Today, businesses need growth to succeed, and maintaining stringent payment security is crucial, as the complexity of ensuring secure transactions increases exponentially with companies’ expansion.
As businesses grow, so does the number of transactions they make, which in turn increases their exposure to fraud and data breaches. In fact, fraud accounted for over 40% of crime in England and Wales, according to the Office of National Statistics, between April 2022 and March 2023, with an estimated 3.5 million incidents experienced by adults.
Strong payment security protocols help businesses protect their customers and their bottom lines. We’ll share our best practices next to help you navigate this challenging area of payment security as you contemplate expanding your business.
The importance of payment security in business growth
Payment security is the fortress safeguarding a business’s financial transactions, ensuring that customer data is protected against unauthorised access or theft.
When businesses expand their operations, they often venture into new markets or increase their online presence. Each new transaction, customer, or digital innovation introduced during this phase of growth could open a gateway for cybercriminals if not safeguarded with robust security measures. This is why payment security is important for all business sizes and sectors.
A single data breach or fraud can damage a company’s reputation, eroding customer trust and derailing growth. The ripple effects can impact stakeholder confidence, lead to legal repercussions, and result in significant financial setbacks. Integrating advanced payment security mechanisms is not just about protecting transactions – it’s about safeguarding the business’s future, ensuring that growth is not just rapid but also resilient and sustainable.
There are many costs associated with a security incident. You may have to pay for forensic investigations, legal fees, and credit monitoring for impacted customers. Additionally, you may also have to pay fines or penalties due to the breach and the cost of restoring lost data and systems. Finally, you will likely need to pay for public relations costs associated with the incident to fix your reputation.
Trust Payments’ online payment gateway exemplifies these attributes, offering a secure online payment gateway that enhances customer experience with faster transactions and higher conversion rates.
With the ability to accept credit, debit, mobile and a broad range of alternative payment types and currencies, our gateway is PCI DSS compliant and is paired with a smart, agile and flexible fraud management solution which will evolve and scale as your business grows.
Challenges in scaling payment security
Here are the three most common challenges SMEs encounter with security as they scale operations:
1) Increased complexity of security requirements.
As businesses expand, they often diversify their product offerings, enter new markets, and adopt new technologies. This diversification naturally leads to more complex payment processing requirements, including multi-currency transactions, cross-border payments, and compliance with a variety of regional regulations and standards. The challenge for growing businesses is to scale their payment security infrastructure to address these complexities without compromising the effectiveness of security measures.
2) Resource allocation and expertise limitations.
Small businesses particularly feel the pinch in this area. As they grow, the need for a dedicated team to handle payment security becomes evident, but allocating resources for this purpose can be daunting. SMEs often operate with limited financial and human resources, and prioritising investment in security infrastructure over other growth-focused areas can be a tough call. This scenario can lead to situations where the business grows faster than it can secure its expanding operations, leaving it vulnerable to attacks.
3) Maintaining compliance amidst rapid change.
Regulatory compliance constantly changes, especially in payment security, where standards like PCI DSS are regularly updated to counteract new threats. For businesses expanding, keeping pace with these changes can be particularly challenging. Rapid growth can lead to changes in business processes, IT infrastructure, and transaction volumes, all of which may necessitate a reevaluation of compliance strategies.
Best practices for ensuring payment security during growth
To scale safely, businesses must embrace a series of best practices centred around fortifying their payment security:
- Conduct regular security audits and fraud monitoring to provide a snapshot of a company’s security posture and uncover potential vulnerabilities.
- Organise employee training, equipping staff with the knowledge to identify and counteract security threats. Cultivating a security-first culture within the organisation is essential, ensuring that every decision and process prioritises security.
- Utilise SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocols to authenticate and encrypt data during transmission over the Internet, safeguarding sensitive information.
- Convert sensitive payment information, like credit card numbers, into a secure token—a sequence of random numbers—to protect data during internet or network transactions.
- Mandate robust passwords for customer accounts to derail cybercriminal attempts at unauthorised access, complemented by a user-friendly ‘forgot your password’ process for account recovery.
- Leverage 3D Secure and SCA for cardholder authentication to shield ecommerce merchants from chargeback liabilities, aligning with EU regulations for strong customer authentication and digital payment security.
- Request the Card Verification Value (CVV) during transactions to validate card-not-present purchases, adding an extra layer of online payment security to verify the cardholder’s presence.
A Blueprint for secure scaling
In ensuring payment security during growth, businesses tackle online payment security challenges head-on, utilising fraud prevention mechanisms and staying vigilant against payment fraud risks.
Businesses should consider the strategic advantage of partnering with experienced payment experts like Trust Payments that offer out of the box solutions for all the above. Such partnerships can offer a secure online payment platform imbued with scalability and security, allowing businesses to grow without fear of compromising their payment integrity.
Trust Payment’s offering encompasses a suite of security solutions, including advanced fraud prevention mechanisms and tokenisation, to shield businesses from the evolving threats in the digital landscape. Our payment solutions comply with security standards like the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), ensuring businesses are not just secure but also compliant.
As you navigate your business growth, remember that scaling up safely is not just a strategic choice but a fundamental necessity. Explore how Trust Payments can support your journey toward secure expansion with our Fraud Prevention software.
