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Inspiration

Payments, a retrospectiv
Payments, a retrospective
e

Our amazing, evolving technology

ack in 2003, instead of email, we wrote e-mail, all of them helping to make the industry more efficient
and we visited Web sites, not websites. and streamlined. Of course, due to brilliant innovators
Simplifications like these naturally occur with among us, they can't compare with the enhanced CRM re-
B language over time. But rapid advancements sources available to ISOs today.
in technology—new on the scene when considering the
whole of human evolution—have led to far greater chang- Adoption of cloud-based software subscriptions increased
es in business overall and payments in particular over the rapidly in the 2010s due to the increasing availability of
last 20 years. high-speed internet, the growing popularity of mobile de-
vices, and the increasing demand for flexibility and scal-
For example, in our July 28 2003, Inspiration feature, "Mi- ability in business software. Today, cloud-based software
crosoft Excel-lence," we encouraged people to make full subscriptions are the norm for many businesses, including
use of the Excel spreadsheet program, which was launched some big names in payments.
as part of Microsoft Office in 1998:
It would be quaint if I were to offer tips on how to use
"There is a software package to meet most any need. But Excel in this column today. But, despite the rapid trans-
perhaps the ones we use most are the so-called office func- formations we continue to experience, we still use spread-
tion packages," we wrote. "These packages make it easy to sheet software. Excel remains popular, along with Google
produce flawless documents, prepare professional presen- Sheets and other options, each attempting to gain market
tations and create detailed budgets, reports and track al- share.
most any imaginable product, procedure or event. ... If you
haven't discovered the versatility of spreadsheet software, And our industry's feet on the street continue to be the
you might want to give it a try. Spreadsheets can help you bridge between individual merchants and the amazing
keep track of everything involving your merchants and business tools our industry now offers. Among those tools
residuals. One of the most popular spreadsheet programs is the ever-more-powerful POS. It's come a long way from
is Microsoft's Excel." knuckle busters of old to the full-featured, tailored POS
systems of today.
Back then, most of us purchased and downloaded soft-
ware, along with what seemed like endless updates. Sub- You can read all about this grand technological evolution
scribing to software based in the cloud was not yet wide- in this issue's lead article, "Payments, a retrospective: The
spread. Salesforce.com was among the first to offer sub- changing point of sale." And remember always, it's the
scriptions. That was in 1999. Amazon Web Services and people behind the products—those who conceive of them,
Google Apps launched in 2006. those who develop and market them, and ultimately those
who effectively explain all of their features and benefits to
In 2003, when Wi-Fi was becoming mainstream, Merchant merchants—who make all the difference.
Account Executive introduced ISOdesk, known as the first
cloud-based software for ISOs. Its main features were a
central repository for all customer data, automated report-
ing and a mobile app. Others soon followed: MerchantHQ
in 2004, MerchantPro in 2005 and eMerchantPro in 2006, Kate Gillespie, President and CEO

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