It is impossible to deny the fact that mobile commerce is an increasingly important tool in a number of business sectors, including retail. As the functionality of smartphones and tablets continues to advance, using these devices to increase revenue and improve both the user and customer experience is almost becoming a necessity. However, it takes much more than just buying a tablet POS system to make it the smartest solution.

Recently Jeremy King, the European director of the PCI Security Standards Council, was interviewed by Bank Info Security. He mentioned that while merchants of all sizes are updating their point of sale solutions and adding a mobile component, card security is often an afterthought. This is because the PCI compliance issues are more complicated.

"[There are] lots of challenges over and above just the standard ones of not storing the data if you don't need it," King said. He went on say that there are new areas to be considered like "trying to improve weak passwords around the place, and trying to improve the overall security of integrated software."

King also mentioned that merchants across the globe are starting to recognize the importance of mobile payment options and before long the PCI SSC will be able to see a worldwide perspective when it comes to the challenges that businesses are experiencing and what best practices actually work.

Any merchant can advance to the latest technology by partnering with a retail payment solution provider to make sure they are able to meet and surpass the challenges that are presented.