All companies that “touch” card data in any way are required meet minimum data security standards known as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS). PCI applies to all businesses regardless of size or the number of transactions they complete. PCI standards apply to all who have access to credit card processing data through their payment gateway, credit card machine or Virtual Merchant account. Being compliant means a company meets minimum PCI DSS standards for security management, policies, procedures, network architecture, software design and other critical protective measures. In other words, it means business owners are doing their part to make sure their customers’ information is being kept safe with every transaction. Both the business owner and customer can have confidence that they’re protected against the pain and cost of data breaches. Business owners always need to evaluate company operations, fix weaknesses, and file required compliance certificates with their merchant services processor.