hen you think about all there is to know about everything involved in payment processing, it can be overwhelming. It's kind of like looking up at the billions of stars in the sky on a clear night in the desert and pondering the hugeness and the nature of the universe.

Well, maybe not quite that big. But when you consider all the details that go into the processes of payments and transactions, you have to admit there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Integrating the pieces-debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, checks; brick-and-mortar merchants, telephone and Internet merchants; merchants with one corner store or international businesses; banks, acquirers, processors, consumers-into a seamless well oiled operation requires knowledge and experience.

Having a serious dedication to exceed customers' expectations for transaction processing applications and for customer service helps, too.

The people at Shift4 Corp. have succeeded in keeping pace with rapid-fire changes in the payment industry, thanks to their firm belief in leveraging their skills, gained through the years in a number of areas, and applying them to payment processing.

They take what they do very seriously, but not so much so that they've lost their sense of humor.

Take how they came up with the company name, for example. It had to be one that represented their core product's function, but with a twist. Despite meetings and discussions and lying awake at night, what it came down to was a couple of computer keyboard keys: Hold down "Shift" while striking the "4" key to make a "$."

Taking what they know about accounting, information technology and business administration, they created a company that offers comprehensive, enterprise-wide solutions and provides real-time electronic payment processing services that support every type of merchant.

J. David Oder, Shift4's President, CEO and Founder, has an extensive background in developing accounting software and POS applications for his accounting clients; he earned MBA and Master's degrees in MIS and Accounting from UCLA. In the mid-1980s, when electronic payment transactions were in their infancy, he began creating middleware to enable communication between retailers and processors.

These applications became the foundation for their current products. The DOS-based program called $$$ IN THE BANK (the "$$$" is pronounced "dollars"), released in 1992, provided connectivity for merchants through third party vendors.

Shift4 became an official company in 1994; Oder and his crew were soon at work on another application, $$$ IN THE BANK for Windows. This application was a fully integrated, multi-merchant, bank-independent, real time payment solution and was the most powerful credit card middleware and management software at that time.

Shift4's location in Las Vegas proved to be lucky-several large resorts began to implement $$$ IN THE BANK, taking advantage of its financial, operational and technical benefits. Within two years, the application was installed at most of the showcase hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.

This set the stage for Shift4's vertical expansion into the high-end hospitality market. The company now provides real time enterprise payment solutions to leading food and beverage, hospitality, retail and e-commerce organizations around the world, including Hilton Hotels, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn. and the PGA.

Today, Shift4's team includes several members of Oder's family-and people who have been with the company long enough to qualify as family. Oder said he's now more of the "visionary," and able to depend on the bright people he works with.

These include his wife Katherine, Executive Vice President and COO; son J.D., Vice President, Research and Development/CTO; and daughter Stephanie Stowers, Vice President, Installations and Support.

Two members of the Shift4 management team, Steven Sommers, Vice President, Applications Development, and Kevin Cronic, Vice President, Systems Development, have each been working as part of the team for over 20 years, Oder said.

Shift4 focuses on offering solutions for high-volume accounts and entities with multiple interfaces and locations. These solutions give merchants the ability to centralize control of all their electronic payment processes.

Shift4 currently offers a variety of solutions, including $$$ ON THE NET, a comprehensive accounting application with the ability to report, review and correct transactions before settlement to reduce the time required for month-end reconciliation.

$$$ ON THE NET is the only ASP model middleware on the market that supports every type of merchant, including hotels, restaurants, retail stores, car rental agencies, ticketing, MO/TO and e-commerce.

It's a complete accounting application with the ability to report, review and correct transactions before settlement to ensure users receive the best possible interchange rates.

"We host everything," Oder said. "It's easy to set up, it integrates with existing equipment and Internet connections, and there is very little dedicated infrastructure or hardware necessary."

One of $$$ ON THE NET's key features is the 24-month archive of transactions the program creates. Comprehensive reporting allows users to defend themselves against disputes and costly chargebacks for two years.

"We maintain credit card transactions in a secure database," Oder said. "Merchants can peruse and review them before sending on for processing. Transactions can be reviewed for 24 months for chargebacks and retrievals."

The system includes a wide range of features including accounting for credit cards and gateways. It's ideal for large chains, where a corporate office needs to track individual reports for each location, and company wide. "It's a powerful tool in the hands of auditors," Oder said.

Working on the ASP model has allowed Shift4 to develop comprehensive and flexible solutions. It's now working to broaden the customer base by offering fast processing and authorization at lower costs than it ever has.

"Originally, we were known as being on the top of the high-priced pyramid," Oder said. "But with the technology we've developed, we're moving down that pyramid. Our processing center has multiple broadband lines from diverse carriers, which enable us to deliver direct, high-speed processor connections to companies of all sizes."

Shift4 solutions are certified with 12 processors on all their platforms. Shift4 processed nearly $6 billion in payments in 2003, representing nearly 32 million settled transactions.

The majority of the company's clients are in North America, but Shift4 is branching out to Europe, Latin America, Australia and the Pacific Rim, to capitalize on the growing tourism industries in those areas.

Another significant factor in Shift4's growth is the Channel Partner Program. While the company has a direct, in-house sales team, this growing network of partners are POS/PMS providers, consultants, solutions developers and MSP/ISOs who serve as resellers, or give referrals, for Shift4.

Partners earn recurring revenue by bringing $$$ ON THE NET's robust payment processing solutions to those merchant customers, corporations and industries they know best. It allows them to offer a single solution to meet all of their customers' payment processing needs; numerous interfaces allow them to reach an even larger client base. Compliance is a major issue in payments these days and is definitely a critical area Shift4 pays very close attention to in developing its solutions. J.D. Oder II specializes in networks and telecommunications and works closely with Visa on system-wide security issues, Oder said.

Shift4 offers the highest level of compliance with card association regulations and is certified with Visa USA's Cardholder Information Security Program (CISP), MasterCard International's Site Data Protection (SDP) and American Express' Data Security Operating Policies (DSOP).

In addition to $$$ ON THE NET, Shift4 solutions include fully-integrated add-ons. For example, "It's Your Card" is a comprehensive gift card and certificate solution using the ASP model and offers the same universal POS/PMS integration, processor neutrality, advanced reporting, high-speed connectivity and low costs.

"It's Your Card" supports both plastic and e-cards sold on the Internet. Shift4 also provides extensive Web capabilities allowing merchants to sell, activate, deactivate, conduct balance inquiries and denominate cards online.

Through recently established partnerships with a variety of Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC) Processors, Shift4 now offers DCC through $$$ ON THE NET so that merchants can accept payments from cardholders anywhere in the world.

"Fraud Sentry," Shift4's proprietary "internal trusted employee" fraud control system, offers the most comprehensive solution to a major problem in the acceptance of credit cards.

According to the company, when trusted employees such as clerks, auditors or accountants issue credits to their or their friends' cards, it costs hotels, restaurants and retail establishments 0.1% to 2.5% of their gross credit card revenue each month.

With a little creativity, a lot of on-board talent and an open-minded approach to finding solutions to the challenges merchants of all sorts face each day, Shift4 is making it possible for these businesses to be a little more creative themselves.

"We support the POS vendor to deliver capabilities for their customers," Oder said. Sounds simple enough and not too overwhelming after all.