Total System Rolls Out New Solution

Total System Services, Inc. ( TSS - Analyst Report ) in partnership with VAR Partners announced the launch of the Value Added Resource (“VAR”) Partner Connect Program, in order to provide clients with the services of new third-party processing applications. The alliance will allow Total System to access various applications of VAR. Being certified to just one platform, users will be able to easily access a large segment of the acquiring population.

The services will be built solely on a web-based touch point that will save time and energy spent on searching for payment applications. It also provides clarity to the members of VAR across the payment industry. Clients will be able to access various solutions that have been customized to provide visibility to the clients of Total System, along with personalized support and improved product and service facilities.

The company will benefit from the launch of this new service, which will enable it to reach out to a large number of acquirers by teaming up with the leading acquirers in the U.S. It also benefited from lucrative deals offered by Precidia Technologies and IVR Technologies, Inc. on announcing the launch of these services.

The company should be wary of its competitors who are equally proactive when it comes to launching new products. Its close competitors MasterCard Inc. ( MA - Analyst Report ) and Fiserv, Inc. ( FISV - Analyst Report ) recently came up with new solutions to better serve its customers.

Fiserv announced the launch of a new processing solution called Central Source Capture that would allow banks and other financial institutions in the U.S. to capture images of checks in order to modernize their general check processing system. The solution would make the entire system easier to operate and also reduce additional expenses for the company.

Similarly, MasterCard announced the probable launch of another mobile wallet solution called White Label Mobile Wallet solution jointly with C-SAM. The offering will facilitate a quicker, secured and flexible mode of payment to mobile operators, bankers and payment providers across the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and the African region.

Total System currently retains a quantitative Zacks #3 Rank, which translates into a short-term Hold rating. We also maintain a long-term Neutral recommendation on the stock.