Why You Need to Integrate Your Payments

There are differences between the services, rates, and benefits of different processing providers, especially when integrating with your POS system, but a lot of these benefits will remain the same for all integrations. So, why should you integrate your card processing and what do you need to think about when you do?

Integrated payments definition

Put simply, integrated payments allow card machines and POS systems to work together.

It doesn’t take much work to spot the difference between a business using integrated payments and one that’s not. When you step up to pay a bill and a cashier or server spots a credit or debit card in your hand, do they reach for a card machine or for their POS?

If a business has payment integration, staff do not need to input sales information onto the card machine because their till will do it for them. Alternatively, businesses without integrations need to input sale prices twice: into their POS and into the card machine to take the payment.

Years ago, having a card machine at all was a huge boon for any business. But now it’s necessary to connect card machines and POS automatically to remain up to date and provide the same level of service as your competitors. 

How does it work?

Integrated payment solutions use what’s called an API (application programming interface), a technical term used to describe the middleman between two computer programs. APIs bridge the gap between the transaction software (the till being used to calculate and record the sale) and the card machine which actually orders the bank transfer.

By allowing the POS to inform the card machine of the sale price, and the card machine to inform the POS when the sale has been completed, the user completes sales purely through the touchscreen on the till with a custom payment gateway between the two devices.

The creation of hosted payment gateways allows this process to be repeated for eCommerce business operations as well, creating online invoices on a checkout page that customers complete and pay.

The result is an in-person and online shop that managers can stay on top of in one place.

Why should I integrate?

Many business owners may have simply integrated because they’ve seen so many other businesses doing so. However, many of those businesses will not gain the same advantages. This is because integration can do more than just simplify your sales process.

Customer experience

No matter your industry, integrated payment systems can improve the customer experience you provide. Both retail and hospitality businesses look better and save time when the customer can pay quickly and move on with their experience.

This is true for all kinds of sales. Gateway integration is used for eCommerce as well as in-person transactions.  

Therefore, connecting your POS to your payment services allows the business to sell quickly and easily while gaining all of the benefits (including those listed below which also improve customer experience).

Eliminate human error and reduce theft

The increased reliability of these payment methods naturally reduces human error. With a POS that calculates sales totals automatically and transfers the figure to the card machine without human interference, staff error can only occur during the data input stage.

Servers can relax at work and focus on customers as there is no arithmetic or data transference required, for example, when splitting payments. As a result, they can have conversations with customers even while taking sales without making mistakes and both parties walk away confident the transaction was carried out correctly.

The card industry's data security has made payment processing a much safer way of trading. The safety of paying via card has been improved further by contactless payments which remove the use of the pin pad. Because of the simplifying effect on the process, integrating has made theft more difficult and boosted consumer confidence.

Administration and analytics

Managers often find card processing fees difficult to calculate. But integrations can speed up this process, and this is where a good integration shows its colours.

For example, since the launch of Epos Now Payments, businesses can look at POS data and card processing data in the same place. The use of a blended rate also simplifies the reports sent over from the card machine so that the EPOS system displays a single fee in the Back Office alongside the day-to-day reports the business needs for payroll, accounting and invoicing.

This means managers and staff do not need to learn the intricacies of the card machine settings or recall separate login information and refer to numerous portals to access information.

These kinds of advantages apply when the business uses accounting software such as Xero. An accounting integration can link the program to the POS which can then provide all the data the program needs automatically.

How to integrate a payment gateway

In most cases, industry data security standards and technical setup will be bespoke, meaning that one-size-fits-all instructions will not work. Payment gateway integrations all work differently and will be set up by professionals from the company in question.

The Epos Now Payments setup (because the devices are built to work with Epos Now POS setups) is very simple and comes with an easy-to-follow guide. The guide breaks the process down into verification and business data input, hardware setup, and device setup, with clear instructions for each step and a support team on standby to help with any issues.

The important thing to note is that trying to figure these devices out and playing around with them is likely to achieve less than optimal results. Consult the provided guides or call technical support to integrate your payment gateways.

Next steps: Epos Now Payments

For speedy transaction processing in-store and for online stores, Epos Now Payments provides fantastic results at even better prices. Accept all payment types with no hidden fees and no complicated setups to drain your bank account or your energy.

• One fixed-rate card payment system usable on all card types
• With over ten years of experience in POS systems, providing for retail and hospitality, integrate your card machine into a worldbeating system to make running your business easier than ever
• View all of your business reports for trade and card processing in one place accessible from anywhere using cloud technology
• Fully PCI compliant providing secure data protection for your entire business

Submit your data below to speak with a member of our expert team about a truly transformative system.