Bluefin, a pioneer in safeguarding sensitive data and proud Merchant Advisory Group (MAG) member, exhibited at the MAG Payments Conference in Orlando.
MAG’s flagship conference brings together payments and tech-focused professionals, giving merchants across all industry verticals the opportunity to view innovative products and services that are leading the payments industry.
For merchants, payment solutions that secure payment and sensitive customer data is a must, regardless of where and how it is being accepted. These solutions require merchants to integrate with payment processors, but for large merchants, relying on just one processor can have its drawbacks.
Ruston Miles, founder of Bluefin, recently spoke with Green Sheet on the importance of processor diversity.
Merchants benefit from processor diversity because rather than depending solely on one processor either by itself or through their SaaS platform, they can utilize multiple payment processors for various transaction types. Many merchants prefer processor diversity because it offers flexibility in accommodating business and customer preferences. It also strengthens their capacity to engage with diverse geographical markets effectively.
When a merchant relies on just one payment processor, Miles explained that processors can set high fees, control rates, limit services and make it difficult for the merchant to switch processors if the merchant does not control its payment tokens. The processor can refuse service and prevent the merchant from accepting payments if the merchant’s politics or policies no longer align with the processor’s, leading to a debanking or deplatforming attempt.
A debanking or deplatforming effort could cause a sudden disruption resulting in the merchant’s sensitive information and data being left with the old processor, making it challenging to transfer to a new partner to process payments promptly. It is crucial for merchants to diversify their payment options and maintain their own payment tokens to avoid dependency on one single processor and ensure flexibility in their operations.
Before heading to MAG, Miles addressed how merchants can obtain the freedom of true processor independence. What solutions can software companies provide to help merchants that are utilizing a multi-processor relationship? Miles weighs in.
“I really believe that software companies and large merchants should steer clear of all-in-one payment processing and payment security solutions, if that solution locks them into captive tokens or captive P2PE encryption keys. Bluefin Shield connects platform protects PCI, PII and PHI data in a way that can work with any payment processor. While you’re at the conference, be sure to check out Bluefin’s ShieldConex® Security Proxy Service. It provides processor independence while delivering significant PCI scope reduction for retail locations, card-not-present ecommerce and mobile. It’s also vaultless which means you don’t have to pay for monthly token storage for tokens you never use.”
Learn more about true processor independence with Bluefin’s ShieldConex Proxy service.
