Do your customers make payments through PayPal or 4 Square? Does your bank allow you to deposit a check remotely by using your smartphone?
Perhaps you have purchased bitcoins or you’ve seen someone make a payment just by using their phone as a digital wallet.
Purchasing has changed. First up, keep your eye on the latest innovations. Maybe they can help your business thrive or, on the flipside, maybe they will be a security nightmare. Payment card industry compliance has pretty rigid requirements, so follow the rules.
Let’s dive into some of these, shall we? A bitcoin is a digital currency in a system where transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank. It came out in 2009 and has been classified as decentralized currency by the U.S. Treasury. Bitcoins got a ton of attention in 2013 when the FBI shut down the Silk Road online black market and seized 144,000 bitcoins that were worth about $28 million.
As the virtual currency gains more acceptance, the number of businesses that accept it will surely grow. Bitcoin values can fluctuate wildly, however, which may make consumers reluctant to use them.
If you have seen someone pay someone using the Bump app? Bump allows you to pay someone by bumping phones together as long as you both have the app downloaded and Paypal accounts. Dwolla and Venmo are also interesting apps that provide a similar payment methodology.
There are some important tips if you are going to use mobile banking or payment apps. Keep those passwords complex and hard to break. Always set the auto-lock on your smartphone. This way, if you lose your phone, you still have some protection in place. Always read the fine print on financial apps in regard to what they can do with your personal information.
Lastly, always stay off free Wi-Fi hotspots that are not password protected. A good hacker can “sniff” (packet sniffing is defined as capturing data as it is transmitted over a network) your private info with very little effort in that kind of environment.
Improvements in electronic transactions have changed the game for the good guys and the bad ones. For every innovation there is a new threat. I remember when I was a kid hearing a commercial for a product and it would say the methods of payment accepted were “check, cash or money order”. That was it. There were no ATMs. These days anything is possible. Just make sure the security involved is adequate for you and your business.
I attended an event called Leadercast this past week. Via the web I listened to speakers ranging from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to former First Lady Laura Bush and many others. The theme was “go beyond yourself,” so in that spirit I would challenge you to check out this hi-tech way to inspire and support those looking to better themselves: http://www.worldvisionmicro.org/.
