Tailwind

About Tailwind Solutions

Tailwind Solutions is a Scottish based company specialising in retail Point of Sale (POS) and with particular expertise in the card payments market. Its founders, Garry Knox and Mark Stewart previously held senior executive positions with world-leading card payment equipment provider Ingenico where Garry headed up Product Marketing for the Northern European territory and Mark was Head of Retail Sales and Business Development. Together they have close to forty years experience in the card payments industry – technical, marketing, sales, business development and management.

On setting up Tailwind, Garry and Mark were determined to take a different approach to addressing the needs of the retail market. Their vision was to provide revolutionary point of sale solutions that allowed retailers to address new market requirements but at the same time retain their investment in existing technology - a refreshing approach to that of vendors that continually encourage the churn of installed equipment.

With this vision in mind, the “POS Paddle” philosophy started to take shape – one which addressed needs of those retailers that had been left up the proverbial creek by their POS equipment providers. Tailwind developed two new PoS solutions that addressed top of mind issues with retailers – firstly, the protection of EMV Chip & PIN devices against theft and subsequent card fraud and secondly, the need to upgrade payment equipment to accept contactless card technology.

The theft of PIN Entry Devices (PEDs) by organised criminals is a rapidly growing industry issue. The perceived easy money from subsequent Card Fraud will be an ongoing temptation for thieves and this issue will not go away any time soon. The SafeBase product from Tailwind aims to remove this threat by physically securing the Chip & PIN device to the counter top. The universal design of SafeBase means that it supports PINPads and Payment Terminals from all leading suppliers – Ingenico, Verifone, Hypercom, Sagem and Gemalto. An adaptor piece is also available for retailers who have an Ergonomic Solutions Spacepole currently installed.

The Tap-It solution from Tailwind allows retailers to upgrade their existing Card Payment Devices to accept Contactless Payment Cards or NFC enabled mobile phones. There is no need for the merchant to replace the existing Chip & PIN device, but instead, the current EFTPoS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) equipment investment can be retained with the addition of the Tap-It module. This provides a superior solution to installing new Integrated Contactless Terminals and an alternative to Standalone contactless card readers like those provided by OTI or Vivotech.

Tailwidn

The Brand@POS wrap around promotions card allows retailers to advertise their products and services at the Point of Sale – an ideal advertising medium. This simple solution has fuelled many new and innovative business models from simple advertising based revenue share to incorporation of NFC / RFID Tags for Loyalty schemes, eVoucher and eCoupon collection & redemption.

Tailwind continues to innovate with the same “Retailer First” philosophy and new technology modules are being developed to allow retailers to continue to use their current equipment and add simple upgrades to address new technology needs.

The uptake of Tailwind’s product set has been phenomenal. In only 6 months from the availability of production parts, Tailwind is shipping thousands of units to a world-wide audience – from their base in Scotland to Australia, Russia, USA, Canada, Singapore, Serbia, Scandinavia, South, Central & Eastern Europe, New Zealand and more. Many of the world’s top retailers and banks are already either trialling or rolling out Tailwind products.

Tailwind operates a strict Channel Partner model and it is rapidly signing up new partners across the globe to promote and distribute its products. To be eligible as a Tailwind partner, you must have an established geographical presence, currently deal with retail Point of Sale, be well respected by your clients, have a passion for what you do and be enjoyable to work with. If you meet these criteria, then let us know by contacting mark.stewart@tailwind-solutions.co.uk

All Tailwind innovations are subject to a growing suite of patent applications.

POS