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Rich Siegel Talks with Shift4 Payments, Daniel Montellano About Remote Workforce, the Shift4Cares Program and the Industry Recovery

(Daniel Montellano, SV Enterprise Business Development with Shift4 Payments)
 
As the second Hospitality Upgrade High Five interview, Rich Siegel virtually caught up with Daniel Montellano of Shift4 to hear how that company has pivoted to address the current situation, the Shift4Cares program and Montellano’s opinion on an industry recovery.

First, Montellano talked with HU about the company’s immediate response to the current situation brought on by the coronavirus. He talked about the company’s quick response to empower a completely remote work force keeping all employees intact. “We are a fully functioning company,” he said. While salespersons are used toworking remotely, Shift4 support and installation teams were quickly ramped up for very quick action for customers. 

When asked about the impact of the coronavirus on its customers, Daniel spoke about the Shift4Cares project and how the company jumped into action to helps its clients suffering from closures. “What we did was create a gift card solution for all of our clients where they can see people (in their communities who) want to support them. We pushed back a few development projects (we were working on) because we wanted to immediately help out.”

In March, Shift4 Payments announced the launch of Shift4Cares.com, a round-the-clock online resource for government agencies, news outlets and businesses affected by COVID-19. This is Shift4’s initiative to help raise more than $200 million for restaurants and other small businesses. “We’re investing in this, too. This is an opportunity for us to give back to the community.”

Lastly, when asked for his opinion of the industry recovery, Montellano said, “My crystal balls says we’ll start seeing things slowly come back within 60 days. Certain verticals are going to see immediate attention. I think everyone is going to rush to the mall as soon as they can. They are going to want to go to a restaurant.” But in his opinion, travel and lodging will be in the second wave when confidence builds and things like business travel really resumes.

Lessons learned from COVID-19 will include direct impacts to how businesses interact with customers. The most profound will be potentially lingering concerns over cleanliness of surfaces and a rise to touchless guest ordering and payments. “Consumers won’t want to touch something to order food or drinks.”