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support for other business functions such as accounting, real-time inventory Working with technology providers
management and staffing. Plus it can be leveraged for loyalty programs, with expertise in particular verticals
Dzerve noted. "ISOs and MLSs are in a tough spot," competing for merchants is another plus. "You need partners
against the likes of Square and ecommerce giant Shopify, he said. "Carbon 8 is who understand the [vertical] and
a solution that arms them for this battle." its pain points," said Andie Kolb.
Kolb, whose career in payments has
Partnering with tech firms included stints at several acquirers,
Karawadra is convinced that mobile ordering is hot, and he's been working on is Senior Vice President for Business
a mobile-ordering app for Impact's restaurant clients. "If you can partner with Development at QubeChain LLC.
a technology provider, apps are very easy to build, and they don't cost that QubeChain specializes in blockchain
much," he said. technology applications for several
markets, including payments and
Another important consideration: mobile solutions need to solve real needs, healthcare, and has worked with cli-
as extraneous, seldom used features can drag down payback. "One of the big ents in cannabis-related verticals.
challenges is to not add features that don't get used a lot," said Derek Webster,
founder and CEO of CardFlight Inc. "If you do, it will cost more and offer less Cannabis-related businesses are
value by having features that are not necessary." tightly regulated and require so-
phisticated technology solutions ca-
CardFlight is a software-as-a-service company specializing in mobile POS pable of tracking entire life cycles of
solutions. It has developed a turnkey mobile platform for ISOs and MLSs to products: planting, harvesting, test-
market to merchants that supports chip-secured and near field communication- ing, distribution, stocking and sales.
enabled payments via Android and iOS devices. The company inked a deal this These businesses also pose other
year with leading acquirer Vantiv Inc., which has co-branded the solution for unique challenges. For example,
sale through its ISO and financial institution partners. while cannabis distribution and sales
are legal for medical and recreational
purposes in about two dozen states,
Let Be Your EMV Expert! they remain illegal under federal law.

Consequently, a majority of sales are
Your EMV Eco-System Made Affordable! cash, as federally regulated banks are
averse to handling card transactions
eProcessing Network has the secure, payment solutions to help you stay current with the
technologies that keep your merchants connected. And with real-time EMV capabilities, for businesses involved in the can-
retailers can not only process contact and contactless payments, Apple Pay and Android Pay, nabis trade. This, in turn, leads to a
they’re able to manage their inventory as well as balance their books via QuickBooks Online. need for sophisticated cash manage-
ment tools, like cash vaults. Another
problem: each state legalizing canna-
bis sales has established unique op-
erating and regulatory requirements
for these businesses.
is EMV-Certified
QubeChain is developing a block-
chain-based solution that addresses
these needs. "As we evolve, we can
take this blockchain technology to
new merchants," Kolb said. And not
just cannabis-related merchants.
While initially used for crypto-cur-
rencies like bitcoin, blockchain tech-
nology can be applied to any business
processes that require simultaneous
access to and sharing of informa-
tion within and between enterprises.
"It's transformative, particularly in
certain verticals like healthcare and
1(800) 296-4810 commercial payments," Kolb added.
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