Merchants seeking to improve the customer experience to spur sales during the current economic crisis are giving ISOs an opportunity to recommend new customer-facing technologies. Many merchants had already completed the 2008 budgeting process by the time the worst of the financial storm hit and “are still spending money into early 2009,” says Mike Griswold, vice president of retail at Boston-based AMR Research.

Experts anticipate a continued focus on technologies that enhance the customer experience, improve operational efficiency, or both. For many merchants, fulfilling customer service objectives and streamlining operations are so critical that investment in self-service is an absolute must no matter what the balance sheet says, according to Jeff Roster, research vice president for retail at Gartner Inc. in Stamford, Connecticut.

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