The Growing Importance of Technology in Business
Information technology is what gives you access to the lifeblood of your organization – your data. This is why a shutdown of key business applications can kill your business in a matter of days if not sooner. Furthermore, a data breach or allegations of misuse of data can hurt your business through a loss of trust. Yet technology can also simplify system management and protect your business. Let’s look at the growing importance of technology in business.
Age Verification Systems
A popup warning visitors that your website is off-limits to minors isn’t good enough for government officials. That doesn’t prevent minors from buying things online that they wouldn’t be able to buy in a retail store that checks ID. An age verification system that asks people to input their age relies on the honor system, and it is easy to lie via the drop-down box. The solution is to implement solutions that verify a users age while verifying their identity.
These systems generally compare the person’s face to that of a supplied identity card. It is smart enough to flag when the person has scanned the photo ID and tried to submit that in place of their current photo. It will recognize the person when they’ve aged a couple of years or forgone makeup. By comparing dozens of points on the face, it will reject an attempt to create an account by a close relative who isn’t the person in the ID. A side benefit of such systems is that it prevents people with stolen IDs from buying tobacco, alcohol or age-restricted services through the website. You can explain that this additional effort when creating an account or verifying identity before purchase prevents identity theft and unauthorized purchases through a legitimate account.
Simplified Sign On
Simplified sign on or SSO can significantly reduce the amount of account management that’s required by your website administrators. Furthermore, you’ll be able to learn far more about your users in the name of providing them a convenient login. This is true whether you let them create a login through Facebook, Google or Apple. You’ll learn their social media history and personal preferences, their contacts and their identity. And you don’t have to manage their account or reset a password for them. However, you should give them the ability to create an account without using a simplified sign on interface, in case they don’t want to let you know their Facebook preferences.
Customer Relationship Management Systems
Tie user account creation to your customer relationship management system. Then you’ll copy their picture, name, address and other information into your CRM system when the account is created. You can then automatically track purchases to the account holder, and you’ll eliminate most if not all data entry on the part of your team. Maintain a single repository of customer data, tying customer service, sales, marketing and tech support information to the customer. Then you can track login failures, flag duplicate accounts and monitor suspicious behavior. For example, a CRM system will warn you if there is already an account with the same name or address when someone tries to create a new account. Determining whether this is someone who forgot they already had an account with you or a scammer trying to use a valid ID will require some investigation, but it is worth the effort. And you’ll avoid problems by having that warning at the very beginning.
