Security3 Comments

ClairMail Delivers Major Breakthrough in Online Banking Security (press release)

Colin Henderson

 While this is overkill for logging in, this type of out of band authorisation is relevant for second factor authentication periodically, or for high value transactions. A customer logs on as usual with her username and password (the first factor); at logon, the ClairMail system automatically sends a time-expiring, one-time-PIN (OTP) to the customer’s mobile phone (the second factor) and the customer enters the OTP while online to validate the session. Source: ClairMail Delivers Major Breakthrough in Online Banking Security   Technorati tags: security, two+factor+authentication Continue reading ClairMail Delivers Major Breakthrough in Online Banking Security (press release)

Business Models, Open Finance9 Comments

Blog Business Summit | Search & the future of media;Battele – (Why not a Bank based on Search?)

Colin Henderson

 We keep hearing this that search is growing in terms of how people navigate the internet. Command line is how we navigated the 1970’s. The Find command is how we navigated the 1980’s. Now search is the way that we navigate Web 2.0. The command line is natural language. We are starting to use computers the way we talk to other people. If search is an interface, then it’s our navigational device. It’s our steering wheel. Source: Blog Business Summit I find this fascinating.  I get the logic, that search is akin to asking a question, and that’s what we … Continue reading Blog Business Summit | Search & the future of media;Battele – (Why not a Bank based on Search?)

Web/Tech

IBM Progressive Transformation – Consultant points of view

Colin Henderson

IBM consistently nail the core problems facing banks, and this one is central. This paper addresses one of the most serious challenges that banks face today: How to deliver their strategic objectives while being hindered by increasingly complex and inflexible business and technology operating models. Source: IBM Progressive Transformation – Consultant points of view The current state of technology at banks is summarised.  The key points are complexity, duplication, and inflexibility.  These drive additional cost. The problem facing banks todayAfter years of concerted cost-cutting, sustained and consistent revenue growth has returned to the agenda of many banks. However, new products, … Continue reading IBM Progressive Transformation – Consultant points of view

Social networks2 Comments

IBM | Reputation management: Building trust among virtual strangers

Colin Henderson

 This paper is light, but has some key points that are important in considering build out of a social network. Claudia Keser: Reputation management, or a reputation system, is a way to maintain trust in online communities, where we anonymously interact with people that we might have never met, not even heard of, and that we might never meet again. This is achieved by the provision of information about past performance. To be somewhat more precise, [with] a definition given by Paul Resnick et al., it is a system that collects, distributes and aggregates feedback about past behavior. A famous … Continue reading IBM | Reputation management: Building trust among virtual strangers

Web/Tech1 Comment

IBM SOA

Colin Henderson

A useful picture, and well explained IBM document on SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) …..  the fundamental concept is really quite simple – and very powerful. It’s that to meet your present and projected business needs, you can turn your software applications into “building blocks” that you can infinitely rearrange, and usually at great speed. It gives you a new way not only to “reconfigure” your business, but to connect to suppliers, partners and customers. IBM Global Services:  Service-oriented architecture: A practical guide to measuring return on that investment   Technorati tags: soa, ibm Continue reading IBM SOA

Social networks

Forrester Research: Travelers Embrace Social Computing Technologies

Colin Henderson

 Travel purchases had moved from high relationship (travel agencies) to highly transactional (online travel, Expedia.com etc) and now has swung into another state, centred on social networks. In the past year, US online leisure travelers’ use of Social Computing technologies such as blogs, RSS, and user reviews for researching travel has skyrocketed. Attention travel eBusiness and marketing executives and managers: Social Computing must play some role in your online strategy, even if all you do is monitor what travelers say about your brands on third-party forums. Those implementing Social Computing technologies on their own Web sites need to view it … Continue reading Forrester Research: Travelers Embrace Social Computing Technologies

Open Finance

Forrester Research: Creating Good Online Content Experiences | Usability Beats Unique Content, Hands Down

Colin Henderson

As recently as 5 years ago, it was not unusual for site redesigns to begin or at least share 50/50 with the product group, whose content, and customer experiences dominated the project. Today its not unusual to do a site redesign without product involvement beyond validation of rewritten and re-purposed content contained within a  navigation, and presentation focussed on a customer segments needs and expectations. Here Charlene at Forrester summarises her new report on that topic. What do users want from their content sites? Unique content does matter, but the basics – such as clear navigation, easy-to-use search, and ads that … Continue reading Forrester Research: Creating Good Online Content Experiences | Usability Beats Unique Content, Hands Down

Profitability

The argument for an integrated multi channel strategy

Colin Henderson

This problem highlighted by Cathy at Forrester demonstrates what can happen when the “internet” group(s) get ahead of the business strategy. eStatement adoption in Canada has exploded during the past few years. Forty-seven percent of online Canadians now receive an online statement for their bank deposit accounts. But there’s a problem — 86% of eStatement adopters also continue to receive a paper statement via mail. Source:  Canadians Move To estatements — But Still Cling To Paper The internet group tends to be driven by understanding customers needs and aspirations, supported by technology capability. But the smart organisation will keep that … Continue reading The argument for an integrated multi channel strategy

AI2 Comments

Spam, bot herds, and threats to the Internet lifestyle

Colin Henderson

Over the last two months in particular, I have noted an increase in spam.  Both the volume being caught by gmail for example, and in the numbers that are getting through. I have a yahoo account too, and yahoo seems unable to catch any 519 Nigerian “we want to transfer $14 million to you” scams, such that my yahoo account is now unusable. This graphic from Tom3 depicts the surge in spam since May 05 when it began, and a dramatic uptick since June 2006, that fits nicely with my personal experience, and I am sure your own. Hart goes on … Continue reading Spam, bot herds, and threats to the Internet lifestyle

Security

Alliance & Leicester Customers Embrace Adaptive Authentication Delivered by RSA, The Security Division of EMC

Colin Henderson

In the first survey that I have seen since the implementations of Passmark, Alliance customers confirm the validity of the Alliance approach in a positive way. In a recent customer satisfaction survey of 10,000 online banking users conducted by Alliance & Leicester, 90% rated the security measures provided by the bank as good or excellent. In addition, 92% of respondents stated that they clearly understand the purpose of the new authentication system, and 83% confirmed that they would not enter their PIN into the Alliance & Leicester website without their phrase and image being displayed. Alliance & Leicester now has almost … Continue reading Alliance & Leicester Customers Embrace Adaptive Authentication Delivered by RSA, The Security Division of EMC