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I recently had a conversation with Derrick Morton, the CEO at FlowPlay about his company's use of such services from Adyen, a hosted online payment processor based in The Netherlands. FlowPlay is a Seattle-based producer of virtual games and community gaming platforms such as ourWorld and The Buzz Coffee Room.

Just over a year ago, FlowPlay began using Internet payment services from Adyen. Consumers use FlowPlay's currency to purchase items in the games they play, such as furniture, clothing, hats, etc. Prior to partnering with Adyen, Morton and other FlowPlay executives were concerned about the potential for credit card fraud within its communities.

FlowPlay ended up partnering with Adyen after discovering how the payment processing provider was able to supply it with 22 distinct and customizable security parameters to set on credit card transactions. These parameters include determining the distance a cardholder might be from their home when using a card (a distance of 500 miles or more raises the likelihood of fraud, notes Morton).

But there's been a customer data benefit for FlowPlay as well. Adyen's services also enable FlowPlay to gather information about the concentration of customer transactions by geography, including changes in product sales by location over time, says Morton.

"It helps us with our localization strategy," says Morton. For instance, FlowPlay is able to use customer information gathered by Adyen to determine where it makes the most sense to localize a product in a country such as France or Spain based on credit card usage and spending patterns in a particular geography, Morton adds.

FlowPlay's contract with Adyen is a prime example of how companies can make the most of supplementary services to gather and act upon additional streams of customer information.