Data Management

Imagine you are the general counsel at a retailer involved in sensitive M&A discussions. You receive an email from one of the deal’s outside advisors. He says he needs some information about your company, the kind you’ve passed on before. You send it along — and later find that you were victimized in a sophisticated cyber-attack aimed at stealing sensitive information.

French specialty apparel retailer Kiabi has to keep up with the constantly changing world of fashion.

Kiabi, which operates more than 500 stores in 32 countries and also has an online presence, is using the SoftwareAG webMethids API (application programming interface) management platform to enable maximum operational flexibility. Kiabi is building cloud-based systems on the API to eliminate internal silos and open core business functions, both inside the enterprise and with external business partners.

Here is the bottom line: EMV compliance protects against certain types of fraud but not all types.

Yes, EMV adoption will drive significant growth in online fraud. But in something that has received far less attention is the fact EMV-compliant technology can also actually help protect retailers against fraudulent e-commerce transactions.

Gasoline/convenience retailer Thorntons Inc. maximizes its customer “convenience” with 24-hour service at many locations. This requires the Louisville, Kentucky-based, 175-store chain to operate robust network security that can handle heavy transaction volume at all times.

“We needed a simple and effective whitelisting (file and application approval) product to prevent outbound Internet access except to desired places,” said David Caudill, VP of IT for Thorntons.

One of the best ways retailers can make both their financial data and store systems more secure is to reduce potential vulnerability by removing financial data from the store.

“Take any credit card data out of your store systems,” advised Perry Kramer, VP and practice lead for Boston Retail Partners. “Most retailers don’t know what’s on their systems or their risk profile. You need a good inventory. Some data you might keep.”

An ongoing computer glitch has been wreaking major havoc at Walgreens. According to the Chicago Tribune, the Deerfield, Illinois-based drugstore giant was gradually restoring its automated pharmacy system this week after a massive outage on Sept. 22.

Pharmacists at all 8,200 U.S. Walgreens stores had to start manually filling prescriptions on Tuesday morning after the glitch occurred following overnight maintenance. As of the afternoon of Sept. 24, thousands of stores still lacked access to Walgreens’ central pharmacy database.

New Orleans – “Omnichannel” is a broad term that constantly evolves as the technology retailers use to engage customers evolves.

Silicon Valley’s Winchester House confounds visitors from around the world. An eccentric heiress spent decades adding endless rooms and hallways, doors that lead to nowhere, and random structural additions — turning a home into an inscrutable, imposing and meandering oddity.

Toronto – Consumers are willing share their personal data with brands — even though they feel they aren’t getting much value in return.

According to a new study from marketing loyalty and analytics provider Aimia, 80% of consumers around the world are willing to share key pieces of personal information with brands.  

Yet only 8% of consumers around the world feel as though they are actually receiving better offers from companies as a result of sharing their details.