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Welcome to The Human Chain

We are a UK-based practice specialising in business and
technology consultancy working to help our clients
understand the changing markets and bring digital
products and services to market.

Welcome to
The Human Chain

UK-based Business and
Technology Consultancy

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Our Work

We help clients understand changing market conditions
and develop focused digital products and services.

Our work is in the telco, financial services, transit and
wider commerce verticals, with current expertise
in identity, multi-factor authentication, biometrics,
digital wallets and client on-boarding.

Our work
Developing focused
digital products
and services

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Digital Services Toolkit

We have developed a structured process and
software framework designed to facilitate the
rapid creation of web and mobile services, using
a range of modern enabling technology modules
and standardised interfaces.

Click for more information

Digital Services Toolkit
Rapid creation of web
and mobile services

The Human Chain is a business and technology consultancy, who bring new product introduction and innovation expertise and experience to our clients and partners.

We have many years experience of digital product and service development and introduction using structured, lean and agile business and technology consultancy methodologies.

We focus on bringing digital commerce solutions to market such as open loop transit ticketing, payment, authentication products and services, within the financial services and transit sectors.

DST

Digital Services Toolkit (DST) is a lean, agile and iterative process and software framework to facilitate the rapid creation of web and mobile services, using enabling technologies and standardised interfaces.

Media

Announcements and Press Releases
Visa - Smart Ticketing Insights
[28 February 2024] Tim Jefferson, has authored an article in Smart Ticketing Insights, giving the reader a deeper understanding of the change of customer behaviour, post Covid and increased expectations from public transport services and the drive to a more mobile centric way for transit agencies to engage and serve these new customer needs with mobile wallets and card virtualisation.

To download a copy of Smart Ticketing Insights click here

Highlights from Transport Ticketing Global - Newsletter
[13 March 2023] The FirstPartner/The Human Chain transit team had an extremely productive few days at Transport Ticketing Global. The world’s largest event for public transport, smart ticketing and mobility held at London’s Olympia on the 7th and 8th March 2023, showcased the latest in smart ticketing, mobility solutions and passenger experience. There was a really positive feel at the event this year, after a number of very challenging years for the industry. FirstPartner consultants who attended, Tim Jefferson, Steve Howes, Eric W Pitts, Adam T McGavock and Peter Thompson, have captured the key messages, provided analysis and highlights of the event in our Newsletter.

To download our Highlights from Transport Ticketing Global newsletter click here

Industry veteran Adam T McGavock joins FirstPartner to drive North American transit ticketing practice
[25 January 2023] FirstPartner is pleased to announce that Adam McGavock has joined its North American transit ticketing practice. Adam will support FirstPartner’s clients in defining, procuring, and implementing open payments (cEMV) and ABT ticketing, as well payments acceptance solutions and pre-paid cEMV card issuance. To download this press release click here
Transport for London Signals Plans to Enable Concessionary Fare Discounts with Open-Loop Payments
[2 August 2022] Tim Jefferson, has been quoted in this new article on Transport for London (TfL) starting to add concession fares to their existing open loop payments (cEMV) acceptance. Tim believes that this is just a natural evolution of open payments and is already happening elsewhere around the world To view this article in full click here
Special Report: More Agencies Taking Modular Approach to Build Their Fare Systems, Shunning Single-Supplier Model
[16 February 2022] Such agencies as Transport for London, Metrolinx of Toronto and HSL of Helsinki are eschewing all-encompassing contracts with big fare-collection system vendors in favor of using multiple vendors and open architecture for their new or updated fare systems.
” Fueling the changes are growing expectations by transit agency customers for more mobile-based services, open-loop payments, interoperability across various transit modes and mobility-as-a-service, or MaaS” Tim Jefferson, UK-based senior consultant for The Human Chain/FirstPartner, told Mobility Payments. To view this article in full click here
UK Government Seeks to Bring London-Style Contactless Fare Payments System to Other Regions
[23 November 2021] The UK government’s plan to equip 700 rail stations over the next three years to accept contactless open-loop payments is a major initiative, as it seeks to replicate the success of London’s contactless pay-as-you go fare payments system elsewhere in the country–a goal that has proved elusive in the past.
UK-based Tim Jefferson, senior consultant for The Human Chain/FirstPartner, notes – “This is the first stage of a national rollout of a new ticketing infrastructure,” he said. “The exact structure of that has yet to be fully defined, but this PAYG contactless on rail for 700 stations nationwide is a major change away from paper and local smart card solutions currently used.”
To view this article in full click here
Special Report: Interest Grows in ‘White-Label EMV’ for Closed-Loop Transit Cards
[27 October 2021] Major agencies in New York and Stockholm launch the technology to complement their open-loop rollouts. Others are expected to follow. As more transit agencies introduce open-loop fare payments, interest is starting to grow in use of white-label EMV cards that agencies can issue in place of proprietary closed-loop cards for riders who don’t have bank cards or don’t want to use them to pay fares.
UK-based Tim Jefferson, senior consultant for The Human Chain and FirstPartner, said he believes there is no question that Transport for London will drop Mifare in favor of white-label EMV for its Oyster cards…
To view this article in full click here
New contactless limit blog
[15 October 2021] Tim Jefferson from The Human Chain and Richard Warren from FirstPartner have co-authored a thought provoking and informative article on the increase of the UK contactless limit to £100 GBP on the 15th October 2021. To download a copy click here
The Human Chain and FirstPartner announce the expansion of their joint Transit Ticketing team
[1 October 2021] The Human Chain works closely with expert partners and associates to build the most effective project teams. We have a strategic partnership with FirstPartner a specialist reasearch and consultancy company and have recently expanded our joint Transit Ticketing team. For further information, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
EBA opinion on the deadline for migration to SCA
[17 October 2019] The European Banking Authority (EBA) has published a new Opinion paper on the deadline for migration to SCA for e-Commerce card-based payment transactions on the 16th October 2019, setting a firm deadline and guidance for the completion of the SCA migration period. The full article can be viewed here
Why PSD2 SCA is a Challenging Journey for the Travel Sector
[8 October 2019] The decision by many regulators not to enforce PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) on electronic payments on 14th September has given valuable breathing space to e-commerce and payments players. However, the travel and hospitality sector will find compliance extremely challenging even with the benefit of proposed 18-month managed implementation periods. This article written by The Human Chain and FirstPartner specifically focuses on why PSD2 SCA is a challenging journey for the travel sector. The full article can be viewed here
Why the payments industry needs to act quickly on the EBA’s latest PSD2 SCA Opinion
[30 June 2019] On Friday 21st June the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a new Opinion Paper on the elements of strong customer authentication (SCA) under PSD2 which has been subsequently been backed up a by confirmatory statement from the European Commission and the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK. The Human Chain and FirstPartner has written an article that summarises the main points made by the EBA, looking at their potential impact and suggests the actions stakeholders need to take. This article is available here
New IoT White Paper: Can You Trust Your Smart Building?
[19 June 2019] Duncan Purves, The Human Chain’s IoT security subject matter expert, was lead author and editor of a new white paper “Can You Trust Your Smart Building?” published by the IoT Security Foundation. Launched 18th June 2019 at IFSEC in London. Duncan said “You may ask yourself ‘Why would anybody want to hack our building, we’re not a bank; we have nothing a hacker would want’ and you may think no-one would be interested. It is important to understand and mitigate the risks posed to your tenants, staff, visitors and assets from vulnerabilities in Internet connected building systems.” A copy of this white paper can be downloaded here
Highlights from Money 2020 Europe 2019 - Newsletter
[12 June 2019] The Human Chain have authored a newsletter to summarise their highlights from this year’s Money 2020 Europe in Amsterdam. View Newsletter >
Big Changes Loom for Payments in Europe
[16 May 2019] The Human Chain’s Tim Jefferson and close partner, Richard Warren from FirstPartner provide deep insight into the effects of PSD2 Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) on corporate travel booking. To read the full article click here.
Archive
[23 April 2019] Our Media Archive lists our earlier announcements and press releases.
Events
Payment Leaders Summit - 22 - 23 April 2024 - London
Tim Jefferson will be facilitating at the Payment Leaders Summit in London on 22nd and 23rd April 2024. This event is one of the leading payments events, with deep insight into the current regulatory, technology and business process trends within payments. Tim will be leading roundtables on Open Banking. If you would like to discuss any of these topics at the event please e-mail tjefferson@firstpartner.net

For further event information visit Payment Leaders’ Summit

NEXT EVENT: Transport Ticketing Global 2024 - 5 - 6 March 2024 - London
Senior Consultants Tim Jefferson, Steve Howes and Eric Pitts will be chairing, facilitating and supporting clients at the leading transit and ticketing event in the world, Transport Ticketing Global, at Olympia, London on the 5th and 6th March 2024. This is the opportunity to hear what is happening in the key innovative areas such as mobile first approach to ticketing, with enhanced OEM wallet services and card virtualisation to meet the new needs and increased customer expectations for digital ticketing and real time passenger information. If you would like to meet any of the our consultants at the event please email tjefferson@firstpartner.net

For further event information visit Transport Ticketing Global

Payment Leaders Summit UK - 10 - 11 October 2023 - London
Tim will again be chairing and facilitating panels and roundtables at the Payment Leaders Summit UK (held at the Hilton London, Syon Park) as part of FirstPartners collaboration as Knowledge Partners. If you want to meet up with Tim or Richard Warren at the event, please mail Tim at tjefferson@firstpartner.net
For further event information visit Payment Leaders’ Summit UK
Payment Leaders Summit - 12 - 13 September 2023 - Rotterdam
Tim Jefferson will again be facilitating at the Payments Leaders Summit in Rotterdam on the 12th and 13th September 2023 at the Hilton, Rotterdam, Netherlands, where FirstPartner is a Knowledge Partner. Tim will be chairing and facilitating panels and roundtables on PSD3, Instant Payment, Mobile Payments and Payment Orchestration. If you want to discuss any of these topics with him at the event, as well as SCA, Open Banking, Card Virtualisation and Transit ticketing please contact Tim at tjefferson@firstpartner.net
For further event information visit Payment Leaders’ Summit Europe
Webinar: Closed-loop and open-loop systems in mass transit: key considerations for transit operators - 3 May 2023
In this interactive session Tim Jefferson from The Human Chain-FirstPartner
and other industry experts will discuss the latest on open-loop and closed-loop payment systems in mass transit. While both aim to deliver an enhanced passenger experience, both still have their own unique pros and cons. Regardless of how you choose to manage payments for riders, both systems haveunique considerations and offer exciting innovation opportunities to think about. Click here to learn more
Transport Ticketing & Fare Collection in Europe - 18 - 19 April 2023 - Amsterdam
Tim Jefferson with speak and facilitate at Global Mass Transit’s 3rd Transit Ticketing & Fare Collection in Europe, at the Hotel Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam, The Netherlands on the 18th and 19th April 2023. Tim will speak on the cEMV Payments in Transit – The partnerships between transit agencies and financial services companies, business models, best practices and case studies, managing issues, risks and challenges, all learnt from FirstPartner/The Human Chain recent cEMV project experience in Europe, MENA and North America. Tim will be joined at the event by FirstPartner Senior Consultant, Eric T Pitts, so to meet up with Eric or Tim, please email us at info@firstpartner.net. For further event information click here
Transport Ticketing Global - 7 - 8 Mar 2023 - London
The Human Chain-FirstPartner consultants Adam T McGavock, Steve Howes, Eric Pitts, Steve Howes, Laura Wright, Peter Thompson and Tim Jefferson will be attending Transit Ticketing Global 2023 in London during March 2023. This event is the world’s largest forum for smart ticketing and mobility, gathering over 1,200 transport professionals from 70 countries.
Tim will be chairing the first day of this event as well as with Steve chairing a number of interactive panel sessions.
There will be in-depth case studies from leading transit agencies, technical workshops, engaging presentations, and panel discussions. This gathering is the platform for transport professionals to set the industry agenda.
If you would like to meet with any of the team at this event, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
For further event information visit Transport Ticketing Global
Payments Leaders Summit - 4 - 5 Oct 2022 - London
Tim Jefferson and Richard Warren, will be facilitating at this private, invite-only event for selected senior payment leaders, decision-makers and budget-holders, focused on the UK and European payments decision makers. This hands on Payment Leaders Summit event, is unique in that it enables close interaction and discussion that a normal conference does not. If you would like to meet up with Tim or Richard, and find our how The Human Chain/FirstPartner could support you in payments innovation, acceptance, SCA and transit cEMV, please e-mail sales@thehumanchain.com
Payments Leaders Summit - 13 - 14 Sept 2022 - Amsterdam
Tim Jefferson will be facilitating at this private, invite-only event for selected senior payment leaders, decision-makers and budget-holders, focused on the European payments decision makers. If you would like to meet up with Tim and find our how The Human Chain/FirstPartner could support you in payments innovation, acceptance, SCA and transit cEMV, please e-mail sales@thehumanchain.com
Transit Ticketing & Fare Collection MENA 2022 - 7 - 8 Sept 2022 - Dubai
Tim Jefferson will be speaking at the leading transit ticketing conference in the MENA region in 2022 – Transit Ticketing & Fare Collection MENA 2022, Dubai, UAE – 7th-8th September 2022. He will be presenting about recent Open Loop Payments procurement and implementations in UAE, KSA, Europe and North America. Tim will be providing in depth experience and lessons learnt of procuring and implementing cEMV ABT solutions in the MENA region, with insights from around the world. If you would like to meet with Tim, whilst he is in Dubai and the UAE, please contact him at sales@thehumanchain.com
Transport Ticketing Global - 28 - 29 June 2022 - London
The Human Chain’s Tim Jefferson will be chairing the first day of Transport Ticketing Global 2022. This event will be the first major face-to-face Transit Ticketing event since Covid and is the world’s largest forum for smart ticketing and mobility, gathering over 1,200 transport professionals from 70 countries.
Tim will facilitate the discussions on “How Transit Agencies can build back better with the help of new smart ticketing options”, as well as “The Deployment of Account Based Ticketing (ABT) & Open Loop Contactless ticketing” through out the day.
There will also be in-depth case studies from leading transit agencies, technical workshops, engaging presentations, and panel discussions. This gathering is the platform for transport professionals to set the industry agenda.
If you would like to meet with Tim at this event, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
For further event information visit Transport Ticketing Global
Money 2020 Europe 7 - 9 June 2022 - Amsterdam
The Human Chain and FirstPartner will be attending the premier show in the industry calendar where C-level executives, renowned speakers, innovators and disruptors from across the world drive change in the future of money. We will be supporting clients with PSD2 SCA compliance, payments authentication, cEMV open loop transit ticketing and merchant acquiring. If you would like to meet one of the team, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
For further event information visit Money 20/20 Europe
Payments Leaders Summit - 26 - 27 April 2022 - London
Tim Jefferson will be attending the The Payments Leaders’ Summit which is a private, invite-only event for selected senior payment leaders, decision-makers and budget-holders. This is event is for leaders that oversee payments and fraud strategy, PSP partnerships, payments schemes and methods, developing payments architecture and infrastructure.
Tim will be will there on 27th April 2022, supporting clients and partners. If you would like to meet with him, please e-mail sales@thehumanchain.com
PAY360 Conference - 22 March 2022 - London
Tim Jefferson from The Human Chain will be attending Pay360 to meet with clients and partners. This event is the meeting place for the payments industry. PAY360 will bring together over 1500 of the most senior representatives from banks, merchants, government, investors, fintechs, FIs, card providers, consultants and solutions providers. If you would like to meet with Tim at this event, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
For further event information visit PAY360 Conference
ACI Wordline Webinar - 15 Nov 2021
The Human Chain’s Tim Jefferson will be moderating a session on Tokenization during this webinar. The session will discuss the latest developments in Tokenization and how this technology can meet the needs of today’s rapidly growing and dynamically development payments landscape. The session will also discuss how this technology can influence the customer journey, provide a compelling user experience, boost customer retention and fight fraud. For further information on this webinar, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
Transport Ticketing Digital Summit - 22 - 24 June 2021
The Human Chain’s Tim Jefferson will be chairing an interactive session for Transport Ticketing Digital. The session will discuss the complexities of implementing contactless EMV and how contactless payments will help transform transit. For further information and to join this event, please click here
Transport Ticketing Digital: Redesigning the public transport experience through mobile & contactless ticketing - 24 March 2021
The Human Chain’s Tim Jefferson will be chairing an interactive session for Transport Ticketing Digital to discuss how operators & authorities are redesigning the public transport experience with mobile & contactless ticketing. For further information and to join this event, please click here
Transport Ticketing Digital: Fireside Chat - Leveraging technology to adapt and thrive post pandemic - 28 Oct 2020
The Human Chain’s Tim Jefferson recently moderated an interactive session for Transport Ticketing Digital to understand how leveraging technology can help businesses in the transit and ticketing ecosystem thrive post pandemic. A recording of this session is available here
Money 2020 Europe 22 Sept - 24 Sept 2020 - Amsterdam
The Human Chain and FirstPartner will be attending the largest payments show in Europe in 2020, at the Rai, Amsterdam on the 22nd – 24th September 2020. Key themes this year are “bleeding edge, becoming leading edge”, “blurred lines of products and services, where do I play” and “how to sweat infrastructure to my advantage”, along with the old favourite regulatory compliance. We will be supporting clients with PSD2 SCA compliance, the new industry dynamics of contactless limits being increased, increasing use of high value payments (HVP) on mobile, alternative payment methods (APMs) and the ever expanding cEMV transit ticketing. If you would like to meet one of the team, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
Mobile World Congress - 24 Feb - 27 Feb 2020 - Barcelona, Spain
Tim Jefferson and The Human Chain team will be attending the largest mobile event of the year again in February 2020 in Barcelona. The conference and exhibition is now so much more than just mobile, with the key themes this year of “limitless intelligent capability” with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), Customer Engagement, Security and Privacy. The Human Chain will be focused on Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), Biometrics and Secure Remote Commerce (SRC). If you want to meet with Tim or one of the team in Barcelona, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com
Transit Ticketing Global - 28 Jan 2020 - 29 Jan 2020 - London, UK
Tim Jefferson will be participating in a panel session on Technology in Smart Ticketing at Transit Ticketing Global. This event taking place in London 28-29 January 2020 is the world’s largest public transport gathering for growing intelligent transport ticketing, introducing passenger information programmes and building smart cities. With over 100 exhibitors showcasing cutting edge technology in intelligent travel, the exhibition hall is the event to be for ABT and cEMV transit solutions. If you want to meet with Tim or one of the The Human Chain Transit team at this event, please contact us at sales@thehumanchain.com

 

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European Transit Study

Middle East Transit Implementation

Transit Case Studies

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    The Future of Payments White Paper
    The Human Chain PSD2 RTS Blog
    Open Banking Market Map
    Why the payments industry needs to act quickly on the EBAs latest PSD2 SCA Opinion

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    +44 (0) 1865 784386
     

    Careers at The Human Chain

    The Human Chain are always interested in talking with prospective technical or business consultants.

    If you are interest in joining our growing team, please e-mail your latest CV and covering note to careers@thehumanchain.com