Short clip: Discover on being a scrappy innovator

February 5, 2008, 2:22pm PST | Length: 00:02:02
Diane Offereins, CIO at Discover Financial Services describes how the company competes against Visa, MasterCard and American Express by emphasizing programs that use the company's credit and debit networks.

Transcript

Short clip: Discover on being a scrappy innovator

Sound effect

>> You're in a very competitive marketplace competitors like Visa and MasterCard. How do you foster a culture of innovation where you're able to keep up or get ahead of those competitors?

>> Well, you know, if you know anything about Discover there's a scrappiness about Discover that is part of its heritage. When, you know, the industry said that you couldn't create another payment network Discover, you know, 21 years later is a very viable and vibrant company. You know, we went public this -- we were spun off from Morgan Stanley this summer so this is its first chance of actually being a stand-alone company. It's always been a part of another company be it way back in the early days Sears, part of Jean Witter, part of Morgan Stanley. So there is a resiliency and a culture of innovation at Discover that's really part of the heritage of the company.

>> Well, what are some examples of innovations that you can count on that have gotten you ahead of your competitors?

>> Well, our network and having, you know, a card issuing business with its own network. You know, there's really only one other competitor out there that has that and that's American Express. So having the flexibility of, you know, being able to deliver our products through our own network. You know, we do offer that network to select partners that really does allow us to do a lot of very unique things partnerships directly with merchants, programs that we can offer because we run our own network. And we've also enhanced that, you know, beyond, this is where I think we're quite unique compared to any other competitor out there. Not only do we have a credit network we have a debit network as well, so all pin debit transactions, you know, there's no kind of payment form factor that we can't deliver across one of our networks.

Sound effect

==== Transcribed by Automatic Sync Technologies ====

Discover Financial Services CIO: Diane Offereins

Discover Financial Services CIO: Diane Offereins

Diane Offereins, CIO at Discover Financial Services speaks to ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber...

Short clip: Discover tests mobile payments

Short clip: Discover tests mobile payments

Diane Offereins, CIO at Discover Financial Services talks about how the company is...

Short clip: Discover's new call center web app

Short clip: Discover's new call center web app

Diane Offereins, CIO at Discover Financial Services discusses how the company is making the...

Short clip: American Airlines social media experiment

Short clip: American Airlines social media experiment

Monte Ford, CIO of American Airlines describes how the company is embracing Twitter and...

Shadman Zafar, CIO, Verizon Telecom

Shadman Zafar, CIO, Verizon Telecom

Shadman Zafar, CIO of Verizon Telecom talks to ZDNet correspondent Sumi Das about the company’s...

Short clip: Verizon invests in growth over cost-cutting

Short clip: Verizon invests in growth over cost-cutting

Shadman Zafar, CIO of Verizon Telecom, describes how the company is responding to the current...

Short clip: Verizon CIO: Quick failures, generate quick learning

Short clip: Verizon CIO: Quick failures, generate quick learning

Shadman Zafar, CIO of Verizon Telecom, talks about how focusing on the growth of the company...

Short clip: Sony uses social networking to listen to customers

Short clip: Sony uses social networking to listen to customers

Drew Martin, CIO of Sony Electronics, describes how the company is targeting social networking...

Talkback - Tell Us What You Think

Formatting +
BB Codes - Note: HTML is not supported in forums
  • [b] Bold [/b]
  • [i] Italic [/i]
  • [u] Underline [/u]
  • [s] Strikethrough [/s]
  • [q] "Quote" [/q]
  • [ol][*] 1. Ordered List [/ol]
  • [ul][*] · Unordered List [/ul]
  • [pre] Preformat [/pre]
  • [quote] "Blockquote" [/quote]

The best of ZDNet, delivered

ZDNet Newsletters

Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox

White Papers, Webcasts, & Resources

Facebook Activity