Ahh Credit Card processing. Let me tell you a story about being a credit card processor. PCI and if you are not PCI compliant don't even bother trying to be a processeor. Not only that if you are processing CC's you need to have a bank to sponsor you. Here is the key to being the best CC processor in the world.
1. Fraud detection
2. Speed of processing
3. Security
4. Security
5. Security
6. Security
7. Did I mention security ?
If you can master those you will be king.
Real time processing is a panecea but be careful what you wish for.
It's a game of pennies. Not dollars.
Also your system needs to be able to take in any input. Oh and the companies who send you these files to process are not exactly state of the art. 20+ year old mainframe systems. I can tell you the hours our processors spent trying to unscrew non comma delimited files.
If you are processing your credit card information in India I won't tell you how unsecure companies operate over there. VMWare is not the way to scale up! But hey it's your money.
I was a Systems administrator/ Security officer for one of these companies. I am so glad I am not doing that now. They could not pay me enough.
Paperwork was part of it. It's Crossing your T's and dotting your I's. Go price out a company who can do a PCI Audit for you. It starts at 40K and climbs rapidly.
Also who is minding the store? Are you a 24x7 operation? If you are you should have someone who is constantly monitoring your network. If you get breached and fail to disclose it you can be looking at jail time. Also if you do disclose you were breached you may be out of business.
Being a processor is not just creating an app that can process CC numbers. The security behind the scenes better be fort knox and you need to be constantly training your people about security. The first thing out of any persons mouth should be.
So tell me what is the secure method you will be using to transfer these CC numbers over to us?
Our developers are creating a new app and we need to make sure you are following security best practices.
Not to many developers think about security when developing apps. If you do get one who is security concious you better treat them like gold.
Don't even talk about the next upgrade to the Sales weasels otherwise they are selling it to the first customer who gets thier attention. Remember thier job is to sell and they will sell thier mother to close the deal.
As soon as it's closed they get paid.
1. Fraud detection 2. Speed of processing 3. Security 4. Security 5. Security 6. Security 7. Did I mention security ? If you can master those you will be king.
Real time processing is a panecea but be careful what you wish for.
It's a game of pennies. Not dollars.
Also your system needs to be able to take in any input. Oh and the companies who send you these files to process are not exactly state of the art. 20+ year old mainframe systems. I can tell you the hours our processors spent trying to unscrew non comma delimited files.
If you are processing your credit card information in India I won't tell you how unsecure companies operate over there. VMWare is not the way to scale up! But hey it's your money.
I was a Systems administrator/ Security officer for one of these companies. I am so glad I am not doing that now. They could not pay me enough.