionality? Listen in to #EdUp! Greg Brown has served as the President, Udemy Business since December 2020. Prior to joining Udemy, Greg served as the Chief Executive Officer of Reflektive, a performance, engagement & analytics solution platform, from August 2019 until December 2020. Prior to Reflektive, Greg was the Senior Vice President of International Business at Blackhawk Network, a global payments provider, from August 2017 to August 2019. Before that, Greg served as Chief Revenue Officer for Achievers Solutions, a developer of cloud-based employee engagement software, from February 2013 to August 2017, and as Chief Revenue Officer for Extole, a developer of an online advocate marketing platform, from April 2011 to February 2013. Greg received a B.S. in business administration from California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo. Thank YOU so much for tuning in. Join us on the next episode for YOUR time to #EdUp! Connect with YOUR #EdUp Team - Elvin Freytes & Dr. Joe Sallustio ● Join YOUR #EdUp community at The EdUp Experience! We make education YOUR business! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/edup/message

Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced at Bitcoin 2022 that the company has partnered with three of the world's largest payments providers, Shopify, NCR and Blackhawk Network to enable bitcoin payments at stores throughout the country. He explained that the integration eliminates legacy banks from the payments process, saving merchants on fees and enabling privacy for shoppers.  

Bitcoin 2022 was the largest Bitcoin event in history, exploring the technological advancements, financial empowerment and countercultural influence that surround this open-source technology. During Bitcoin 2022, U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis offered details on a bipartisan bill, The Responsible Financial Innovation Act, that she hopes will establish favorable Bitcoin regulation during a fireside chat with Marco Santori, the chief legal officer of Kraken. There becomes an obvious burden as nation states recognize the success of Bitcoin and attempt to apply existing regulations to govern its use or create new laws to do so. In the U.S., Lummis shared that she sees legislators becoming increasingly open to the idea of passing favorable rules catered to Bitcoin that would foster innovation in the country. Legislation and the cryptocurrency space have been increasingly at odds for some time now. In July 2021, for instance, Bitcoiners were abruptly disturbed on a late-Wednesday night as the announcement of a new infrastructure bill in the U.S. looked to require that know-your-customer (KYC) reporting criteria be collected on people sending over $10,000 in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. The pseudonymic nature of bitcoin prevents this kind of information from ever being collected, which raised concerns, and suddenly it seemed, Bitcoiners became highly political. Canaan has officially released four standards for its Avalon products, engineers, cooperative mines and after-sales service in order to promote sustainable mining construction. Lu also shared his views on immersion liquid cooling technology to promote the transformation of mining infrastructure to "green" solutions. The company released its three key pillars of green mining: energy, miner and infrastructure (EMI). For energy, bitcoin mining plays an active role in both traditional energy power and clean energy power. Miners look for low-cost or free electricity to power their machines. It is common for mining equipment to be deployed in oil and gas fields and hydroelectric power stations. By deploying mining equipment on oil and gas sites, the carbon footprint of the extraction process is reduced. The reason there is no other way to do this is because other industries lack the flexibility of Bitcoin mining. Strike CEO Jack Mallers announced at Bitcoin 2022 that the company has partnered with three of the world's largest payments providers, Shopify, NCR and Blackhawk Network to enable bitcoin payments at stores throughout the country. He explained that the integration eliminates legacy banks from the payments process, saving merchants on fees and enabling privacy for shoppers.

Mobile payment app Strike has partnered with Shopify, alternative payment provider Blackhawk Network, and point-of-sale supplier NCR to create a new US payment system that allows merchants to quickly receive payments in dollars after people pay with crypto.My Latest Video on this announcement.The Lightning Network-based system will work with online purchases from merchants using Shopify, as well as point-of-sale transactions at many large chain stores. All of this made operational in conjunction with Cash App.What this means for companies like a Starbucks whose sales are $24.6 B and over 43% in card payments could save the chain as much as $800 Million a year in fees. Multiply that by the 4 Trillion restaurant industry globally and you end up with an addressable market of approximately $9 Billion in savings.Block, formerly known as Square, is integrating the Lightning Network into its popular Cash App, a move first promised in 2019. The company said the feature should be available to all U.S. Cash App users, except those in New York State, in the coming weeks.The integration of the network will allow Cash app customers in the U.S. to send bitcoin for free within seconds to anybody in the world.The Lightning integration is made possible by the Lightning Development Kit created by Spiral, which is funded by Block.Cash App customers will also be able to send bitcoin to any compatible wallet that accepts Lightning Network payments, without being charged fees.Almost three years ago, Block CEO Jack Dorsey, who's also an investor in Lightning Labs, said there were plans underway to integrate the scaling technology with Square's Cash App.

Today's blockchain and cryptocurrency news Brought to you by watchthiscards.com Bitcoin is down slightly at $43,345 Ethereum is down slightly at $3,261 and Binance Coin is down slightly at $428 Strike's CEO announced a partnership with Shopify, Blackhawk Network, and NCR at the Miami Bitcoin Robinhood's activates crypto wallet for 2 million eligible customers. Wyre has been acquired by Bolt in a deal valued around $1.5B Improbable raises $150M to build an interoperable metaverse network.

We're troublemaking our way into Friday with stories orbiting the Retail Automotive ecosystem. Starting with an easier way to use crypto for regular purchases, moving on to the opening of the GigaFactory in Austin, TX, and rounding the corner to talk about Wal Mart's new wage for high-demand truck drivers. Guess what, if you are in Retail Automotive (or retail in general) these stories apply to YOU. Paying for diapers in crypto is one step closer thanks to a new partnership between mobile payment app, Strike, and Shopify“"It's a new, innovative, superior payments rail that is finally embedded and distributed into our lives," Strike CEO Jack Mallers explained to a packed crowd at a Miami Bitcoin conference yesterday”Showed a video of him paying w crypto at a Chicago grocery store“Mallers showed a list of major U.S. companies that he says would be able to accept payments this way, including McDonald's, CVS, Walgreens, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart, in addition to several other grocery stores and restaurants.”According to Mallers' presentation, Blackhawk Network is integrated with 400,000 storefronts and has 37,000 partnersGiga Texas rode wild with event in Austin Tesla factory1000 attendees and factory toursAnnounced a 2023 cybertruck launch and up to 500,000 vehicles produced next year. Mostly Modely Ys“Half a millions units a year in a single factory of one product is the biggest dang thing in the world. This will be the highest volume car factory in America.” -Musk In total the facility is 338 million cubic feet, or 15 city blocks, Musk said. “It's equivalent to three Pentagons.” All manufacturing on one site, including battery packsAlso announced a new robotaxi and large van to comeWalmart starting pay for truck drivers raised to between $95-110kDriver shortage and increased demand to move freight cited for the increaseAverage long haul driver in the US is only $56k“Walmart said it's coming off a record year for hiring truck drivers with over 4,500 hired and that it plans "keep hiring aggressively to meet customer demand."What will autonomous driving do to this number? A university of michigan study says it could eliminate 500k jobsGet the ASOTU Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/Listen to other episodes: https://www.asotu.com/media/podcastsRead the most recent Daily Push Back email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-emailShare positive dealer stories: https://www.asotu.com/positivityFor all Things ASOTU Check out our Socials Website: https://www.asotu.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/asotu_ Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ASOTU FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/automotivestateoftheunion Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/automotivestateoftheunion/_created/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ ------------------------------------------------------------------

In this episode of the Rising Stars Podcast, join us for an eye-opening exploration into alternative payment methods. Host Brianna Moriarty talks with Jarrod Newman, Director of ISV and Channel Partners at Blackhawk Network, a company that specializes in branded payment solutions through prepaid products, technologies, and networks that connect brands and people. Together, Brianna and Jarrod discuss where consumers are headed when it comes to payments, what they're looking for from businesses moving forward, and how Blackhawk is pivoting as alternative payment technology grows. Enjoy the show! https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrod-newman-30056216/ (Click here to connect with Jarrod on LinkedIn). And as always, to stay up-to-date on all things Star, don't forget to follow us onhttps://twitter.com/StarMicronics ( Twitter),https://www.linkedin.com/company/1251978/ ( LinkedIn),https://www.facebook.com/StarMicronicsSMA/ ( Facebook),https://www.instagram.com/starmicronics/ ( Instagram), andhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzFsbwqptC1jQwIBKbz4ppw ( YouTube). Loving the podcast? Subscribe now to never miss a beat, and be sure to let us know what you think by leaving a review!

On this episode of The Intelligent Inbound® Podcast, Jen talks with Jignesh Shah, Head of Integrated Incentives at Rybbon, a Blackhawk Network business.  Rybbon is the leading digital rewards management platform used by 1,000+ companies like Lyft, Pandora, RedHat, and SmartBug to boost customer acquisition and lead generation programs. Jignesh has been building and marketing products for 20 years at start-ups and enterprises and was previously the CMO at Metalogix and Vice President at Software AG. Jen and Jignesh discuss how to use digital rewards to drive better marketing performance across the customer journey and more.

On Today's episode of DeFi Decoded, Andrew and Alex are joined by Jon Lister, co-Founder and President of Satstreet, one of Canada's fastest growing digital asset brokerages. Jon has executed over $500 million in digital currency trades for institutions and high net worth clients. He previously co-founded BlockEQ, a leading platform for the Stellar Network, which was acquired by Coinsquare for $12 million in December 2018. Jon also gained experience at BMO Capital Markets, Blackhawk Network and earned an HBA from Ivey Business School. On this episode, Andrew and Alex get Jon's outlook on the macro-environment and what it means for cryptoassets and defi. They also discuss some DeFi trends he's watching, and learn more about how SatStreet works and how it's helping broaden access to DeFi opportunities for institutional investors. They discuss which projects are being picked up by the market, and point out some exciting ones that are flying under the radar. They also get Jon's take on the recent regulatory news out of both China and the US and what it means for crypto and defi.

Talbott Roche the CEO and President of Blackhawk Network, is our special guest on this the 103rd episode of the Leaders in Payments Podcast as we continue to celebrate Women Leaders in Payments month sponsored by American Express. Talbott grew up in Richmond, Virginia and attended an all-girls school from kindergarten through high school. She majored in economics at Stanford and was the first person to go to college west of the Mississippi from her high school. She co-founded Blackhawk Network which was at the time a subsidiary within Safeway. During a holiday season 20 years ago, they put 7 gift cards in the northern California division of Safeway stores and did about $9 million dollars in sales. Fast forward to now, and Blackhawk Network will do $26B this year in total load value across 28 countries. What a remarkable success story. Her guiding principles are simple; commit, create and connect.  Talbott has some very impactful phrases that she used during our interview such as “focus on action over perfection,” “turn a crisis into an opportunity,” and “know your own worth and ask for the opportunity.”

The pandemic created problems for individuals, governments, and businesses, but as the old saying goes, every problem brings new opportunities.   For Blackhawk Network, that opportunity began when it channeled its payments expertise into helping distribute relief money for governments and nonprofits. It used both closed-loop and open-loop prepaid cards as a way to deliver aid. The plastic and virtual cards were used to replace checks so that people could get access to funds quickly and inexpensively.   As the pandemic begins to subside, Blackhawk plans to continue working to deliver funds to vulnerable populations. The company has created a new vertical that it calls Payments for Good to work with governments and nonprofits who need new ways to disburse money.   In this episode, we talk with Tyler Gentry, the director of Payments for Good, about the work that led to its creation and the company's future plans.   

Today's guest is Martin Miller, former Director of Site Reliability Engineering at Blackhawk Network. Blackhawk Network delivers branded payment solutions through prepaid products, technologies and networks that connect brands and people. They collaborate with their partners to innovate, translating market trends in branded payments to increase reach, loyalty and revenue. Serving 28 countries, Blackhawk reliably executes security-minded solutions worldwide. In the episode, Martin will tell you about: The great work he did with BlackHawk, How ServiceNow is adding value to their business, Interesting projects they are working on, Key advice when starting your implementation journey & Advice he would offer to his younger self

While the digital shift is quantified and consumers aren’t going back, brick-and-mortar retail still has a life, Blackhawk Network's Helena Mao tells PYMNTS.

Michael Moeser, senior analyst at PaymentsSource, talks to Jennifer Philo, group vice president of U.S. commerce at Blackhawk Network, about the ways the global pandemic has transformed the use cases for gift cards, prepaid cards and loyalty products the company supports.

In our latest soap box interview, Chris talks about the emotional side of Christmas rewarding. Delving into statistics from Blackhawk Network's brand new research, Chris and Hadie discuss the importance of gift cards this Christmas. They then finish with some advice for how employers should continue to reward, despite the ongoing pandemic.

In the payments space, there’s one area that shouldn’t be overlooked: Digital gifting. It’s a rapidly growing area of payments. And with that growth comes innovation. In this episode, my guests are two of the people driving that innovation: Brett Narlinger, Head of Global Commerce, and Helena Mao, VP of Global Product Strategy, from Blackhawk Network. We discuss: How the gifting world is changing The effect COVID-19 has had on gifting How the demographics for digital gifting have changed To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here and don’t forget to check out our YouTube! Until next time!

Listen to the briefing to hear the latest projections from Blackhawk Network around how much more consumers are expected to spend on restaurant gift card purchases as Christmas gifts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brett Narlinger of Blackhawk Network explains how cash can be an onramp to the digital world.

In this episode Holly welcomes Theresa McEndree, VP of Marketing with Blackhawk Network, to review current data about Gen Z payment preferences, how they interact with gift card and branded currency, and what the data means for retailers as Gen Z develops more buying power. 

As the global marketplace grows, one thing is becoming evident: Consumers like brands that offer high-quality products and personalized experiences rather than one-size-fits-all solutions.    In industries ranging from food, to tech, to healthcare, brands like Casper, Beyond Meat, and Warby Parker are doing it right.    Alex Barseghian is a Best-Selling author of Localmotion: How Technology is Personalizing the Global Marketplace and GVP of Sales & Marketing for Retail at Blackhawk Network.  Listen along as Alex offers an insider's look at this new commercial terrain, and provides tips and techniques on how to successfully shift business models.

What happens when an HR professional finds themselves in the middle of a high growth phase at their organization? Do you scale up your HRIS? Do you hire more staff to handle the new employees? How do you maintain culture during such a disruptive time? We aim to answer these questions in episode 98 of HR Works Podcast. Today’s guest has a lot of experience surrounding high growth. Greg Brown is the CEO of Reflektive, a people management platform. Before that, Brown served as Senior Vice President of International Business at Blackhawk Network, which helps companies create rewarding experiences and relationships. Prior to Blackhawk Network, Brown held the position of Chief Revenue Officer at Achievers, an employee recognition and engagement solutions company. He has held many other roles as well, but the current shared among them is that he helped each undergo periods of high growth.

What are the current B2B opportunities available for retailers with gift card programs? What should brands consider when strategizing their B2B program? In this episode, Flourish co-founder Kristen Thiry chats with Hollis Thornton, CPIM with Velocity B2B, a division of Blackhawk Network, to discuss the basics of B2B gift card opportunities, key strategies in this changing climate, and essential fraud considerations retailers need to keep in mind for program management.  Learn more about Velocity B2B at https://www.velocityb2b.com/ Learn more about Flourish at https://www.flourishcon.com

Theresa McEndree, VP Marketing, Blackhawk Network

Defense in Depth is available at CISOSeries.com. Is your own staff the greatest threat to the security of your company? On this episode of Defense in Depth we discuss protecting your business from itself. Check out this post and discussion for the basis of our conversation on this week's episode which is co-hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), the creator of CISO Series and Allan Alford (@AllanAlfordinTX), CISO at Mitel. Our guest is Vijay Bolina (@_jamesbaud_), CISO, Blackhawk Network. Thanks to this week’s podcast sponsor, Fluency Security: Fluency’s correlation and risk scoring technology combined with their approach of using pseudonyms in place of certain PII data greatly facilitates your organization’s path towards compliance. Over time, machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms detect anomalies at an impressive level of scalability. Run Fluency as a standalone or integrate it into your existing SIEM. Learn more by visiting us at booth #4529 at the RSA® Conference 2019. On this episode of Defense in Depth, you’ll learn: Nearly 1 in 5 people would sell their health record for $500. (source) Insider threat mistakes can take many forms. It could be someone carelessly leaving a USB key somewhere or it could be a developer simply not securing their code. Security people make mistakes just like non-security people. Difference is when a security person makes a mistake, chances are the gravity of the damage will be much higher. A breach doesn’t necessarily have to damage the company. A breach simply means data left your protected area of the business. And that is still bad even if there was no actual damage.

Jason Wolfe is an entrepreneur through and through. After growing up in the Milton Hershey School, an orphanage founded by Milton Hershey, Jason found himself living out of his car.   He taught himself how to code by using books at the local library and CompUSA's 'Building the Perfect Web'. This led to building the first coupon website and launching his first internet business. From 1995 to 2000, Jason built the business, raising $500k in VC from Jupiter Media and garnering >$1 million in annual sales and 20 million page views per month.   MyCoupons.com sold for roughly $23 million in 2000, shortly before the DotCom bubble burst.   Jason rolled over his proceeds into successive wins with his companies Direct Response Technologies (acquired by Digital River for $22 million), Jambo Media (for $15 million) and Giftcards.com (by Blackhawk Network for $120 million).   Never miss one of our best episodes by subscribing to the newsletter.     Connect with Jason Linkedin Website jason@wolfe.com

Exits Johnson & Johnson is celebrating an exit with the acquisition of its portfolio company NeoTract by Teleflex for a total consideration of $1.1bn. Intel Capital also celebrated an exit as its portfolio company StarCash, a digital gift card service, was acquired by fintech company Blackhawk Network for $175m in cash. Madsack hails CleverShuttle Paytm to make … Continue reading "11 September 2017 – Judging Purchase Versus Investment"

On this episode of Associated Wholesale Podcast Sean talks produce with Rick Stein of FMI (:59). He dives into the booming gift card industry with Dammon Stutes from Blackhawk Network (21:00). Finally, Sean and Rebecca Mueller discuss organics (32:00)