E-Trust Hurdle

Since December, the fallout from Target’s massive electronic security breach has continued to grow. Last week’s news about Trustmark, Target’s hired security vendor, is that the firm is being named in a lawsuit that claims it failed to detect the security breach. As a result of such continuing negative news e-commerce, an increasing number of consumers are concerned about privacy relative to the collection of customer information by retailers, as they worry that the data may not be properly safeguarded and fall into the wrong hands, resulting in identity theft. While recent events, such as the hacked credit card information from Targets and other retailers, have increased concerns at the store level, worries about the safety of shopping online are even more pronounced.

Consumers have varying levels of understanding regarding what personal information is collected when using electronic retail channels, as with the use of cookies. For most retailers, the objective of utilizing cookies is to collect customer information that can be enhance their customer relationship management (CRM) environment – enabling the retailer to actually provide better customer service. However, hackers can also utilize cookies to find private information about consumers, including highly sensitive financial and account login information that can lead to data theft – resulting in damages to personal finances and credit.

Without security standards at the retail level and supportive privacy laws, consumers are indeed more dependent of the varying levels of retail security and therefore vulnerable, relative to online transactions. Currently, the United States appears to be lagging behind some other countries, in terms of consumer privacy and protection laws. However, due to the costly PR nightmares associated with recent retail identity theft, there now appears to be new interest in formalizing in-store and online security, as well as the political will to increase standards in the U.S.

In order for CRM programs and online retail channels to continue successfully, retailers must be able to assure their customers that the information collected about them will be securely guarded and not provided to others with lower security standards. Otherwise, the lack of trust relative to electronic exchanges will continue to be a hurdle that limits consumer confidence and growth.

Constantly Adapting

So much has changed in my career relative to marketing and business in general. During the early 1980s (in my 20s), working as a sales manager, I thought I was so tech savvy because I could dictate my reports onto a micro-cassette player and then mail my tapes to an assistant in the main office who would type them up for me. Then in the late 80s, we started hearing about PCs and I thought somehow other people in my company would take care of that and I would not need to learn about such technology. In 1992, I went to work for a new company and when I asked about who was going to type my documents, they brought me a big laptop. It was a good thing I took typing class in high school so I could be around more girls (I was the only guy in the class). That first laptop was not connected to anything other than a printer. I could type and print memos and walk down the hall to deliver each to the mail room for distribution. Then came internal emails (to each other in the company) a couple years later, and in 1997, emails to a few customers. I even got a PC at home, with a dial-up connection that made this really cool sound when I wanted to connect to the Internet. By 1999, I had much smaller laptop with a cell phone modem that could be inserted on the side of the PC, and wow – I could go anywhere and be connected! What could beat this? At that time I did not realize, this was only Web 1.0.

In 2000, I was working with outside agencies on the race to develop company websites, really just static brochure wear sites. By 2001-02, we were experimenting with 3D imaging scanners that might be able to scan the impression of someone’s ear and electronically develop a point cloud that could be transmitted to a 3D printing system that would build a hearing instrument shell in nylon one layer at a time. By 2005, we had figured out how to make the technology affordable enough to provide scanners to audiology offices so they could scan their patient’s ear impressions and email them to our manufacturing facility (no more wax impressions in the mail). Then in 2008, introducing technology to scan a patient’s ear, without having to take an impression, to build a custom made products. During the same period, our company website went from just nice looking pages to a complete e-commerce site where customers could place orders, check on order status and make payments, and we routinely built new websites for our customers that would interact with our website (a big competitive advantage). In addition, during the same period, particularly during the first few years after 911, we limited travel to visit with international customers and instead embraced various live web communications. What could beat this?

Today we are at Web 2.0, and businesses are racing to implement e-business and marketing activities wherever they can – as that is where a rapidly growing number of customers are going to communicate and do business. It is not enough to have a website anymore, businesses need to be engaged in the various forms of customer engagement and inbound marketing initiatives found in social media. While the traditional marketing processes are still valid, traditional media is on the decline, being replaced with online media sources. Today, a business or marketer must be ever vigilant to stay on top of the quickly changing internet landscape to not miss current and future marketing opportunities.

As far as the future goes (Web 3.0), with discussions regarding the semantic Web, faster connections, artificial intelligence, wearable computers and more – it is all a bit overwhelming – or exciting! My guess is that the pace of development as outlined during the last few decades, while impressive, will seem pretty slow compared to what is ahead. All I can say is, it is a good thing I have been able to ease into this e-thing over the years. Now that I am warmed up, I am ready to pick up the pace. Although, micro-cassette recorders were pretty cool in their day!      

David

Introduction

Hello all – my name is David and I live in north-central, Nebraska – so, the Central time zone. I am married and have five children (four already grown-up – one in college, one with a Bachelor’s degree, and one with a Master’s Degree). I am a 53 year-old non-traditional student and have been pursuing a BS in Business Administration with a focus on Marketing forever – well really about eleven years, mostly one or two classes at a time (although three this semester and last). I currently have about 120 credits (almost all earned via online courses), and this is my sixth semester at PSC. After this course, four more classes and I am done (with this degree anyway) – scheduled for graduation in December.

I selected PSC as it offered reasonably priced online courses, from a traditional college (as opposed to online only institutions). I believe PSC being a traditional college adds credibility to my education/degree. I transferred my previous credits from a non-traditional college to PSC, as it seemed like a better source for a degree, even though I am having to take additional courses since some of my credits were not accepted by PSC (that’s why I’ll end up with about 135 credits when I am done). Prior to finding PSC, I tried to transfer credits to other Nebraska universities, but was not happy with how they handled my start-up information – as they were impersonal and kept communicating with me as if I was a 18 year-old starting college. Therefore, I looked further and found PSC, and was pleasantly surprised and impressed by my firsts contacts with the individuals involved in my initial evaluation and advisement (very nice/personal).

I have worked for many years in business and marketing management and have done well. For about ten years, I was vice president of marketing for a large medical device company, and every member of my 27-person department had at least a Bachelor’s degree, including many with Master or PhD level degrees – except me. I was able to achieve this level of management by starting in sales and working hard, slowly gaining a lot of industry knowledge and experience – and I was very blessed. Embarrassed about not completing my formal education, I kept that aspect of my life from my better-educated staff. However, I have always wanted to keep learning and finish my own degree – so here I am.

Other than school and work, I am usually involved with some type of church service activity, typically working with teenagers at least one night a week, plus Sundays. I am currently involved in community economic development and work with many businesses on improving their marketing, customer relations, and overall business management skills. I am expecting that this E-Marketing course will add to my previous business/marketing coursework knowledge, and be applicable to real world business marketing situations.

David