June 2nd, 2016 by Elma Jane
Having the right tools to provide great service is important, this will make and keep your customers happy. An updated point-of-sale (POS) can help you improve customer satisfaction.
EMV – merchants are still behind in EMV acceptance. It may cost you to update but, it will save you money in the event of a fraudulent charge. EMV is here to stay, it is best to update your POS equipment now.
Insights – inventory management feature enables sales people to see available inventory. Tracking the products that sell the best and identifying products in high demand helps the owner stock strategically to better assist customers.
Loyalty Programs – an excellent way to keep current customers coming back.
Mobile Payments – Giving your customers more options on how to make payments by accepting mobile payments. Merchant gains the ability to speed up transaction times for customers.
Speed – customers want to check out at the store as quickly as possible. An updated point-of-sale solution will process transaction faster. A fast and easy system contribute to a better customer experience.
Need to upgrade your point-of-sale give us a call at 888-996-2273. NTC is here to help you.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: customers, EMV, Loyalty Programs, merchants, Mobile Payments, payments, point of sale, POS, service, solution, transaction
June 1st, 2016 by Elma Jane
Close more sales and overcome some of the common strategic mistakes sales people make with the following strategies.
Become a partner – people don’t buy from companies, people buy from people. Building a relationship with a potential partner by getting to know them personally and know their professional needs is very important in sales. Your potential partner must value you before he or she can trust you with their business.
Be the expert – Show your knowledge and expertise about your industry. Offer a valuable service and be the expert in your field.
Communicate – in building trust with a partner, establishing and maintaining effective communications is essential. Follow up in a timely manner, be available, return calls promptly with the information requested. Keeping communications open is the best way to keep a partner.
Eliminate the difficulty of switching – it is vital to let your partner know the ease of transition and benefits to moving to your solution. No matter how great the product or service is, when a business considered making a change there still apprehension.
Focus on value – build value. Most are willing to pay fairly for a good service.
Make it simple – make your product, service or offer simple. Explain your offer in a way they can not only understand but convey to others.
Hard work and dedication are important in sales, but you will close more deals if you have a good sales strategy.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants Tagged with: industry, product, sales, service, solution
January 9th, 2014 by Elma Jane
Notably after the Japanese tsunami…the Hungarian Red Cross has used mobile technology to raise funds for disaster relief, but for the first time has enlisted social media in the process. The organization is running a Facebook campaign that lets smartphone users make instant donations to aid victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
The donations will pass through the MasterCard Mobile app that was developed by the Hungarian m-payments firm Cellum. The solution relies on QR codes. The method is available only in Hungary.
Process works like this:
Download the MasterCard Mobile app to your smartphone and register your bank card, then follow the steps to secure your personal data.
To donate, scan the QR code shared on Facebook with the built-in scanner of MasterCard Mobile. Transaction data are displayed on the screen to ensure the donation goes to the chosen cause.
The QR code contains a minimum sum, which can be increased.
Then press the send button to review and confirm transaction data.
The app then initiates the transaction, which you need to authorize by entering your mPIN.
You will receive feedback on the successful transaction, which can later be viewed in the transactions menu.
The donations will pass through Cellum’s system and quickly go to the Hungarian Red Cross’ account, which is dedicated to typhoon relief efforts.
Donations are a matter of impulse and that people who decide to give want to act quickly, chances are they don’t carry around a pen to put down a 24-digit bank account number on a piece of paper. By the time they get home and visit their online bank where they could transfer the money, they have already been distracted by a hundred other stimuli, so they end up sending nothing. Cellum’s solution is simple; whenever the impulse hits people, they probably have their phone at hand said Cellum spokesman Balazs Inotay.
Posted in e-commerce & m-commerce, Internet Payment Gateway, Medical Healthcare, Smartphone Tagged with: account number, authorize, confirm transaction data, Facebook, m-payments, MasterCard, mobile app, mobile technology, personal data, phone, PIN, process, qr codes, Red Cross, scanner, secure, smartphone, social media, solution, successful transaction, transfer
November 15th, 2013 by Elma Jane
November 7, 2013 – Payment Card Industry (PCI) Council’s recent acceptance of the world’s first Point-To-Point Encryption-validated solution is great news for both acquirers and merchants, and will aid in reducing merchant scope and increasing business security worldwide. If your P2PE know-how is a little spotty, here are the basics.
What is P2PE?
Point-To-Point Encryption (P2PE) is the combination of hardware and processes that encrypts customer credit/debit card data from the point of interaction until it reaches a merchant solution provider’s environment for processing. Because card data is immediately encrypted as the card is swiped (or dipped), it prevents clear-text information from residing on the payment environment. Encrypted card data is then transferred to, decrypted by, and processed through the solution provider processor who is the sole holder of the decryption key.
In a POS environment, merchants often store decryption keys on their backend servers. Bad idea. If a cybercriminal hacks into that environment, they not only have access to the encrypted card numbers, but the decryption key as well. Hacker jackpot. Many question the difference between P2PE and typical point of sale (POS) encryption.
The reason P2PE is arguably the most secure way to process is because merchants don’t have access to decryption keys. If a hacker breaches a merchant using a validated P2PE solution, he/she will only recover a long string of useless encrypted card numbers with no way to decode them.
Why use P2PE?
Basically, P2PE increases data security and has the ability to make a merchant’s job of reaching PCI compliance easier. The main point of using a P2PE-valiated solution is to significantly lessen the scope of security efforts through PCI Data Security Standard (DSS) requirement and P2PE Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) reduction. Compared to the 80+ questions required of mainstream merchant SAQs, the P2PE-HW SAQ only requires merchants to answer 18 questions.
Are all P2PE solutions created equal?
Answer is no. Many P2PE solution vendors claim their solution reduces scope, but in order for a merchant to qualify, they must select only P2PE-validated solutions listed on the PCI Council’s website.
To get P2PE solutions and applications listed on the approved website, solution provider processors must go through a rigorous testing process performed by a qualified P2PE Qualified Security Assessor (QSA). P2PE QSAs help entities thorough the 210-page document of P2PE requirements, testing procedures, and controls required to keep cardholder data secure – a task which only a few companies in the world can do.
As of this post, the only P2PE hardware solution approved by the PCI Council is European Payment Services’ (EPS) Total Care P2PE solution, validated by P2PE QSA SecurityMetrics. A number of other P2PE solutions are currently undergoing the review process and will be added to the list once approved.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Credit Card Security, Electronic Payments, Merchant Services Account, Payment Card Industry PCI Security, Point of Sale, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: acceptance, acquirers, backend, cardholder, credit/debit, cybercriminal, data, decode, decrypted, decryption, DSS, encrypted, encryption, encrypts, hacker, hardware, key, Merchant's, p2pe, p2pe-hw, Payment Card Industry, PCI Council, point of sale, point-to-point, POS, process, processed, processes, Processing, processor, provider's, saqs, secure, solution, transferred, validated
October 31st, 2013 by Elma Jane
Ingenico Biometric Credit Card Terminal with EMV Chip and PIN Processing NFC.
Ingenico’s new biometric payment device (the iWB 220) is to be used in a pioneering project, to bring financial support to low-income families.
Payment solutions provider, Ingenico are to deploy Ingenico´s biometric solution in Colombia and the Dominican Republic, together with Carvajal Tecnología y Servicios, a player in the electronic payment industry in Latin America,
This biometric point of sale solution complies with the Image Quality Specifications for single finger capture device defined by the FBI, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In addition to high security standards, the solution is a mobile device with an embedded Magstripe, as well as Chip & PIN readers.
Upon government approval for each of the applications, funds will be sent to the banks and through the use of these unique devices, beneficiaries can withdraw their funds, with the use of a fingertip. Approved family members are the only ones able to withdraw the funds, and the government is assured that the benefit is being paid to the right person.
Posted in Credit Card Reader Terminal, Credit Card Security, Electronic Payments, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Payment Card Industry PCI Security Tagged with: banks, biometric, capture, Chip & PIN, deploys, device, electronic, finger, fingertip, funds, ingenico, iwb220, magstripe, mobile, paid, payments, readers, solution, withdraw
October 29th, 2013 by Elma Jane
Three dimensions merchants must look for in a payment system PSP and ISO:
1. Ability to adapt and customize the solution.
2. Solutions that support broad range of payment methods.
3. Supports a full set of different channels and devices.
Difference between a PSP and ISO in the payments ecosystem? Online and Mobile Payments:
There are two types of merchant service providers and not all service providers are made equal, Processors and Resellers:
Resellers are known in the industry as Independent Sales Organizations (ISO’s) and/or Merchant Service Providers (MSP’s).
1) Resellers or ISOs – ISOs resell the products or services of one or multiple processors. They can also develop their own or aggregate other value added products and services. ISO’s range from a little sketchy to best in class providers.
2) Processors – Also known as Acquirers, processors are distinguished by their ability to actually process a transaction. To be a processor, a company must have the technical capability to receive transaction data from a merchant via a telephone line or the internet and then communicate with the appropriate financial institutions to approve or decline transactions. Processors must also be able to settle completed transactions through financial institutions in order to deposit funds into the merchant’s bank account.
Processors can be banks or non-banks. While processors do maintain a direct sales force of their own, they primarily work through ISOs to acquire and maintain their merchant base. A processor’s business model is really one of economies of scale. They’re volume shops. They essentially outsource the sales function to ISOs. The processing industry is highly concentrated with the top five processors maintaining over 70% of all transaction volume.
Types of ISOs:
1. Banks – Banks of all shapes and sizes are ISOs. Banks entered into the merchant services business because it was a natural fit with their product and service offerings. It’s a way to increase revenue per customer. Most, but not all banks, will private label the services so that it’s difficult to distinguish whether they are a processor or ISO. The benefit of working with a bank is that you can consolidate your financial services. The drawback is, the you usually get out of the box solutions and service.
2. Non-banks – These types of ISOs range from some of the most dynamic and capable providers to firms who don’t represent the industry very well.
Industry Dynamics – There are a few dynamics that make the industry landscape quite interesting. First, there are very barriers to entry due to the lack of certifications, licenses, and capital requirements. Secondly, there really is no active regulatory body that oversees and enforces acceptable practices. So naturally, with these two market conditions, merchants need to be mindful and thorough in selecting a provider.
Processors versus ISOs In comparing the two, ISOs offer all of the products and services that processors do (because they are reselling) but processors can’t always offer the same products and services as ISOs. This is because ISOs can resell for multiple processors and can either develop their own technologies or aggregate solutions from other providers. ISOs have largely been the most successful creators of value-added services. ISO’s also tend to be smaller, which usually (but not always) leads to better customer service.
Processors are usually a safer bet for newer merchants that are still learning about the industry. Most still maintain what consider less-than-upfront pricing practices, but with their services it is less common to hear about some of the more serious problems that merchants encounter when they deal with the wrong ISO. As for price, in most cases, there really is very little to no difference. I argue, and fully disclose my vested interest, that in nearly any situation a best in class, non-bank ISO can provide more value than a processor.
Posted in Best Practices for Merchants, Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, Financial Services, Mail Order Telephone Order, Merchant Services Account, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: account, acquirers, aggregate, approve or decline, bank, best in class, channels, customize, data, deposit, devices, financial, independent sales organizations, internet, ISO, merchant service providers, Merchant's, mobile, msp, non-banks, online, payment methods, payment system, payments, processors, psp, resellers, solution, telephone, transaction, value added
October 21st, 2013 by Elma Jane
UL’s (Underwriter Laboratories) latest contribution to the future of payments has been accomplished through its three years of work with National Security, a French biometrics company that has created a commercially viable biometric technology solution for the point of sale.
The move positions UL and National Security at the forefront of an industry that is expected to expand by 140 percent to reach $12 billion in revenue over the next five years, potentially transforming online, mobile and in-store commerce by increasing the speed of transactions in the process.
Still, arguments can be made that biometric use at the point of sale will remain limited. Why does UL believe the market is right for biometrics, and how did it successfully ensure biometric payments will be ready for all parts of the payment process?
Why The Time Is Now For Biometrics
Consumer concerns regarding identity theft and violence are on the rise, and the solution according to many is a viable biometrics payment solution. Reports show that there is already strong demand in the U.S. and Asian markets for such products, and major research outlets have put their support behind the technology.
UL’s case study elaborates on the benefits illustrating how biometric data has been developed to be harder for hackers to infiltrate and compliant with EMV security standards.
Developing The Technology
UL’s work to ensure biometrics will remove friction at the POS has been extensive. For example, its latest case study profiles how UL developed the underlying technology to overcome challenges and work in harmony with wireless technologies such as bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Further, it explains how UL assessed the human health impact of National Security’s biometric solutions.
Posted in Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, EMV EuroPay MasterCard Visa, Mobile Point of Sale, Near Field Communication, Point of Sale Tagged with: biometric, bluetooth, commerce, data, developing, EMV, future, hackers, identity theft, impact, in-store, mobile, online, payment process, payments, point of sale, POS, process, security standards, solution, speed, transactions, viable, Wi-Fi, wireless
October 17th, 2013 by Elma Jane
VeriFone and National Payment Card Association (NPCA) debuted a mobile payment and rewards solution that enables convenience store and petroleum retailers to provide customers with smartphone-based payment options at the pump.
Utilizing VeriFone’s Smart Fuel Controller and NPCA’s mobile payment solution, c-store and gas station operators with VeriFone payment acceptance systems can quickly implement a fixed low-cost mobile payment and rewards program built on existing infrastructure used for merchant branded debit cards.
Consumers are increasingly drawn to rewards-based fuel purchase programs and they expect to be able to use their mobile phone to complete transactions at the pump. NPCA and VeriFone are showing how easy it is for CSPs to offer mobile payment and reward options to customers that increase loyalty and sales.
VeriFone Smart Fuel solutions make it easy for CSPs to offer forecourt pump POS payment without incurring the cost of installing new dispensers. The Smart Fuel Controller combines pump and pay-point support into a single unit, simplifying installation and maintenance, and eliminating the need for third-party interface devices to integrate pay-point management with in-store POS systems.
Merchants can develop their own mobile app, or apply their brand to a mobile app supplied by NPCA, to enable customers to pay for purchases and receive loyalty incentives using their smartphones.
Consumers today would rather utilize the capabilities of their smartphones versus pulling out their wallets. Using this solution, retailers can easily and cost-effectively create mobile loyalty programs that attract and reward high-value customers – without having to replace their existing payment infrastructure.
NPCA’s debit-based payment programs provide retailers with the ability to drive customer loyalty and reduce the cost of payments. Fuel discounts are funded from interchange savings that retailers would otherwise pay to banks. Payment processing is done by NPCA using the automated clearing house (ACH) system to clear debits to cardholder checking accounts and net settle with retailers each day. The company holds five patents related to the processing and methods for ACH-based decoupled debit and mobile payments.
Come November VeriFone and NPCA mobile payments solution will be available for beta testing.
Posted in Electronic Payments, Mobile Payments, Point of Sale, Smartphone, Visa MasterCard American Express Tagged with: acceptance, ach, app, apply, cardholder, consumers, cost, debit cards, devices, infrastructure, interchange, interface, loyalty, merchant, mobile, pay-point, payment, payments, phone, POS, Processing, rewards, sales, smart, Smartphones, solution, transactions, verifone, wallets
September 30th, 2013 by Elma Jane
National Transaction Corporation and Trams Back Office
As National Transaction Corporation Executives get to meet Sabre’s key people in Miami FL let’s know more about what Trams Back Office one of their respective products can offer.
Travel and transportation industry is evolving quickly, agility is needed in adapting to the changing customer needs. In addition to providing the right services for customers and for business.
With Trams Back Office, part of the Sabre Red travel solution, your capable to easily monitor, manage and grow your business. Trams provides right-size, right-price information technology (IT) solutions and is one of the most popular back office accounting and reporting system on the market today. It’s easy to learn and use, helping you control costs with extreme efficiency.
In addition, Trams Back Office seamlessly works withClientBase to deliver a complete solution incorporating GDS integration, CRM, General Ledger, and more.
Special Features
Credit Card Merchant – process your merchant credit card service fees and other transactions through Trams Back Office.Trams and ClientBase Products and Services has formed alliances with credit card processing companies, to bring you competitive rates and an easy-to-use interface to process agency merchant credit card service fees and other transactions through Trams Back Office.
The Credit Card (CC) Merchant Reconciliation under Payments|Reconciliation|CC Merchant Reconciliation takes the CC Merchant payments from Trams Back Office (TBO) verifies them, and sends them electronically to your credit card processor. Your credit card transactions are then processed and sent back to Trams Back Office, where TBO clears the processed items and creates the payment and the journal entry to record the activity in the General Ledger.
Add Ons
Trams Crystal Reports – measure effectiveness and efficiency by running pre-designed Crystal Reports within the Trams Back Office system. Its FREE!! Trams Crystal Reports is an add-on to ClientBase and/or Trams Back Office that offers you the ability to run pre-designed Crystal Reports in addition to those offered within the Trams Back Office and ClientBase products. TCR10 is the most recent version of Trams Crystal Reports that is integrated with Trams Back Office and ClientBase. When TCR10 is installed, you will be able to launch Trams Crystal Reports from your desktop or in Trams Back Office, using the TCR Viewer under Reports.
IC/Host Agency Export Utility- allows Independent Contractors to share invoice data with their Host Agency’s Trams Back Office system for FREE!! Agencies today are choosing to change the way they make their bookings. Many are dropping out of ARC/BSP and booking air tickets through a Host Agency. They may also book some or all of their Cruise & Tour business with a Host Agency, or continue doing those bookings as they always have. These Independent Contractor (IC) Agents working through a Host Agency, may still operate a Store Front location, or move into a “home based” environment. This utility is designed for independent contractors (IC) and host agencies to share data more efficiently. IC’s use the host’s GDS create invoices marked with their own IC code. These invoices are then interfaced into the host’s Trams Back Office (TBO) database. This utility gives the Host the ability to transfer these interfaced invoices to the IC for importing into their IC copy of Trams Back Office. To receive records from a host agency using this utility, an IC must have a copy of Trams Back Office. The utility also allows IC’s that use ClientBase to create invoices, to export those invoices and share them with the host agency.
Over View – Trams Back Office is a locally installed solution that allows agency to effectively manage entire accounting and reporting process with their Free Special Features and Free AddOns.
Posted in Credit card Processing, Electronic Payments, Merchant Services Account, Travel Agency Agents Tagged with: agencies, agency, agency's, air, Back Office, clientbase, credit card merchant, credit-card, host, payment, processor, reporting, Sabre Red, solution, store front, tickets, Trams, transportation, travel
September 27th, 2013 by Elma Jane
Mobile Payment Bandwagon
Just this month, September 2013, a number of British retailers announced their partnership with smartphone payment application Zapp, expected to launch summer 2014. Long before that, in November 2012, global coffee chain Starbucks launched a mobile payment system using Square Wallet, allowing customers to pay for their coffees with a simple scan of their smartphone. In China, the mobile payment market tripled in size over the last year, with a growing number of retailers jumping aboard the e-payments trend. Clearly, mobile payments are the new face of commerce…both for consumers and, increasingly, within a B2B setting as well. It may not be long until every type of payment…from mortgages and business loans to utilities bills and income tax…is made through mobiles.
Though it’s a trend that’s now spreading across the globe, the rise of mobile payments can be directly traced back to Africa. It’s an example of how unique conditions give rise to innovative solutions, and how those innovations catch on. Here’s a brief look at the rise of mobile payment technology and at the role Africa has played in its success.
Africa Gets There First – this notion of exchanging funds through a mobile phone really took off in Africa. When M-Pesa was launched by Safaricom in Kenya in 2007, it was a simple solution to issues specific to the region. Kenyans who lived far from banks or couldn’t afford banking fees were given the opportunity to send and receive payments through SMS messages. M-Pesa answered these specific problems, but the concept behind the service has proven to have a far broader reach. After achieving success in Kenya, M-Pesa launched in Tanzania in 2008. Despite getting off to a slow start, the mobile payment services now has 5 million Tanzanian subscribers. It has also launched in South Africa, Afghanistan, India and there’s plans to roll it out in Egypt at some point in 2013.
At the heart of M-Pesa’s success has been efficiency and security. Removing the need to travel to a bank…or even the need to log into online banking…has made the process of transferring funds far easier and faster. Eliminating the need to write a cheque, use cash or enter credit card details has made the process far more secure. Increased efficiency and improved security are qualities that everyone…not just those in the developing world…stands to benefit from.
Thus, though today’s technology has adapted and built upon the M-Pesa model, the world still has Africa…Kenya in particular…to thank for starting the mobile payment revolution.
Posted in Financial Services, Mobile Payments, Smartphone Tagged with: banking, broader, credit card, e-payments, efficiency, fees, global, innovations, innovative, messages, mobile, payment, retailers, Security, services, smartphone, sms, solution, travel
