Verifone hacked
July 25, 2017What can a merchant do to fight online credit card fraud?
August 8, 2017In most businesses speed is the word. Getting tasks done quicker and more efficiently means better productivity and a healthier bottom line for both the company and its employees. With the new EMV chip cards the number one complaint from both merchants and customers has been the amount of time it takes for a transaction to be processed. That amount of time seems to multiply when customers are standing in a long line. You never thought that 10 seconds could seem so long did you?
It is inevitable that the process will speed up as the technology becomes more commonplace and more robust after all, today’s modern personal computers are much faster than those of a decade ago. Credit card companies have heard your complaints and are doing something about it.
In May MasterCard announced that it is partnering with processing companies Verifone and Global Payments to implement its M/Chip Fast technology to help speed up transactions. M/Chip Fast claims to prioritize the parts of the transaction critical to its security and by doing so have cut down the time to roughly be equivalent with that of a magnetic strip. Retail locations like fast food restaurants or grocery stores, where their clientele are used to quick transactions will be the first to implement this new technology.
Visa of course is not to be outdone. In 2016 their Quick Chip technology has been trialed at several Walmart stores around the country and both are claiming that over 10 seconds have been shaved off of the transaction time, thereby dropping the time it takes to dip their cards to about two seconds. Consumers are also able to dip their cards while their purchases are still being scanned, a further time saver.
In a way it is a shame that the number one complaint that many consumers have regarding credit cards is not related to the security of the card and its information but the amount of time it takes to complete a transaction. At the same time, for a busy merchant freeing those extra 10 seconds up could result in potentially hundreds of more sales in a year and a reduction in labor costs.