e-pay (M) Sdn Bhd may have made its first appearance on the Enterprise 50 Award programme this year, but the Petaling Jaya- based company has made a big headway in the area of electronic payment.

e-pay is Malaysia's pioneer and foremost electronic payment system provider. Its product is basically the technology to provide "virtual distribution" of pre-paid products and services. This means that products need not be physically stocked, changing very much the paradigm of business. "The greatest benefit to our clients is that they need not stock up and need not tie up their cash flow," said its executive director Mohd Hassan Said.

Currently, the company carries products from all the existing telecommunications operators, two Internet service providers and various international direct dialing products. e-pay was incorporated in September 1999. It is a 60:40 joint venture with e-pay UK Ltd. The latter is the largest electronic payment provider for pre-paid mobile airtime in the UK and Australia. "We want to be an icon for top -up infrastructure in the pre-paid industry and our ultimate goal is for us to be the only choice for the subscribers," said Mohd Hassan.

"We are working hard to ensure that we cover all blind spots in various geographical areas and cover all demographics industries while focusing on premium retailers, 24-hours channels and outlets," he added. On the technology front, the company plans to jump start real time, or online, and introduce varieties of terminals operating on wireless and general packet radio service. New products, such as payment transactions, bill payments and loyalty programmes, are also in the pipeline. Mohd Hassan considers the company's biggest success to be how it managed to become a market leader.

e-pay is also a company of many firsts, like the first to introduce a virtual distribution system and, the first to be a one-stop pre-paid provider. It was also the first to introduce real-time reload. “We want to position ourselves strongly in the area of convenience. With the change of consumer behavior, we believe this is a stronghold for loyalty and if we are able to carve this niche, it will automatically attract new clients,” said Mohd Hassan.

The company is already in the process of diversifying its services. Its sister company, e-pay Gateway Sdn Bhd, is currently involved in other payment transactions such as credit card, debit card, e-wallet and smart money. "Nonetheless, they are still riding on our backbone technology of virtual technology," said Mohd Hassan. Looking ahead, the company"s first task is to build a larger community of terminals and it intends to achieve this by working with non-conventional retail chains.

Currently, e-pay is working with all the petrol marts and convenience outlets. "In addition, we are penetrating more lifestyle outlets. Our target is to grow the number of terminals to 5,000 from the current 3,500,"said Mohd Hassan. The company is also working on expanding the capability of real time reload. It will be launching a number of new services on this platform in the coming months. Mohd Hassan pointed out that the company was the first to introduce real-time reload, which is a more convenient alternative for subscribers to top-up at any time.

"All subscribers need to do is to locate the e-pay sign which is visibly-positioned at petrol stations and 7-eleven stores, for example." Mohd Hassan thinks that the company has achieved all of its short-term plans and thus, is now working towards its medium-term plan. "We are looking to be quoted on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. We are in the process of due diligence, and should be announcing the good news in the first quarter of next year," he said. On its long-term objective, the company looks to expand beyond Malaysia and position itself to become a formidable regional player. Already, e-pay has ventured into Indonesia and Thailand.

"We are always looking for opportunities where the pre-paid market is prevalent," said Mohd Hassan. e-pay expects to achieve growth of 24.8 per cent this year and 10 per cent next year. "Beyond that, we are also working towards sustaining a double-digit annual growth," he added.

-By KANG SIEW LI Taken from NST.