Former PayPal executive Brent Warrington to lead Planet’s vertical integration solutions

Planet, a global technology leader, announced that it has combined with four other digital commerce and industry-leading cloud software providers in the retail, hospitality and financial services sectors. The move has been completed to allow Planet to create a new and unique vertical technology system that is intended to provide for every step of its customer’s retail processes. To head up this new growth strategy, Planet has appointed Brent Warrington, former Head of Markets at PayPal, as the new Chief Executive Officer of the combined company.

Planet, Proximis, Protel, and other digital commerce platforms

Planet, although relatively unknown outside of the industry, is an integrated software, payment, and technology solution provider for the hospitality and retail sectors. The company was founded 35 years ago to help international shoppers by simplifying the payment process that was at the time quite complex. The company has its headquarters in London, but has more than 2,000 employees across the world serving over 120 markets. It is majority-owned by investment firms Advent and Eurazeo, who have a combined amount of over €94 billion of assets under management, including in Proximis, Datatrans, Protel Hotelsoftware and the Hoist Group.

These latter four companies, all offering digital solutions, have now been combined into one company under the control of Planet, with the goal of transforming digital commerce for their customers by offering a single, vertically focused global technology solution.

One system from start to finish

The goal of the companies being merged is to offer customers a way to connect all of their channels – online as well as offline – with one service solution. Previously, customers had to work with fragmented software and payment systems across multiple providers, each of which focused on function over user experience. With Planet, user experience will no longer be secondary to function, as the company offers an easy-to-use all-in-one solution that can align all of these separate programs in a single end-to-end platform.

The single platform allows retailers to offer unified journeys across different channels, keeping everything up to date across different services. It allows a user to see a single customer view with deep data insights, as well as access the system through an online portal for reporting and reconciliation. On top of this, Planet works with a network of financial service partners around the world to provide global payment processing solutions. For retailers everything from click and collect and shop and ship services to advanced return management are all linked, while for hoteliers integrated payments and value-added services improve their guest’s digital journeys from booking to stay. Already, Planet lists high-profile customers such as the Accor and Hyatt hotel chains as some of its key partners, along with Starbucks Coffee and other major high street brands like Gucci, Armani, and Hugo Boss.

Brent Warrington’s appointment means the company is serious

Alongside the news that the four companies will be merged under Planet is the announcement that Brent Warrington will be taking the role of CEO and driving the push towards a single end-to-end solution. Warrington, who has an excellent leadership history with high-growth tech companies has stated that, “we have an incredible opportunity ahead of us to create a company that delivers innovative solutions that will be transformative for both our customers and their consumers…we will be a differentiated and disruptive force within our sector.” 

Warrington lists being the CEO of Hyperwallet (acquired by PayPal), CEO of SecureNet Payment Systems (later acquired by WorldPay), CEO of FundsXpress (now part of FirstData) and Head of Marketplaces at PayPal itself among his career highlights. He replaces Patrick Waldron at Planet, who will be taking a position on the Board of Directors. Given Warrington’s track record, it would not be a surprise to see Planet soon acquired by a larger company, though no plans of this have yet been announced.

For those in the retail and hospitality sector, the appointment of Warrington as CEO will no doubt be a persuasive argument in considering whether to use Planet’s software solutions. With such a distinguished name at its head, it is clear that Planet fully intends to carve out a place for itself in the market.

Photos : busycontinent.com – planet-technology.com