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RFID Pros & Cons, Just How Secure is it?
Posted on February 3rd, 2011 No commentsRadio Frequency Identification, or RFID, technology communicates data via radio waves between an electronic tag located on an object and a reader device. RFID’s sole purpose is identification and tracking. It may sound like a new technology, however it’s been around for almost 70 years when the British were looking for a more reliable way to identify enemy aircraft. Check out the RFID time-line at Emory University. There’s also a ton of information on none other than Wikipedia.
The obvious pros for this technology are bulk tag reading in an almost parallel fashion. Imagine you’re running a manufacturing plant with thousands of pieces of equipment, and your maintenance team can easily get real time information on all the equipment that they need to do predictive, preventative & corrective maintenance to that day. The other applications that RFID is being implemented are more consumer based, such as:
- Car Sharing Services, like ZipCar and AutoShare.
- Electronic Told Roads, like HWY 407 in Southern Ontario and various other cites around the world.
- Public Transit, think Persto on the Metrolinx GO.
- Asset management similar to the example above.
- Product Tracking, like Casio Chips or IT Equipment, even clothes and electronics.
- Credit/Debit Card touch payments, like ESSO Speed Pass and Master Card PayPass.
- Drivers Licenses, like the EDL in Ontario.
- You new Pass Port.
- Future mobile Phones will have an RFID tag with payment info essentially making the mobile phone your future wallet.
RFID technology is more wide spread than you probably thought, at least I found it surprising at how wide spread it’s usage is. So with all this information being read electronically, and the sensitive nature of some of the data stored on the tags, what security measures can be taken to ensure your data stays safe. The fact of the matter is if you’re using your credit card to pay for items purchased simply by holding it close to a reader, wouldn’t that create a bit of a security hole? Or more of a security Grand Canyon? This brings a whole new meaning to pick pocketing doesn’t it. You’re walking in a crowded area, and some one bumps into yo, says sorry and you think nothing of it. Then on your next credit card statement you notice that your card has fraudulent charges or worse is maxed out. The credit card companies themselves have admitted to knowing about the issue and working on ways to prevent it, but what can they do on the front-end to prevent fraud versus being reactive and calling you after a suspicious transaction has already been made. The fact of the matter is that they can’t, as well there was a story from CBC detailing how identity thieves could obtain your Billing address by intercepting your mail and with out even opening the envelope they obtain your billing address and read the sensitive data on the card or passport prior to you even getting it. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader, as well.
That’s the bad news, the good news is that RFID Technology isn’t mandatory across the board in the payment industry yet and consumers can purchase aluminum sleeves, or wrap their cards in foil, to protect their secure info when not using the card. The foil creates a Faraday Cage
around the RFID tag, to scramble signals to the reader. Near Field Communication (NFC) also shortens the distance that readers need to be from the tags, combine this with some type of pin and activation code and you may have a solution to the security gap. The key is to remember that no system is hacker proof and that with the proper knowledge one can protect their information to a reasonable level of risk. RFID & NFC are just the next iteration of the card swipe in a lot of ways. -
Grow Your Business Using Word of Mouth
Posted on March 26th, 2010 No commentsAs a business owner, you probably enjoy what you do, or you probably wouldn’t have been crazy enough to start your venture in the first place. Like me you probably don’t enjoy the constant chasing after the next customer, the time, effort and money you put into advertising and marketing with no guarantee that it will grow our sales is most likely one of the most frustrating thing you do. I heard somewhere once is half the money you spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is you don’t know which half. Wouldn’t it be great if new customers could see for themselves the value in what you do and find you, instead of you having to go find them?
What if your existing customers were so happy with your products or services that they went out of their way to tell the people how great you are and that they should call you right away? Then the only marketing investment you would need would be in getting referrals, making your existing customers your sales team.
A referral strategy shouldn’t be your only strategy for bringing in new customers, especially if you have high growth plans, but for some businesses it could be a far more effective strategy than it currently is. The great thing about a referral strategy is that it is a low-cost way of buying new customers.
Step one of your referrals strategy is to turn your customers into “Raving Fans”. Nobody is going to refer you if your service is just satisfactory – you only get raving fans when you go beyond satisfied customers. Think about what you can do that will make their experience with you memorable – perhaps a small gift, a card on their birthday, or perhaps just the fact that your staff are so friendly and helpful that they make the buying process a pleasure. Remember: Customer Satisfaction is Worthless while Customer Loyalty is Priceless.
Step two is finding out who your loyal customers are, so make sure you have a good record system for your customers’ contact details and then categorize them. Try the ABC system – Awesome, Basic, Can’t Deal with. Then spend more time with the A’s and B’s than you do with the C’s. In fact why not get rid of the C’s all-together?
If you are not really sure who your ABC clients are then one way to find out is to ask them. There are two simple ways to do this:
- Testimonials, ask them to write you a short testimonial to find out what they like about you.
- Customer surveys, ask them some questions and rate the responses. (you can do this with programs like Suurvey Monkey, or via snail mail.
Once you identify your raving fans, be sure to keep in contact with them on a regular basis. The average business spends five times as much on buying new customers as it does on keeping existing ones, that’s more crazy than starting your own business. Set aside a portion of your marketing budget towards keeping in contact and building loyalty with your existing clients, even when they are not buying. A simple method for this is to send out a newsletter, with details of special offers or new products. You can use Mad Mimi or My Emma, and there are probably a handful more that I’m not familiar with.
The next step is to physically ask for a referral, don’t back down on this one, there’s no need to start feeling awkward, you’re asking for something you deserve. Ways to make this easier are to put a referral card in with the purchase, and ask your customer to fill it in later, or get them to invite people to a free event so they can sample your product/service without risk, or give them an information pack to pass on to people they know who might be interested, or even a special offer voucher. There are many more ways to do this just get creative.
Always remember to thank the referrer in a way that will ensure that they like it so much they will do it again and again, and whatever you do, systematize it so that it happens automatically and can be easily delegated to somebody else.
The final step is to think about who you really want as your clients, be genuine and honest. Henry Ford once said “obstacles are those annoying little things that get in your way when you take your eyes off of your goal.”
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Paws and Tales Games Press Releases
Posted on June 15th, 2009 No commentsI’ve recently taken on the role of Product Manager for an online game, pawsandtalesgames.com. As a product manager, I’m responsible for the product design, development, quality and marketing. Since I submitted the Project Charter approximately a year ago, I’ve seen the product go from a few scribbles on a white board to a it’s current state online. As much fun as the development and testing stages were the current marketing stage of the project is the most challenging for me as my marketing experience in the trenches is shallow to say the least. However, since I believe that specialization is for insects, I believe that I’m up for the task at hand: to drive as much traffic to the site as possible in the next 6-12 months to increase the current user base of approximately 100 to approximately 100,000.
My first step was to submit a press release to the various online news-wires to create some internet chatter. my first few online press releases are located here: Providential Pictures Announces New Paws and Tales Games MMOG Website, at providential-pictures-announces-new-paws-and-tales-games-mmog-website. Here’s a few more that will be posted by Wed. Jun. 17th at http://www.prleap.com/pr/137137/ and at www.onlinepressreleases.com.
I’ve used the following sites and included a few stats just in case you’re ever in need of some quick and inexpensive PR.
- free-press-release.com, basic package is $0, paid options range from $1-$30
- PRWeb.com, basic package is $80, great customer service, two day submission delay with basic.
- prleap.com, basic package is $49, 1 day submission delay with basic.
- prlog.org, free and user friendly, you are fully responsible for your post
- onlinepressreleases.com, basic package is $0 EURO’s, and user friendly
Most of these site have tracking stats for your Press Releases, however it’s still early on so I’ll reserve comment on the stats trackers until a later date.