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Intermediate processors also set their own certification requirements. Each has Considering these Groundhog Day
tweaked its systems to cater to the needs of its merchant portfolio, meaning working conditions, is it any wonder
more use cases to test and certify, and recertify when change occurs. that there's high turnover in certi-
fications? That talented IT workers
For highly regulated industries, like banking and healthcare, certifying can be may choose to seek a different career
even more onerous. Even after their products are successfully certified, they path? That the constant churn means
typically take another 90 days to move the release from staging systems into your company will never be able to
production. By that time, the next set of changes has arrived, and they need to improve the quality or efficiency of
restart the certification process again. Like Charlie Brown and the football, they its certification process?
never quite get to kick it.
Time for a better way
Clearly, certifications are ripe for a
better way, one that leads to excel-
lence and cost-effectiveness in this
vital if onerous discipline – a utility
or center of excellence.

What does a great utility do? It offers
a service essential to many parties.
It hires top-level engineers skilled
in that particular service. By per-
forming the same service for many
clients, it develops a higher level of
expertise than its users can do sepa-
rately. It enables its users to negoti-
ate and thereby predict their costs. It
spreads the costs across multiple us-
ers to the benefit of all. It can operate
on its client's site or remotely.

It creates excellence in two key ways.
It constantly improves, raising its
own standards and even establish-
ing new standards for its partners. It
makes a front-office job out of what
had been unesteemed back-office
work – a place where talented IT
workers know they are their com-
pany's revenue producers.

If the growing demand for more and
increasingly granular certifications
threatens to hinder your innovation
and other priorities, a certifications
utility or center of excellence may be
your solution.

Naganand Jagadeesh is Vice President,
Payment and Loyalty Solutions, of
ThoughtFocus. He can be reached at
naganandj@thoughtfocus.com. In 2018,
ThoughtFocus plans to perform primary
research on EMV certification volumes and
costs. If you would like to participate in the
research and receive its results, contact
anissa.cooke-batista@thoughtfocus.com.

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