All businesses that accept payment cards or that store or process payment card data must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). Established to protect card data and reduce fraud, PCI DSS has set security standards for merchants based on the number of payment card transactions they process each year or whether they write their own code or store data on their own servers. PCI compliance management assists the business with managed IT and security services that ensure it is operating in compliance with the standard.

Why It Matters to Your Customers

The requirements for PCI DSS align with best practices for IT security. The 2017 Verizon Data Breach Report showed a correlation between PCI compliance and a merchant business’ ability to protect itself from cyberattack. PCI compliance should not be considered an annual “house cleaning” to get things in order for PCI certification, but rather the standard for ensuring data and the business’ payment environment is secure.

Non-compliance with PCI DSS can potentially result in legal action, fines, and punitive action from card brands such as higher payment card processing charges.

Why PCI Compliance Management is an Opportunity

Outsourcing PCI compliance management to a managed services provider (MSP) can resolve issues for merchants such as limited in-house IT resources and limited time. Your merchant clients may need help with patch management, log monitoring and retention, firewall management, and internal and external network vulnerability scanning—or they may need a turnkey PCI security solution that includes PCI assessment and pre-audit services, PCI remediation services to correct non-compliance issues, and PCI reporting.

Tools are available that allow you to scan a business’ card data environment to see if it meets requirements for PCI compliance. Leveraging this type of solution can save you time and resources—or provide you with a sales tool to demonstrate to prospects why they need your services.

To provide PCI compliance management services, you should be PCI certified. For example, external compliance scans must be completed by an Approved Scanning Vendor (ASV), and installation and maintenance of payment systems should be performed by a QIR (Qualified Integrator and Reseller). Seeking a PCI certification to match the services you wish to provide can help differentiate your business from your competitors in this competitive market.