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Payment Solution Offering

Consolidating Payments across all channels: Web, Point of Sale, and Call CenterThe Goal

Companies that operate in a multi-channel retail environment (web, point of sale, call center) want to reduce credit/debit card processing fees.  They also want the flexibility to be able switch payment processors or use the ability to switch easily between payment processors as a way to negotiate lower fees card processing charges.

New payment options are being added all the time: private label cards, ACH processing for checks, etc.  Companies want a way to be able to offer alternative payment methods to consumers without requiring new hardware or significant programming at any one of their channels.  Often times, new payment methods are not supported by company’s existing credit card processor posing a challenge.

The Challenge

Companies that operate in a multi channel retail environment often have different payment solutions for point of sale, web and call center operations.  Web sites often rely on Internet Payment Gateway provider that charge additional fees on top of what payment processors already charge the company.  For example, VeriSign’s Payflow Pro solution charges 10 cents per authorization and 10 cents per capture on a payment.  A company that processes 300,000 credit card payments a year will pay over $60,000 in fees to VeriSign and while still paying the payment processor (like Paymentech) the regular percentage on the credit card.

Many companies also use leased dial up terminals to process credit cards at their point of sale locations.  These devices are often expensive and require a dedicated phone line to dial the payment processor.  Some of these devices are old and don’t support the ability to process debit cards with a pin code.  Debit Cards that are processed as regular credit cards are charged at the regular credit card rate costing the merchant valuable dollars.  Companies also pay for each merchant account.  In most point of sale scenarios with dial up, a separate merchant account is required for each location.

The Solution

The RiTA Server developed by VeriFone, the leading provider of software and hardware solutions for payment processing, provides direct connectivity to the leading payment processors.  The Rita Server provides a simple API for processing credit cards (card present and card not present, level II and level III), debit cards (pin based), EBT cards, commercial cards, gift cards, check verification and ACH processing.

One of the major advantages of the RiTA Server is that you never pay a per transaction charge since the software runs within your organization and talks directly to the payment processor.  RiTA is licensed by threads – basically allowing you to select the number of simultaneous payments you want to process at the same time.  RiTA is also compliant with the Visa USA Payment Application Best Practices requirements.  This is important since merchants that are not compliant may have to pay damages when credit card data is stolen from the merchant due to non-compliance

For a list of the Payment Processors and features that RiTA supports, see the end of this document.

RiTA is a Java based application that requires JDK v1.4 or higher and any JDBC compliant database.

The Added Value Provided by Shared Vision Group

Shared Vision Group has taken the RiTA server and integrated it into WebSphere Commerce and Point of Sale applications.  In doing so, Shared Vision Group has developed an easy to use Java Bean mechanism for communicating with RiTA.  We also have the capability to integrate in non-Java environments.

Shared Vision Group performed this integration last year for Acme Brick in Fort Worth, TX.  By utilizing RiTA to process all credit card transactions, Acme Brick was able to:

  • Get rid of the leased credit card processing terminals and dedicated phone lines at each of their 70 retails outlets
  • Bypass VeriSign’s Payflow Pro service and talk directly to the Payment processor saving over $30,000 each year.
  • Offer pin based debit cards
  • Perform a fraud screen on checks prior to taking the checks.
  • Allow Acme Brick the ability to switch payment processors to get a lower rate.

Overview of Engagement

Because each company may have different point of sale, web and call center applications, some study will have to be done to determine the best way to integrate RiTA with each of the applications.  The engagement listed below is targeted at customers who are already running WebSphere Commerce and would like to implement RiTA for the web and determine what it would take to integrate with their point of sale and call center applications.  Shared Vision Group will provide guidance to the application teams that maintain the point of sale and call center applications on how to integrate with RiTA.

Initial Engagement:  120 hours (plus travel and expense)

Software:                 Full RiTA Server with 5 threads $21,595.00 plus $50.95 for each Merchant ID required

                               Alternative: RiTA Start Server with 1 thread $12,695 plus $143.95 for each additional Merchant ID

Resources                1 Architect / 1 developer


Days 1- 2:         Analysis and Design

Days 3-4:          Installation and Configuration

Days 5-10:        Configure WebSphere Commerce for RiTA

Days 11-13:        Assist developers with point of sale and call center applications

Days 14-15:        Provide Production installation assistance

svgtriangle_sm.gifDownload detailed Payment Solution Offering document.

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