Woolworths debit transactions change “not a CIO decision”

Woolworths’ decision to implement changes to the company’s debit card system could be taken as another sign that CFOs continue to make key technological decisions in large organisations.

Woolworths will process all transactions through the Australian-owned EFTPOS network instead of the international credit card network. The decision has caused an uproar among consumers and according to Woolworths spokesperson, Luke Schepen, was made not from recommendations from the company’s CIO, Dan Beecham, but by the financial department.

“It wasn’t a CIO who made the decision… it was a financial services decision,” Schepen told CIO.

The news comes as Gartner and Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) announced CFOs are “increasingly becoming the top technology investment decision makers in many organisations”.

Schepen outlined Woolworths’ reasoning behind the decision, citing a rise in banks offering free unlimited credit transactions as a crippling factor for the company. Supermarkets pay 6.6 cents for each domestic Visa Debit transaction according to the Visa website.

Schepen would not speculate on whether Woolworths would set a trend and prompt other organisations to make the change to the Australian EFTPOS network.

“That will be up to individual organisations,” he said.