What are Operational Services? A simple breakdown

On any day in a well-run retail business, store operations appear to be seamless. Payment devices quickly check out customers, card readers connect instantly, buy online and pay in-store (BOPIS) orders are routed for pickup, and associates can focus on customer service as the merchant's underlying payment processing infrastructure works smoothly.

While this may look effortless, it's actually the result of careful planning, strategy, and the right partners that help keep stores running behind the scenes. Merchants are increasingly choosing Operational Services partners, also called managed services, to set up, maintain, and provide day-to-day support for their payment processing solutions so they're able to focus on what matters most: serving customers and growing the business.

Let's get into how this works and whether it's the right choice for your business needs.

How Operational Services streamline payment processing

Operational Services for payment processing solutions take the burden of managing devices and software off your team's plate and put it into the capable hands of a partner that understands your business. Working with an Operational Services provider has numerous benefits.

A retail sector study by KPMG found that 86% of organizations are exploring ways to modernize payments, with a focus on improving their customer experience (69%), improving processing payment times (56%), and long-term cost savings (54%). Operational Services is one pathway to accomplishing these goals.

For retailers, managing the ecosystem of hardware, software, and compliance is challenging. Choosing an Operational Services partner can be a key step toward simplifying complexity and developing a repeatable process that scales with future growth.

What are the key functions of an Operational Services provider?

Managed services for a merchant's payment processing infrastructure often include options that can be packaged to meet your unique needs. Leading solutions providers offer choices including:

• Device configuration and deployment: An Operational Services partner can help you select the terminals that are best suited to your needs, outlining the parameters and specifications. This includes kitting, staging, and configuring devices for specific environments or locations. Preloading and configuring payment terminals can then be handled offsite by your managed services partner and sent directly to you, ready to operate out of the box. Devices can be shipped directly to stores, job sites, or partners, enabling faster installations and minimizing on-site effort. They arrive custom-built for you, and onboarding can be remotely supported with ease.

• Device repairs and replacement: If a device issue occurs, a managed service partner will help find a solution that gets you quickly back online, whether that's completing repairs to the existing device or facilitating an advanced replacement or priority exchange, often as soon as the next business day. There's a range of options available that can be customized to fit your budget, warranty status, and business priorities. Support may include depot diagnostics, refurbishment, or on-site field services when required. The bottom line that helps give merchants confidence is that you're never on your own when trying to solve for a broken payment terminal.

• Life cycle management and asset optimization: Over time, devices age and retailers' needs evolve. An Operational Services partner helps manage device inventory, update aging devices, and recommend new solutions to meet your changing needs and stay in alignment with shifting compliance standards. This includes managing devices throughout their life cycle — from deployment and preventive maintenance to refurbishment, redeployment, or secure retirement — helping maximize asset value and protect margins.

• Security: In the heavily regulated payments spaces, security is paramount. Managed services solutions offer remote support, updates, and device health monitoring/reporting on your payment estate software and endpoints to keep everything operational and payment data protected. Secure handling of devices, including controlled access, certified refurbishment, and compliant decommissioning, helps reduce risk across the payment environment. With a strategic Operational Services partner, you'll be using security software that's prepared against the latest threats, another move that strengthens your overall security posture.

• Portfolio services: If your business works with partners or franchisees, delivering consistent customer service is essential. An Operational Services partner can streamline the deployment of consistent payment devices, providing training and support throughout the standup process. Centralized logistics, inventory visibility, and serialized asset tracking help ensure the right devices reach the right locations at the right time. This helps take some of the pain out of expanding through a portfolio growth model.

• Central contact: Simplify the oversight of your entire payment estate with centralized customer support that can help you quickly check warranty status, open a ticket, or get answers to urgent questions without having to contact multiple partners or businesses. This single point of contact also supports inventory accuracy, reverse logistics, and coordination across repairs, replacements, and redeployments.

Working with an Operational Services partner helps make sure that payment devices are deployed correctly, environments are consistent, and issues get resolved quickly. Behind the scenes, they also manage the logistics, repairs, and asset recovery processes that keep payment operations efficient and cost-effective. They also offer retailers access to experts who understand the business and can help streamline your technology investments to better support future growth.

How Operational Services benefit merchants

Working with an Operational Services partner gives merchants access to optimized logistics and knowledgeable experts, and can help solve challenges while reducing the stress on your in-house teams. But the benefits don't simply include preconfigured payment terminals or easy remote security upgrades. The benefits of streamlined operations touch all parts of the business.

Uptime and customer experience: Research regularly shows that customers will abandon a purchase, and sometimes head to the competition permanently, when payments fail or are merely clunky or slow. As a result, merchants need payment processing that maximizes uptime, reduces bottlenecks, and turns checkouts into positive customer touchpoints. Operational Services are focused on every aspect of your payment infrastructure so customers associate your business with fast, efficient checkouts they can rely on.

Omnichannel complexity and growth: Each time you add a new channel or capability, you introduce operational complexity into your business. Adopting mobile wallets or introducing BOPIS solutions, for example, can help your business reach new customers. But there are associated technology and operational demands to work through. Flexible and high-performance payment infrastructure that can reliably scale to new use cases is essential for growth. An Operational Services partner can help keep the moving pieces aligned while you focus on other aspects of growing the business.

Streamline your team's focus: Retail IT and operations teams already have a lot on their plates, and the explosion of new digital channels and payment options is only creating more work streams. Operational Services allow you to help lean internal teams focus on the innovation that drives your business forward, while reducing the time they need to spend keeping daily systems stable and operating at peak capacity.

Verifone: An integrated Operational Services provider

Verifone is a fully integrated Operational Services partner that can uniquely understand our clients' needs. We provide terminals, manage the life cycle of your payment devices, and work with a variety of third-party partners to deliver top-tier integrations. Merchants choose Verifone for our industry-leading cloud-enabled monitoring and security, predictive maintenance, connected suite of systems and customer tools, and the convenience of a single point of contact and integrated solutions that provide optimal visibility into your entire payment estate. Our solutions keep your payment estate seamlessly running so you can focus on maintaining a thriving retail business. And we offer diverse options, from delivered payment devices that are ready to go to 24/7 software-as-a-service support.

Learn more about Operational Services for retailers at Verifone, or download the eBook for more details.

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