This is a guest post from Lily Varon, a researcher serving eBusiness & Channel Strategy professionals

Globalizing your eCommerce business isn’t just an option anymore — in many cases, it’s an imperative. But accepting global online payments is VERY complicated. It includes the transmission of sensitive financial information, an array of diverse payment methods, a long list of players in the transaction stream and many regulatory considerations. Add to the equation the increasing importance of mobile and the seamless user experience the consumer is demanding, and it’s enough to make even the most seasoned eBusiness professional’s head spin. So what are we to do? eBusiness professionals are often looking to partner with payment service providers (PSPs) to help manage and streamline these complex payment processes. But the PSP vendor landscape is crowded and highly competitive, leaving eBusiness professionals unclear of which PSP will best serve their needs.

Together with payments analyst Denée Carrington and commerce technology analyst Peter Sheldon, we just published a report to help eBusiness professionals navigate the maze of solutions and vendors at hand to help them meet the global payments challenge. Here are a few key questions eBusiness professionals should consider before signing on with any PSP:

What are my long-term global payments needs? Companies with established websites in developed eCommerce markets like the US and the UK may be lulled into thinking that by accepting credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal, they’ve set themselves up for global eCommerce success. And while those payment types will cover your bases in North America and several parts of Europe, there are several highly developed markets and many important emerging markets that call for localized payment methods.

What are my security and compliance requirements? eBusiness professionals are on the hook to ensure that their customers’ financial information is stored securely. All major PSP solutions are software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions hosted securely in the cloud. However, how an eBusiness integrates into its PSP can have profound security and PCI compliance implications.

What makes my payments needs unique? Do you need a PSP with deep mobile payments expertise? Do you need a vendor with extensive developer-friendly toolkits available? Do you need a vendor that will assist you in the establishing merchant accounts and acquiring bank relationships in your target global markets? All of these considerations must come into play when evaluating potential PSP partners.

There are hundreds of vendors in this space, with various approaches and offerings. In our latest report, we offer an overview of six established payment service providers. The vendors we looked at were:

Adyen, Braintree Payment Solutions, CyberSource, Digital River World Payments, First Data, and Global Collect.

Forrester clients who are keen to learn more about the solutions and factors they should consider when choosing a payment service provider should schedule an inquiry with us to discuss further. I look forward to your comments.

Thanks,

Lily