VO Merchant Services, one of the fastest growing and most respected acquirers in the bankcard industry today, wasn't always thus: Founded in 1989 as Merchant Services Inc. (MSI-NY), the name changed officially to EVO Merchant Services in October 2003.

Why would a company with an established brand identity change its name?

"Too many companies have utilized the phrase 'merchant services' in their company names over the years, which made it difficult to differentiate MSI as a distinct brand," said Jim Fink, EVO Chief Marketing Officer.

"This industry is full of opportunists, and they found a way to capitalize on our success. Based on that, it was time to establish a unique name within the industry. The EVO name creates a vehicle for us to showcase our innovative programs and strategic initiatives eliminating the confusion of wondering if you are dealing with the original MSI-NY or some other merchant services company," Fink said.

The EVO name is the foundation for the next phase of the company's strategic vision and creates a recognizable brand representing financial strength, stability and integrity within the bankcard industry.

The idea behind EVO is much more than a name change, though; its approach to the market has also changed.

While it will always be committed to delivering some of the most attractive pricing in the business, the company has evolved beyond its "MSI days" as a retail-dominant shop.

Jeff Depetro has recently come on board as Vice-President of Underwriting and Risk; last year the company entered the home-based, MO/TO and e-commerce sectors.

EVO is now positioned for exponential growth and will continue to be a single source provider for a full range of electronic payment solutions for ISOs and merchant level salespeople (MLSs).

Under the leadership of Ray Sidhom, President and CEO, the company has grown substantially over the last several years. EVO serves more than 85,000 merchants nationwide and manages over $7 billion in bankcard volume. These solid numbers place the company in the top 10 non-bank-owned U.S. acquirers.

A combination of considerable organic growth and five portfolio acquisitions has doubled the company's footprint. Its 200 employees and operations will soon move to a 65,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in Melville, New York; the move is scheduled for the end of 2004 or early 2005.

EVO's operational management strategy is simple: Taking the in-source model to a higher level has led to its success over the last 15 years. EVO controls all underwriting and risk related functions; it is on the short list of acquirers that have taken on the responsibility of managing the charge-back and retrieval process in-house.

"To provide the service levels required by merchants and our independent sales offices in today's acquiring industry you need to have absolute control of your primary services," Fink said.

Other functions handled internally are 24/7 in-house merchant and technical support. The technical support group provides merchants with Class-A level support for all equipment sold. EVO provides a wide array of equipment and includes free deployment and free PIN pad encryption for its sales offices.

It currently maintains a front-end switch that processes its proprietary gift and loyalty card program and all of its electronic benefits transfer (EBT) merchants. EVO makes these services and programs available to other acquirers in the industry as well.

The company continues to support four front-end environments (Global Payments, Vital Processing Services, Paymentech and Transaction Payment Systems) to provide an enhanced suite of products and services for their ISOs. This gives the sales groups the competitive advantage of delivering a multitude of world-class payment applications to their merchants. All front-end platforms settle to one back-end.

Most acquirers in the bankcard industry only have the resources to support one sales channel. At times this approach can prove to be risky—even catastrophic. EVO's three-pronged marketing model results in three distinct sales channels all supporting EVO's strong growth. This strategy keeps them viable if any one of the sales channels has a downturn.

The three channels are:

1. Direct sales, which is the primary channel and is made up of ISOs/MLSs.

2. The Regional Partner Program, which is typically made up of larger sales organizations averaging 150+ merchant applications per month. These sales organizations want to advance to the next level in the acquiring arena and one of the most sought after benefits this program provides you with is complete autonomy.

   EVO's Regional Partners take advantage of a greater revenue split and merchant portability; there is no upfront reserve required in a direct BIN program with a bank.

   The Region has complete control to make all the business decisions required for their merchants. Groups in this program have the comfort of working with a 15-year old company with a proven track record supporting them every step of the way.

3. Portfolio acquisition, which the company is using to support and continue its growth. EVO is aggressively pursuing transactions that range from $5 million and up.

   EVO recently launched several exciting products for its ISOs/MLSs. Now you can point and click for your next merchant approval and install your merchant within 30 minutes.

No hassles, no paperwork—only a digital signature is required. Agents might appreciate the American Airlines AAdvantage miles they earn with every "e-App" submitted, too.

Another valuable tool is EVO's ISO Powercenter, a Web-based system providing MLSs with the ability to calculate residuals; check application status; run merchant profitability and cost-savings scenarios; manage the deployment of equipment and input merchant applications directly into the system anytime.

The Powercenter is also a communication hub for ISOs/MLSs to stay abreast of what is happening in the field and at headquarters. There is no cost for any ISO/MLS to use the Powercenter.

EVO's innovation reaches well beyond its technology. It continues to deliver aggressive pricing that supports itse 100% above-buy-rate and revenue share programs with no liability to ISOs/MLSs.

EVO recently released a one-rate program, an industry first program allowing ISOs/MLSs to significantly grow their residual income at a much faster pace than traditional residual plans.

EVO is in the final stages of completing its Canadian registration with Visa and MasterCard and expects to be boarding Canadian merchants beginning July 2004, making it the first ISO in the United States to bring its sales agents north of the border.