Article

EMV migration: Lessons from the trenches

Webinar is a chance to learn about EMV implementation from a banker who's been there, done that. 

June 17, 2013 by Suzanne Cluckey — Owner, Suzanne Cluckey Communications

In a way, switching from mag stripe technology to EMV in the U.S. is a little like parachuting out of a disabled plane at 20,000 feet. It's not what you'd choose to do under ordinary circumstances — but these are not ordinary circumstances, and you have no other choice.

What you do have is an abundance of anxious questions:

"What equipment do I need?"; "What do I do first?"; "Then what? And in what order?"; "How will I know if things are going right?", "What do I do if they're not?"; "If I do everything right, can I be sure of success?"

In the case of your first parachute jump, you'll want to find somebody who's an old hand at skydiving — sombody who can teach you the drill and answer your questions until you're confident that you know what you're doing.

But if you're contemplating something as critical as EMV migration ...

You'll want to find somebody who's an old hand at EMV implementation — somebody who can teach you the drill and answer your questions until you're confident that you know what you're doing.

You'll benefit from the experience of two old hands at EMV implementation in a June 25 webinar, "EMV Migration: Lessons from the Trenches," sponsored by NCR and hosted by ATM Marketplace.

This one-hour event will begin with a high-level view of EMV — including definitions, benefits and current trends — presented by Owen Wild, global marketing director at NCR.

Then Andrew Smith, senior director for payments and fraud technology at Canadian FI CIBC, will take webinar participants "into the trenches" of EMV migration. Smith will share lessons learned from his own immersive experience in leading the CIBC EMV team through mag stripe-to-chip migration in Canada.

Smith will describe how CIBC approached four areas of implementation that were critical in the bank's successful conversion to EMV:

The CIBC process for EMV migration

• When was the project formalized?
• How was it kicked off?
• Who was involved, and in what way?
• What program/project management practices were implemented?
• In retrospect, was there anything that might have been done differently?

Coordination among various areas

• How did CIBC coordinate activities and milestones between the network, vendors and other IT entities?
• What was the most challenging aspect in this area?
• How should U.S. customers approach this part of the transition?

The customer experience

• How and when did CIBC address the transition to Chip and Pin cards
• How was the change communicated to customers?
• In EMV, the ATM holds the card during a transaction.  How was this communicated to customers and bank staff?

Benefits to CIBC

• What was the business impact of EMV at CIBC?
• What recommendations or suggestions would you offer your U.S. colleagues?

Participants will have a further opportunity to tap into the EMV knowledge of Wild and Smith during the Q&A segment of the webinar, when the presenters will respond to listeners' own specific questions and concerns about migration to EMV.

The free, one-hour webinar will take place at 2 p.m. EDT on June 25. Participants are invited to take advantage of speedy new online registration.

Read more about EMV.

photo: Library of Congress

About Suzanne Cluckey

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Suzanne’s editorial career has spanned three decades and encompassed all B2B and B2C communications formats. Her award-winning work has appeared in trade and consumer media in the United States and internationally.