The world is gradually moving to the cloud, and Visa is bargaining on this in the launch of their latest innovation, which is seen as a move that will revolutionize the way we make payments in exchange for goods and services.
In what can be termed the future of point of sale payment, on 13th January 2021, Visa announced the launch of Visa Acceptance Cloud (VAC), which will let acquirers, payment service providers, point of sale (POS) manufacturers, and Internet of Things (IoT) players move payment processing software from being embedded in each hardware device to being universally accessible in the cloud. Visa says VAC would turn almost any device into the cloud-connected payment terminal.
This will eliminate the need to purchase a Point of Sale (POS) or any other hardware that is needed to make payment. All that is needed with the launch of this VAC is a device that can be connected to the cloud which will enable the user to transfer money from the customer’s account to his or her account.
The new VAC platform follows Visa’s successful “Tap to Phone,” launched in January 2020. An industry-first solution that transforms current generation Android smartphones and tablets into contact-less point of sale terminals. Tap to Phone was Visa’s first offering that let sellers accept payments on the devices they already own, just by downloading an app. As of December 2021, there were over 300,000 devices across 54 countries using Tap to Phone.
Expanding beyond phones, Visa Acceptance Cloud enables any POS or connected device to seamlessly accept payments and to incorporate a range of added services, including buy now, pay later, fraud management, Rapid Seller Onboarding, and advanced data analytics. The ongoing pilots in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia cater to a variety of use cases, including retailers and restaurants in Australia through Visa’s work with U.S.-based fintech, Bleu, NOBAL Technologies’ smart mirror and public trains in Brazil.
The press release further stated that “VAC is a universal platform that helps open up acceptance for all–by freeing our leading technology partners to innovate. On one end of the spectrum, cloud acceptance helps drive inclusion for more small sellers who want to offer digital payments. On the other end, Visa Acceptance Cloud enables advanced shopping and buying experiences that will be central to the future of retail for businesses of all shapes and sizes,” continued Bowman. “Moving acceptance to the cloud opens up the possibility of so much innovation from the entire payments ecosystem. This is only the beginning.”
For further information, Visa has provided a YouTube Video to better explain the inner workings of the Visa Acceptance Cloud.
About Visa
Visa is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating more than 215 billion payments transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories each year. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement.