If your business processes credit card payments, its absolutely critical that the ability to process payments does not stop. This could be incredibly disruptive in your business and there are a number of things that you can do to mitigate downtime with processing payments. In this episode, Bernard Roesch explains the causes of payment processing downtime and what you can do to protect yourself against it.
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What Causes Payment Processing To Go Down?
There are a number of reasons why your payment processing system could go down. First, your internet service could be unavailable. Even though the payment processing network would still be fully functional, if you are not able to access that network through the internet, your payment processing will not function. Second, power failure could cause your payment processing system or the internet to go down which would stop you from being able to process payments. Last are merchant processor issues such as the merchant processor system being down or some other issue with the actual merchant processing network.
Protect Against On-site Failures
The majority of payment processing issues occur because of on-site failure such as loss of internet or loss of power. To mitigate against this, you can take a couple of specific steps. First, consider having a back up internet service provider such as cable and DSL from two separate companies. Having two separate internet connections ensures that you will be able to access the internet for payment processing if one of the internet services goes down. You can also get a back up battery system in place for your computers and payment processing so you are able to process payments even if the power goes out. This back up battery system should also power your internet service on-site.
How To Protect Yourself Against Merchant Processor Downtime
Regardless of what you do on-site by having back up power and internet service, the merchant processor system going down is out of your control. However, there are a few steps you should be aware of to protect yourself against merchant processor downtime. First, be sure to choose an industry standard reliable processor. The merchant processing industry is quite competitive so there are a wide range of companies and a wide range of reliability. Choose a company that has great ratings and a history of limited downtime.
In addition to choosing a reliable processor, you could consider getting a back up processor in place. This will enable you to continue to process payments if there was an issue with your primary merchant processor. The process of processing payments thru your back up processor will vary depending on your business and the specific processors involved but having a back up can help ensure you will be able to process payments regardless of merchant processor downtime.
Need Help Managing Your Merchant Processing?
If you need help managing the merchant processing and payment infrastructure for your business, contact Bernard today. He has worked with many companies to ensure their systems are reliable and meet best practice.
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