Tipjar StaffSaviour: piloting a contactless IoT tipping device and software platform for the hospitality industry

新冠肺炎以前所未有的规模加速了无现金支付的增长。这减少了300多万英国酒店业员工收到的小费数量-在许多情况下，他们的生计受到威胁，需要用政府福利来替代他们的收入。许多顾客对使用现有的读卡器在账单上增加小费感到不舒服，并怀疑小费不会到达工作人员手中。此外，新规定使管理员工小费(Tronc)变得非常繁重，巨额罚款和公开羞辱给运营商带来了令人头疼的问题。目前基于QR的解决方案只能解决部分问题，因为许多人不能或不愿使用这种支付手段。这就是StaffSavior发挥作用的地方。有了这笔赠款，Tipjar想要选择、连接和试点一个指定的物联网设备-“StaffSaviour”--它通过API连接到现有的Tipjar软件平台。允许每一位顾客通过非接触式卡或电话给小费。员工和运营商享有与最初的基于Tipjar QR的解决方案相同的好处，但收费量更高，吞吐量更高。此赠款项目的关键目标是从TRL2(制定的技术概念和/或应用程序)中引入StaffSaviour。至TRL7(操作环境中的技术原型演示)。

COVID-19 has accelerated the growth of cashless payments in an unprecedented scale. This has reduced the volume of tips received by the over 3 million UK hospitality workers---in many cases threatening their livelihood needing to substitute their income with government benefits.Many customers don't feel comfortable adding a tip to a bill with the existing card readers and are suspicious that tips won't reach workers. In addition, new regulation made it very burdensome to manage staff tips (Tronc) and hefty fines and public shaming causes headaches for operators. Current QR-based solution only solve part of the problem as many people can't or won't use this means of payments.This is where StaffSaviour comes in to play. With this grant Tipjar wants to select, connect and pilot a designated IoT device---the "StaffSaviour"---which connects via APIs to the existing Tipjar software platform. Allowing every customer to tip via contactless card or phone. Staff and operators enjoy the same benefit as with the original Tipjar QR-based solution but with higher tipping volume and much higher throughput.Key objectives of this grant project is to bring StaffSaviour from TRL2 (Technology concept and/or application formulated.) to TRL7 (Technology prototype demonstration in an operational environment).