The conversations tend to go something like this: “I already have a payment gateway (or payment service provider or payment processor), so why do I need Sycurio?” Our response: “Sycurio doesn’t replace the payment gateway—we interact with them as a security solution on your behalf.”
Sycurio Is Your Security Plus-One at the Payment Gateway
Payment gateways, also known as PSPs, are basically intermediaries: third-party companies that allow organizations to accept a full range of electronic payments. They do this by connecting to banks for all facets of payment processing: transaction authorization, secure data transmission, data management, response handling, reporting on transaction success, and fraud prevention. When an organization signs on with a PSP, it becomes part of an aggregated operation, joining thousands of other clients within what’s effectively a super-sized merchant. Their agreement with the PSP also typically contains a suite of other business management tools like POS systems, online checkouts, card readers, and invoicing. When evaluating the best PSP for their needs, organizations will want to know about features such as transaction speed, cost per payment, and integration with their existing systems.
On top of PSPs, there are payment platforms that manage each transaction and save the data. These payment platforms are the most familiar part of the process for consumers as they go about their day making purchases, whether in person, online, or through a mobile device.
Sycurio comes into the picture as a payment security and PCI compliance solution. It sits outside the payment gateway and sends data to it, but it is not a PSP (although it works with 87 PSPs currently), nor is it a payment platform. Its role is to help mitigate risk, and companies may turn to it either as a pre-emptive security tool or a response to a past security breach or compliance issue.
PSPs, payment platforms, and Sycurio all perform a unique role in the payment process. While there is some overlap—for example, a payment platform may have similar security solutions to Sycurio’s, or it may act as a payment processor—the three are not synonymous.
Once you better understand the intricacies of the payment stack and all the things happening behind the scenes almost instantaneously, Sycurio’s digital transaction success rate of 99.9% becomes even more impressive. Learn how Sycurio can help your organization improve security and streamline payments by scheduling a demo.
