Sally Ralston

Said the following about Lee Berry:

“Lee has managed the project for the implementation of the Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) within Merseyrail since 2010. The PCI-DSS is a mandatory international security standard which affects all entities that store, process or transmit credit or debit card data, and there are heavy financial penalties for non-compliance.

As part of the PCI-DSS project, Lee has driven through a number of innovative changes that have made Merseyrail a leader in the UK rail industry:

1. Merseyrail recently became the first UK train operator to introduce contactless card payments at all stations.

2. Merseyrail will soon become the first business in the world, to use the new PCI-DSS approved “Point To Point Encryption” technology for securing our customers payment card data.

3. Merseyrail will become the first UK train operator to be fully compliant with the PCI-DSS during 2014.

These developments demonstrate that we are capable of being an industry leader in the security field, and can successfully deliver major security related projects, ahead of our partners.

or our customers, it gives confidence that we are protecting their personal payment card data, whilst simultaneously enabling a faster ‘contactless’ payment experience, before any other UK train operating company.

In managing the PCI-DSS project, Lee has adopted new and innovative approaches, which differ from those taken by others in our industry:

• Whilst other UK train operators continue to make slow progress with their PCI-DSS security programmes, and seek to ‘hide’ themselves away from the regulatory body, Merseyrail

by contrast, decided to join the PCI-Security Standards Council (PCI-SSC) itself as a ‘Participating Organisation’ , with a view that it could better play an active role in promoting credit and debit card security, and prevent the imposition of financial penalties upon itself by influencing it from within. Merseyrail’s PCI-SSC membership status can now be seen on the PCI-SSC website alongside other big retailers such as M&S, and Sainsbury’s, on the following link

https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/get_involved/member_list.php?category=&region=&alphaFilter=m

Membership has enabled us to take part in card security training courses, resulting in the achievement of Internal Security Assessor (ISA) accreditation. This has saved us a substantial sum in having to use expensive external resource to certify our security compliance. It has also allowed us to share our knowledge with other Serco companies within our sector, exclusively because of our membership status.

• The solution which Lee recommended to help Merseyrail achieve security compliance was the use of new PCI ‘Point To Point Encryption’ (P2PE) technology, which has allowed us to reduce the scope of our PCI assessment by 90%. Merseyrail will soon be the first company in the world to have deployed this new P2PE technology, and we expect significant international press coverage within the payment industry as a result. This solution is already being adopted by others within our industry after successful testing by ourselves.

• To maximise the return on our security investments, Lee ensured that contactless credit and debit card payments below £20 were implemented in tandem with the security enhancements, at no additional cost to ourselves. Merseyrail is now the first UK train company to accept contactless payments at all of its staffed stations. This was an opportunity that was identified by Lee to provide additional returns over and above the original business case, as contactless transactions cost us less to process, and deliver significant transaction speed improvements for our card paying customers.

• Lee established a brand new partnership with Mastercard International, who have used the strength of their brand to actively promote our contactless roll out to UK based media, including local television channels, newspapers and radio. Mastercard have paid for all of our marketing collateral, including the distribution of pre-paid Mastercard contactless cards to our stations for our frontline staff to use.

Marion King, MasterCard President

“We are now delighted to partner with Merseyrail and take this innovation to the North-West region of the country and to the busiest transit network outside of London. This plays an important part in our strategy to include all transit networks in the UK that will stand to benefit from safe, secure and more convenient ways to pay for their travel as we continue to work towards a world beyond cash.”

Throughout the project, Lee has involved people from all levels of the organisation in his meetings and created an atmosphere whereby everybody can contribute, ask questions, and give honest feedback in complete confidence and security, without feeling uncomfortable. This has helped to create business ‘buy-in’ at a very early stage, and prevented problems from happening through disengagement.

He has himself actively sought to highlight and promote the work that individual members of his project team have carried out, and has made several nominations through the company’s own ‘Reward & Recognition’ scheme, to ensure proper recognition for their input, all of which have been accepted.

In setting out to deliver a new and innovative path for PCI compliance that has differed from that of all other UK train operators, Lee had to use his influence and knowledge to be able to gain the trust of members of the Merseyrail Team Of Directors, and the Merseyrail Operating Board, which was vital in order to ensure project support at the highest level.

By becoming the first company in the word to use the PCI Point To Point Encryption (P2PE) technology, Lee has helped Merseyrail to become an international leader in innovation, embracing new ideas on a global scale.

As the first rail company in the UK to offer contactless payments for tickets, and products, he has helped to enhance the payment experience for our customers by making payment not only more secure, but much faster and easier too. Everything that has been done throughout the project has had a direct impact on the levels of customer service that we provide.

The objectives which Lee set out in his business case are being achieved, at a much reduced cost to that envisaged, whilst simultaneously new additional funding and income has been secured from Mastercard, and other partners, directly because of additional opportunities that Lee secured.

The successful achievement of objectives and the embracing of new approaches is something that Serco can use for future bids too.

Lee has helped to mentor members of his project team, assisting them to prioritise their tasks, but without allowing the overall project timescales to slip. He has supported, and encouraged them, and has always been available when they needed assistance. He has also made several nominations of team members under Merseyrail’s own ‘Reward and Recognition’ scheme.

Lee empowered all frontline staff who were involved in the testing of the new payment technologies to provide detailed and accurate feedback, and to openly challenge him if they felt that there were issues that had not been addressed; this approach helped to ensure that some technical faults were identified and resolved at a very early stage. He also involved frontline trade union representatives throughout the entire testing process, and they have since commented on how well this approach worked in enabling our frontline staff to embrace the new technologies, and new ways of working

Financially

Lee has delivered the project to date at less than 80% of its anticipated cost. He has also generated additional savings through the introduction of ‘contactless’ payments, which cost up to 70% less to process than Chip&PIN based sales.

Through the new relationship with Mastercard, Lee has secured new external funding opportunities to promote the use of contactless payments throughout Merseyrail, with 100% of all marketing and media related activities now being funded directly by this new partnership.

Benefits To Customers

A number of well -known international companies have fallen breach of failure to implement and maintain PCI-DSS card security, including Sony Entertainment Limited. In 2010 Sony Entertainment Ltd. suffered negative publicity on an international scale when millions of PlayStation customers had their payment card details stolen. The delivery of safe and secure payment process, as a result of PCI-DSS compliance will give confidence to Merseyrail customers, and will help to promote Merseyrail as a place where customers’ safety and security is taken extremely seriously.

The adoption of contactless payments allows the ‘end to end’ customer journey to flow smoother, by speeding up the payment transaction time considerably, and also allowing payment by card if there should be any interruptions to station communication lines. Contactless payment can also be used for customers purchasing food and drinks at Merseyrail’s integrated ‘M To Go’ ticket offices, and will help to boost the sales of these non-rail type products. Mastercard have said they intend to continue the partnership with Merseyrail beyond the introductions of contactless payment, and may in future help to boost our ‘M To Go’ sales by funding customer competitions and supplying retail stock.

Other benefits

The attainment of the three awards outlined in the introduction will help to raise the profile of Serco as an innovative company through domestic media releases, and also internationally, which can help to securing new contracts and bids.

Ian Fowler, Station Retailer (Formby Station)

“At first contactless was only used by a few people, if any, on a daily basis, but it is now getting more popular, particularly with the older generation who were at first a bit apprehensive and worried about using this facility. It is easier and quicker (no more saying put PIN number in…have you pressed ‘enter’ etc”

Chris Davies, Managing Director at Global Payments

“One of the clearest advantages of contactless technology is speed, so it is a natural payment choice for Merseyrail passengers looking to complete transactions as quickly as possible. We are confident that North West commuters will become early adopters of the technology, and are fully committed to supporting Merseyrail in its education of consumers on the many benefits of contactless payments.”

Lee is an extremely organised, and conscientious person. He has a list or a plan for just about everything, and all tasks big or small get managed right through until completion, with nothing ever missed. He is driven by his determination to succeed, and to get results. He also enjoys coaching and supporting his team members, where his obvious enthusiasm and enjoyment of his work rubs off onto them as well.

He involves people from all levels of the organisation in his projects, and in his meetings he creates an atmosphere whereby everybody can contribute, ask questions, and give honest feedback in complete confidence and security, without feeling uncomfortable. This has helped to create business ‘buy-in’, and prevented problems from happening if any part of the business was disengaged.

He has himself actively sought to highlight the work that individual members of his team have carried out, and has made several of his own nominations to Merseyrail’s ‘Reward and Recognition’ scheme so that their good work is recognised.

Graham Rimmer, Station Facilities Manager

“Lee is a very determined and single minded in his approach when there is a need to deliver a project or initiative on time and within budget.

Lee is very organised and focused and always looks to bring the rest of the team along with him, adapting his style in order to bring the best out of his colleagues. He recognises that not everyone is the same and some need more help than others, but can moderate his delivery depending on whom the audience is and is able to gain their engagement.

Even in a formal atmosphere, he is able to lighten the mood in order to relax everyone, without losing the main focus on what needs to be achieved. He doesn’t come from a technical background, but is able to absorb the most detailed technical information and filter it into more user friendly format that is easier for people around him to understand. It seems he almost has a photographic memory as his knowledge of ticketing systems, PCI (Payment Card Industry) regulations and project management is almost unsurpassed, which means he is a great asset to Merseyrail as he always without fail will represent the best interests of the company.

Lee is motivated by being part of a successful team, but recognises the absolute importance of putting the needs of the organisation first in order to deliver a top quality product to our customers and shareholders. He has a great sense of humour but can also be sensitive to the needs of people around him, his main focus though, is always to deliver 100% effort in everything he does and to do it the right way, with the ultimate goal of making our organisation (Merseyrail) the best at what we do”.“

Debbie Hunter

Said the following about Lee Berry:

“Lee is a dedicated Project Manager who lives and breathes the Merseyrail values - Professional, Inclusive, Genuine and Proactive.

Every project he works on, he gives 100%. He is a genuinely nice guy who works hard and is dedicated to making Merseyrail a success.

He is a pleasure to know and work with and I have no hesitation in nominating Lee.“