This month, we welcome summer and we also welcome all of our employees back to the Segpay offices. With 80 percent of our staff vaccinated, we’re ready to say goodbye to distanced working, unless someone is not feeling well, of course. We’re also celebrating the one-year anniversary of reopening after the initial pandemic lockdown.
With our headquarters in Florida, we were lucky to be granted reopening before many other states across the U.S. Like many others, we put a lot of effort into protecting our valued employees. We modified the office to comply with COVID protocols, developing many safety precautions like temperature-check stations, six-feet separation techniques and much more.
Some industry insiders predicted chargebacks would increase in the fourth quarter to levels never seen before.
As we develop our new normal, we want to highlight how COVID played out across our industry. In this month’s column, we look at the top impacts and trends as we hopefully head towards a worldwide turning point.
BUSINESS BOOM
Like most of the industry, we experienced a surge in volume when the entire world went into lockdown. Many of us wondered if the trend would continue. Would we see a rush of chargebacks as consumers began to feel the pinch of being out of work and the loss of their income?
Some industry insiders predicted chargebacks would increase in the fourth quarter to levels never seen before. Thankfully, this was not the case. Based on the trends in our portfolio, revenue has continued to hold steady.
Other than the typical first-quarter increase of chargebacks after the holidays, the online digital content world is still going strong. We’ve even heard from a few clients that they saw a surge in traffic after each COVID relief bill gained momentum for approval.
PERFORMER PRECAUTIONS
2020 was the year of cam, as models and the entire market segment achieved top-ranking revenues. We also saw a huge surge of new premium social media sites as cam models, influencers and content creators moved to subscription-based feed sites to further monetize their brands.
The premium social trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down, but is continuing to go up in 2021. To keep this indie community safe, the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) is currently working on vaccination guidelines. COVID tests results are now included in the Performer Availability Screening Services (PASS) program and the hope is to have vaccinations be part of the system too.
Since there is no simple way to validate a COVID vaccine, it is going to take a little longer to add that component to the PASS system. It’s likely COVID testing will become the new normal, just like the HIV testing for which PASS provides industry governance.
TRAVEL TRENDS
After traveling once or twice a month over the last several years, it’s been nice to be grounded during this past year. My children have all shared with me that they were happy I’ve been home more — except they’ve admitted to missing my husband’s hot-dog dinners. Apparently, when I was out of town, this was his cooking “go to” for the kids.
In the past, many sales teams’ “go to” for clients was trade shows. It provided the opportunity to meet up with existing clients as well as engage and create new opportunities. My first fear was that without the steady stream of trade shows, our client activity would dry up, but with the ability to host a virtual conference, networking has been able to continue.
In fact, online panels and seminars seem to be even more attended, helping to keep a lot of business flowing. For example, I typically participate as a speaker at different shows. The most I’ve ever seen in a crowded room is 100 people. During one of the last virtual panels I was a part of, there were almost 1,000 viewers who joined in to listen.
These online shows have allowed individuals who normally wouldn’t have the time, or weren’t the ones to travel, to participate in shows. As the world begins to open more and travel returns, I hope shows and conferences continue to keep the hybrid model, allowing more people to participate both in person and online.
OFFICE SPACE
We’ve been lucky at Segpay. Aside from those who were considered “high risk,” we’ve been able to have many staff members back in the office for nearly a year, and to date we haven’t had any issues. We’ve even expanded our staff, hiring 10 new employees over the last year. I must admit that remaining open made it easier to hire and train our new associates. There were so many talented individuals available who lost their jobs during COVID, we felt blessed to have been able to snatch up some amazing talent. Employees are a top priority and like other companies, we’ve made numerous changes. Instead of catered lunches, we are allowing staff members to order from DoorDash every day. Snacks and our regular cookie delivery all come individually wrapped now too.
We have developed a much more comprehensive work-from-home policy too. If you have the slightest sniffle, you are encouraged to work from home. I realize we’re a bit of an anomaly and not every company is at this point of resuming “business as usual.” Many of our merchants, acquirers and partners are still working remotely or are planning to move to a hybrid solution with staff alternating days back in the office. Some are even forgoing the expense of office rent and eliminating stressful commutes for team members.
This will be one area to revisit in June 2022 to determine if the remote workforce remains the norm, or if people yearn for the camaraderie of their teammates, along with separation of work and home environments. My personal vote is to keep work at work and home a place to relax.
Cathy Beardsley is president and CEO of Segpay, a global leader in merchant services offering a wide range of custom financial solutions including payment facilitator, direct merchant accounts and secure gateway services. Under her direction, Segpay has become one of four companies approved by Visa to operate as a high-risk internet payment services provider. Segpay offers secure turnkey solutions to accept online payments, with a guarantee that funds are always safe and protected with its proprietary Fraud Mitigation System and customer service and support. For any questions or help, contact sales@segpay.com or compliance@segpay.com.
