Deploying smart terminals at the point-of-sale benefits processors, merchants, and consumers alike. With smart terminals, consumers have the flexibility to pay how they want. Merchants benefit from multiple value-added services, and processors that deploy smart terminals can help meet the needs of small businesses.  

To learn more about the benefits of deploying smart payment terminals, PaymentsJournal sat down with Gregg Aamoth, Co-Founder & CEO of POPcodes and Don Apgar, Director of Merchant Services Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group. 

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What makes a payment terminal “smart”?  

Once upon a time, the main purpose of cell phones was to make and receive phone calls. But with the evolution of smartphones, phone calls now make up just a fraction of how consumers use their mobile devices.  

Like phones, payment terminals have evolved immensely over time. “The reality is that now a smartphone is really not used as much for talking, but the vast majority of its uses [are] for other applications. And I see the same kind of evolution happening on the smart terminal side,” said Aamoth.  

It is important to note that contactless payment acceptance alone does not make a terminal ‘smart.’ “A smart terminal should have multiple payment options, contactless tapping of cards, digital wallets, etc. It should have multiple communications channels, so it can be Wi-Fi enabled, GPRS enabled, and locally connected to point of sales systems. And, most importantly, it should have the ability to run multiple applications,” explained Aamoth.  

Using non-smart terminals in today’s world is comparable to using old-school flip phones; it just doesn’t make sense. That’s what makes it so important to have smart terminal infrastructure with full, rich capabilities. “The user interface that a terminal affords… is just such untapped potential. So I think that the time is ripe for a smart terminal window in our pay...