My Blog

A mission critical question arises with edge innovations (see parts 1 and 2) that are driven by detailed information about products in customers’ hands and about the customers themselves. Will potential customers embrace it? Or are they too concerned about privacy and security?
Consider the current situation. Not too long ago, ABN AMRO Mortgage Group lost a magnetic tape containing account information for two million customers. A network break-in at credit-card-payments processor CardSystems Solutions, Inc., exposed up to 40 million credit cards accounts. These are not isolated incidents. Lost tapes, stolen computers, rogue employees, unsupervised contractors, insecure networks, and compromised databases—all leading to compromised customer information—seem almost regular news features. Real damage is being inflicted. A study co-sponsored by the Better Business Bureau estimated that about 8.9 million Americans were victims of identify fraud in 2005, resulting in one year loses of $56.6 billion to businesses and customers.