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How to Avoid the

High Costs of Payment
System Downtime
How much is payment processing downtime
costing your business? For IT leaders and the
teams tasked with keeping core e-commerce
systems functioning day-in, day-out this is a
crucial question because it underpins the
business case for changing under-performing
Customer Not Present (CNP) payment systems.

What to look for in your payment
processing solution
Downtime can have a huge impact on the
customer experience and merchant revenue,
especially when it leads to a payment not being
processed. As well as the lost revenue caused by a
transaction failing to complete, there’s the impact
on a merchant’s bottom line when an end user
who has a poor experience, such as the inability
to make a purchase, chooses to shop elsewhere,
for good. A Dynamic Markets survey of 2,047
British adult consumers aged over 18 conducted
earlier this year revealed that, if shopping online,
1 in 4 (26%) consumers assume there is
something wrong with the company’s website
when their transaction is unsuccessful.1
This is clearly a business issue, but one for which
responsibility falls squarely on the shoulders of
the CIO, CTO and technology group. While the
CFO may sanction the decision to invest in new
payments technologies, it is the IT department
that will be seen as accountable if the acquirer’s
system is down. Thus system reliability and choice
of payment solution partner, is very much down
to the IT decision maker.
Assessing the impact
So how big a problem is it? The same Dynamic
Markets survey commissioned by Chase
Paymentech shows 59% of companies (from a
sample of 200) admit to experiencing downtime
of their CNP payment system during a typical
month, amounting to an overall average of 72.8
hours a year.1 That’s three whole days during
which your organisation’s customers have been
unable to complete an online transaction. The
scale of potential lost revenue and customer
churn is vast.
Undoubtedly the IT department will be assumed
responsible for the fallout at numerous levels, not
least the effect on revenue of customers failing
to convert shopping carts and possibly going to
other online merchants.
There is also the potential brand damage as
indicated in the Dynamic Markets survey. This
showed that 10% of people in the 35-44 year age
group (the most profitable age segment for online
sales) would opt to avoid shopping with a vendor
again if their payment card was declined – while a
card decline is clearly not the same as an inability
to complete a transaction due to downtime,
the reaction of the customer is indicative.1 In a
world where customer loyalty is paramount,
dissatisfaction caused by either downtime or card
declines cannot be tolerated.
It is no wonder then that 61% of MDs and CEOs
say that it would be worthwhile changing their
CNP provider and/or system if a new solution
could reduce downtime, improve sales and
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automate various parts of the process.1 This is connection. Common administration tools
especially so in those organisations with business across all markets help us to streamline your
growth plans, particularly those with international internal processes.
expansion objectives where efficient handling of
CNP purchases across borders is essential. It is
difficult to grow your customer base or move into Making the right choice
new markets if your IT staff are working around the
There is a range of issues that IT departments need
clock to prevent or manage downtime.
to consider when choosing which new payment
processing solution to deploy. Questions must be
asked about the system’s downtime record as well
Time for change
as the following:
The fact that 79% of finance directors indicate
• A provider’s ability to analyse payments
their CNP payment capability has developed in a
collected from CNP sales
less than ideal way, often resulting in a fragmented
approach to CNP processing, points to a need for • The project management resource required
change.1 Multiple or outdated payment processing during system implementation
systems simply do not add the strategic value that
• The support and connection methods available
newer, automated systems can provide. Within this
from the provider
context, the challenge for IT leaders is to overcome
resistance to change. For example, 89% of finance • T he ease of system implementation. For
directors feel there are barriers to changing their example, does it offer you a choice of
current CNP payment provider.1 connections either to the vendor directly or via a
Payment Services Provider (PSP) of your choice?
It’s important to first dispel the myth that moving
Can your payments provider get it up and
payment providers is impossible without a huge
running without the need to change the business
amount of business pain. This is simply not true.
or to force in a system that doesn’t suit your IT?
Nor is it a fact that making the switch will have
a negative effect on your revenue levels. It’s In the UK planned outages are accepted practice
clearly important to transfer your CNP payment for system upgrades and the downtime figure
capability to a provider with proven transition in the Dynamic Markets research includes the
and implementation experience. For example, downtime stemming from planned outages.
Chase Paymentech has an established on-boarding Whether planned or not, however, any downtime
process that puts the merchant at its heart. equates to loss of trading time. That’s why Chase
Paymentech’s technology is such a huge business
The Chase Paymentech team of dedicated
asset. Upgrades are achieved without planned
project managers, technical consultants and
outages, minimising the impact on revenue.
merchant certification specialists, provide our
clients with a clear view of what processes could Automation is another consideration. Surprisingly,
be implemented to secure the results desired. This many large companies still don’t have full
expertise, combined with our years of on-boarding automation. Instead they depend on manual
experience, have taught us the huge benefit of collation and analysis of data and information
providing our customers with access to a team of relating to chargebacks, decline rates, fraud rates
experts who know your business, set milestones and funding. In the Dynamic Markets survey,
and agree completion dates from the start. This only 25% of respondents said they got all the
approach ensures that you avoid the side effects of
bad on-boarding, such as spiralling costs, system
downtime and long-term brand damage.
If your organisation is currently using multiple
vendors to process payments, it’s possible that you
will have been experiencing downtime, or other
IT problems, when one vendor changes software
or processes that impact the others. Switching
to a single source provider for all your payment
processing needs can bring huge benefits in this
respect. For example, trading in multiple countries
should not mean having to work with multiple
acquirers. Chase Paymentech has the products,
solutions and reporting tools merchants need
to trade in multiple markets, through multiple
currencies, using one consistent, single source

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payments information they needed from a
completely automated reporting system.1
Interestingly, 36% of those with apparently
fully automated reporting were unable to tell
a customer why their card had been declined
and advise them on their next step. Clearly, the
functionality of some reporting systems does
not extend to delivering the response codes that
enable a higher level of customer interaction.1
Working with Chase Paymentech
Chase Paymentech’s robust, scalable, single source
payments solution will help to minimise your
payments processing downtime. Furthermore, our
customers are impressed at the level of resource
we put into ensuring a smooth transition from
their existing payment provider.
Our global payment processing solutions are
exclusively tailored to e-commerce and CNP
merchants. We offer consistent reliable uptime
through fully redundant, proprietary systems.
Taking the average downtime statistics from
our survey, this would amount to potentially 73
hours of extra trading and a dramatic reduction in
unhappy customers. The numbers add up.
Consistent reliable uptime in the business also
has positive ramifications for your IT department
with less forced overtime and the freedom to
focus on other essential IT tasks. Additionally,
this level of uptime adds to IT’s strength as a
strategic enabler, showing the Board how the
right payments processing technology can
improve management information, enhance
customer satisfaction and increase the online cart
conversion rate.
The Chase Paymentech global payments
platform is not only robust but gives you the
flexibility to scale up as your processing needs
grow, especially if you have international
expansion plans. You’ll have the tools you need
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to connect to our global payment gateway in the
way you want to for secure online transaction
processing in a one-stop-shop environment.
Chase Paymentech allows merchants to present
in over 130 currencies and settle in up to 12. To
operate effectively internationally, organisations
must take advantage of cross currency and
multicurrency opportunities. Key currencies
include: British Sterling, Euro, U.S. Dollar,
Swiss Franc, Danish Krone, Swedish Krona,
Norwegian Krone, Japanese Yen, South African
Rand, New Zealand Dollar, Australian Dollar and
Hong Kong Dollar.
Smooth transition
Whether your payments processing downtime
has reached unacceptable levels or the manual
processing of CNP data reconciliation is having
a negative impact on your business expansion
plans, there is a sound business case for moving
to a new payments provider. So what’s
stopping you? The Dynamic Markets survey
suggests that barriers still need to be lifted,
notably the perception amongst 21% of the
survey respondents that transitioning would be
too disruptive.1
Chase Paymentech has worked hard to
successfully overcome this resistance. As
previously highlighted, our extensive on-boarding
expertise has allowed us to develop a unique
approach to each customer’s individual user
hierarchy. We carefully map your company
hierarchy, covering aspects such as user logins,
product features, currencies and reports.
We achieve this by developing a detailed
understanding of your individual needs and giving
you a project plan, implementation manager
and delivery dates in line with your specific
requirements. And our dedicated relationship
managers allow you to focus on the day-to-day
running of your business, rather than having to
worry about the onboarding process of the new
payment system.
As you’d expect, we provide a wide range
of options for core programming languages
including pre-built SDKs - C++, Perl, ASP, .NET
(VB, C#), Java, as well as XML and SOAP, APIs.
Our consultative approach enables us to offer
value and advice ahead and throughout the
project. At all times, our customer focus sits at
the heart of everything we do on your payments
system transformation journey with us.
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Delivering real benefits
There are a number of business enhancing
attributes you need to seek when evaluating
a payment process partner. This is where
Chase Paymentech is well suited to help all
types of merchant.
Here are the reasons why:
Accessing the Right Connections:
Our choice of robust and versatile proprietary
connection methods allows you to choose the
option that best matches your business needs.
As well as our range of programming languages,
we also make available the most appropriate
transport protocols helping the implementation
process go smoothly. For a direct connection, you
have a choice of interfaces such as internet, VPN,
and MPLS (leased lines). We also work closely
with market-leading PSPs to certify them to our
network, giving you the alternative option of
connecting to us through them if you prefer.
Strong Profile Management:
Our customer profile management solution
means that merchants do not need to store the
credit card details of their customers in their own
systems. Instead, cardholder details are safely
stored in our systems while you simply give each
account a token. But the solution goes beyond
purely card details to provide your technical
teams with insight into tactical developments
affecting customer interaction strategies and
allowing the CTO to view the business as a whole
– making strategic decision making easier and
more accurate.
Robust Disaster Recovery:
Chase Paymentech will support your payments
processing capability with regular disaster
recovery testing incorporating load balancing
over two independent sites. This helps us to
maintain our absolute commitment to consistent
reliable system uptime.
Ability to Scale:
As your e-commerce business grows you
need to depend on your payments processing
solution to grow with you. We’ll scale
up your payments processing capability,
giving you 24/7 support via a sustainable
automated solution requiring low OPEX.
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Out-of-the-Box Functionality:
Smaller merchants can leverage our pre-built
Software Development Kit (SDK) to give them a
cost effective ‘out-of-the-box’ route to payments
transformation with tools to connect them to the
Chase Paymentech gateway.
Add to this the extensive payments industry
expertise that Chase Paymentech brings to the
table and you have a powerful business solutions
partner for your payments processing needs. For
example we are involved on several Boards and
Committees including the Merchant Risk Council
and can assist your own payments processing
teams with the rules and regulations that might
apply to your payments technology functionality.
We will recommend cost-saving or revenue-
generating opportunities, enabling you to save on
IT resources being invested to update systems if
they are not PCI DSS compliant. This reduces your
overtime and keeps your IT OPEX low.
Transform with Chase Paymentech
With market studies revealing that 31% of
customers will leave a website to shop
elsewhere if they cannot progress through the
checkout, 100% payment system availability
has the potential to transform your organisation’s
bottom line. Surely it’s time you made the
case for transforming your payment
processing capabilities.
Chase Paymentech offers you a proven approach
to transitioning your payments processing
capabilities to our industry-leading global
platform. We don’t tell you what you have to
do; we work with you, asking you what you
want to achieve and then carefully planning
your implementation path. A successful
implementation paves the way for reduced
downtime in the future as your payments systems
work in the way you want them to work, in
support of your business growth objectives.
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About Chase Paymentech

Chase Paymentech is a global leader in
payment processing and merchant acquiring
and is a specialist in CNP transactions, capable
of authorising transactions in more than 130
currencies. The company’s proprietary platforms
provide access to a wide variety of payment
methods including credit and debit cards. In
2009, Chase Paymentech processed more than
18.0 billion transactions with a value exceeding
$409.7 billion, including an estimated half of
all global e-commerce Visa and MasterCard
transactions. The company also provides a full set
of solutions aimed at accelerating cash flow and
managing transaction data. Chase Paymentech’s
unique combination of outstanding service,
innovative solutions and financial strength offers
solid benefits to companies both large and small.
Chase Paymentech Europe Limited, trading as
Chase Paymentech, is a subsidiary of JPMorgan
Chase Bank, N.A. (JPMC) and is regulated by the
Financial Regulator.
More information can be found at
www.chasepaymentech.co.uk

References:
1
Dynamic Markets, “CNP Payment Progress Declined?”,
April 2010

Disclaimer
Some information used in this report has been obtained from third parties, including research providers, believed to be reliable but Chase Paymentech
or its affiliates do not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material and
are subject to change without notice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation
for the purchase or sale of any Chase Paymentech products. The opinions and recommendations herein do not take into account individual client
circumstances, objectives, or needs and are not intended as recommendations of particular products or strategies to particular clients. The recipient of
this report must make its own independent decisions regarding any products mentioned herein.

Chase Paymentech Europe Limited, trading as Chase Paymentech is regulated by the Financial Regulator. Registered Office: Block K, East Point Business
Park, Dublin 3, Ireland. Registered in Ireland. Registration No. 474128. Directors: Shane Fitzpatrick, Kevin Moran, Michael P. Duffy (US).
© 2010, Chase Paymentech Europe Limited. All rights reserved.
This document and the information provided herein may not be copied, published, or used, in whole or in part, for any purpose other than expressly
authorised by Chase Paymentech Europe Limited.