Convenience and security - these are huge factors in purchase decisions and often why a customer will open a merchant account with one provider over another merchant services. Often, there are no additional security measures beyond what is available through the merchant account payment terminal, so here is the upsell - get customers hooked on the end-to-end security encryption and convenience available with hosted processing services. As more and more devices offer Internet access, and hosted services become the norm for process providers, it makes sense to offer all-encompassing solutions. A computer-based system allows for one, centralized area of service that can easily be leveraged to other external resources (terminals) as needed.