Pay Yourself First with Helcim

Who doesn’t want to save money? When it comes to processing all those credit card payments, a startup called Helcim is helping merchants across Canada and the United States save big-time, allowing businesses to pass on lower prices to the consumer. Helcim Founder and CEO Nicolas Beique spoke to RewardExpert about the advantages of using his company, which now processes over $2.5 billion in payments each year. “We dedicated ourselves to providing affordable pricing and educating small business owners, so they could avoid the common pitfalls that were now obvious to us but may not be to a business owner,” he said.

An All-In-One Payments Platform

Calgary, Alberta-based Helcim’s signature product is a cloud-based platform that provides a one-stop shop for small business owners to run almost all aspects of their operation. Services provided include payment processing, hardware, virtual terminals, merchant accounts, mobile processing and more. “All of this alongside innovative software solutions allows merchants to grow their businesses,” said Beique. In addition to payment processing, Helcim gives customers access to e-commerce features, bundling commerce with payments. The added features include electronic invoicing, point-of-sale, inventory management, recurring billing and more. Stated Beique, “Because it’s an all-in-one platform, all of a merchant’s business data is accessible in one spot.”

Easy to Use

One feature that Beique is quite proud of is Helcim’s ease of use. “We designed Helcim Commerce to be used by anyone, so business owners don’t need to hire a programmer, developer, or web designer to start empowering their business,” he said. Once they sign up with Helcim, customers can choose which features they would like to use, making it as simple or as sophisticated as they desire for their business.

Commitment to Transparency

Another aspect that defines Helcim’s business is the company’s commitment to transparency. “We are very serious about our claim to provide the most honest and transparent payment processing in the industry. All of our rates and fees are openly listed on our website, so merchants can immediately determine what they will be paying for their processing without any surprises on their statements,” said Beique. When it comes to payment processing, Helcim offers month-to-month contracts instead of long-term contracts with costly cancellation fees. As for rates, Beique says the prices are competitive. The company offers a pricing tool, which allows merchants to tailor their fees based on their industry, monthly processing volume and average transaction amount. “Payments are at the core of what Helcim does, and we’re committed to providing a better payment experience to all of our merchants,” said Beique. In fact, payments can be accepted in a variety of ways including though mobile, hosted payment pages and the virtual terminal.

Nimble Customer Service

Helcim also touts its customer service offerings. For instance, the company has placed its customer service team in-house and seated right next to its developers to ensure quick and effective service. “Because Helcim does all of our development in-house, we are able to quickly respond to merchants needs and build customized software that is specifically designed to provide a better payments experience,” said Beique.

Focus on Security

When it comes to security, Helcim takes no chances. Beique said, “We are committed to helping our merchants stay secure and compliant.” The company is subject to rigorous testing, audits, vulnerability scanning and inspections. Helcim also has both a primary and a backup data center to put merchants’ minds at ease. “In the event of an incident impacting our primary data center, Helcim can move all services and data processing operations to the backup environment with minimal downtime and data impact,” said Beique.

A Growing Company

Right now, Helcim operates in only Canada and the US. It has no plans to expand into other countries at this time, but it is planning on continuing to grow and shape up the payments business in North America. “Helcim is constantly striving to provide a better payment experience. We are currently working toward the next step in our evolution,” said Beique. To find out if Helcim is right for your business, check out www.helcim.com.