The Benefits Of Hosting A Payment Infrastructure On Aws

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Although the cloud is the future of payments and online payment gateway, many payment companies continue to use on-premise servers that are difficult and expensive to manage. We examine the advantages of hosting a payments infrastructure on AWS.

Companies in the payments industry must comply with a slew of regulations and Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards for data storage and management.

Not only are these organizations responsible for the physical security of systems, but they must also ensure that sensitive payment card information collected at the point of sale is fully encrypted both at rest and in-flight. System audits must be performed on a regular basis, and changes must be documented. Most payment organizations prioritize achieving PCI compliance in a cost-effective manner.

While compliance is critical, it is only one piece of the puzzle. Payments technology firms must maintain security while also remaining agile, consistent, and innovative. Getting all of those things done on a budget can be difficult. This article examines the numerous challenges that payments companies face, as well as why ...
... hosting a payments infrastructure on Amazon Web Services (AWS) can be advantageous.

Challenges
Payments organizations that use on-premise servers face a slew of challenges that can stymie their ability to stay cutting-edge and competitive. Balancing agility with compliance and security can be difficult, but it is not insurmountable.
Here are some of the most common issues that businesses face:

Scalability
On-premise servers require enough data storage and processing power to handle peak customer traffic. Knowing when and how traffic will peak is nearly impossible, so organizations must sometimes scale up far beyond what they normally require to accommodate any traffic spikes. Alternatively, not scaling results in downtime or crashes during traffic surges.

Companies that do scale up discover that the majority of data storage and processing goes to waste the majority of the time, despite the fact that spinning up new servers costs thousands of dollars. It can also take weeks to spin up new servers, causing delays in new product launches and hiccups in serving existing customers. Payments companies must find a solution that can quickly scale up or down in response to changes in customer traffic.

Security and Compliance
PCI compliance and other regulations must be followed. Payments companies must protect their systems and customer data from breaches, fraud, and other types of attacks. FinTech, financial services, and payments are heavily regulated, making it critical for companies that fall under these umbrellas to find technology partners who are accredited by all necessary regulatory bodies and adhere to current ISO data security standards.

Keeping Up with Innovation
Infrastructure management and maintenance consume a significant amount of IT resources. Payment companies can shift the burden to the cloud while still securing systems and controlling compliance with on-premise IT systems. This shift allows for a greater emphasis on strategy and innovation, allowing organizations to remain competitive in a crowded industry.

Why Amazon Web Services (AWS) Works
The shared responsibility element for security is one of the most significant opportunities for companies switching to AWS. AWS is in charge of the security of the IT infrastructure that powers the cloud's engine room. The best online payment gateway companies can then use AWS tools like operating systems, firewalls, encryption, and identity and access management to control security around customer data in the cloud (IAM). Furthermore, AWS continues to update security measures with no additional client investment required.

AWS provides a distinct value proposition to FinTech companies migrating to the cloud. In an industry that is constantly changing and where regulations are constantly evolving, de-risking business models is critical and frequently necessitates collaboration with regulators. AWS encourages this type of collaboration and can provide the tools required to maintain the highest levels of security at all times.

AWS provides scalability by allowing clients to configure computing resources and data capacity as needed and quickly. Users can log into their accounts and adjust parameters in minutes to accommodate traffic spikes. Globally, AWS Elastic Computing (EC2) has a Service Level Agreement of 99.9% instance availability. Backup servers are ready and able to pick up the slack if any of the others fail.

AWS handles IT heavy lifting in a variety of ways, including encryption, firewall strength, and compliance with international security standards. Client IT teams can now focus on strategic business initiatives that add value, thanks to the time saved.

Scaling up with AWS
Perhaps most importantly, the cost structure is significantly better. AWS is a pay-for-what-you-use service, which allows clients to scale up and down without overpaying for unnecessary hardware and server management that they won't use outside of peak seasons.

FinTechs considering moving from on-premise servers to the cloud should look into what AWS has to offer. The benefits of compliance and security alone are compelling reasons to migrate, but the ability to quickly scale up without incurring unnecessary costs is also appealing. Cloud computing is the way of the future for payments, and AWS is a step in the right direction.