Over the past decade, consumers have changed the way they shop. Some are shopping using online platforms, and others shop on their mobile devices. But, safe to say, almost all of them are still visiting brick-and-mortar stores, and they expect an experience on par with the advanced technology available on all other channels.
Payments technology is evolving quickly and so are merchants’ needs and expectations along with it. For independent software vendors (ISVs), becoming a merchant’s preferred provider during this time of rapid change may seem especially challenging.
2015 was an interesting year in the U.S. payments industry. Counterfeit credit cards were on the rise and every business that accepted payments was panicking about something called the “EMV migration.” ISVs that provided payment acceptance solutions to their customers were also in the same boat and were trying to figure out what the next step is for them. It has been over three years since and it brings up the question we all have in mind – is EMV helping? A recent report from Visa provided insights into the efficacy of the migration in the U.S.:
We get it, PCI Compliance is a recurring topic that feels like a thorn in everyone’s side. It comes up again and again during conversations and integrations and is an important discussion to have. There are many PCI compliance standards that you may have heard of including PCI DSS, PCI PTS and so on. These standards were designed to keep payment solutions in check and make sure the sensitive card data remains safe. The PCI DSS, for example, refers to the Data Security Standard released by the PCI Council that are put in place to ensure that all businesses that accept, process, store and/ or transmit cardholder data (i.e., credit card information), do it in the safest way possible. By following these regulations, merchants can better protect their payment infrastructures from data breaches.
Micro-merchants and small businesses have a low number of monthly transactions and spending thousands of dollars on a full-blown POS system isn’t always cost-effective. If you are one of them, you may have been using mobile POS solutions to accept electronic payments to keep your cost down. Over the years, this type of payment solution has gone through many changes – card readers have become smaller for easy portability. In other instances, tablet POS solutions have helped many businesses improve staff efficiency and customer experience. With EMV chip and PIN transactions becoming more common in the U.S., there is a need for mobile POS solutions that can securely accept PIN while still keeping the technology costs down for merchants. This is where PIN on Mobile comes in. These new solutions allow you to securely accept PIN transactions by using a card reader and your consumer grade mobile/tablet device as a POS system. You can learn more about this solution in one of my previous blog posts.
