Never Overlook Payment Security

By The Business Solutions Network

Welcome to Business Solutions’ second annual “VAR and ISV’s Guide to EMV + Payment Security.” You might recall that with last year’s launch of this guide, our editorial was solely focused on EMV. This year, we’re recognizing that EMV is really part of a much larger conversation concerning payment security. Therefore, in this guide, you’ll find not only great advice concerning EMV and its upcoming liability shift, but also a broader perspective on retail security.

Today, EMV adoption among retailers has paced behind where the card brands would like it to be, and there’s little chance retailers will catch up to meet the October goal. Frankly, there are many small retailers (and their VARs) who aren’t concerned with the shift in liability because they feel the chances they will be breached are slim to none. While I’d argue that it’s better to be safe than sorry (truly, a breach for a small retailer will most likely result in catastrophic business-ending fines), I understand the hesitation. Cash-strapped retailers don’t exactly get excited at the notion of spending a lot of money on an IT upgrade that doesn’t have a tangible ROI.