Bluefin Payment Systems is the winner of the security, fraud prevention, risk management category of Atlanta Inno's Fire Awards.
Bluefin secures payment data and personal information through point-to-point encryption and data tokenization with its platform ShieldConex. Founded in 2007, the startup raised $25 million at the end of last year to expand its geographical reach, which already includes 130 partners across 32 countries. Bluefin has 130 employees and added 15 more in 2021. The company plans to acquire other companies to expand its services.
Here's a Q&A with CEO John Perry:
Q: How are your company’s innovations changing your industry’s landscape?
A: IBM’s 2021 Cost of a Data Breach Report finds that global data breach costs rose from $3.86 million to $4.24 million, which is the highest average total cost in the 17-year history of this report. And the U.S. ranks number one for the highest average breach cost at $9.05 million. Cyberattackers are constantly evolving their threat vectors, and it’s no longer enough for companies and enterprises to only protect their perimeters from a breach. Rendering payment and sensitive data useless is key, so that if breached, hackers find nothing of value.
Devaluing the data is at the heart of every Bluefin product and innovation. We protect point-of-sale mobile, face-to-face and call center payment transactions with our PCI-validated point-to-point encryption solutions, and secure any type of PHI, PII, payment or account data entered online with our ShieldConex data security platform. Together, these two solutions work to devalue any type of data entered at the POS or online, in transit and in-system storage – providing a true omnichannel payment and data security solution for companies and enterprises globally.
Q: What’s your advice to future and current entrepreneurs?
A: Continue to innovate and focus your activities on what’s important. An established market position and paying customers don’t mean it’s time to take your foot off the gas. If anything, don’t let success blind you from the need to continually innovate. Value your employees and communicate with them constantly. Your company is only as good as the team you have working for you.
Q: What’s been the biggest roadblock in your growth and how did you overcome it?
A: The pandemic was a roadblock to our growth. We serve many clients in areas directly impacted by Covid-19, including healthcare, higher education, small and mid-sized businesses and more. Many organizations just shut down completely while others switched their payment processing and security needs online. We overcame the roadblocks posed by the pandemic by maintaining a manic focus on customer and partner communication and retention efforts.
Atlanta Inno's Fire Awards 2021
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