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Features
Pitfalls of proliferating relationship between P2PE and P2P when P2P is used to
abbreviate person-to-person, though someone unfamiliar
payment speak with the industry could easily assume a connection exists.
The terms are being used concurrently and with increasing
frequency, creating a potential vulnerability point for the
industry.
Breeding ground for confusion
This type of overlap isn't a stumbling block for most
payment professionals, but it creates a breeding ground for
confusion among people new to or outside the industry.
"We casually throw out terms like chip and pin, EMV,
P2PE and other phrases we all understand, but we cannot
assume we can use these terms with a merchant with any
level of success," said Nancy Drexler, owner of Acquired
Marketing.
ISOs should be concerned about how their merchant
n Aug. 13, 2007, The Green Sheet published prospects and potential partners will interpret these
"Learning the ISO lingo," which addressed terms. As ISOs have raced to offer secure, state-of-the-art
challenges involved in understanding the ter- mobile solutions, they have needed to describe the features
O minology coined within the payments industry of mobile POS products, and P2P has become a standard
through the years. The article began: industry abbreviation for point-to-point. The acronym
appears in public relations releases and sales materials
"Like many business sectors, the payments industry has industry-wide. It is reasonable to assume it is also used by
coined its own vocabulary. But while doctors can turn to MLSs during in-person communications with customers.
the Physicians' Desk Reference, and entire law libraries
define legalese, our sphere has no comparable compendia. How much thought is being given to the likelihood that
P2P and P2PE are breeding confusion in the minds of
"Terms like 'vested residuals,' 'revenue share' and 'free merchants? Additionally, in an industry that is heavily
terminal placement' mean different things to different reliant on software integration partnerships and third-
people. This can create truly baffling conversations. party reseller relationships, competing terms such as these
Moreover, some of our murkiest verbiage describes ISO could make it more difficult to close partnership deals or
programs that merchant level salespeople (MLSs) depend convince resellers to sign on.
on for their livelihoods. And when misunderstandings
involve earnings, the consequences can be severe." A matter of credibility
Mushrooming tech terms Is there a solution? Drexler said that as the industry becomes
more technical, the number of acronyms will also rise, and
Fast forward eight years, and new terminology and the potential for encountering problematic terms such as
acronyms are proliferating, especially those having to do P2P and P2PE will increase. She recommends that industry
with technical innovations. Virtually every press release, leaders place this issue high on the credibility priority list.
news article, sales presentation and blog produced in the
industry today uses at least one, and often several, high- "Certainly, when we're speaking about person-to-person,
tech terms with corresponding acronyms. The industry's we mean something very different than when we talk
communications are beginning to sound like a foreign about point-to-point," she noted. "When merchants get
language to most laymen. Add in acronyms that are confused, the risk of being labeled as misleading is greater,
identical but have no connection to each other, and the and it is incumbent upon us as sales and marketing people
communication divide gets even wider. in the industry to take care not to speak in acronyms, but to
be very clear about what we say."
For example, one acronym that often appears has two
distinct meanings. The payments industry is increasingly As Drexler pointed out, the payments industry has often
referring to point-to-point as P2P, an acronym that has been considered a confusing and misleading industry in
been in wide use by the public to mean person-to-person the eyes of its market. She believes there's little room for
since consumers began sending payments directly to each its reputation to become further tainted by a cascade of
other via PayPal. acronyms. She said the only way to combat that is to be
extra vigilant about education, both inside and outside the
In addition, point-to-point encryption was aptly dubbed industry.
P2PE by the PCI Security Standards Council. There is no
50
Pitfalls of proliferating relationship between P2PE and P2P when P2P is used to
abbreviate person-to-person, though someone unfamiliar
payment speak with the industry could easily assume a connection exists.
The terms are being used concurrently and with increasing
frequency, creating a potential vulnerability point for the
industry.
Breeding ground for confusion
This type of overlap isn't a stumbling block for most
payment professionals, but it creates a breeding ground for
confusion among people new to or outside the industry.
"We casually throw out terms like chip and pin, EMV,
P2PE and other phrases we all understand, but we cannot
assume we can use these terms with a merchant with any
level of success," said Nancy Drexler, owner of Acquired
Marketing.
ISOs should be concerned about how their merchant
n Aug. 13, 2007, The Green Sheet published prospects and potential partners will interpret these
"Learning the ISO lingo," which addressed terms. As ISOs have raced to offer secure, state-of-the-art
challenges involved in understanding the ter- mobile solutions, they have needed to describe the features
O minology coined within the payments industry of mobile POS products, and P2P has become a standard
through the years. The article began: industry abbreviation for point-to-point. The acronym
appears in public relations releases and sales materials
"Like many business sectors, the payments industry has industry-wide. It is reasonable to assume it is also used by
coined its own vocabulary. But while doctors can turn to MLSs during in-person communications with customers.
the Physicians' Desk Reference, and entire law libraries
define legalese, our sphere has no comparable compendia. How much thought is being given to the likelihood that
P2P and P2PE are breeding confusion in the minds of
"Terms like 'vested residuals,' 'revenue share' and 'free merchants? Additionally, in an industry that is heavily
terminal placement' mean different things to different reliant on software integration partnerships and third-
people. This can create truly baffling conversations. party reseller relationships, competing terms such as these
Moreover, some of our murkiest verbiage describes ISO could make it more difficult to close partnership deals or
programs that merchant level salespeople (MLSs) depend convince resellers to sign on.
on for their livelihoods. And when misunderstandings
involve earnings, the consequences can be severe." A matter of credibility
Mushrooming tech terms Is there a solution? Drexler said that as the industry becomes
more technical, the number of acronyms will also rise, and
Fast forward eight years, and new terminology and the potential for encountering problematic terms such as
acronyms are proliferating, especially those having to do P2P and P2PE will increase. She recommends that industry
with technical innovations. Virtually every press release, leaders place this issue high on the credibility priority list.
news article, sales presentation and blog produced in the
industry today uses at least one, and often several, high- "Certainly, when we're speaking about person-to-person,
tech terms with corresponding acronyms. The industry's we mean something very different than when we talk
communications are beginning to sound like a foreign about point-to-point," she noted. "When merchants get
language to most laymen. Add in acronyms that are confused, the risk of being labeled as misleading is greater,
identical but have no connection to each other, and the and it is incumbent upon us as sales and marketing people
communication divide gets even wider. in the industry to take care not to speak in acronyms, but to
be very clear about what we say."
For example, one acronym that often appears has two
distinct meanings. The payments industry is increasingly As Drexler pointed out, the payments industry has often
referring to point-to-point as P2P, an acronym that has been considered a confusing and misleading industry in
been in wide use by the public to mean person-to-person the eyes of its market. She believes there's little room for
since consumers began sending payments directly to each its reputation to become further tainted by a cascade of
other via PayPal. acronyms. She said the only way to combat that is to be
extra vigilant about education, both inside and outside the
In addition, point-to-point encryption was aptly dubbed industry.
P2PE by the PCI Security Standards Council. There is no
50
