Merchants in the retail and hospitality industry should consider investing in a mobile point-of-sale (POS) system to better connect with customers and grow their business without spending a lot of money on standard POS hardware.
However, it’s essential to understand some advanced security features to look out for when choosing which mobile POS provider to invest in so you can protect your customers.
What is a Mobile POS System?
A mobile POS system allows merchants to use a smartphone, tablet, or dedicated device as a portable card machine and, in some cases, a receipt printer.
Merchants can sign up with their chosen mobile POS provider and download an app onto the device they wish to use. In some cases, the mobile POS provider will also act as the payment card processor.
When using a smartphone or tablet, you may need to plug a hardware card reader into the device’s USB-C or lightning port to process near-field communication (NFC) or chip payments.
However, modern mobile POS solutions can utilize the smartphone’s built-in NFC reader without any additional hardware readers. This is called tap-on-phone or software POS.
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If you choose to use a dedicated mobile POS terminal from your provider, this may also provide barcode scanners and receipt printers.
Should You Invest in a Mobile POS System?
Yes, here are some reasons why you should invest in a mobile POS system:
- A mobile POS system brings the sale to the customer, which can improve the customer experience and reduce wait times.
- The merchant doesn’t need to dedicate space to a traditional countertop POS system.
- Mobile POS systems can accommodate various payment methods, including tap-to-pay cards, chip cards, mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, and QR code payments.
- Mobile POS systems are portable, making them a good fit for businesses that do not operate out of a fixed location, such as food trucks, home repair services, farmers markets, stadium vendors, and cleaning services.
- Some mobile POS providers specialize in food and beverage service. So, they can send orders directly from the server to the kitchen, reducing wait time.
- Mobile POS systems are often cheaper than full POS terminals, allowing businesses to open with little capital investment. Even traditional cash-only vendors can begin accepting credit card transactions quickly and cheaply.
- Merchants can equip salespersons with mobile POS terminals to complete a transaction on the sales floor.
- Most mobile POS systems handle the entire transaction, reducing the business’s liability.
- No payment card data is stored on the mobile POS terminal, so the business needn’t worry about most security regulations, such as PCI DSS compliance.
- Mobile POS payments are directly deposited into the business’ bank account.
- Some mobile POS providers offer entire business management systems with sales, inventory tracking, customer loyalty, returns, gift cards, and individual employee accounts.
However, there are a number of security features to look out for when investing in a mobile POS system for your business.
5 Advanced Security Features To Look Out For When Investing in a Mobile POS System
EMV Compliance
The small microprocessor chip on the front of a debit or credit card, which replaced the silver magnetic strip on the back, is known as an EMV.
EMV stands for ‘Europay, Mastercard, Visa’ because these three financial companies created the regulations for credit card administration to prevent fraud.
Since contactless cards no longer need to leave the owner’s hand while making a payment, surrounding parties can less easily steal card details and later commit fraud.
For your business to be considered EMV-compliant, you must invest in a mobile POS system that supports chip technology and meets EMV standards.
PCI DSS Compliance
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of guidelines designed to help businesses that process payments keep customer card information safe and secure.
All merchants that process, transmit, or store cardholder data must comply with the PCI DSS guidelines to protect customers from data breaches and credit card fraud.
Your chosen mobile POS system and payment gateway software must be PCI-compliant and validated, regardless of whether or not your business is EMV-compliant.
However, being both PCI- and EMV-compliant is most beneficial for the best protection against fraud and the most secure customer payments.
End-To-End Encryption
One way customer data never becomes exposed to hackers is through end-to-end encryption (E2EE).
E2EE ensures that private account numbers (PANs) and other sensitive cardholder information are encrypted and securely transmitted from one point to another, which prevents fraudulent activities through unauthorized access to data.
Your chosen mobile POS system must encrypt credit card information and other sensitive data as soon as the terminal receives the data.
Tokenization
Tokenization enhances security by ensuring that sensitive payment data is not stored within the mobile POS system, reducing the risk of breaches or unauthorized access.
Tokenization replaces the 16-digit payment card number with a unique ‘token’. This digital identifier enables payments to be processed without exposing sensitive account details that could breach security.
You must invest in a mobile POS system that doesn’t retain any customer banking information.
Antivirus protection
Just like antivirus software for computers and laptops, this software for mobile POS systems can help prevent the spread of malware, protect the system from spam and email threats, and provide business owners with a system to track performance.
Antivirus software prevents malware from infiltrating organizations’ systems by scanning devices to detect problematic or abnormal applications, files, and user activity that need to be blocked or removed.
The mobile POS system you invest in must have antivirus software. Ideally, this software will alert your business when there is a potential issue and enable you to begin the cleansing process to guarantee that any malware does not result in data loss or theft.
Conclusion
When considering mobile POS systems, you must explore providers that offer features that align with your business goals, operational needs, and supplier requirements.
However, security significantly impacts business operations and customer trust, so it is critical to invest in a POS system with the most advanced security features.
