Switching To New EMV Cards’ Processing Systems A Must For Businesses, Article Says
In a piece on the “Top 3 Outdated Technologies Your Small Business Needs To Upgrade,” Business 2 Community pointed to a survey from Microsoft showing that 90 percent of consumers said they “might take their business elsewhere instead of working with companies with outdated technology.” This makes technological upgrades “a business necessity and not a luxury reserved for big brands and box retailers.” Top on B2C’s list is upgrading payment processors. Noting the Oct. 1, 2015 fraud liability change, B2C warned that “if your customers are handing you a credit card with an updated microchip, you’re required to run it on the latest EMV POS systems or be held liable for any theft and damages related to the transaction.” Software that works with new processing systems, like Sage, is what B2C recommended, in the current retail landscape where “EMV capability is the new norm.” B2C also recommends that, after upgrading payment systems, small businesses look at upgrading data storage from hard drives and USB sticks to cloud-based systems like Carbonite to “automatically back up and sync all of your data.” Third, small businesses should focus on upgrading their websites for the latest search engine algorithms to allow current and future customers to more easily find them online.
What This Means For Small Businesses
2015 has been a year of transition for small businesses when it comes to technologies. The most important technological update, arguably, was the rise in chip-enabled cards, necessitating new payment processing systems.
Additional Reading
In a slideshow, Payments Source examined some of the year’s top developments in payment processing related to EMV cards.
Note: this article is intended to keep small business owners up on the latest news. It does not necessarily represent the policy stances of NFIB.