Epicor integrates AJB electronic payment technology to help retailers secure POS transactions

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: Epicor integrates AJB electronic payment technology to help retailers secure POS transactions.

Epicor Software Corporation, the provider of business software solutions for retail, manufacturing, distribution, and services organisations, has announced a strategic partnership with AJB Software Des ign, Inc., the integrated payment solutions provider, to simplify and secure electronic payment acceptance at the point-of-purchase, enabling retailers to accommodate new and emerging methods of payment, and comply with security best practices such as the forthcoming Europay, MasterCard and Visa ('EMV') initiative.

The partnership combines Epicor and AJB's best-of-breed solutions to provide retailers with a single, secure, uninterrupted payment solution that can handle high transaction volumes -- even on the most demanding shopping days -- while supporting inspired consumer payment experiences.

More than 20 per cent of North America's Top 100 retailers and over 10 per cent of the top global retailers by sales volume, rely on AJB's payment integration software solutions. AJB's FIPay (Flexible Integrated Payments) solutions are now fully integrated into the Epicor Retail Store 6.4 solution to enable retailers to handle all aspects of electronic payment acceptance at the point of sale, including authorization and settlement, and dynamic currency conversion, with end-to-end encryption and tokenisation.

Additionally, the Epicor Retail Store with integrated FIPay solution is expected to be certified to meet the most current EMV requirements. While Chip and PIN technology has been widely accepted in the UK, Canada, and Australia for more than 10 years; in the US, 1 October 2015 is the deadline for implementing Chip and PIN technology under the EMV initiative -- a milestone known as "the liability shift." After this date when credit card fraud occurs liability will presumptively fall on the entity using the lesser, non EMV technology.

"With technological capabilities continuing to rapidly expand, keeping up with advancements while ensuring the security of data will remain a challenging feat for retailers," says industry analyst firm Boston Retail Partners, in its October 2014 white paper titled: Best Practices and Tools to Thwart Hackers and Protect Customer Payment Data. According to Perry Kramer, vice president and practice lead, Boston Retail Partners, "Simply meeting PCI compliance standards is no longer sufficient to protect customer data. The best way to reduce overall payment card exposure is with a multi-tiered security approach with a combination of EMV, encryption and tokenisation." Ken Morris, principal, Boston Retail Partners, stated, "as a strategic approach to payment security, retailers should seriously consider moving to a cloud-based POS system with one centralised point for data security."

Epicor Retail Store with integrated FIPay solution also enables retailers to quickly accommodate new and emerging payment types, including consumer mobile payment 'wallets'; as well as support a wide range of bank processors, payment devices, and international currencies.

"It's likely that 2014 will go down in the record books as the definitive year for major data bre aches and payment insecurity. To address concerns about customer data protection and privacy and new security mandates, retailers are shoring up their processes around the transmission of sensitive data," said Noel Goggin, executive vice president and general manager, Epicor Retail. "Now they can rest easier, relying on the Epicor Retail Store solution -- now featuring the industry's leading technology to streamline and secure electronic payment acceptance at the point of sale."

"Retailers that leverage the Epicor Retail Store point-of-sale solution integrated with FIPay solutions, aren't just getting leading integrated electronic payment technology, they are getting a solution backed by proven expertise in the electronic payment industry, with the flexibility and agility to quickly respond to industry changes without the need for extensive modifications," said Bohdan Myroniw, director-Business Development with AJB Software.