Why Does PCI Scope Matter to Business Owners?

As a business owner, why should you care about PCI scope? It may not seem important, but it can easily impact your business if you aren’t taking the necessary measures.

What Is PCI?

Payment Card Industry (PCI) Compliance, is “a set of security standards designed to ensure that ALL companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment” (source). 

PCI Compliance is monitored by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). They help to ensure that payment and fintech companies adhere to specific guidelines, practices, and standards to ensure payment data is stored and managed securely.

What Does PCI Scope Mean Exactly?

PCI Scope is what parts of your business environment the PCI SSC determines must meet their guidelines. Since their guidelines deal with the proper storing and management of cardholder data, they consider anything that stores, processes or transmits data as “in scope”.

What Does It Mean to Be Out of PCI Scope?

When you partner with a payment or fintech company that keeps PCI “out of scope”, it means that they take the necessary steps to ensure payment data security for your business on your behalf. 

These companies are required to submit thorough paperwork to the PCI SSC every year demonstrating their compliance. They also partake in annual PCI training and require all employees to be knowledgeable in cardholder data safety practices.

Why Should I Partner With Someone Who Keeps PCI Out of Scope?

Partnering with a payment or fintech company that keeps you out of scope for PCI has numerous benefits, such as:

• Reducing compliance and operation costs
• Increase cardholder data security
• Reducing breach risk and liability
• Expert knowledge and reliability

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