Mastercard supports Australian SMEs with digital resources

By Edil Corneille

Mastercard announced its ‘Getting Back to Small Business’ support package to help reignite small business growth in Australia, offering local SMEs access to a range of digital resources, tools, and services to help them navigate and adapt to the new demands of online commerce.

“Small businesses play an enormous role in rebuilding local communities on the road to economic recovery,” said Richard Wormald, Divisional President, Mastercard Australasia. “At present, many lack the technical support to take their business online and often don’t have access to the same networks and resources as their larger counterparts. By removing some of these barriers, Mastercard can help them build new and sustainable revenue streams, setting up local SMEs for success and enabling them to emerge stronger on the other side of the crisis.”

The program aims to help small businesses open up online quickly and effectively while ensuring they have access to the support they need on their digital journey. From creating a website and choosing the right domain name to building a brand on social media, the program connects small businesses with useful tools and services, alongside educational material from Mastercard’s Digital Door Curriculum created in partnership with Hello Alice and SquareSpace.

Mastercard has extended the free access trial to Ethoca Alerts, the fraud and chargeback dispute resolution service, until the end of 2020. A near real-time intelligence solution, Ethoca Alerts offers small, medium, and large organisations a more efficient and effective way to identify, manage, and resolve fraud and chargeback disputes. In the past 12 months, Ethoca Alerts has helped businesses around the world prevent more than 7 million chargebacks and nearly AU$310 million worth of fraud.

Mastercard has partnered with leading banks, acquirers, and payment service providers across Australia to offer unparalleled payment security through the latest tokenisation, anti-fraud and authentication technology. The program will connect small businesses to tools available through banks and payment service providers such as Mastercard Digital Enablement Service (MDES) for Merchants and Mastercard Identity Check, providing a more secure way to store and process payment data, and helping to create a seamless experience for consumers while protecting businesses against fraud and false declines.

Mastercard is offering SMEs access to its unmatched expertise and experience in securing digital networks and footprints, providing free access to My Cyber Risk and Cyber Quant Lite until the end of 2020. The company has expanded its ShopOpenings.com online search tool to Australia, enabling customers to see which shops and businesses are open based on daily payment data.