A Year at Bytemark: Looking Back, Planning for the Future

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By Eric Reese, Chief Executive Officer

A little over a year ago, I started with Bytemark. What a year it has been, looking back. Saying hello and learning the offering; trying to build the team’s trust and listening to our partners, riders, and clients. Then developing and enacting a plan, bringing on strategic hires, traveling more, fine-tuning our roadmap, growing, closing out our best year, and getting appointed CEO.

And then a pandemic hit.

Shifting to protecting the team, changing the entire company’s working locations to home, no more traveling, missing clients and partners, still listening but learning to hear better, absorbing and growing. This year continues to teach us that normal is not normal, nor will it be again. And that is OK.

A Year of Learning

I have never been happier or prouder to work with the family we have at Bytemark. We are committed to learning from the day before and striving to be better the next day. We have to be.

Looking back, that first day at Bytemark was like walking into a new school. I was joining a team that had built something from a concept to a reality to a leader in the market. Walking in that door the first day was daunting.

From that very first meeting, it was clear the talent and vision were there. Soon, we all realized that we needed to find a focus and define a path — and we found one. In doing that, we added new team members, we built the Bridge solution, and we defined its value. We launched it, and our clients are seeing where we can take them.

We believe in what we do. We want to make the “Plan, Book & Pay™” process easier, safer, contactless, and seamless for our clients and their riders. The world has changed, and we will be there to support the change our clients and their customers demand. The conversations surrounding these issues are riveting, and the current environment has only expedited our means of evolution.

Life seems a lot like the transportation industry. Change is constant — changing your location, changing from bus to train, changing seats on the subway. And the payments industry itself is continually evolving, especially in the transportation space. “Innovate or die!” a friend of mine from my Leadership APTA class would cry!

Looking Ahead with Bytes of Knowledge

Change has a way of stoking more change. The faster we innovate, the more clearly we can see a bigger picture and where the industry may be headed — and Bytemark’s proud to lead the way. 

As problem solvers in a quickly expanding field, we want to keep you updated on these changes, both the ones we implement and the ones coming down the road. To do that, we’re launching this new blog to explore the exciting future of Bytemark — from our solutions, to our partners’ innovations, to where both Payments as a Service (PaaS) and Mobility as a Service (Maas) are heading, and more. 

Welcome to our new blog — “Bytes of Knowledge.” Simply put because that’s exactly what we’re providing — snapshots of themes we encounter during our work and want to examine more in-depth.

As transit fare payment becomes more sophisticated and MaaS becomes more of a reality, industry pioneers like Bytemark and our partners will push to move the industry forward. This blog gives you insights into our vision. We may share observations, answer a question, post articles that catch our eye, or talk about a cool new product and how it will impact the future of transportation. 

Each month, a member of our team will present a topic they find fascinating. Our initial authors will include:

And there will be more to come from our other team members and partners. We’d love to hear your reactions. Ask us questions. Share our blogs and tell us what you think. Give us a thumbs up if you enjoy what you read.

It’s been a year to remember and a year we won’t forget. Bytemark’s goal is to evolve and improve every day — we have to Do Better and Be Better. And we will — as a team and as a family.

Greg Valyer