PCI DSS Benefits

PCI DSS Benefits

What is PCI DSS compliance?

Founded by major card issuers and networks such as VISA and MasterCard, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards that all merchants and organisations that store, process, or transmit cardholder data need to comply with.

PCI DSS compliance aims to ensure that consumers’ sensitive data is completely protected throughout the process by the business to avoid any data leaks or breaches. This is achieved by implementing several technical and operational requirements that monitor and track the success of your security measures and catch any vulnerabilities before they become a real threat to the business.

Preventing data breaches

As technology advances more rapidly than ever, data breaches are becoming more and more common, leaving all merchants at risk - regardless of whether you own a large or small business. Protecting your organisation from security threats and ultimately, data breaches, is the primary aim of PCI DSS compliance.

PCI DSS compliance is made up of several requirements put in place to ensure you’re implementing the correct measures to keep your customers’ cardholder data secure. With mandatory risk assessments and penetration testing performed annually, your business will be keenly aware of any vulnerabilities that arise over time and how action can be taken before these can be turned into legitimate threats.

With all the measures put in place to keep your business compliant, you’re able to rest assured that you’re doing everything possible to protect your customers from any data-related incidents. This also helps your business to avoid any expensive fines or costly losses that occur after a breach.

Increases likelihood of complying with other security standards

One of the most important benefits of PCI DSS compliance is how it impacts compliance with other industry security standards. PCI DSS compliance requires several processes such as penetration testing and risk assessments to remain valid. Having these measures in place and in-date also meets the requirements for SOC and ISO-27001 standards, amongst others.

PCI DSS benefits your organisation’s finances as well. By testing security controls also required by other standards, PCI compliance helps reduce the overall cost of company-wide security compliance. This is something that may also appeal to potential future investors or partners.

Builds customer trust and loyalty

Large data breaches are becoming more prominent in the media when they happen, especially if there are a significant number of consumers affected. As such, plenty of customers are wary of producing their cardholder data when online shopping – especially if the merchant has had a notable breach in the past.

Your customers won’t necessarily know what PCI DSS compliance is. However, more and more consumers are starting to recognise the logo on a transaction page alongside other security compliance pages, which displays a level of authority and trust.

This is why one of the benefits of PCI DSS compliance is customer trust – gaining customer loyalty increases the likelihood of repeat business. This also gives you a significant edge over non-compliant competitors.

Helps your business grow

Not only does PCI DSS compliance improve your relationship with your customers – it also helps you develop valuable connections with potential business partners. Third-party networks are often under scrutiny as hackers often see these as weak points, which is why more and more companies are choosing to only work with organisations that have achieved PCI DSS compliance.

Gives you peace of mind

Once you’ve achieved PCI DSS compliance, you’ll be able to enjoy the peace of mind that meeting all the security requirements will bring. Your stakeholders and business partners will see that, with less risk involved, there is much more reason to have confidence in working alongside your company.

Having built a level of trust with your customers, you can also rest assured that the likelihood of a disgruntled consumer base is much lower thanks to the reduced risk of a breach. This will also allow you to focus on the more important aspects of your business.

Discover PCI DSS benefits with Hicomply

Once you’ve put in place all the requirements, you’ll see how much PCI DSS benefits compliant businesses. However, the road to achieving this can be quite daunting as there is a lot to consider during the process.

At Hicomply, we aim to provide businesses with a dashboard where you can access everything your business needs for PCI DSS compliance in just one place. Our full-service ISMS platform makes organisation simple, so you can discover compliance while you work! Contact us now for more information.

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