Guide
Retiring paper vouchers without losing the controls
Paper vouchers survive because they work: they are understood, they need no connectivity, and everyone knows what to do with them. Replacing them is only worth it if the replacement keeps the controls and removes the printing, the counting and the fraud.
Updated
At a glance
- Transition
- Both systems can run in parallel
- Controls kept
- Limits, venues, categories, expiry
- Removed
- Printing, distribution, counting, reprints
- Reconciliation
- Per transaction rather than per batch
Updated
What paper was actually doing
A voucher is three things at once: a limit (it is worth a fixed amount), a restriction (it is only accepted in certain places) and an audit trail (the stub comes back). Any replacement has to do all three, or somebody will notice within a month.
The card does the first two better, because the limit and the restriction are checked at authorisation rather than by a cashier's judgement, and they can be changed without reprinting anything.
The third it does differently: instead of a batch of stubs reconciled at month end, there is a transaction stream with the person, the venue and the time already attached. That is a better audit trail, but it is a different report, and the finance team should see it before the switch rather than after.
- A voucher that is lost is money gone; a card that is lost is reissued.
- Denominations stop mattering, because a card can be spent to the cent.
- Photocopied vouchers stop being a category of problem entirely.
A safe transition
- 01
Write down what the vouchers control
Amount, where, when, who — this becomes the account rules.
- 02
Show finance the new report
The transaction stream replaces the stub reconciliation; agree it before the switch.
- 03
Run both for one period
Issue cards to a group while vouchers continue, and compare the two reports.
- 04
Stop printing
Once the reporting matches, the paper stops at the next cycle.
- 05
Extend the rules
Things paper could not do — hours, categories, per-person limits — can now be added.
- 06
Retire the stock
Existing vouchers stay honoured to their expiry; nothing is stranded.
What changes for each group
- Employees
- Card in the phone, balance visible, nothing to carry
- Venues
- Same terminal, faster than counting paper
- Finance
- A transaction stream instead of a batch reconciliation
- HR
- Issuance and suspension from a panel, not a stockroom
- Security
- No photocopying, no lost stock, no reprints
- Audit
- Person, venue and time on every transaction
Questions about this
What is a closed-loop payment platform?
It lets you issue and process payments inside your own ecosystem — gift cards, prepaid balances, employee accounts — without routing every transaction through Visa, Mastercard or a bank. The funds stay in your system, so the fees, the data and the customer experience are yours to set.
Do my customers need to install an app?
No. Cards issue straight to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, which are already on every phone. The customer scans a QR code with the camera, taps “Add to Wallet”, and the card is there in about ten seconds. No download, no account, no registration form.
Does it work with my existing POS terminal?
Yes. The cashier enters the amount on the terminal you already run, the terminal shows a QR code, and the customer scans it with their own phone. That works on any terminal that can draw a QR on screen, which covers modern PAX, Verifone and Ingenico fleets. If there is no terminal at all, staff can run the same flow from a phone.
Do you handle online payments too, or just POS?
Both, on one balance. There is a checkout widget for merchant sites and a direct embedding into PSP gateways as a payment method. One admin panel, one transaction ledger, one reporting stream — offline and online together.
How does 7Konto embed into a PSP checkout?
7Konto appears as a new payment method inside your existing checkout, next to the cards and wallets you already offer. Every merchant on that gateway sees “Pay with 7Konto” without changing a line on their own site: we integrate once with the gateway, and the whole portfolio has it.
Run a parallel period and compare the reports
A free 30-day pilot, configured and supported by our team.