5 Steps to Ensure EMV Compliance for Small Businesses

If you haven’t already heard, the EMV shift is already upon us. On October 1st, 2015, the EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) technology was rolled out, with customers’ credit cards now sporting the shiny new chip that offers better security than the magnetic stripes on old cards. Good thing to look forward for better business.

This is important for business owners to be aware of since not migrating to the new EMV technology will result to fraud liability for any counterfeit concerns when customers use the new cards to be shifted to the businesses. If you haven’t yet migrated to the EMV technology or if your small business is just starting, it’s not too late to do so.

Credit card with EMV chip

Just follow these steps to ensure EMV compliance:

1. Perform a hardware assessment

Before anything else, do an audit of your existing hardware. You’ll need to find out if there is actually a need for you to buy new terminals, or if your current terminals just need a software update in order to be ready for EMV. Make sure to find out which of these hardware are actually used quite often, as this will help you decide if there’s a need to purchase additional hardware for other modes of payments.

2. Hold discussions with all parties involved

The shift to the new EMV technology will cost quite a bit, considering you’ll have to do some hardware and software upgrades to your system. So discussing these in full with everyone involved – your business partners, shareholders, POS terminal provider, internet connection service provider – will help you better gauge just how much all these upgrades will cost, and help you decide which to prioritize.

3. Purchase new terminals

The road to EMV compliance might just require you to purchase new POS terminals that would accept EMV cards. There are several options available on the market, so you may want to speak to several technology vendors to help you out in making the best business decision for your small business.

EMV changes transactions in cafes and other small businesses.

4. Have a back-up plan

Machines may break, so it’s a great idea to have a secondary payment option on hand should your EMV terminal temporarily stops functioning. Additionally, make sure you have a backup internet connection in case your main network experiences an outage or technical problems. Credit and debit card payments require a stable online connection, and not having a functioning card terminal or a stable connection to the internet might mean a loss of potential sale.

5. Train your employees

Once you have your hardware all set up, you’ll need to make sure your employees actually know how to operate them. Employees need to be trained in order to avoid any potential problems.

EMV technology is certainly safer and more secure than the magnetic strip found in older cards. Ensuring that your business is EMV-ready is more than just for compliance, it’s a means of protecting your revenue. After all, securing your business’ profit and your customer’s trust should be on top of any business’ goal.