STRATEGIC PARTNERS
There are lots of choices out there. Know how to make a wise decision.
September 11, 2000
When choosing an Acquirer, keep an open mind, said Mike Stevenson, president of Western Reserve Processors. "Everything is negotiable when it comes down to it."
Second, look for the Acquirer that fits your needs, not the other way around. "I think, as an ISO, you would be looking for an Acquirer that can kind of partner with you to grow your business," said Ron Schuldt, COO of Columbus Data Services.
"You have the large processors, the really big players, EPSs and the ACSs. And you've got the smaller ones, like us at Columbus Data Services. The really large
ISOs may not need as much assistance from a processor, other than just to process the transactions and provide a raw data file.
"Whereas, the smaller guy just getting into the business is going to need a little more hands-on support and more of the processor's time. He also may need his Acquirer to be his 'back office' for customized reporting, accounting, terminal setup, equipment issues and so forth.
The cash and the service
"That's probably the main variable that an ATM person looks at with an Acquirer. What's the turnaround time on the cash? And, that's stipulated in your agreement," said President of 1st Federated ATM Network Bob Campbell (the company is an ISO).
The amount of delay, 24 or 48 hours, is a large distinction among processors. Time is money, and processors with stronger resources can always get the cash
transferred in 24 hours.
"You also have to keep in mind what kind of customer service you get from the Acquirer," said 1st Federated's Bob Campbell. "That's not in the agreement, of
course. But you have to balance those things.
"For example, how responsive are they? Is it every time you call you get voice mail, and they never return your call?"
First Federated likes the quick turnaround they get from their Acquirer Core Data. "In the position of Core Data, you get paperwork up to them; they have a fairly quick turnaround time on setting up a terminal. Let's say for example, I go to Fred's convenient store. Fred wants an ATM. We've got a certain amount of paperwork to do that's got to be sent to the Acquirer before that terminal can start doing transactions.
"Some places, you send that paperwork off and it's a week. Other places, you send it off, and it's twenty-four hours. So, that's what I was talking about from a service standpoint," Bob Campbell said.
Factors like customer service count a lot. It's one of those less obvious factors that in a crunch you still have to live with once the contract with the Acquirer is signed.
It's possible to head off a lot of troubles at the pass by talking to a processor's customers beforehand.
Case study
On-Line Financial Services, located in Oak Brook, Illinois, calls itself a service bureau and is, essentially, a back-end processor with savings and loan associations as clients. The company keeps track of their savings, checking and mortgage accounts.
Note to Digicove: We will probably drop in a jpg of On-Line's CEO approximately here.
On-Line contracts out with another processor to act as a switch for its transactions in and out of the networks. Recently, the company decided to find a transaction processor that would support a more customizable form of software than they are presently using.
Barb Seibel, senior programmer analyst, explained how they went about initiating their search.
First, they gathered their in-house crew on a conference call: Client services, programmers, and software people who handle databases and communications. By
brainstorming, they put together an overview of the kind of processor services they felt the company needed:
* Flexibility was essential. On-Line wanted to customize its information.
* Previous Experience working with On-Line's kind of company was important.
* On-Line needed a processor that transacts in "real time." Money and information has to be processed at the moment of the transaction.
They did extensive research on the Internet and read industry periodicals. They e-mailed contacts and asked for advice and located several processors who were
interested. Some wanted to charge for an estimate, some didn't.
At present, no decisions have been made, and On-Line is still weighing its choices.
