Almost without our realizing it, the way we pay for products and services on a daily basis has completely changed and it has become easy to live without having to make non-digital payments. A typical city dweller can now ride an Uber to work, buy coffee using the Starbucks app, use Apple Pay to purchase lunches and after-work drinks, and then prepare a meal with ingredients delivered via a service. d & # 39; subscription. Your payment card never needs to leave your pocket for credit card processing.
About the author Andy Barratt, UK Managing Director of Coalfire. These 'frictionless' experiences are what consumers of most ages and economic groups expect, and are becoming a key differentiator for brands that have evolved over time and offer digital payments. transparent.
Clouds on the horizon
The continued evolution of payment technology is a big deal, and the major tech players—Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon—are starting to push traditional banks out of the process. For any business facing consumers who want to offer their customers a more transparent shopping experience, there is a good chance that one or more of these entities is actually delivering it. If major brands reap the benefits of offering customers frictionless digital payment options, the big catalyst will be cloud computing solutions, i.e., services widely available on the Internet, rather than custom builds ordered by the brands themselves. . However, the mindset shift required to embrace the cloud and allow third-party providers to manage payment processes actually turns out to be a major hurdle for many businesses to take the next step. - Therefore, it is important for us to break some myths that persist. the technology.
Myth one: public clouds are not secure
One of the main obstacles preventing companies from choosing to adopt cloud payment platforms is the persistent perception that they are less secure than their own systems, especially for those who do not want to pay for expensive IT infrastructure for a private cloud . In fact, the entire business model of public cloud service providers depends on their ability to provide the best security. Done right, it's as secure as virtually any in-house solution that would be affordable to most businesses. Of course, it's still the company's responsibility to use the platform to protect their own data, just as it would be if they were using a local server. If an employee sees their login information hacked and an intruder breaks in, there is still a risk of a data breach. However, a public cloud provider is much more likely than the enterprise to have a technology and procedural framework to investigate the incident and assist in data recovery.
Myth two: regulatory compliance is harder to manage in the cloud
Cloud services aren't the solution to every brand's data protection challenges, but they can offer impressive levels of transparency and are often purpose-built to facilitate regulatory compliance. Like security, data privacy is part of the deal for hosting companies and there is a very long and growing list of cloud services that have received the blessing of the Credit Card Industry Security Standards Council. Payment (PCI) . Again, what a given user does with their own data is often out of the control of the cloud service provider, so it is not possible for a company like Amazon Web Services (AWS), for example, to offer its users customers a panacea for compliance. What it can and does do, however, is reassure users that rigorous data privacy policies are in place and disclose exactly where a brand's data is at all times. stored. This should provide companies with all the information they need to answer even the toughest compliance questions.
Myth # 3: Buying cloud services means giving up control
Ultimately, much of the resistance to adopting cloud payment platforms comes down to a perceived loss of control. However, the growing popularity of public cloud services means that the choice of providers and the types of services they offer has grown rapidly in recent years, handing control back to those who use the services, who are now free to vote. . with your feet, if applicable. The appearance of a service does not meet your needs. The key for any brand looking to integrate a cloud payment service is to be a discerning customer and understand exactly what the deal entails. As with any outsourced relationship, the devil is in the details. There is no substitute for a full understanding of the full distribution of roles and responsibilities and scenario planning to identify potential workflow failures before signing a contract. Cloud providers should be happy to share a matrix outlining how their partnerships work, making this process easier.
Shifting expectations
As transparent payment systems gain popularity among the most innovative companies and customer expectations around their payment journey evolve, there will be no shortage of brands not jumping on this opportunity. A rapidly growing share of consumer spending. Of course, as the threat of cybercrime increases and regulations to protect customer data tighten, it's easy to understand the concern of some that adoption of public cloud services will allow them to get a piece of the action. In the end, however, the misconceptions about cloud security will disappear for those who have a deep and accurate understanding of what it can offer. These are the companies that will win the race to provide customers with the best payment experience.