Technology is always evolving – new and innovative solutions are increasingly being sought out by businesses who are looking to elevate the commerce experience for their customers. But when faced with different types of available tech, as a merchant, how do you decide what solution to implement in your business? Will it help enhance the customer experience? Will it make the checkout faster? Will it help in improving other efficiencies in my business?
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.
