In the world of chip technology, merchants need to worry about two specific areas - EMV and NFC. Europay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV) — a global standard for inter-operation of integrated circuit cards —  has had wide-spread adoption outside the United States and deadlines are in place for adoption in the U.S. over the next few years. However, just as chip cards are getting ready, other experts are talking about the arrival of near-field communication (NFC) technology.

While these two systems are very similar, they are not the same. EMV focuses entirely on the chip technology in credit and debit cards. NFC is an expanded version of this, using mobile and other devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together.

According to a recent PYMNTS article, these two systems do not need to be mutually exclusive. EMV is going to experience adoption in the U.S. retail sector before NFC does, and the the required upgrades are the perfect opportunity to prepare for both.

"The adoption of dual-interface chip technology will help prepare the U.S. payment infrastructure for the arrival of NFC-based mobile payments by building the necessary infrastructure to accept and process chip transactions that support either a signature or PIN at the point of sale," the article reads.

With the help of a payment solution provider that understands both of these technologies, any merchant can get a hand with adopting the future of payment services and be ready for any and all deadlines.