SOURCE: FreedomPay

February 25, 2009 09:00 ET

PCI Compliance: What Multi-Location Retailers Need to Know

The Options for Achieving POS Compliance Are Varied -- Choosing the Right Vendor Could Save You Millions as Well as Your Ability to Accept Credit Cards, According to FreedomPay

NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA--(Marketwire - February 25, 2009) - Retailers today are staring down the barrel of deadlines for PCI DSS Compliance (July 1, 2010) and a lagging economy. Many multi-location retailers believe that they will need to invest tens of thousands of dollars per POS, in most cases purchasing new equipment, renegotiating processing contracts and dumping heavy investment in IT resources, which is a daunting prospect in any economy. Also, retailers linked to locations that use disparate POS solutions may foresee a rockier road.

So, what's a retailer supposed to do?

Fortunately for retailers, there are a handful of companies that have developed PCI Compliant solutions that work with a vast array of POS terminals, software and middleware and also link to multiple processors.

For retailers, this means a flexible, low-cost solution that will enable them to keep their existing processing relationships. Some companies, such as FreedomPay, have extensive experience working with all major point of sale hardware, middleware and software solutions and can provide a simple, yet sophisticated, program for migrating point of sale to a compliant environment.

Just in case this seems a little complicated, retailers that are not PCI DSS Compliant by the published dates will lose the ability to accept credit cards. That is a business decision very few people are willing to make.

"Many retailers are recalcitrant to explore PCI updates, because it can seem almost like a Pandora 's Box," stated Sam Bellamy, Chief Operating Officer of FreedomPay. "Data encryption, point of sale updates, software reviews -- this can all seem overwhelming. The key to cost-effective compliance is picking a trusted partner that can work with your infrastructure (and not vice versa), is respectful of cost restrictions and understands what the future of compliance looks like. Too many vendors try to force a specific and costly solution on companies."

"In addition to PCI Compliance, vendors should also have extensive processing and payments experience. We have found that clients undergoing PCI review leverage 'going under the hood' so to speak and take stock of their processing relationships and actually save money," continued Bellamy.

FreedomPay provides elegant gateway services, PCI consulting and robust processing solutions right-sized for any retail organization.

For more information, or an introductory analysis, please contact FreedomPay at 866.323.1869.

About FreedomPay

FreedomPay® delivers comprehensive payments management solutions enabling organizations to drastically improve the way they send, receive and settle payments. Ranging from POS hardware to cashless, electronic payments services to processing, the FreedomPay product suites provide a fully integrated, hosted global infrastructure for managing payments. The nation's largest healthcare systems, Fortune 1000 corporations, universities, and government installations depend on FreedomPay. FreedomPay is an authorized partner of Sharp, NCR, HID and FirstData. Visit us online at www.freedompay.com.