Did you know Constellation Payments is one of the first in the payments industry to offer a cloud-based terminal solution?
A cloud-based terminal solution is where merchants simply connect their terminal to the Internet to make payments that are initiated from their software application.
Traditional Terminal Solution vs. Cloud-Based Terminal Solution
With the cloud-based solution, the gateway is in the middle of the process flow with a direct connection to the terminal. This is a shift from the traditional terminal solution where the software would be in the middle of the process flow and interact with the terminal directly.
To get a bit more specific … say a merchant, a gym owner, processes a transaction through one of our channel partner’s software, EZFacility. The EZFacility software sends that request to the Constellation Payments transaction gateway. The gateway will then interact with the terminal until the transaction is complete. Once completed, the transaction details are sent to the software application.
The Process Flow of a Cloud-Based Terminal Solution
*Note that initially the terminal needs to be connected to the gateway prior to this process taking place.
- Merchant initiates the transaction in their software application and the software sends a request to the Constellation Payments gateway.
- The Constellation Payments gateway connects to the terminal, prompting the cardholder through the transaction. The transaction processes and forwards the response to the gateway.
- The completed transaction response is sent to the software application.
>> Click here to view the full-size Flow Chart
Why Go with a Cloud-Based Terminal Solution?
Many merchants don’t have an on-site IT team to assist with the set-up connections. They don’t have an IT team to install drivers or web services to allow communications over a USB to connect via the traditional terminal approach.
That said, the main benefit is that the cloud-based terminal solution reduces the IT set-up and maintenance involved. With the cloud-based terminal solution, the terminal simply needs an Internet connection to connect to the cloud.
Our cloud terminal solution is versatile, supporting both on-premise and web applications. In December 2016, we are releasing a mobile option for our cloud terminal solution for card present transactions!
In all cases, the application just needs to have the terminal identified when initiating the sale transaction for the Constellation Payments gateway to connect to the terminal.
If you are looking for ways to simplify your terminal solution, or have any questions about our terminal solution set, feel free to reach out to our integration team at integration@csipay.com.