With the October deadline to deploy POS technology that complies with Europay/Visa/Mastercard (EMV), operators will be feeling the heat at HITEC as they search for a company that fits their needs.
Many merchants attending have done very little to prepare for this deadline, believing that the switch will be pushed. However, they should be aware that statistics show otherwise and 40% of debit cards and 70% of credit cards issued will be EMV enabled by the end of this year. Small merchants have backed off updating their systems to be EMV compliant because they believe they can avoid the cost of new equipment by paying an annual fee –but many of them are mistaken as there will be no exemption to those who do not have EMV-compliant technology.
With that said, cost constraints should not hinder operators from looking into EMV now. As the amount of large scale data breaches only increase, merchants should plan to implement these in the next coming months.
Alexzandria Williams is a University of Nevada, Las Vegas Rebel working towards a degree in Hospitality Management. Williams is the President of the UNLV chapter of HFTP. Experience in working in restaurants in both marketing & events at STK and the Nevada Restaurant Association made becoming a Point of Sale Product Specialist at SkyWire a smooth transition. Williams works on creating documentation and implementing products.
