In 2015, an estimated 32% of small transactions were made with cash. This showed a drop of more almost 10% since 2012, and this shows that people are getting bored of carrying cash with them. Instead, bank cards, mobile phones, and other payment methods have started to become the option of choice for shoppers in the modern world.

Offering convenience and increased security over cash, it makes sense that digital payments have become so popular, and this is something which businesses are having to adapt to. To help you through this process, this post will be exploring everything a small company needs to be able to take their customers’ payments securely.

The Right Internet Connection

Modern payments usually require an internet connection, with the data related to the payment being sent over the web. While this makes it nice and fast to collect money from customers, it can also make it hard to keep your payments secure, especially when you’re using the same network for this as everything else. In some cases, it can make a lot more sense to use a seperate network for your payments. This will make it harder for people to break into the network, and will mean that your customers and guests won’t be using the same connection as the sensitive information which comes with payments.

The Right Gateway

Payment gateways have been around for a long time, operating as the tool which most businesses use to take their digital payments. The companies which offer these services have their own security experts, and will have spent many years working to ensure that their systems are extremely robust. This is crucial for credit card processing for high risk businesses, as it ensures that each stage of the transaction is kept secure. You never have direct contact with your customers’ bank details, making it easier for people to trust your business while also ensuring that you won’t be liable if anything goes wrong.

The Right Hardware

Once you have an internet connection and a gateway in place, you can start to look at the hardware you’ll be using to take your digital payments. Card machines have gotten a lot cheaper than they used to be, with a lot of providers only charging their customers for the transactions which are made through them, rather than making them pay for the devices themselves. This means that there is no excuse for not having adequate machinery for this job, and you should always be looking for card machines and tills which people are likely to recognise from other stores. This will help with trust, while also making sure that you’re using the right kind of devices.

With all of this in mind, you should be feeling ready to get started on taking secure payments within your business. It’s easy to overlook areas like this, but taking payments can be a risky game when you don’t have the right tools for it, and this is something which small businesses have to be extremely careful with.