Smartpay : Is it time to upgrade?

Paymark have recently started sending letters to some customers on their network advising them they need to update their EFTPOS terminal software. That's because the 2014 software is being removed from the market at the end of April.

• If you're a Smartpay customer you can breathe easy as you don't need to upgrade now. All Smartpay terminals are on newer software. In fact, many of our terminals are running the latest available software.
• If you aren't with Smartpay and think you might need to upgrade, let us help explain what the upgrade is all about.

The security smarts in your terminal

When you use your terminal to take a card payment it sends off the card and purchase data to make sure the customer has funds and you get paid. Sounds simple, but there's a lot being done under the hood in the short amount of time you and your customer are waiting.

Each time you take an EFTPOS payment, the transaction data is scrambled before it even leaves the terminal. Once it is sent over the network, Paymark use Point-to-point encryption (P2PE) standards to protect the data as it moves through the authorisation process and ultimately returns a response to your EFTPOS terminal. To keep the payments process safe and secure, Paymark has a software version lifecycle that ensures EFTPOS terminals are kept up to date. This protects both you and your customers from fraudulent activity, and it gives you the opportunity to access new features.

What software and security do Smartpay use?

Smartpay have an inhouse development team. Smartpay terminals are approved by by Payments New Zealand (who manage and govern the New Zealand's payment systems) and certified by Paymark (New Zealand's largest payment network). Our hardware and software is developed to strict security standards to keep credit (and EFTPOS etc) payment data safe before it even leaves the terminal. All our terminals are contactless 'tap and go' capable and mobile payments ready.

Next steps

If you've received a letter from Paymark advising you it's time to upgrade, Smartpay can help. We can organise you a terminal with the latest software available (meaning the longest time until the next upgrade is required). When you rent a terminal from Smartpay you'll get free software and security updates automatically so there's no need to worry. If you prefer to own, we can sell you a terminal backed with a support plan, which includes software updates, so you'll still have peace of mind.

Talk to our team today for a quote. If you have an active Paymark merchant ID then we will have you up and running within 24 hours.