TRANSACT14, the Electronic Transaction Association's annual conference, kicks off tomorrow. Based on the line-up and the attendee list, TRANSACT14 promises to be an excellent event. I'm always excited to catch up with old acquaintances and meet new ones. In between meetings and panels, I will be live-blogging the event, and sharing the smartest things I learn here, in a series dubbed "The Smartest Things Overheard at TRANSACT14″.

Before the event starts tomorrow, however, here is my list of industry hot topics.

1. Bleeding Edge Technology (My credit card only works if I'm standing next to it?)

The technology landscape for the payments industry is changing rapidly. Some of this change is driven by security concerns, but much of it is simply utilizing the newest tools to open up newer and faster payments channels. The keynotes promise to be very informative on the topic, including those from Paul Galant, CEO of Verifone, and Ariel Bardin, VP of Product Management at Google Payments. Additionally, walking the exhibit hall floor is a great way to see the newest technology. One 'cool' example (of dozens): "Proximity Location", which utilizes your phone's location data to determine if you are in the store your credit card was just swiped in, in order to determine whether to approve or deny the transaction.

2. Data Security & Breaches ("Don't collect data you can't protect.")

Data security is an issue at the forefront of the industry, especially given the prominence of the Target breaches over the holiday season. TRANSACT 14 is providing a Data Breach Summit featuring six panels on the topic. The quote above is from 3Delta Systems from a recent top 10 list in Transaction Trends. Sure, theyou must acquit").

quote was #8 on the list, but it has what "sticky" advice tends to have: relevance, rhyme and cadence (other examples that come to mind include "you can't manage what you can't measure" or "if the glove don't fit,

3. M&A Opportunities (Tell me more about 'Shifting Paradigms')

M&A is the field I focus on the most. Both from my clients perspective and the market at large, the ePayments space is heating up with M&A (e.g. Global/PayPros) and IPO activity (e.g. Mercury & Comdata). The Panels, which include a wide range of great speakers, will focus on trends and changes in the industry. One question I hope is addressed: to what extent is the M&A activity we are seeing a result of companies seeing solid strategic opportunities (my opinion, also more sustainable) versus simply growth-for-growth's sake.

4. Department of Justice Involvement ("Operation Choke Point")

I have written previously about Operation Choke Point and am excited to attend the Operation Choke Point Boot Camp. I think that this crackdown by the Department of Justice on banks and credit card processors will be an important and potentially disruptive trend for the industry. Deana Rich of Deana Rich Consulting will be presenting on the ETA's Guidelines on Merchant and ISO Underwriting and Risk Monitoring. I'm only slightly miffed that I had to change my flight home in order to catch this important panel.

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