Why It’s Important to Use an Omni-Channel Payments Provider

When deciding which payments provider will work best for your business, there are many factors to consider. Arguably, the most important factor is finding a provider that has a solution for all your points of transaction — including the checkout page of your website or your business software integrations. You don’t just need a payments provider who can do it all. You need a payments provider who can do it all-in-one.

We’re talking omni-channel payments — a provider that offers integrated payments solutions across multiple points, but the transaction routes to one central place. You don’t need multiple processors for your different transaction points. More providers and transaction touch points often mean more opportunities for risk and reconciliation.

So, what are a couple of things you need to look out for in a payments provider? Keep reading to find out.

Does your provider offer convenient card-present and card-not-present payment solutions?

Consumers want payment convenience. It’s a crucial part of all transactions and consumer and seller relationships today. With this emphasis on convenience comes a need for greater flexibility, speed, and enhanced usability in payment processing. Merchants that are succeeding guarantee that consumers can pay how they want, when they want, with limited difficulty. This can take the form of a highly effective and user-friendly checkout for your ecommerce store or offering a variety of payment options at your point of sale. If your business transacts both in-person and online, find a payments provider that can support it all by offering an all-in-one, comprehensive payment processing solution.

An omni-channel payments provider can help you shift to better serve the modern consumer and streamline your operations. Ask yourself the following:

• What type of payments do you want to accept?
• Are all your transaction points consolidated in one place?
• Can you simplify your administrative procedures, including reconciliation and reporting?

Does your provider protect your business and sensitive cardholder data?

Convenience and flexibility are crucial aspects of the payment process. But does this need for speed come at the cost of consumers’ data safety? Payment security is complex, with risks and vulnerabilities present at every point of the processing chain. As hackers develop increasingly sophisticated methods to exploit the weak points of a business’s payment system, it’s no wonder why data breaches continue to spike year over year. Credit card data is a major part of these data breaches. Your payment acceptance capabilities are only as good as the technology and security it’s backed by.

There are many solutions that, when combined, help to protect against data theft. This can include accepting payments through a secure portal so that sensitive card data never enters your systems. Or perhaps it’s implementing encryption and tokenization to safeguard against weaknesses in the payments process, thereby reducing PCI (Payment Card Industry) scope and compliance costs. No security solution will protect sensitive data completely, but the technicalities should be left to a trusted payments processor who can lessen the burden. The financial repercussions of a data breach can easily disrupt your business. This is why you need a provider that protects you, your business, and your customers.

As technology has grown, so has the amount of information passed in each transaction. In turn, this has created a greater need for security than ever before. Ask yourself the following:

• How do payment processors help merchants reach PCI compliance?
• What are the risks of not being PCI compliant?
• What solutions can protect customers’ information with the highest level of security?

Choose a better payments provider with Clover Connect

Clover Connect‘s payment engine supports your business with powerful and easy omni-channel payment integrations backed by dedicated, always-on support teams. No matter where you’re at in your journey, your payments experience with Clover Connect is always met with:

• Omni-channel payment acceptance + affordable processing
• Full transaction lifecycle reporting
• Seamless activation and onboarding
• Multi-layered data breach prevention
• 24/7 tech support

For more information on how Clover Connect can address your unique payment acceptance needs, view our partnership page on the Tripleseat Marketplace.

Editor’s Note: This post is from Clover Connect, one of Tripleseat’s valued partners and a supporter of EventCamp.