Cash is fast becoming a thing of the past.

Today we use cards to purchase things that only a few years ago would have been unthinkable to pay for in any way other than with cash. Given that it is easier, more secure and efficient than cash, this trend is hardly surprising. There has even been discussion in the media this year about which country will become the first to go cashless. While this is a strange and perhaps impossibly futuristic scenario to speculate about, it is looking like a less unusual prospect every day.

The exciting developments here are primarily around mobile payments, which are making even credit card payments seem somehow old-fashioned. GoCardless, iZettle, Square and Stripe are just a few of the systems that are being adopted by the public in growing numbers. These systems are relatively small players at the moment but their popularity is growing dramatically, and with their market share growing all the time, the more established companies have recognised this and are changing their approach to make sure they keep up.

So what do these systems actually do?

GoCardless and Stripe are examples of direct debit based systems, which means they help to facilitate purely online transactions. Their simplicity means they are fast becoming the industry standard. By contract, Square and iZettle have been described as the new face of in-person payment. In practice, what this means is that business owners are able to take payments using a chip and PIN device that plugs into a phone.

And why is this important?

Perhaps the biggest advantage of all this is that, by removing the expensive chip and PIN systems that businesses have traditionally had little choice but to adopt, new businesses now have easier and cheaper options for taking electronic payments. In fact, iZettle has even made one version of its hardware, Card Reader Lite, free to sole traders and small businesses.

A significant barrier to setting up one’s own business has therefore effectively been removed, and this has played no small part in helping to drive the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that is such a distinguishing feature of the booming online technology sector.