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CoverStory

Continued from page 1 We do not know what these two bank core processors are
trying to achieve with these purchases, but we can guess,
We were successful in signing and implementing very and it will have a big impact on Green Sheet readers, par-
large enterprises in our core markets, which include auto ticularly feet-on-the-street ISOs.
sales and auto aftermarket and furniture. Some of these
have several hundred retail locations, and the logistics be- Another newsworthy development is real-time payments
hind the setup are daunting. This year for one client, our and same-day ACH. Merchants want to be paid as quickly
retail systems support group took in 600 imagers for an as possible; this is always their first priority. The third
upgrade and deployed a total of 1,300. For this client, Re- development is the emergence of the payment facilitator
tail Systems Support installed 700 terminals remotely, and model, which some people have forecast to ultimately
traveled to 11 states in five months to do installation and cover half of all merchants.
training. This is a major logistical effort that requires care-
ful planning and coordination to meet the client's time- 4. Critical issues for payments in 2020. There are three
frame. These sales were the highlight of the year. critical issues: speed, security and cost. We have seen
market solutions for faster payments, and more are being
Actions we took for success: Getting a large enterprise as developed. This is not the case with the other two issues. A
a client can often involve a sales effort that takes years. recent white paper by Retail Payments Global Consulting
It involves finding and contacting the decision makers, found that the U.S. accounts for half of the payment fraud
who can change during this time, and it involves a regular in the world but only a quarter of worldwide transactions.
calling effort, attending tradeshows, using in-person calls, The study found, "a systemic pattern by the card companies
memos, white papers, industry studies and proposals. to use EMVCo to develop anticompetitive standards that
protect the interests of its owners and preempt competition
We must do research to get the facts about what they are in the market that could lower costs and improve security
doing now and try to identify how we can improve their for businesses and consumers alike."
workflow and increase their sales. Then we have to con-
vince the decision makers that our data is accurate, and The study concludes that "EMVCo is not the appropriate
our forecasts are realistic. They have to be ready and want organization to develop and implement payment
to listen. We have to be talking to them when they are specifications that become de facto standards and strongly
ready to make a decision. We have to have hardware that
will work in their current environment, and sometimes
we will have to do custom programming. This requires
planning for the proper resources and funding.
Empowering and
Advice: Identifying and targeting new clients takes a
whole team of people. Over the 36 years we have been in connecting today’s
business, we have had to modify and update our business
strategies on an ongoing basis. The best advice I have been
given is to "think like a client." This means understanding payments professionals
how the client does business, what their pain points are,
and how we can solve them. Clients don't always volun-
teer this information, and we typically have to gain their
trust to get it.

2. Failed initiatives and how to manage this in the future. I
cannot point to a specific failed initiative because we were
focused on new customer implementation this year and Multiple ways to help merchants
November 11, 2019 • Issue 19:11:01
have not tried to develop any new products. We are pay- through natural disasters
ing attention to all of the developments in the payments causing an estimated $306 billion in damages, according
ecosystem and are working to develop a solution that will brought the total to more than $500 billion.
and Southwest, and wildfires in the West among them –
to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Three hurricanes alone – Harvey, Irma and Maria – cost
local economies on the U.S. mainland $265 billion, NOAA
address some of the changes that we forecast to happen in By Patti Murphy Arkansas, Texas and California. The report revealed that
said. Adding damages from other mainland disasters and
those sustained in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
A Federal Reserve report paints a stark picture of efforts
by small businesses to rebound following these disasters,
the near future. This can be daunting. A 2018 survey by Visa revealed the Among affected businesses, 45 percent suffered asset losses
which were concentrated in nine states: North Carolina,
South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi,
hen a disaster hits – like a hurricane, flood
small businesses in these states were hardest hit: 40 percent
or wildfire – everyone in the affected area
of small firms in the states studied reported losses due to
suffers. But some suffer more than others.
recouping lost revenues.
natural disasters. Disasters struck small enterprises across
W Business owners, in addition to dealing with
the age and income spectrum, but Hispanic-owned busi-
the consequences for their homes and families, face the
nesses and those in the retail, leisure and hospitality sec-
tors were hardest hit financially, the Fed reported.
unenviable task of getting their shops back on line and
3. Most significant developments for payments in 2019. In 2017 the United States experienced 16 natural disasters more than $25,000.
up to $25,000, and 19 percent lost more than $25,000, accord-
cost of rebuilding a small business following a natural di-

ing to the Fed. But foregone revenues, not assets, were the
saster can exceed $859,000. The Federal Emergency Man-
agement Administration estimates that 40 percent of small
largest source of losses for small business. Sixty-one per-
losses are too substantial to overcome.
cent had revenue losses of up to $25,000 and 35 percent lost
businesses never reopen after a disaster, and 25 percent of
those that do reopen fail within a year, because revenue
Two big events in the acquiring industry were the Fiserv – hurricanes in the East, massive flooding in the Midwest Adam Atlas ..............................................................................................36
Contributed articles inside by:
acquisition of First Data and FIS acquisition of Worldpay. https://www.facebook.com/TheGreenSheetInc
Brandes Elitch ........................................................................................20
Dee and Emily Karawadra .................................................................32
TOC on page 3
Jeff Fortney .............................................................................................38
The numbers are staggering. Fiserv paid $22 billion and https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-green-sheet
Continued on page 30
FIS paid $35 billion to get into merchant processing. It will
take years, not months, for these acquisitions to justify the https://twitter.com/The_Green_Sheet
cost, and that may never happen.
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