Now more than ever, understanding the significance of Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance is essential to protect customer data during transactions. Thankfully, businesses can trust reliable enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems like Acumatica to support this compliance.
Acumatica, a PCI-compliant ERP software, offers various business management tools that enable users to seamlessly process credit cards in a secure environment.
This article will explore Acumatica’s PCI-compliant platform, various PCI compliance requirements, and the importance of a compliant payment gateway.
What is Acumatica?
Acumatica is a comprehensive cloud and browser-based ERP system designed to improve business management and streamline operations across various industries.
As a native cloud solution, Acumatica offers real-time insights, robust accessibility, and flexible growth accommodations for businesses of all sizes, supporting scalability for enterprise expansion.
With numerous ERP capabilities and stringent security measures, Acumatica gives merchants the confidence to process payments efficiently while meeting customer needs and adhering to essential compliance regulations like PCI DSS. This ensures that processing credit cards in Acumatica maintains the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive cardholder data, safeguarding against unauthorized access and the risk of fraud.
What is PCI compliance?
PCI compliance refers to the adherence to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), a set of policies and procedures designed to enhance transaction security by protecting cardholders against the misuse of their personal information.
PCI standards are mandated by the PCI Security Standards Council, which is comprised of major credit card companies like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB International.
PCI compliance is crucial for any business that processes card payments since it ensures that sensitive payment data is kept secure, reducing the risk of breaches and fraud.
Compliance with PCI DSS means that a business is doing its due diligence to maintain a secure environment for its customers’ payment details, which can build trust, enhance user experience, and promote loyalty.
To be considered PCI-compliant, businesses must adhere to 12 essential requirements outlined by the Security Standards Council.
The 12 requirements of PCI compliance
Understanding and implementing the 12 PCI compliance requirements is paramount for businesses processing credit cards via ERP systems like Acumatica.
This structured set of guidelines helps reinforce data security practices and protects merchants from the financial and reputational repercussions of security breaches.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the 12 PCI compliance requirements:
- Install and maintain firewall configurations for credit card transactions: Firewalls serve as a primary line of defense in protecting cardholder data. By installing and maintaining robust firewall configurations for credit card transactions, businesses can mitigate or block unauthorized access, creating a secure network perimeter less susceptible to attacks.
- Avoid using vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters: Default system credentials are one of the easiest targets for malicious entities since they’re often generic and publicly known. Altering vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters is critical to make it more difficult for hackers to gain unauthorized access to payment systems.
- Protect stored cardholder data: Protecting cardholder data is essential since it’s a high-value target for hackers. By employing security measures like encryption, strong access controls, multi-factor authentication, and data masking, businesses can significantly decrease the usefulness of the data if it falls into the wrong hands. Stored data protection mechanisms should be implemented to ensure sensitive payment information is inaccessible for criminal exploitation.
- Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks: Cybercriminals frequently attempt to intercept data transmitted over open networks. Cardholder data encryption during transmission ensures that even if the data is intercepted, it remains unintelligible and useless to cyber criminals. Encryption protocols are essential for all merchants processing card payments, regardless of whether they use a financial institution or third-party payment gateway.
- Use and regularly update anti-virus software or programs: Anti-virus software acts as a security guard against malware that may compromise system integrity and cardholder data. Routine updates to these programs are critical as new malware variants continually emerge. This requirement is particularly relevant for ERP systems with payment processing capabilities to secure their connected infrastructure.
- Develop and maintain secure systems and applications: Secure systems and applications are the foundation of protecting the payment ecosystem. Regular updates, patches, and security checks for vulnerabilities can identify system weaknesses to enable merchants to address them promptly and reduce risks of data compromise.
- Restrict access to cardholder data by “need to know”: Limiting access to cardholder data on a “need to know” basis is a key control mechanism to minimize the risk of insider threats and accidental data exposure. By implementing these user access control restrictions, businesses can ensure that only authorized personnel can access this sensitive information.
- Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access: Each system access must have a unique identifier so businesses can trace actions to specific individuals to enhance accountability and make it easier to spot abnormal behavior patterns.
- Restrict physical access to cardholder data: Merchants should only allow authorized personnel to access physical locations where cardholder data is stored or processed, such as data centers, offices, or other secure environments. Surveillance cameras, secured entry systems, and access logs can also help your business track and control who enters and exits these areas.
- Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data: Continuous monitoring of all access points to cardholder data helps businesses quickly identify and respond to unauthorized activities. Comprehensive measures should be implemented to log and inspect all activities related to this data.
- Regularly test security systems and processes: Since threats are constantly evolving, routine testing and scanning of security systems and operations are imperative. Regularly scheduled assessments help identify and mitigate vulnerabilities and enable businesses to maintain current and effective protective measures.
- Maintain a policy that addresses information security for all personnel: A comprehensive security policy for employees is mandatory to instill a culture of security within your company. Security policies should extend to cover all aspects of handling and processing payments, reinforcing the responsibility and the appropriate behavior expected from the personnel.
Each requirement targets specific areas within the payment processing landscape to create a reliable defense strategy against potential threats to sensitive cardholder data.
Now that you know what requirements are involved in PCI compliance, you should also understand the importance of using compliant ERP systems like Acumatica.
Acumatica’s PCI-compliant payment gateways
Understanding the need for secure transactions, Acumatica integrates with PCI-compliant third-party payment gateways to ensure the safe processing of credit card data in accordance with PCI DSS standards.
These Acumatica integrations allow for a seamless flow of payment information between Acumatica and the selected payment gateway, minimizing the risks associated with manual entry and enhancing cash flow management.
By using PCI-compliant solutions in Acumatica, businesses can avoid the hefty penalties associated with non-compliance while instilling trust in their customers by protecting sensitive payment information.
The following section will discuss various benefits of secure payment processing in Acumatica.
8 benefits of PCI-compliant credit card processing in Acumatica
Incorporating credit card processing within Acumatica brings a multitude of benefits, aligning with the strategic goals of businesses to streamline operations, secure customer data, and enhance the overall financial management process.
Using a PCI-compliant credit card processing solution in Acumatica can yield numerous benefits for merchants, such as:
- Integrated payments: Businesses can integrate payment processing into their Acumatica to accept and manage transactions directly within this system, streamlining workflow and reducing the risk of errors. Integrated payments enhance efficiency by centralizing payment collections and record management within one platform. Integrated solutions enable businesses to seamlessly transfer data between their sales, accounting, and payment systems.
- Improved cash flow: An integrated credit card processing solution in Acumatica helps companies improve their cash flow management. By enabling automated and real-time payment collection tools, merchants can reduce invoicing times and receive funds faster. Cash flow acceleration is vital for maintaining a healthy business, providing the liquidity needed for operations and growth initiatives.
- Enhanced payment security: When handling sensitive payment data, security is paramount. A reliable credit card processing solution in Acumatica can strengthen payment security by maintaining PCI compliance, protecting against data breaches and fraud. This safeguarding of information instills trust among customers and can reduce liability concerns for your business.
- Real-time data access: Real-time data is essential for accurate and timely decision-making. A comprehensive Acumatica payment integration will provide immediate visibility into transaction data to quickly reconcile accounts and monitor your financial health. This real-time information enables businesses to react promptly to market conditions and manage finances more efficiently.
- Customer convenience: Acumatica’s integrated credit card processing capabilities provide a streamlined check-out process, reducing payment processing times and enhancing the overall customer experience. Many Acumatica payment integrations support multiple payment methods and secure billing portals, providing more convenience for customers, improving the user experience, and increasing the likelihood of repeat business.
- Automation: Robust credit card processing solutions will offer payment automation tools in Acumatica. From automatic posting of transactions to batch processing capabilities, these systems simplify several manual payment processing operations to save time, reduce human error, and allow teams to focus on higher-priority tasks.
- Multi-currency support: Businesses operating in the global market require the ability to make transactions in multiple currencies. Acumatica’s credit card processing solution provides multi-currency support, facilitating international transactions without currency conversion complications. This feature is particularly beneficial for merchants that cater to a diverse customer base across different geographical locations.
- Detailed reporting: Well-rounded credit card processing solutions for Acumatica will offer detailed reporting tools that provide valuable payment insights. The ability to generate comprehensive reports on demand aids in tracking sales trends, identifying payment issues, and managing accounts receivable (AR) more efficiently. Accurate reporting is vital to strategic planning and auditing purposes.
Merchants can leverage PCI-compliant Acumatica integrations and their benefits to provide customers with a secure, efficient, and user-friendly solution. Pairing Acumatica with a secure third-party payment gateway like EBizCharge can accomplish this with its PCI-compliant software and advanced security protocols.
EBizCharge’s PCI-compliant payment gateway for Acumatica
EBizCharge is a top-rated, Acumatica-certified payment application that provides a PCI-compliant payment gateway designed to integrate seamlessly with Acumatica, enabling businesses to securely process credit and debit cards and electronic transactions within the interface while also enhancing their financial operations.
The EBizCharge for Acumatica payment integration guarantees full PCI compliance due to its robust security measures and reduces manual entry to mitigate human error and associated risks. It achieves this high level of security by providing features like tokenization, encryption, 3D Secure authentication, off-site data storage, and more.
EBizCharge is also equipped with an impressive suite of payment collection tools that accelerate invoices, including secure email payment links, recurring billing, auto payments, customer payment portals, and others.
Thanks to its PCI compliance, advanced security protocols, and powerful payment software, EBizCharge is a comprehensive platform for merchants to easily facilitate customer payments and manage various payment documents in Acumatica, optimizing their payment operations and positioning them for long-term success.
