By Michael Kalac, Chief Information Security Officer, Paymentus
It’s now time to discuss our fourth pillar in our Reduced Cost to Serve series: full and ongoing regulatory compliance.
There are many different avenues to consider in terms of how security can drive savings. Some are more obvious than others, but each have a unique part to play in the overall financial success of your organization. Here are three key ways your billing and payments solution provider can (and should) combine security with savings.
1. Offloading PCI and Nacha Compliance Liability
There are two main benefits to offloading and reducing your burden of managing PCI and Nacha compliance: liability and cost. Focusing primarily on PCI compliance, the effort to achieve and maintain PCI certification is often far too complex for any organization whose primary focus is not processing credit card payments.
Average Cost of a Data Breach in 2024
Liability is something most organizations should look to avoid. The cost ramifications of a breach can be massive, with the global average cost of a data breach in 2024 rising to $4.88M. The ability to offload this liability to a third-party vendor such as Paymentus eliminates the responsibility of storing and protecting sensitive payment card information.
2. Maintenance Costs
Liability is just one concern, however. The costs to maintain a robust, PCI compliant payments ecosystem are generally far outside the budget of most organizations (especially when third-party solutions can do the job better and cheaper). Consider that if your organization is Level 1 (processes more than six million card transactions annually), you would be required to engage a third-party auditor known as a Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) to conduct the required annual audit, the cost of which generally starts around $40,000.
Annual Cost of Qualified Security Assessor Audit
Now factor in the cost of technology, dedicated personnel, ongoing training, etc. That’s literally hundreds of thousands of dollars that can be saved right off the top by trusting a certified vendor such as Paymentus.
3. A Safe Yet Frictionless User Experience
In a previous article, my colleagues discussed how an optimal user experience can also drive savings. But one of the biggest challenges facing many organizations is delivering robust security in a way that doesn’t provide roadblocks to making a payment.
This is one of the advantages of working with Paymentus. Our holistic approach allows us to deliver secure payment options that enhance the customer experience. A prime example of this is Secure Service®, which effectively removes the significant risks and non-compliance issues associated with live phone payments.
The PCI-compliant technology protects sensitive information by having live agents transfer calls to Secure Service IVR or SMS, allowing callers to enter payment information that is concealed from agents. Callers still get the live agent experience, with the option to pay by phone or text, while staff can reduce time spent processing payments.
Delivering Security for More Than 2,500 Clients
Paymentus is a Level 1 PCI certified service provider, which requires meeting the 12 PCI DSS Control requirements.
Paymentus maintains an information security program that is designed to protect Paymentus resources from internal and external security threats, loss and unauthorized disclosure. Our specialized security program is focused on managing and building effective security controls, quickly detecting and responding to incidents, and constantly testing the effectiveness of the program to appropriately manage risk.
Contact us today to learn more about how we can optimize your savings and security. You can also request an exclusive 15-minute demo to view our solution in action.
