Every now and then gateway processing relationships have to be re-evaluated. There are numerous reasons for that. Traditionally, a change of a processor for a PSP represented a new integration project for authorization and settlement, as well as moving of existing MIDs from the current processor to the new one.
In today’s world, as demands of merchants increase, the process looks a lot more complicated. In this article we are going to explain the particularities of the migration process, applied to the modern environment.
The aspects of migration
Just as before, migration of merchants is an important process. All merchants have to be moved to the new processor’s platform and configured.
A modern-time PSP, usually, has several integration points with a processor. Among them is the traditional authorization and settlement. However, many PSPs now offer batch processing – the ability to send files, and, consequently, account updater functionality, allowing for full update of information from issuers (which is, generally, required for recurring billing). This functionality requires additional integration efforts to be supported.
Many PSPs have to deal with on-boarding of numerous merchants on weekly basis and a lot of PSPs today have an integrated on-boarding mechanism, either through API, or through a merchant boarding file. Therefore, switching from one processor to another, potentially, implies changes in the merchant on-boarding mechanism.
Chargeback management has also evolved over time. It used to be a manual process. However, in today’s world, a lot of chargeback handling procedures are automated, and, again, payment facilitators may have existing integrations to retrieve chargebacks, as well as specific procedures around chargebacks disputes and uploads of supporting documentation. Switching to a new processor might mean changes in the existing integrations, or re-training of personnel, that is used to deal with chargeback disputing portal of the current processor.
Reconciliation procedures can also be a challenge, as they, generally, involve various kinds of settlement and fees reports, used for analysis of transactions processed, settled, and funded. Switching to a new processor might mean different reporting formats, or even lack of certain reports.
Loading and updating of BIN-files is another important component of modern-time migration process. More information on BIN-files can be found in our previous articles.
It is also important to understand that while you may get an enthusiastic support during the sales phase, when you go into technical integrations, you might face an extremely tedious and long process trying to put things in place and get them certified.
Conclusion
While change is an inevitable and necessary part of our life, and every now and then a PSP might need to change its major processing partner, this process should be approached with caution, and involve careful preparations. Depending on the size of a PSP, the process might take up to eight months, or even a year, so the PSP must set a reasonable time frame within these limits for the process to be completed. Before making the final decision on migration, a PSP should think about all of the listed aspects and decide how they are going to be organized in the new system. That is why using a standardized processing platform-gateway, which supports all of these aspects may be a reasonable choice. Usage of such standardized processing platform\gateway is extremely relevant for those, who haven’t started any integrations yet, because it will simplify potential further migrations.
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