Payment processing has come a long way in recent years. Like it or not, many of the old methods that were once the gold standard have rapidly become inefficient and obsolete.
If you are still relying on this legacy payment processing equipment and strategies, your company might be suffering as a result.
Legacy payment technology defined
Legacy payment technology is a term referring to traditional methods and infrastructure.
Electronic payment processing has been in place for decades. Believe it or not, many of the methods and infrastructure that were adopted years ago remain in use today. These legacy systems tend to rely on outdated technology and code, as well as manual processes.
In an era when automation and smart tech are in the vanguard, these older strategies are lagging far behind.
Are you wondering what is considered legacy payment processing equipment? Examples include older banking infrastructures and platforms. Paper checks and some forms of wire and bank transfers also fall into this category, as do systems that rely on batch instead of real-time processing.
Why legacy technology is a competitive liability for your business
Legacy payment technology contains several key weaknesses that can combine to burden your company unnecessarily. For starters, they are slow and inefficient. Batch processing frequently takes days to complete before settlement occurs, resulting in financial bottlenecks.
What’s more, older methods often need manual intervention from you or your staff, leading to the potential for human error and higher administrative overhead costs.
Also, managing and repairing outdated software and hardware comes at a prohibitive cost, one that grows every year. You will also see higher expenses in the payment chain because multiple intermediaries are frequently required with old-school systems.
Add to these issues the fact that most legacy systems are poorly equipped to handle today’s cybersecurity challenges. They lack essential modern features, including fraud detection, encryption, and multi-factor authentication.
As a result, these systems are much more vulnerable to attacks from online bad actors, potentially putting you and your customers at financial risk.
By its very nature, legacy technology relies on rigid architecture and proprietary code. What once was a strength has now become a liability, because these systems are structurally unequipped to integrate with modern digital services or cloud-based solutions.
This often prevents them from supporting new product launches, adopting digital and mobile experiences, or leveraging advanced modern tools.
Finally, these anachronistic systems still need to operate in the modern ecosystem. That means complying with a constantly evolving set of regulations, such as data security standards and reporting requirements. This can be expensive, complicated, and time-consuming.
Are you still relying on yesterday’s cutting-edge systems and technology? If you want to ensure that your business thrives both now and in the future, it’s time to contact your merchant services provider about updating your arsenal.
Once you do, you will have everything you need to efficiently process today’s and tomorrow’s payments with efficiency, affordability, and security.
North is a leading financial technology company that builds innovative, frictionless end-to-end payment solutions designed to simplify and grow businesses of all sizes. From the front door, to the back office, the developer world, and partnerships that expand the payments landscape, North offers proactive, comprehensive merchant services, in-house processing, and more.
