Small business, large corporation, or non profit, a credit card merchant account is something that all organizations will need to look into if they hope to engage customers online. Whatever the size of your organization, it is normal to feel like business payment processing is going to make your job more complicated. What technology has ever truly simplified business? However, the truth is that business payment processing is going to make your life much easier, and here are three reasons why.

1. Increased security, and minimized paperwork.

In the realm of business payment processing, security is a huge concern. If you own a small business, then processing payments online could make you nervous if you have never done it before. However, the benefit of working with payment processing companies is that they have accounted for all the security issues, so you do not have to. Online payment services specialize in moving money electronically and securely between business and customer. Additionally, by using online payment systems, you are freed of the paperwork burden that goes along with manual credit card processing.

2. Saved time, saved money.

A payment processing system based in the cloud works extremely well because a transaction can take place in an integrated receivables management platform. Cost reduction, faster time to market, and an improvement in transaction processing quality all equal saved time, and saved money.

When considering an online credit card processing system, make sure you choose one that includes level 3 processing. Level 3 credit card transactions require the most security and authentication, typically because they are used with government cards or corporate cards. Additionally, the more fields and authentication that is required to process a payment, the lower the processing fee typically is. There are even several payment processing services without fees!

3. Purchasing online is becoming the new normal.

Did you know that only a quarter of consumers do not own a single credit card? Did you know that in North America alone there are 248,241,966 internet users? In 2011, almost 1.25 billion was spent during Cyber Monday. For the month of November, that accounts for 12 percent of all sales made online. One of the most common ways to pay for a purchase online is to use a card, and so having an online payment system is essential to being able to capture the online market. More than 875 million consumers have shopped online, can you afford to ignore them?

The greater majority of American Express, Visa, and MasterCard clients believe that merchants need to offer as many methods for payment as they can, regardless of what kind of business they do. Save your business some time, paperwork, and headache, and investigate ways to process payments online. There is a large market of consumers out there, and the security, and technology involved in business payment processing is getting better all the time.