Twilio and Stripe announce partnership

Twilio, the cloud communications platform, has announced PAY, a new API that enables developers to easily process payments securely over the phone. With just one line of code companies can quickly and easily accept payment via automated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) interactions or in contact centre environments.

Stripe, a technology and payments company, is Twilio’s initial launch partner. With Twilio, Stripe customers will be able to connect their account and begin accepting credit card payments in minutes. Twilio announced PAY and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance for its Programmable Voice product today at SIGNAL, its customer and developer conference.

“Historically, taking payments over the phone has been either unsecure or painfully difficult and complex for businesses to support. With Twilio , we think there’s a better way,” said Kris Gutta, senior product manager of Programmable Voice at Twilio. “Twilio gives developers the tools needed to build secure and intuitive payment experiences. Now developers will only need to add one line of code to begin processing payments over the phone.”

With PAY , businesses can securely accept payments via IVR prompts, enabling automated collection of credit card details. Built-in features help contact centre agents connect with customers and assist in making phone payments without revealing sensitive credit card data to the agent, adding to the security of customer data in a contact centre setting.

Many businesses want to allow their customers to place orders or pay bills over the phone. However, with the continued rise in identity theft, consumers are more cautious and protective when it comes to sharing their credit card information. In addition, for any company that transmits or stores credit card information, PCI DSS compliance is a must, as it ensures consumer credit card information is securely handled. Until now, businesses who wanted to accept credit card payments over the phone either had to face the operational complexity of becoming PCI DSS compliant themselves, which includes annual audits, or use a payment processing tool with limited customisability. Twilio solves this problem with the introduction of PAY , a fully programmable payment solution designed natively for communications channels.

As Twilio’s launch partner, Stripe enables users to accept payments over the phone by using their existing Stripe account via the new Twilio Connectors. “Stripe is uniquely focused on enabling the programmatic movement of money,” said Bob Rosin, head of partnerships at Stripe. “We do that by eliminating the complexities of compliance and ongoing shifts in payment methods. With today’s partnership, any business or platform can easily integrate secure payments for interactive voice response or live agent assistance.”

With Stripe and future payment platforms, developers will be able to add these payment providers as a Connector through a simple interface within the Twilio Console.