Our Thinking

Over the last few weeks, our team of Qualified Security Assessor's (QSAs) has been responding to questions from our clients about how they can maintain PCI compliance while transitioning their contact centers (and associated business processes) to “work from home.” It's not just an important topic, but a very valid one given that most organizations today have never dealt with these kind of business challenges before; they truly are unprecedented. In many cases, just keeping the business operating is paramount and we recognize how many variables are at play today.

Recent events have changed the world we typically wake up to, and it is continuing to change. The ways we interact, the ways we seek necessities, and the ways we conduct business, have all shifted in a very short period of time. 

For many retailers, business is continuing and even trending upwards as consumers shift their shopping habits to online. What doesn't seem likely to change however, is the responsibility that retailers have to protect the consumers' personal information.

As much of the world shifts gears into "self-quarantine" mode to slow the spread of the Coronavirus, more and more people are looking at how they can work remotely.  Approximately 3-4% of the workforce already works virtually, for the rest this will come as a new experience. 

Network attacks are on the increase, and hackers are being forced to become more and more sophisticated as we build even stronger defense strategies to shut them down.

A HIMSS Conference can be overwhelming.

If you haven’t been before, picture a small city’s population encased in a massive building, all trying to either get the most out of the event, or be heard above the noise of every other vendor, speaker, or influencer.

Healthcare CISOs and CIOs continue to struggle to get the resources they require to address increasing threats in the digital environment and too often they are presented with risk analysis reports that simply contain a laundry-list of security control failures.

With the Gartner IT Prediction that “By 2021, more than 50% of enterprises will be spending more per annum on bots and chatbot creations than traditional mobile app developments”, there is little doubt that conversational AI or “Chatbots” are the next new wave of digital transformation technology.

As technology continues to advance, it's critical for the security community to respond to the evolving risk for consumer data.

On Tuesday, January 14, I had the opportunity to once again sit the PCI Dream Team’s eighth online session. During this session, we responded to questions from our participants which covered a broad range of concerns.

About ten years ago I was part of a team working on a product that was an early attempt to capture a 360-degree view of the customer. Back then, the concept of a “360-degree view”  of your customer was in its infancy – it was a new way of thinking. The industry understood that it was becoming more and more important to understand your customer’s journey. 

Is it this time of year already?! The time of year when the days literally fly off the calendar. When we sit back and consider all that transpired. The many projects, trends, buzzwords, predictions, challenges, and success stories that shaped our year.

It's also the time when we round up some of our favorite blogs that we published in 2019.  While it’s hard for us to pick our Top 10, we did our best. We hope you like the list our team put together.