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What's NXT? |
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If you attended any of The Green Sheet
seminars this year, or if you were at the ETA meeting in March, you know
who NXT is. They are the company that has taken the idea of offering
access to business applications through a wide area network (becoming an
ASP, or Application Service Provider) and applying it to our industry. By
applying transaction processing logic, NXT is able to improve efficiency
while reducing operating costs.
NXT was founded five years ago and provides transaction processing and
network solutions to approximately 45,000 merchants who process more than
35 million transactions each month. How
Does an ASP Work?
With NXT, the majority of the software for merchant business applications,
such as payment processing, merchant enrollment, and loyalty gift
programs, are located on the NXT virtual network. This means that ISOs can
reduce costs for current applications, and implement and deploy new
applications. Costs are decreased because expenses can be leveraged across
a wide base of merchants, and users can pay for services as needed. Products
NXT has a variety of products designed to help merchants conduct business
and help ISOs find the merchants who will benefit from their services.
Four of particular interest to ISOs are merchant PORT, amexDIRECT,
openTERM, and siteNET. merchantPORT™
NXT began attracting ISOs to merchantPORT in July. merchantPORT is a Web
portal that helps ISOs provide merchant payment services over the Web and
allows merchants to electronically match their needs to selected Merchant
Service Providers. Before the official launch, NXT reported that several
ISOs had already signed up for merchantPORT.
Prior to the launch, NXT’s national channel sales manager, Brad Staudt,
said, “It appears this will be a very popular program with MSPs. There
really isn’t anything else like it out there, and merchantPORT gives
ISOs several valuable benefits including a professional presence on the
Web and a new marketing channel.”
NXT uses advertising and links to attract merchants to their Web page.
Then, merchants enter the services they need. ISOs bid on the job and then
the merchant chooses the provider and NXT connects the two parties. NXT
president, Jim Margolis, explained, “Merchants and MSPs may select from
a variety of financial and other application service providers (gift,
loyalty, etc.) available through NXT’s merchantPORT Web site.”
Utilizing an intuitive interface, merchants can get confidential,
competitive Quick Quotes
from a selection of qualified MSPs, and may then choose to sign up for a
merchant service agreement online. The screens are clear, concise and as
brief as possible to make the process as easy as possible.
Given that merchantPORT is a new service, it’s going to take some time
to generate an adequate amount of merchant traffic. Thus, NXT will provide
an exciting incentive to the first 25 ISOs just for participating in
merchantPORT. Specifically, NXT will provide the ISOs with leads of
merchants who will benefit from amex DIRECT. AmexDIRECT
What is amexDIRECT? amexDIRECT
is a NXT host-based product that reroutes American Express transactions
directly to American Express, thus eliminating the per item fee normally
associated with this type of transaction. In fact, by using amexDIRECT,
any POS device can theoretically become a reverse PIP device.
More importantly, NXT has access to an $8 Billion V/MC portfolio of
merchants that process an average of $1.2 Million each in V/MC on an
annual basis. These merchants all use Micros, are primarily high-end
restaurants and hotels, and accept American Express. openTERM™
In May, NXT released openTERM, a payment application that enhances
functionality of low-end credit card terminals by moving much of the
transaction processing functionality from the POS terminal up into NXT’s
nationwide network. openTERM™
allows inexpensive credit card terminals to function as higher cost
models, without changing store operations.
Merchant batch data resides on NXT’s virtual network, which makes the
potential transaction storage limitless. openTERM is currently implemented
on VeriFone Tranz 330 and Tranz 380 terminal platforms, but may easily be
made available on almost any terminal platform. There is also no limit to
the number of payment types and other applications that may be processed
by the terminal.
“Because openTERM utilizes NXT’s unique ASP infrastructure, new
development, updates, maintenance and support are concentrated in software
residing on the NXT network. All of these functions are then much simpler
to implement and manage,” said Dan Lane, vice president, Product
Development.
In addition, openTERM allows merchants the ability to control their
terminals from remote sites, via the Internet. They can also retrieve
activity and settlement reports from anywhere they choose using a standard
Web connection. openTERM also keeps the phone line open, which can
decrease transaction time to 2-3 seconds. There are other companies that
can offer this service but the processors don’t like it because it costs
money; therefore, the line will disconnect after 6 seconds.
Margolis further explained, “Merchants and MSPs may select from a
variety of financial and other application service providers (gift,
loyalty, etc.) available through NXT with minimal or no impact to the
terminal installation. Choosing, developing, and delivering new
applications is much quicker and easier, allowing financial institutions
and other ASPs to economically offer new, value-added applications to
merchants in record time.” siteNET™
siteNET is a natural fit for many ISOs. Whether you’re processing
through FDMS, FDR, NDC, NPC, Paymentech, Vital or others, by implementing
siteNET most ISOs will realize an immediate savings on every transaction,
possibly as much as $.03 per item. By routing all new merchants through
NXT, NXT then transmits all transactions to the appropriate processor at
no charge to the processor. In turn, the ISO now gets lease-line pricing
even though the transaction is still dial-up. Lastly, NXT charges the ISO
on a monthly basis approximately 40 to 60% of the overall savings realized
from dial-up to lease-line pricing.
Another benefit of siteNET is that all of the ISO’s NXT-merchants become
portable. No more conversions, downloads, etc. This would eliminate the
need to go through a massive and expensive conversion exercise.
NXT is looking for quality ISOs. Up until recently, NXT brought their
product directly to the processors, but now they are focused on ISOs, and
VARs. They offer online merchant applications and have a staff of software
engineers to help ISOs with online functions. For more information about
ISO opportunities contact Brad Staudt, National Sales Representative at
(262) 240-0620 or e-mail bstaudt@nxt.com. Also look for the NXT booth #129
at the Mid-Year ETA Conference in Chicago.
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