What is a unified payment platform?

How a unified payment platform transforms your payment processing, prevents fraud and grows your bottom line

Introduction

Your organization’s payment platform includes the payment services you offer to your customers and the payment gateway that processes each payment to transmit the necessary financial data to your bank. Without a unified payment platform in place, your business introduces potential weaknesses that give unintentional access to fraudsters at each connection. 

To secure your payment data and the personal and financial data of your customers, it’s necessary to implement a unified payment platform.  

What is a Unified Payment Platform?

A unified payment platform combines the payment gateway and payment processing into a single secure payment platform by one provider. This seals vulnerable access points between gateways and processors while also providing a more cost-effective solution to your payment processing needs. 

Traditional merchant services are separated into payment gateways and payment processors. To receive a payment, your customer’s financial data is sent through multiple gateways before finally reaching your bank.  Each connection point creates an exposed vulnerability for fraud and puts your business at risk. 

The unified payment platform unites these two services to create a single cohesive and secure solution. With FirsTech’s unified payment platform, you receive the additional security benefit of regulatory compliance assessments as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Busey Bank. Their dedication to security employs the most advanced technology to protect your business and your customers with a sustainable long-term solution that keeps your business protected in the modern digital age.

The Importance of Updating Traditional Merchant Services

The outdated methods of multiple gateways and processors not only puts sensitive financial data at risk, but also limits your organization’s ability to scale and grow. With a unified payment platform, you can eliminate the common pitfalls of traditional merchant services.

• Streamlined Processing: As traditional merchant services adapted to a more digital era, new payment processors were introduced to the market. To implement the latest technology required using multiple payment processors with various fees, rates and adding even more vulnerable connection points to the payment process. A unified payment platform replaces this patchwork system with a single streamlined solution.

• Cost-Effective Payment Solutions: Multiple payment processors also bring multiple service charges and fees. By simplifying your payment gateway and processor(s) to a single unified solution, your organization gains security while adding to the bottom line.

• Closing the Data Transmission Gap: Each connection between your customer’s payment to your bank is a potential entry point that puts you at risk for fraud. With a unified payment platform, these gaps are sealed within the platform and your payments achieve greater security. 

• Ensured Compliance: A unique feature to FirsTech’s unified payment platform services is its maintained compliance to ensure payment safety and security. Instead of relying on the compliance of multiple service providers, FirsTech provides a single source solution for your payment processing needs that is regularly audited and assessed to ensure its protection against the latest fraudulent schemes.

The Benefits of a Unified Payment Platform

• Security

Close the loop between your payment processing and your payment gateway. Multi-point data travel to receive payments creates vulnerabilities along the pipeline and puts both you and your customers at risk.

FirsTech is dedicated to security, employing the help of modern technology to create secure systems and fortify the process further with innovative security measures against the latest fraudulent threats. 

FirsTech provides a unique comprehensive solution with security and technology first in mind with full PCI compliance and a commitment to the latest security measures and technologies to keep your financial data safe through secure solutions like data encryption, tokenization and 3D secure.

• Speed

The simplified and streamlined unified payment platform eliminates all unnecessary communications that can take valuable time from you and your team. Faster transmission through a unified platform provides faster data transmission and faster processing times so you have quicker access to your earnings.

• Simplicity

Your patchwork team of merchant service providers can be replaced by a single relationship with a payment partner. You receive the benefits of a simplified payment solution and simplified customer support. The benefits of this simple solution is passed on to your customers as well, securing their personal and financial data as well.

• Efficiency

A single unified payment platform streamlines your payment processing and backend processing to manage your payment processing providers. Now your team can save time and resources by managing a single relationship with a payments partner who is dedicated to your financial success.

• Accessibility

With traditional merchant services, you may have felt limited in service offerings. This is because gateways and processors required compatibility which rendered some payment service offerings unavailable to you. Now, the unified payment platform makes it simple to add new payment methods or services from a single provider, giving access to more options for you and your team. 

• Reconciliation

Another important element to previously consider for separate payment gateways and processors was reconciliation. Some gateways and acquiring systems don’t partner well and reconcile, leading to discrepancies you need to chase on your own to reconcile. With a unified payment platform, you no longer need to worry about the compatibility between your gateway provider and processor, or looking for corrupt transactions.

• Savings

Combining your payment gateway service and the acquiring payment services lowers costs of your overall payment services. Because FirsTech operates as both the gateway and the provider, you receive better rates which can be carried to your bottom line.

FirsTech: Your Unified Payment Platform Partner

For nearly forty years, FirsTech has been dedicated to designing payment solutions for businesses like yours. With a dedication to the highest security measures and the most advanced technology, they are a leader and innovator in the payment service industry.

Their maintained compliance and specialization in security helps create solutions designed for the modern era, including their unified payment platform. 

To learn more about securing your business, growing your bottom line and streamlining your payment processing with your own unified payment platform, contact a payment solutions specialist today.