US Retailers Call on Congress to Introduce ‘Smart’ Credit Cards 

The much publicized data breach at Target and Neiman Marcus has caused retailers to call upon Congress to promote the use of Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV) technology on credit cards. Used widely in Europe since the 1990’s, the cards protect the card holder’s data by storing the information in a secure chip on the front the card, accessible by their individual PIN number. 

Matthew Shay, CEO of the National Retail Federation is promoting the use of the technology as a way to cut down on the $4bn+ lost through fraudulent credit card transactions every year. There has previously reluctance to introduce the technology on the part of both the credit card companies and the retailers, with fears of increased costs being passed onto consumers, however with the latest data breach and Visa, MasterCard, Amex and Discover stating that they want to see the ‘Chip and Pin’ system implemented by October 2015 then there may now be movement towards the new technology. At $1.25 each, the cards are roughly five times more than those with magnetic strip, but many retail and banking stakeholders deem the cards essential in stopping fraud. The Nilson Report in to the payments industry stated that the US in the only country in which fraud continues to grow consistency and as the number of victims from the Target data breach is reported as close to 40 million customers, it is clear that industry leaders need to work together to find a secure solution for online payments. 

Internet Trends for 2013

A recent report (‘Internet Trends for 2013’) by venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB) outlines current movements expected to drive trends in the coming year. These include the growth in emerging markets, uploading at an accelerated pace, increasingly findable and shared content and the increase in mobile and tablet usage.

Internet Users  

In 2012, there were 2.4bn global internet users. There has been a 8% year on year growth driven by emerging markets; China added 264 million user between 2008 and 2012, whilst the USA added 18 million in the same time period. China is far in front of the US in terms of the number of internet users (564 million in China versus 244 in the USA), however it falls far behind when assessed against population penetration (42% China versus 78% USA). India ranks third on the global charts in terms of internet usage with 137 million users, but has a population penetration of just 11%.

Made in the USA

80% of the top ten global internet properties are made in the USA.  On average, 81% of the users of these sites reside outside of the US. The top five globally used sites in 2012 were Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo and Wikipedia. The dominance of the US made sites is predicted to continue throughout 2013.

Uploading At an Accelerated Pace  

Content throughout 2012 became increasingly findable. The rate at which digital information is shared has increased by nine times in just five years with content being shared and tagged more than ever in 2013. There are currently 1.1 billion Facebook users worldwide. 68% of these users access the site on their mobile and 60% log-in daily. 350 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day. Then there’s video. 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, while shorter video options such as Twitter’s Vine and DropCam are also showing impressive growth.

Mobile and Tablets

Mobile traffic is growing 1.5 times year and year and is likely to maintain the trajectory or accelerate beyond that according to the KPCB report. Tablets are witnessing a more rapid growth than smart phones highlighted by the iPad versus iPhone sales ratio. Apple’s tablet is showing growth of three times that of the company’s smart phone.  

Future Predictions

KPCB state in their report that the next trend in internet accessibility will be making internet connected devices wearable. Smart phone users check their phone on average more than 150 times a day; to check messages, the time, social media and calendar updates etc. A sensor-enabled, wearable device provides a ‘hands-free…always on…attention getting’ option.

Reference: “2013 Internet Trends Report” (May 2013), Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers

   

Customer Service in the Digital Age

In 2013, customer service has become more agile as it has continued to move across multiple channels and devices, enabling the customer to begin communication in one channel and finish it in another. Although voice is still the favored communication channel, self-service and digital channels (e.g. chat, email) are now following closely behind.

The key trend of customer service this year is increased use of the Voice of the Customer (VoC) both in completing an end to end feedback process and also paying more considering to customer feedback as a direct measure of success. In previous year, key success metrics in customer service have been focused more on productivity, efficiency and regulatory compliance, but customer satisfaction is now being added on many scorecards as a new and equally important metric.

Harnessing social media for customer service use is also a growing trend this year. Vendors continue to add social channels to their customer service offerings and formalized policies are being formed around them as social channels move out of marketing departments and into customer service centers. Knowledge management is key to developing social networks as customer service touchpoints. Educating employees on social media policy, privacy concerns and recording data is important to the future success of the channels. Internal social networks provide great opportunity for community knowledge sharing and agent to agent collaboration, breaking down the traditional hierarchal structure of information distribution.   

The Mobile Wallet

A new report released this week by Transparency Market Research ('Mobile Wallet Market-Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Forecast, 2012-2018') estimates that the global mobile wallet market will reach $1602.4bn by 2018 with EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) holding  the largest market share. 

The huge 30.7% increase in mobile wallet usage which the report forecasts is largely attributed to the increase in SmartPhone use and the facilitation of NFC (Near Field Communication) technology in the user's device and POS (Point of Sale) terminals. 

Many of the large payment players are obviously keen to break into the digital wallet market. Visa, MasterCard, Google, PayPal, Apple and Isis are all vying to take leadership in the field. Although the technology is yet to capture widespread interest, Apple's 'Passbook' is considered a front runner by many analysts due to the company's access to millions of iPhone users, but the race is far from over. Samsung and Visa recently announced that they would be working together to create a contactless mobile payment system that will work on Samsung phones.

Commentators argue that the digital wallet should not necessary be limited to the POS purchase, but should also include e-commerce, facilitating mobile payments through one click shopping. Google is looking to get in on this sector with its Google Wallet system, hoping to track clicks which result in a direct sale, data which often do not have as approximately 70% of clicks result in an offline sale.

As Mobile Network Operators (MNO), payment networks and merchants all compete in the sector, its not hard to see that a service will be created in the near future which will capture the imagination of the customer and whether in a bricks and mortar or online store, have them shopping with just a touch of a SmartPhone.

Facebook and Banking Come Together Again

In another case of banks integrating their services with customer’s social networks, ING Direct Canada has introduced the Orange Snapshot application which allows customers to access their bank accounts through Facebook. Considering ING Direct Canada has no physical locations, online banking is of obvious importance to the company and its customers.

The new application allows users to check their accounts in one click within their social network page and share their experiences instantly through Facebook and Twitter. This, the company hopes the service will create a more ‘unified experience’ for the customer.

ING are the not the first bank to make their way in to social networking. In 2012, Citibank^® launched its ThankYou^® Point Sharing service, which allows members of the bank’s loyalty scheme, Citi ThankYou^® Rewards to send and receive ThankYou Points to and from their Facebook friends who are also ThankYou members. In July last year, Facebook even joined forces with Australia Commonwealth Bank (ACB) to create a new service where customers can make payments to their Facebook friends from the social networking site.

User concerns over privacy have limited mobile banking in the past. However, as banks now begin working on new biometric security features, such as fingerprint and voice recognition, customers may begin to become more trusting of banking through social networking sites and engage with their bank through these alternative channels.   

Apple to Introduce Biometrics?

There is growing speculation that Apple will be introducing fingerprint payments as they are rumored to have acquired Australian biosecurity company, MicroLatch. Back in July, Apple also purchased AuthenTech, a fingerprint sensor company for $345 million. Existing customers of AuthenTech include Dell, HP and Lenovo who will have to find a new service from September 2013 as AuthenTech will cease to work for third parties.

Before the launch of the iPhone 5, it was thought that Apple would be introducing Near-Field Communication (NFC) technology to compete with the likes of Google, Samsung and Nokia. The technology takes a large amount of battery power and analysts have speculated that this along with limited customer demand is the reasons that Apple has been slow to adopt the tool.  

According to Reuters, Apple has made a regulatory filing that further hints that the company is developing a 2-D fingerprint sensor, but it is yet unclear whether this would be used for iOS device or the Mac computer.

The Promise of Green Innovation: Some Opportunities in a Greener World

Glen Franklin, Director at Strategic Green Source and former SVP of Product Development at Citigroup shares how green innovation can drive green business growth.  

Energy is a basic concept. We need it for ourselves and for our devices. And it is at the core of climate change. Yet how we produce and consume it is exceptionally complicated and the prospect of changing all our energy-related systems to be more climate-friendly is overwhelming. Meanwhile, climate change impacts other elements of civilization, such as the availability of fresh water, public health, and biodiversity. That is a lot to consider.

With change comes risk and also opportunity. A lot of attention is being given to producing electrical energy using renewable sources but within the existing system. It is a good start. However, it relies on the concept of centralized production and distribution of electricity. Ultimately, producing electricity where and when it is needed will be more efficient and flexible.

Envision a future in which solar arrays on commercial buildings and small wind turbines produce electricity for local communities who are only part of a regional and national power grid in order to distribute excess power in times of need. Such a modular approach would limit risk and be more responsive to local needs. Data about the local power situation would be shared with adjacent cells and loads distributed appropriately. It could reduce or eliminate the need for long distance transmission lines with their environmental and aesthetic impacts. This system could potentially be managed very effectively in an energy market, where production and consumption information are used to freely trade energy units. It happens now on a limited scale with power utilities, and could dramatically transform how we produce, distribute, and price electrical energy.

Additionally, there is the time horizon associated with capital investments needed to adapt to or mitigate the changing environment. Addressing climate change is an inter-generational benefits transfer. We must take action for the benefit of our grandchildren.
Although there are rudimentary structures, like bond financing that allows expenditures today to be paid for across time and by those who benefit, significant opportunity lies ahead in this realm too. By developing financial and business models that effectively fund and support a long term perspective, we can take the steps necessary to reduce environmental impact while continuing economic growth.

To find out more about the green opportunities available to for your business, contact Strategic Green Source: info@scgnyc.com/212 802 0800