Friday, April 24, 2020
The PCI Security Standards Council (PCI DSS), recently published "8 Tips for Small Merchants: Protecting Payment Data During COVID-19." The blog post by Lindsay Goodspeed, senior manager, corporate communications at the PCI DSS, provides timely guidance for protecting small and midsize business owners from ecommerce fraud.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is quickly changing how many small merchants accept payments. Merchants that previously only had brick-and-mortar locations are moving to accept e-commerce and over-the-phone transactions," Goodspeed wrote. "In this resource guide, PCI Security Standards Council shares key considerations and educational resources to help small merchants keep their customers' payment data secure in this rapidly changing environment."
Recent updates to the PCI Resource Guide include new guidance on "Responding to a Data Breach," Goodspeed noted. She encouraged payments industry stakeholders to share these tips and subscribe to the PCI Perspectives blog for fresh insights and the latest council news. For additional small merchant guidance, visit: blog.pcisecuritystandards.org/8-tips-for-small-merchants-protecting-payment-data-during-covid-19
For data breach guidance, visit: blog.pcisecuritystandards.org/updated-guidance-responding-to-a-data-breach
A month after adding a "pay-later" feature to his company's mobile app, Paresh Patel, CEO of PayRange, observed that the feature had helped nearly 10,000 families, and 86 percent of whom have already paid the company back. Consumers are very appreciative of the feature and the fact that we're thinking of them, he stated, adding that it's a small thing that makes a big difference.
"Imagine you took your basket of clothes down to the apartment laundry room only to have your card declined," Patel said. "Not only do you go without doing laundry, you have to take everything back and try again. With this feature, we unblock users and let them continue. By showing our users trust, they not only trust us back, but repay us very quickly."
Patel additionally noted that the company has been working hard to quickly determine how to help PayRange users, operators and the greater community. Describing his team as innovative thinkers who work well under pressure, he said they continue to execute while working from home, by ideating, designing, building and releasing COVID-19-specific features for each of the three main constituencies:
As he reflected on the industry's vigorous outreach to those in need, Patel urged fintechs to spend less time copying other companies and more time leveraging their own unique capabilities. Begin at the intersection of your audience and your product or company, then build something quickly and release it, he stated. Most of all, be authentic; if it's truly about helping others, there's no need to overmarket it or capitalize on it, he emphasized.
"We believe in exploring ways to help that are authentic to your company, product and team," Patel said. "It's not about 'me too' or 'copycat' programs. Look first at who do you want to help. In our case, we had three audiences: consumers, operators, and the communities we serve."
GoCardless, a recurring payments fintech, unveiled Success+, a payment intelligence product designed to help businesses tackle failed payments. The solution uses machine learning to analyze trends from GoCardless' recurring payments data and identify the ideal time to retry a failed payment, company representatives stated.
"Success+ is the first in a line of payment intelligence products that we are launching to help our customers manage their recurring payments more effectively," said Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO and co-founder of GoCardless. "It enables businesses to retry their payments at the optimal time, when funds are most likely to be available. Of the 2,000 customers who have been testing Success+ prior to launch, 63 percent have seen an improvement in cash flow. Many of our customers struggle with the problems caused by failed payments and we are now able to improve the process for them, proving that payment failure is optional rather than inevitable."
The company will be hosting a webinar on April 29, 2020, to discuss how businesses can reduce payment failure, improve cash flow and reduce customer churn. Speakers will include Duncan Barrigan, chief product officer, GoCardless; Emma Jones, founder, Enterprise Nation; and Pranav Sood, vice president, small business, GoCardless. The webinar will be recorded for later viewing. To register, visit gocardless.com/en-us/guides/posts/webinar-managing-cash-flow-in-a-crisis/ .
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