Mobile commerce has led to many changes in the way businesses operate, large and small. With so many new possibilities being opened up by mobile commerce, it makes perfect sense that there are also many new risks to contend with as well. If you’re in business today, you need to prepare your business to embrace the good while guarding against the risks mobile commerce represents. These tips will help your business guard against one of the most common risks associated with mobile commerce: breach of customer data.
Protect Shoppers’ Personal Information
This is perhaps one of the most important things you must do, as a retailer, in today’s mobile marketplace. Shoppers have entrusted you with private financial and personal information. It isn’t an option to protect this information. From hackers to careless employees, and all points in between, there are many points where this information is vulnerable.
The good news is that there are options available to guard against this information getting into the wrong hands.
1) Create policies that prohibit employees from keeping shoppers’ information on their mobile devices. This policy should include laptop computers, as they are also easy targets for theft and hacking alike.
2) Invest in cloud technology that allows employees to access information in the cloud without actually carrying that information around with them. This means that whoever needs the information can access it without the vulnerabilities that having the same information stored on multiple devices poses.
3) Install software that safeguards your shoppers’ information. Whether it’s protection against hackers or protection from people who steal (or even find lost) mobile devices by wiping the memory so no one can have access to information that should not, it’s always wise to have software protection to safeguard your shoppers’ information.
4) Make sure your business is poised to follow the letter of the law when legislation arises to protect your shoppers’ information. Laws have already been passed in many European countries to require companies to protect the information of their customers when it comes to mobile commerce, or M-commerce. Rest assured the U.S. government will swiftly weigh in on the matter as well. Be ready when the time comes and make sure your business is already making strides on your own to go above and beyond what the law requires.
5) Invest in cyber liability insurance. It only takes one serious hacker, one lost laptop, or one crafty thief to put the business you’ve worked so hard to build in serious jeopardy. You can’t eliminate all risks with cyber liability insurance, but you can limit the exposure of your business if the unthinkable does happen.
Mobile commerce isn’t going anywhere. People like the convenience it represents. As more and more members of society embrace the mobile era, small businesses are going to see a rise in the need to protect their information while limiting your risks of failing to do so.
