In the payments industry, data can be  just as important as the payment transaction itself. The trick is having a payment processor that can collect data and present it to merchants in a way that offers to add value to not only them, but their customers as well. But there is something that makes it possible for retailers to leverage data responsibly: Cloud technology, which has transformed the technology landscape over the past decade.

To learn more about how legacy payment processing systems create a disadvantage for retailers — and what the cloud has to offer —PaymentsJournal spoke with Scotty Perkins, Senior VP of Product Innovation at Quisitive LedgerPay, and Dan Devlin, Quisitive LedgerPay’s Senior VP of Operations, along with Raymond Pucci, Director of Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group.

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Legacy payment processing technology isn’t up to par

Historically, payment processing has been based on multi-layered legacy technology that is largely commoditized and not particularly innovative. Further, much of the innovation that has happened has occurred outside of core processing capabilities. As a result, legacy payment processing systems that were built exclusively to process payments can only handle a very small amount of data and offer few additional capabilities.

This significantly limits retailers and merchants from being able to leverage the data to better serve customers and drive revenue growth. Beyond that, many merchants don’t believe that they are getting the maximum value out of their processor. Payment processing often involves a number of bundled fees for a service that, while essential, is relatively basic. The result: Payment processing is viewed by retailers as little more than a necessary but costly evil.

This doesn’t have to be the case. Cloud technology can bring new efficiencies to the process while creating opportunities for merchants to better serve customers. “There are opportunities to take advantage of efficiencies in the cloud that can bring cost efficiency to traditional payment processing,” said Perkins, “But the real advantages are increased security, faster access to data, and an infrastructure that is essentially future proofed in a rapidly changing technology landscape. Pucci agreed, adding that because processing costs are a major pain point for merchants, they “are all in on whatever new technology can bring cost ef...