Taking payments from hardware to anywhere
For 37 years, Datacap Systems Inc. has designed, manufactured and marketed a range of innovative integrated and adaptable solutions. The company's simple interface and broad compatibility with POS systems enables its products to adapt to a range of industries while keeping up with evolving trends and payments industry security requirements. Distributed by authorized resellers, Datacap's products and solutions are backed by top-tier installation, service and support, company representatives noted.
Datacap's current product offerings may seem worlds apart from earlier models, but the company's core principles of security, connectivity, seamless integration and real-time reporting have stood the test of time, stated Justin Zeigler, director of product at Datacap. For example, long before cloud technologies became popular, franchise owners could use Datacap centralized servers to view real-time data across multiple stores, a novel concept in the 1980s.
Datacap leveraged its integration expertise with its early line of DC2000, DC4000 and DC6000 software-enabled cash registers. The company eventually lifted the integration component from the terminals to create DataTran, a standalone integration solution that worked with any POS device. This defining product set the stage for next-generation integrations, Zeigler said.
High-speed connectivity
The decision to pivot from a verticalized POS terminal company to a horizontal integrated payments provider was not taken lightly, but it was the right move at the time, Zeigler recalled. "Back in the 90s, we burned ships in the harbor of what had been a successful business," he said. "When DataTran became the first iteration of our integrated payments middleware product, we began partnering with POS companies that only yesterday had been direct competitors."
With the emergence of IP-based payments in the late nineties, Datacap embraced the new trend by building NETePay, a flagship product that Zeigler characterized as the predecessor of the company's line of IP-based payments. In 2001, the company introduced a multimerchant version, and current iterations of NETePay remain a popular choice among merchants and service providers today, he added.
Forward-looking
As he looked ahead to the next iteration of NETePay, Zeigler noted that the hosted platform is designed for midsize merchant acquirers and ISOs. In addition to supporting all North American processors and PIN pads from Ingenico, PAX, Verifone and IDTech, the brandable NETePay platform will enable users to manage ecommerce and brick-and-mortar, Zeigler noted. "We've spent the last couple of years building a hosted platform that is truly omnichannel and turnkey for point of sale providers," he said. "What's unique about this platform is its merchant-facing and dealer-facing components with single-access views of real-time reporting."
Merchants and dealers can use the portal to see a snapshot of trends, transactions they're doing and business intelligence across multiple stores or a single store, he added. The hosted platform is compatible with hundreds of vertically focused POS systems. ISOs and acquirers can also white label the platforms to build brand awareness with merchants and sales channel partners.
Backward compatible
Additionally, backward compatibility is a core value at Datacap, Zeigler stated. "We're a long-term thinking company whenever we make product decisions," he said. "Development and engineering are our most precious resources that we don't ever want to waste; we do our best to spend them wisely."
Zeigler pointed out that the Datacap team has always believed they can stay in their lane and provide value to help their partners grow. Whether it's a developer, agent or acquirer, the company wants to keep providing innovative solutions that check all their boxes and help them move ahead, he added.
"Datacap serves a growing constituency of manufacturers, partners and resellers that process more than $100 billion in transaction volume and roughly 5.5 billion transactions annually," Zeigler said. "We focus on building long-term relationships and sustainable business practices. When we make any kind of sweeping change to our systems, we do it in a way that doesn't alienate or leave behind a subsection of our existing base." 
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact information, links and other details may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
