CRM Daily

Enterprises Likely To Turn Off IE8 'Porn Mode'

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:04:48 -0500

Anyone perusing porn sites at home will appreciate Microsoft's latest efforts at browser privacy, but it's not clear it will do much for the enterprise. Internet Explorer product manager Andrew Ziegler discussed the new privacy features of IE8, currently in its second beta, in an extensive blog post Monday. Users of the new software will be able to turn on Microsoft's InPrivate Browsing and Blocking features.

When what many observers are calling "porn mode" is turned on, IE8 doesn't store history, cookies, form data, passwords, URLs, search queries or visited links.

Porn Mode?

Ziegler suggested the need for such privacy is completely on the up-and-up. "Maybe you need to buy a gift for a loved one without ruining the surprise," he wrote. "Maybe you're at an Internet kiosk and don't want the next person using it to know at which Web site you bank."

While the problem of clearing sensitive passwords on public machines is real, observers say the hands-down, number-one reason most people would want to clear history, URLs and search queries is to erase signs of pornography viewing. "The most likely situation is the obvious one. Nudge nudge, wink wink, say no more," said Ars Technica. "Microsoft dishes dirt on IE8 'prOn mode,'" British Web site the Register smirked.

People can do what they want at home, but enterprises need to know where people are surfing at work. Porn surfing can expose a corporation to liability for sexual harassment, and managers obviously need to know employees are working.

Blocking Third-Party Tracking

"The enterprise is more concerned with keeping user information guarded from untrusted Web sites than making sure your off-business Internet habits are kept secret," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security, in an e-mail. "The features so far described by Microsoft seem to fall more squarely into the...

Is Your Credit Card Information Safe?

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:09:39 -0500

Any firm that stores, processes or transmits credit card data should comply with security standards or risk great losses. Whether we buy goods online or in a store, credit card purchases are a way of life. We may worry about transactions over the Internet, but we generally assume credit card data and related personal information with merchants are secure. But are they?

According to analysts, financial fraud surpassed all forms of computer losses in 2007. The most noted credit card loss was with TJX (parent company of HomeSense and Winners) in 2006. The security breach resulted in the loss of 45 million credit- and debit-card numbers. The TJX losses reportedly will exceed US$1 billion. The breach was due to inadequate security controls. In addition, TJX may have also lost customers' personal information such as drivers' license numbers. The problem is that TJX is not alone: many merchants have inadequate controls to protect credit card information.

To address financial fraud, major credit card companies created an organization, the Payment Card Industry Standards Council (PCI). Its goal was to set standards to enhance the security of credit card payment data. The result is the Payment Card Industry Data security Standard.

Merchants that store, process or transmit cardholder data must comply with the PCI standard. Reports indicate that larger-merchant compliance is improving. On January 22,2008, Visa reported that as of the end of 2007,77 percent of large merchants and 62 percent of medium-sized merchants were PCI compliant. These are big improvements compared with the previous year, when less than 20 percent of large and medium- sized merchants were deemed compliant. These two categories represent approximately two-thirds of Visa's transaction volume. However, smaller merchants and government agencies are slower in adhering to PCI requirements.

PCI requires merchants to verify compliance with the data security standard. A merchant's credit...

Safeguarding Your Credit Data in Cyberspace

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:28:01 -0500

Technology has allowed society to accomplish much more than probably ever imagined, and in a shorter time, but with that convenience comes a price. Part of that price was evident recently, with reports of the theft and sale of more than 41 million credit and debit card numbers.

In what is believed to be the largest hacking case ever prosecuted by the Justice Department, 11 suspects were charged with conspiracy, computer intrusion, fraud and identity theft. The news is another reminder of a new set of 21st century pitfalls.

The allegation of wrongdoing says the 11 hacked into the wireless computer networks of the TJX Cos., BJ's Wholesale Club, OfficeMax, Boston Market, Dave & Buster's restaurants, Barnes & Noble, Sports Authority, Forever 21 and DSW shoe stores with programs that captured card numbers, passwords and account information.

It was all done by something called "wardriving," which involves driving through areas with a laptop searching for accessible wireless Internet signals, and then tapping into those systems to install "sniffer programs" that capture credit and debit card numbers as they move through a retailer's processing networks.

Perhaps the worst part of this is that nothing can be done to prevent it from happening again. Members of the international stolen credit and debit card ring, which included some U.S. citizens, were locked up -- but you can't lock up a technique.

The financial community is heavily regulated to protect consumers' data, which is encrypted by law and industry agreement. No one shortcuts that process, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology. But the crooks found a way to insert a data sniffer into the system so that by the time cards were swiped and the information was released from the point-of-sale device, the information already had been snagged.

The industry will devise a solution. But in what amounts...

Banking Customers' Personal Details Sold on eBay

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 07:27:11 -0500

A computer containing banking security details of more than 1 million people has been sold on eBay for 35 pounds (US$64), bank officials said Tuesday -- the latest in a series of losses of personal data in the U.K.

The computer contained account numbers, passwords, mobile telephone numbers and signatures. It belonged to MailSource UK -- an arm of Graphic Data, an archiving company that holds financial information for Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and American Express.

The security breach became known when the computer's buyer found the information and contacted authorities.

Britain's Information Commissioner's Office has launched an investigation into the incident. Banks in Britain are obligated under the Data Protection Act to secure personal information. But banking and other highly sensitive information is being lost with increasing frequency.

Last year, Nationwide Building Society was fined nearly 1 million pounds (US$2 million) after a laptop containing private customer data was stolen from an employee's home.

Last week, a contractor lost a memory device containing information on prison inmates in England and Wales.

In June, two sets of secret government files on terror tactics were left on commuter trains.

In January, a computer containing sensitive details on 600,000 prospective military recruits was snatched from the car of a Royal Navy recruitment officer in central England.

And in November, tax officials also admitted they had lost computer discs containing banking information on 25 million people -- nearly half the country's population.

The Royal Bank of Scotland said it was looking into how the information wound up being sold on eBay.

"We take this issue extremely seriously and are working to resolve this regrettable loss with Graphic Data as a matter of urgency," Royal Bank of Scotland said in a statement.

American Express also issued a statement saying an investigation was under way to determine whether any of its customers were affected.

Telephone calls...

Intuit Brings QuickBooks To Blackberry and iPhone

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:57:51 -0500

For business professionals who can't stand to waste a minute, Intuit is delivering the ability to do accounting on a smartphone. On Monday, Intuit announced integration for both the iPhone and Blackberry with QuickBooks Online, a Web-based business accounting application.

Intuit is billing the integration as a means to give small-business owners more freedom to manage their business anywhere, anytime -- with or without a computer -- in what it calls an early version Web-based mobile application.

"A growing number of small businesses are looking to mobile technology to run their business," said Rick Jensen, senior vice president of Intuit's Small Business Division. "Our goal with these new mobile services is to give QuickBooks Online users the edge they need to compete and manage their busy lives by keeping tabs on their business even when they are out of the office."

The Pocket-Sized Accountant

Intuit said QuickBooks Online gives mobile customers views of their finances by checking current bank and credit-card balances, tracking who owes them money and who they owe, and finding vendor and customer contact information with addresses through Google Maps. The program also lets them run balance sheets and profit-and-loss reports.

Laura Olcott, treasurer for Twin Cities Co-op Preschool in Corte Madera, Calif., said QuickBooks Online is perfect for her company because there is no "office," just volunteers working from home or work offices.

"Given the virtual nature of our interactions, iPhone support helps us be more productive," Olcott said. "While waiting for an appointment, I was able to check QuickBooks Online using my iPhone to look up parents with open balances and send them an e-mail reminder to pay their bill."

Will Mobile Accounting Take Off?

Is mobile accounting a concept ready for prime time? Jaimee Steel, a vice president at M:Metrics, offers data that show the possibilities.

Fifteen percent of smartphone users traded stock...

Verizon Targets Tween Market with New Blitz Phone

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:01:08 -0500

In a move to cash in on the back-to-school mobile phone-buying sprees, Verizon Wireless on Monday launched a new phone dubbed "Blitz."

Verizon Wireless is billing the phone as a device designed for the heaviest of texters. Loosely translated, that means tweens, or preteens.

The Blitz comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a dedicated My Messaging key. The tween-friendly phone also offers a 2.2-inch screen for browsing the Web or checking e-mail.

Also important to the youth demographic, the Blitz is a music player. Verizon's latest product comes equipped with an MP3 player that can access the Verizon V CAST Music with Rhapsody service.

"The nice part about technology, as with most things, is that mature platforms fragment," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile research for Jupitermedia. "So we have these youth-optimized devices that we really have never seen just a few years ago."

Priced to Sell

The Blitz is selling for $69.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement with Verizon. Customers can sign up for V CAST Music with Rhapsody for a $14.99 monthly subscription.

"What's nice about it is that it appeals to a demographic that doesn't have a whole lot of money in their pocket," Gartenberg said. "These kids don't have $200 or $300 to spend on a phone, although they'd like to. The Blitz is cool enough that you don't have to be branded as the person using the cheap phone in school."

The Blitz also incorporates a 1.3-megapixel camera with color effects and a self-portrait mirror. It supports Bluetooth devices; is mobile Web-capable; offers mobile e-mail functionality through MSN, Hotmail, America Online, and Yahoo; and offers a media center that lets young people download games, ringtones, wallpapers, location-based services, and other media.

The Blitz also comes with mobile instant-messaging capabilities and picture messaging, as well...

SAP Plans New Strategies to Overtake Oracle

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 07:25:35 -0500

Henning Kagermann wants you to know that he is more than just a software geek.

Kagermann, the longtime chief executive of SAP, the giant maker of complex computer applications for business, is in the middle of a slow transition in which he will yield the top job entirely to Leo Apotheker, now the co-chief executive, when he retires in March.

Apotheker rose through the ranks of the SAP sales force, taking a notably different career path than Kagermann, a former physics professor who made his name as a developer.

The transition from Kagermann to Apotheker has fed an irresistible narrative in financial markets: The software egghead who shoveled cash into new projects is yielding to the uncompromising moneymaker. It is also a story that Kagermann dismisses with an unprintable barnyard epithet, and a terse reminder that he can do more than write code.

"People forget that I was head of sales for a few years," Kagermann said during an interview. "I was not always the tech guy."

There is some truth to the tale being told in the markets, but the reasons run deeper than a mere change of chief executives. The company is indeed shifting its focus more toward the bottom line, and less on the multibillion-dollar investments in technology that helped make it the market leader in the lucrative field of business software.

The goal, it seems clear, is for SAP to show that it can not only produce sophisticated software that companies depend on to run their businesses, but that it can do as well as its American archrival, Oracle, in satisfying the demands of investors.

Oracle achieved a pretax profit margin of about 35 percent last year, well ahead of the 26.7 percent operating margin that the German company managed in 2007.

And despite its edge in market share, SAP has lagged behind...

IP-Based Phone Systems Come of Age in the Call Center

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:25:05 -0500

If your contact center has installed, or is planning to install an IP-based voice system, for reasons such as finding it to be the best choice in replacing your old ACD or supporting a new site or remote or home agents, then your facility is on track to become the new norm. Research and consulting firm Gartner expects that shipments of IP-based switches will (if they have not already) for the first time exceed ones that use traditional circuit-switched PSTN-based time division multiplex (TDM) technology.

That cut-over to having a majority of contact center seats IP-enabled could occur in the next few years. This trend, say analysts and suppliers, is being driven by legacy switch replacement cycles, adoption of IP by small/midsized contact centers, new sites, remote agents and informal contact centers, and by customer migration to text and e-mail from voice.

Keith Dawson, Senior Analyst with research company Frost & Sullivan estimates that while 10 to 15 percent of North American contact centers now have IP telephony, this figure will rise quickly as organizations see strategic value from the technology. His firm projects that IP will connect a majority of seats deployed around 2009-2011.

Paul Lutz, Product Marketing Manager Multimedia Applications, Nortel saw the switchover in sales in 2007 with existing and new customers embracing the IP format.

Strong sales now have the momentum that will make IP even more prevalent in contact centers. As demand increases, prices and support costs drop while features, functionality, and quality grow, thereby attracting even more customers. The reverse will be true for TDM. Lessening demand will lead to high sticker prices, and consequently lower supplier investment in, and support for the older technology.

"It is a prevalent industry view that when more boards are produced and more common elements are used, per-unit expenses are lowered, while the...

Study Reveals Contact Center Disconnect

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:23:58 -0500

Within the global contact center industry, one of the biggest disconnects is between C-level organizational executives and contact centers. Executives will promise one thing and contact centers will actually see another altogether. Executives understand the contact center processes to be one way, when in reality, they are quite different.

In a comprehensive worldwide survey, The Executive Disconnect: The Strategic Alignment of Customer Service, an in-depth look at businesses across key regions worldwide is detailed with supporting data for major markets in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific.

Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc., surveyed a group of C-level executives and compared their responses to the customer-centric professionals who are much closer to the front lines.

The survey revealed that customer care professionals and executives overwhelmingly agree that customer service impacts the company's brand identity, yet very few believe that their customer service acts mainly as a strategic function.

The study also found that only 20 percent of CEO-level executives and 20 percent of customer care professionals say their contact centers are very strategic. In addition, both groups agree that customer service is key to brand identity, with 92 percent of C- level executives and 85 percent of customer-centric employees agreeing.

The majority or 73 percent of C-level executives however, overestimate the effort in their companies to measure customer lifetime value, compared to a smaller number of customer-level employees at 60 percent.

When it comes to measurement and actual performance, most C-level executives underestimate the emphasis their organization places on efficiency and overestimate how easy their organization makes it for customers to purchase during interactions.

In feet, 55 percent of C-level executives believe their operations use average speed to answer as a critical measure, compared to 70 percent of customer care professionals. On a global basis, 67 percent of all organizations considered this a key metric.

Among C-level executives, 41 percent...

Performance Analytics in the Call Center

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 07:24:37 -0500

Contact centers generate vast amounts of vital information from customer satisfaction surveys to operational data. This is data that individuals at every organizational level need and can benefit from, such as the contact center agents who need to know how they are performing to the C-suite inhabitants who are making strategic decisions. The question becomes is how to best harness that information to enable logical, rational actions and solid, actionable, recommendations.

That's where performance analytics comes in. It provides the vital tools to analyze the data whose power is waiting to be used. Performance analytics enables successful performance management by giving managers and executives the yardsticks to measure results.

Leading industry executives were asked to outline the specific benefits of performance analytics. Here are their insights:

IEX Corporation, a NICE Systems company

Kelly Stropp, Senior Business Consultant

A day or two after JP Morgan announced that it was buying Bear Stearns I got an email with the picture of the door outside the Bear Stearns building. It had a $2 bill taped to it. Being in the performance analytics field, this photo seemed poignant because these executives claimed that they did not have any insights into their level of risk. I am sure their business is extremely complex, yet I can't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently for Bear Sterns if they had a performance analytics solution in place.

Performance analytics solutions provide valuable business insights that offer a wide range of benefits from more informed decision-making to increased profitability. The technology provides contact centers with the ability to look at data that was once in separate silos together as whole.

Having a consolidated view of the business can bring amazing business insights. With them, organizations gain perspectives of their operations that across geographic locations and lines of business and products.

Performance analytics enables...