The importance of integrating payment connectors with Microsoft Dynamics 365

This article is sponsored by Evenica, provider of the e4Payment Connector.

In the evolving world of commerce, integrating payment connectors with operational platforms like Dynamics 365 Commerce isn't just an operational choice – it’s necessary to achieve strategic goals.

A recent online panel brought together experts to discuss the evolution of payment connectors in today’s commerce landscape and how businesses are using them to simplify processes, enhance customer satisfaction, and stay competitive. 

The event was hosted by Rick McCutcheon, a Microsoft MVP and host of PartnerTalks. It featured panelists from Evenica and Crimson Transaction Technologies, who jointly provide the payment switch portion of the e4Payment solution, to discuss what payment connectors do, how they boost customer experience, how to best integrate them with key business systems, and how commerce technology is evolving to meet future needs.

The role of payment connectors

Payment connectors serve as bridges between point-of-sale (POS) systems and online stores to financial institutions. These connectors play a key role in securely and efficiently transferring payment data from the digital sales channels to be processed for banks, financial institutions or other service providers such as gift card and loyalty.

Complimentary to the base payment processor’s function that handle the actual authorizations and captures directly with financial institutions during transactions, connectors focus on managing broader types of requests and responses to enable experience in the digital channel. They take care of tasks such as sending, checking, and routing information to the right place (i.e. authorizations, capturing, returns, void, gift cards operations, loyalty operations, and more). This helps businesses easily accept different payment methods and manage processes across various channels with the end goal to improve the experience of how customers interact with the last mile of the engagement – the payment.

"A payment processor is the end financial institution that actually does the processing of credit cards," said David Mears, CTO at Crimson Transaction Technologies. "What a connector does is connect the point of sale with the financial institution. It involves connecting with the payment device at the retail environment or the web host in the case of e-commerce."

Enhancing business efficiency and the customer experience

One of the benefits of integrating payment connectors with Dynamics 365 is that it simplifies the customer experience.

Gustavo Roland de Oliveira, a technical advisor at Evenica, pointed out that the payment process is often the “last mile” of a customer’s journey. Any problems during this step can hurt customer satisfaction and loyalty. Payment connectors ensure a smooth payment process.

"So any friction at the last mile can represent the loss of the effort applied all the way through to get the customer to that stage, which is the payment," he said.

Beyond simply processing payments, connectors enable advanced features such as loyalty programs, tokenized payments, and integration with modern payment methods. These features enhance the overall shopping experience, providing businesses with a competitive edge. For instance, tokenization securely stores customer payment details, making it easier and safer to handle repeat transactions, Mears added.

Integration with Dynamics 365: A strategic advantage

Connecting payment systems with Dynamics 365 opens up many useful features that go beyond just handling payments. 

Roland explained that these connectors work with Dynamics 365 to create a smooth shopping experience by connecting store systems, online stores, and call centers, ensuring customers receive the same great service no matter how they interact with the business.

Additionally, he noted that payment connectors help businesses manage data effectively by capturing transaction details and linking them with Dynamics 365. This allows businesses to use the data for tracking finances, preventing fraud, auditing, and improving customer relationships. And these insights let companies make smarter decisions, save money, and offer personalized experiences to their customers.

Adapting to business needs 

Payment connectors are not one-size-fits-all solutions; rather, they can be easily customized to fit the specific needs of any business.

Mears and Roland advised that organizations look to set up payment connectors to support specific business rules, such as limiting certain refunds or adding loyalty programs. This flexibility helps businesses follow their policies and industry rules while providing their customers with personalized experiences.

Angelo Kalpakis, director at Crimson Transaction Technologies, emphasized that for retailers, the cost of processing transactions is often lower when they use a payment system that connects directly with payment processors instead of going through third-party providers. This approach helps businesses cut costs and increase profits across different payment methods and sales channels.

"The retailers actually benefit from the companies that do handle the conversion of the transaction purchase," he said. "For example, if you're paying at a pin pad and you want to pay in your home currency, the cost for the home currency conversion is impacted on the customer themself, and the retailer and the company that handles the currency conversion both split the profits 50-50 in that respect. So the retailer ends up actually making some money on that."

The commerce environment is always changing, and businesses need to keep up to be successful. Integrating payment connectors with Dynamics 365 simplifies operations, improves the customer experience, and equips businesses with the tools they need to stay competitive.