There are many companies that help set merchants up with the ability to accept payment via Credit Card and other forms of electronic payment (commonly referred to as an Acquirer). Many of these companies have brilliant tech guys who know how to write code that will move money from Point A to Point B.
On the other end of the spectrum you have the millions of developers who are building systems that are used to drive the every day business practices of their customers. These come in many different flavors and technology, but there is one thing in common - these are customer facing applications. These developers understand the needs of their clients, and build systems to meet those needs.
In between sits the gateway. The gateway offers the bridge to the developer when connecting to the acquirer. Strangely, even with the gateway component, there seems to be a huge disconnect between developers and acquirers.
Why is this? It's simple. A lack of understanding.
For the most part, acquirers don't understand the developer. Acquirers know that payment processing driven by software, rather than a physical terminal, is a very serious reality. Acquirers provide gateway accounts. But, for the most part, they don't really understand how the developer uses these and how they are put into play from a merchant perspective. Sure, they understand the technicalities of what's done, but they've never been there. They've never sat in front of a merchant while the merchant details every process in their entire business. They've never had to wrap their head around logic and business rules in play.
At the same time, developers don't really understand acquirers. Sure, they understand gateway accounts, and how to integrate them, but they don't understand what happens beyond the gateway. They don't understand how the money flows, what the cost structures are, what the regulations are, etc. Some of the wise developers may have realized that they can make some extra cash by partnering up with an Acquirer, but even in those situations, most developers don't understand how it really works.
There seems to be a huge gap between the developer community and the acquirer community. In theory, the gateway should bridge that gap, but in reality, it does not. Developers continue to meet the need of their clients, acquirers continue to move the money, but in the end, everybody loses - especially the merchant.
If one understand the acquiring side and the development side, that person would be able to see possibilities that are otherwise hidden. This benefits the merchant. If they had an advisor who completely understood the development side AND completely understood the acquiring side, they will be able to further automate their processes, save money, improve experience for their customers and save time. Additionally, developers often lose out on a revenue stream they can otherwise tap into and acquirers lose out opportunities to work more closely with their merchants.
That was my long winded introduction to what this blog is all about. NELiX TransaX is a company that comes from the software development world and is a merchant account acquirer. It constantly suprises us as we meet developer after developer who has no clue about what happens beyond the gateway. Acquirers we meet have no idea what happens in the development world.
Stay tuned to this page for more information on what we've been doing to bridge the gap.
More information on NELiX TransaX
More information on credit card processing for developers
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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