Secure ERP Credit Card Processing Solutions
Two Critical ERP Challenges with Credit Card Processing Systems
In today’s always on world, seamlessly accepting online payments is no longer a differentiator but a basic success requirement for manufacturers, distributors, and service businesses. This means as part of your ERP system you must be able to accept credit card payments from your customers. Credit card sales allow your business to easily increase the size of potential sales, reduce the labor associated with sending out invoices, and improve cash flow.
Accepting a credit card for payment, however, introduces two critical risks to the business – fraud and operational complexity.
At the top of every business owners list should be security. Developing a security strategy is especially important today because of the increasing amount of attempted fraudulent charges. The loss of trust from stolen identity or criminal transactions will have many years of impact beyond a bad transaction.
In order to provide the highest levels of security, credit card payments must be encrypted. In addition, to prevent the possibility that a malicious person gains access to a customer’s account and steals their credit card information, no credit card information should be stored in an ERP system.
How is this done? Instead of storing a customer’s credit card information, the system can use a concept of tokens through a credit card processing company utilizing the PCI (Payment Card Industry) security standard.
These companies create an account for the customer and send your business a token that you store with the customer’s account information in your ERP system. Every time the customer orders, the token is sent to and verified by the credit card processing company. Once the token is verified, the transaction is approved without having to enter or store the credit card information on your site. Follow-on and add-on sales happen just as quickly.
Another risk of accepting credit card payments is operational complexity. Back end ordering, shipping, and accounting systems need to be synchronized with the processing of the payment. Otherwise, manual accounting and auditing practices will be required to match invoice with payments, issue refunds, or answer customer questions. Many businesses have had to implement expensive, complicated programming efforts to interface their business to these credit card processors.
In order to make it easy for you to accept credit cards and not have to worry about possible issues, My Office Apps has established partnerships with two well-respected credit card processing companies. We’ve invested in developing a seamless integration between our cloud-based Kechie ERP software and their credit card processing platforms. This tight integration provides the highest level of security while eliminating operational risk and the need for your business to initiate expensive software development to match payments with orders or manage returns and RMAs.
These two companies are CardConnect and Century Business Solutions. We have incorporated their token system into the Kechie cloud ERP software. Both companies provide highly secure transactions that are compliant with the PCI security standard.
Providing a built-in interface to credit card processing is another example of My Office Apps’ commitment to incorporate innovative features using partnerships and smart algorithms in the Kechie ERP system. Our goal is to provide the best ERP solutions for small and medium sized businesses using the latest techniques in order to help make our clients more efficient and profitable. For more information, you can visit www.myofficeapps.com or better yet, call us at (714) 486-1487 and ask us to schedule a demo so we can show how we can help solve your business issues you face, both today and tomorrow.
About My Office Apps, Inc.
My Office Apps, Inc. (MOA) is a leader in business improvement software solutions to automate your organization. Building on three decades of software design and development, MOA delivers Kechie™, a transformative business tool. Kechie is a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning Software as a Service (SaaS) platform with a simplified user experience and the latest in cloud technology. It is quick and easy to implement without the expensive price tag. Sold in separate packages – inventory and warehouse management (CRM, Sales, Procurement, Logistics included), manufacturing, finance – or a fully configured ERP system to include all of these individual tools. Kechie is easily configured to the scalable needs of your growing business. For more information on managing your business processes more efficiently and effectively, visit www.myofficeapps.com.
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Transform Your Business with the Right Payment Processor
Transform Your Business with the Right Payment Processor
More than meets the eye
Swipe your credit card, grab a receipt. Type in some numbers, receive an order confirmation. As a consumer, it’s easy to run your errands and do your online shopping without thinking about how a credit card transaction actually works. But as a small business owner, understanding the process is key to choosing the best accounting solutions and keeping your costs as low as possible.
Every credit card transaction involves several different entities: the cardholder (or customer), the merchant (or business), the network, the bank that issued the card to the cardholder, the card brand, and the payment processor.
When payment information is exchanged between the cardholder and the merchant, the network routes that information to the card-issuing bank for authorization. The network clears the transaction, and at the end of the day it collects funds for all the transactions that occurred in a given 24-hour time frame.
The card brands—Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, etc.—regulate the industry with standards and fees and establish channels through which information passes. For the services they provide, card brands exact payment in the form of assessment charges. The network leverages authorization fees, and the card-issuing bank imposes interchange rates. It falls to the merchant to pay these processing fees, which can add up to a significant percentage of your credit card sales.
It doesn’t have to be that way
There’s only so much you can do to alleviate the pressure of credit card processing fees, but streamlining your accounting procedures and integrating a trustworthy payment processing platform can transform your business, save you time and money, and prevent headaches.
Manual invoicing and accounting is a long, tedious, error-plagued process. Cloud-based accounting or ERP software, like Kechie ERP by My Office Apps, simplifies small business operations by providing an easily accessible information hub from which users can quickly retrieve accurate information. Rather than storing sensitive information in filing cabinets, toggling between numerous spreadsheets, and manually tracking inventory, you and your team can manage your logistics in one secure location.
Even with accounting software, however, invoicing remains a pain point. Merchants have to create an invoice, run the transaction through their virtual terminal, create a cash receipt, find the invoice, and, finally, post the payment to the invoice. That’s a lot of time-consuming steps! And the more steps there are, the more potential there is for data entry error.
Enter the sixth entity in the transaction process: the payment processor. Some processors provide an integrated payment application, which automates the invoicing process, automatically posts payments to invoices, and updates your general ledger to keep your records accurate and eliminate the need for duplicate data entry.
The payment application integrates directly with your accounting or ERP software for a simple, seamless transaction experience. Some payment applications can even save you money by lowering your interchange rate and qualifying you for reduced processing fees. And if you choose a processor that offers an online customer payment portal, your customers can pay their invoices on their own time.
Look before you leap
A wide array of companies offer payment integrations, and they each tout their own list of enticing promises—attached to complicated conditions and ensnared in industry jargon. How do you know which companies you can trust to deliver?
Here are five key features to look for to help you choose the best payment processor for your business.
- Fees and payment structure: Many processors will tempt you with low costs, but they’re probably not being upfront about additional charges or shoddy customer service. If it sounds too good to be true, there’s a good chance it is. Ask for a cost savings analysis and be wary of tiered pricing payment plans. Flat rate and interchange plus plans are much more transparent and likely to lower your processing rates. Long-term contracts are giant red flags. Reputable companies are confident in their product and committed to earning your business month after month by providing continual value and excellent customer service.
- Security: Just because you’re a small business doesn’t mean you can fly under the radar. If you process credit cards, you need to maintain PCI compliance to keep your customers’ data protected. Look for a payment processor that implements encryption, tokenization, and off-site data storage. Additionally, a processor that offers Level 3 processing can save you money on interchange fees by lowering your risk of fraud.
- Integration: When you have a small team, you need your business tools to work as efficiently as possible. A payment solution should integrate smoothly with your accounting software to minimize the time your employees need to spend on payment collection and avoid technical difficulties. Best-case scenario: Find an integration built specifically for your software, like EBizCharge for Kechie ERP.
- Support: No one wants to waste valuable time sitting on hold, waiting to talk to a support team that may not be based in the United States. Ask a potential processing provider what kind of customer service they offer. It’s worth taking the time to find in-house, live support.
- In-house development team: Your business is unique, and your payment processor should be willing to accommodate your individual needs when it comes to your integrated payment application. In-house development teams can offer you customization options and fix bugs to prevent a minor snag from becoming a major setback.
Using an integrated payment application with your accounting or ERP software can revolutionize your workflows and lower your processing fees—if you invest the time and resources in finding the best option for your business. The more you know about credit card transactions, associated fees, and the functions of the processor and integrated payment application, the better equipped you’ll be to make a smart decision. Don’t be discouraged by the search! Your business deserves a payment processor that will help it reach its full potential.
