Managing Recurring or periodic payments (such as subscriptions) from Customers

I understand about the need for CC security / compliance etc, but from a process perspective, what are recommended best practices for BVC5 for the following scenarios?

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<LI>Sell a software Product or Service (1 SKU) that requires annual support fees. First year support is included in the SKU price. Ideally, support renewal would be done at our end against a CC (which implies retention of details). Alternatively, we would need to notify customers via email prompting them to return to site and renew.
* As above but with monthly payments, starting after end of first year. I can't see monthly email notifications scaleing or being practical.
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Now, there are some obvious similarities with several software companies and hosts etc...given the security issues, how should I manage this on a BVC platform?

Thanks

John