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This article appears in the Oct. 15, 2009, edition of ISO&Agent Weekly.
The Electronic Transactions Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group representing the merchant-acquiring industry, is developing a program that will provide credentials for agents who sell merchant services, Carla Balakgie, ETA CEO, tells ISO&Agent Weekly.
"We want to mitigate some of the less-scrupulous practices out there," Balakgie says. Currently, the ETA is conducting a job-analysis survey to determine the duties
workers perform, whether they work in sales, operations, finance or technology. The results will help determine the nature of the credentialing exam, Balakgie says.
The timeframe for completing this phase and debuting a credentialing exam is dependent on what the ETA discovers. The job-analysis phase, which started in October, could take six to nine months, Balakgie says.
Merchant-acquiring professionals have discussed the concept of a certification program or similar effort for several years. Less than a year ago, the ETA board of directors decided "it was time to answer this question," Balakgie says.
The first step was a feasibility study to see if a certification program was possible and to "quantify anecdotal feedback" association leaders had gathered over the years, she says.
Industry Cohesion
As someone who has monitored professional-development efforts in the industry, Anna Solomon, cofounder and president of Fast Transact Inc., a Lacey, Wash.-based ISO, is glad to see the ETA's work on this initiative.
"With an established and respected association like the ETA, it will bring about a lot of cohesion for this industry," Solomon tells ISO&Agent Weekly. "One of the biggest complaints from the sales agents is lack of or improper training in the very basics of selling bankcard [services]. An educational program that leads to a certification based on standardized basic knowledge will help the sales agent begin a successful career in this industry. Too many are out there discovering the hard way that they have been poorly trained."
Earlier this year, Solomon was part of a group on LinkedIn.com, a social-networking site, that found 68% of respondents to a survey agreed that an agent-level registration program would help the industry regulate itself (ISO&Agent Weekly, 8/6).
"This is the first of many steps this industry needs to take to clean up their own backyard," Solomon says. "Starting off with a proper training program can go a long way towards accomplishing that goal."
Balakgie sees other benefits to the program, Solomon says.
Individuals who receive the certification approval then will be able to pitch that as expertise to merchants and potential employers and ISOs. Employers likewise could benefit assuming the theory of "better informed and better trained employees perform better," Balakgie says.
A credentialing program also demonstrates the industry's ability to regulate itself, which may be important as government regulators scrutinize merchant acquirers, she says.
The certification program itself will undergo review and testing before it is ready for industry professionals. Participants will not be required to complete ETA training courses to take the test, Balakgie says. Additionally, the test would be open to industry professionals regardless of experience, she says.
