Checklist to migrate payment processing without disrupting your business

For fast-growing businesses, there are good reasons to migrate payment processing to a more robust platform. With the right merchant services provider, you can gain valuable benefits such as faster funding, better approval rates, enhanced reporting, advanced security and global payment acceptance. However, maintaining business continuity during the transition requires careful planning to avoid disruption to your payment processing.

If you’re not switching gateways, it’s usually quick and easy to migrate payment processing. If you have a more complex payment infrastructure, it’s a bigger task. Successful payment processing migration requires a structured action plan that includes plenty of testing and a solid contingency plan. To help you get started, we’re providing key questions to assess your needs, and a migration checklist to create your action plan for switching to a new payment processor.

5 questions for your payment processing migration

1. What’s your current merchant services setup?

The technical scope of your payment processing migration will depend on your current infrastructure and how you accept card payments.

• Virtual terminal users can streamline switching payment processors. You’ll only need a new merchant identification number (MID) and will receive step-by-step instructions. Typically, you can get started quickly with minimal technical requirements to accept payments via the new platform.
• If you have a more sophisticated e-commerce or receivables implementation (e.g., use a third-party API), migration is straightforward, but you’ll need to loop any third parties into your project plan.

• Tap the experts at your new merchant services At SVB, we work closely with clients to make it easier to migrate payment processing. Your team can also access a developer sandbox to get familiar with available tools.

2. What are your evolving payment processing needs?

As your business grows, so do your payment needs. To ensure you can make the best use of the latest payment innovations and reporting options, consider these questions:

• Do you need to offer a broader array of payment options to help grow market share?
• What kinds of reports and transaction data would help you access better analytics for decision-making?
• How much do you expect volume to grow? 
• Are you planning international expansion?

Define the optimal use case so that your new implementation will support your goals.

3. Do you need to meet new requirements?

If you’ve been accepting payments via an intermediary service (also known as an aggregator), you may not have had to meet certain industry requirements. To gain your own merchant account, you need to adhere to some e-commerce standards for security and compliance.

Specifically, your website must disclose all your terms and conditions – most importantly, policies for shipping, returns, cancellations and refunds, as well as data privacy. Those policies will protect you in the long run, and can help you  and better resolve disputes.

Your new merchant services provider will also give you a list of the financial statements to submit in order to be approved for merchant status.

4. When do you want to complete the payment processing migration?

If you’re not switching gateways, migration can take less than a day. Otherwise, expect the process to take from one to four months, depending on your implementation and available resources. Develop a time frame for ending your existing payment processor relationship.

To ensure payment continuity during the transition, keep the existing and the new platform running in parallel for some time. You may want to continue this for 180 days after the switch to resolve any remaining transaction issues. Once you end your existing contract, retain your old records in case of an audit.

5. What should you do first?

One of the biggest hurdles in payment processing migration is simply making it a priority. An SVB Payments Advisor can help you identify the resources you’ll need to get the job done.

Next, create a migration plan and engage key stakeholders to get buy-in on a start date. Use the following checklist to help you create a plan to migrate payment processing without disrupting your business.

Checklist to plan your payment processing migration

Include these tasks as you develop an action plan to migrate payment processing to a new provider:

• Identify, engage and inform key stakeholders. Successful migration requires support and involvement from various stakeholders including your senior leadership, investors, and customers. Educate them about the payoffs and how that aligns with company goals and priorities. Also clarify the timeline and steps you’ll take to minimize impacts. Provide routine updates so the project remains a priority.
• Assemble the right project team. It’s important to involve your finance leaders, such as your CFO or VP of Finance, so the new platform’s reporting tools are set up to meet their needs. On the IT side, assign an experienced developer. Relying on someone who is just learning how to work with the relevant APIs and sandboxes may slow the process. Consider involving people from training, marketing, legal and risk management as appropriate.
• Allocate the appropriate hours and budget. Before project kickoff, assign the necessary team hours and dollars to it. Making sure you have dedicated staff who can focus on the migration is a key factor in sticking to your timeline.
• Develop a timeline. Set a schedule that identifies milestones for each phase, including upfront business analysis, gathering requirements, coding, system setup, testing and certification, and launch. Analyze your customers’ peak and off-peak buying patterns so you go live when volumes are the lowest to minimize any potential payment disruption. Schedule regular update meetings with task owners to check the timeline and resolve issues.
• Review your business continuity plan. There is always a chance for some kind of disruption when new systems are in place and employees are learning how to use them. A contingency plan will help build internal support for this migration too. If you’re currently accepting card payments, review the existing contingency plan to ensure it is sufficient. If you’re new to card acceptance, devise a plan for potential glitches, such as terminal malfunctions and fraud.
• Plan to test throughout the process. Testing is critical for successful payment processing migration. Test and iterate as you go through the process. Don’t skimp on the amount of time and resources needed to guarantee comprehensive testing, especially as you prepare to go live.

Learn how SVB Merchant Services can help you migrate payment processing to robust capabilities that are tailored to your business needs and built for growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to migrate to a new payment platform?

The timeline to migrate payment processing to a new merchant services provider depends on your business complexity. Virtual terminal setups can often transition within a day. More complex infrastructures such as multiple e-commerce sites and locations, as well as high-volume or high-risk processing needs may take 30 -90 days. Look for a provider that offers dedicated migration support and understands your business models. They can help you manage documentation review, integrations, and staff training for a faster, smoother transition.

How do we maintain payment processing during a platform migration?

Migrating to a new provider requires a phased approach to ensure uninterrupted payment processing. Keep your existing merchant services active until your new system is fully tested and operational. Most providers offer parallel processing capabilities, allowing you to gradually transition transaction volume from your old to new platform. Testing in small batches at low transaction periods helps you avoid disruption to your customers and your business.

What documentation is needed to switch merchant services providers?

To migrate merchant services, your new provider may require a variety of business documents. For example, details about your company such as articles of incorporation and business licenses, recent financial statements, and business checking account verification. They will also need merchant information like previous processing statements and PCI compliance certification. Having these documents ready before initiating payment processing migration could speed up approval time to get started sooner.