Mobile payments are a popular way of paying for goods and services without needing to pull out a credit card for every minor transaction. Some companies, such as Paypal, have been offering these mobile services for years and have proven that having an app-based payment source can be both secure and effective. Other newcomers, such as Google Wallet and Square, are revolutionizing how and where transactions take place.

So which e-payment option do you choose? If you are a member of a particular bank chain, you probably have their app so you can keep track of your financial accounts with just a few taps of your finger. If you frequently buy things online, you probably use a service like Paypal, which may or may not link to your bank account, in order to purchase goods online without handing out your credit card information to every retailer. If you are a small business owner, you might use one of the new merchant services like Square, which allows you to accept credit card and debit payments from customers on your smartphone.

With an increase in mobile banking – mobile computing in general – there are concerns for customer privacy. Every company is starting to market their own brand of mobile wallet, much like how all retailers now have their own store credit cards. And much like the over-abundance of store credit cards, experts are worried that an oversaturation of mobile wallet options will cause consumers to become confused and their personal information compromised. Retailers have decided that the security risks for third-party payments are too risky that they are developing their own version.

The risk for theft is not exclusive to mobile payments; breeches of security that stem from credit card numbers being swiped from registers are often reported in the news. Security is not really the issue, although the retailers want you to think otherwise so you use their services. But once they have you hooked on their services, they’ll have all your sensitive data and will be able to market their products to you more effectively; they’ll know more than your interests and purchases, they’ll know your income and spending habits.

“[The retailers] want that same piece of the payments pie,” said Daniel Trigub, a business developer at Blue Bite. “They want to own the consumer and all that data that comes with knowing who the transaction is coming from. There is ultimately a fight for user data and information…whoever owns that (POS guys, handset manufacturers, Googles of the world, credit card companies, etc.) will be very powerful.”

But let’s face it, quick payments are too convenient to do away with. Mobile wallets aren’t the threat, but in order for them to continue working appropriately, there needs to be more regulations in place to prevent unwanted data harvesting.

By Chad Henderson

While searching for an app that would allow my wife and I to share synced lists for things like grocery shopping, I ran across an application that looked promising called Zenbe Lists. According the description in the App Store, it would do exactly what I was looking for. It was not free, so I started looking at the reviews to determine if I would be willing to pay for the app. I only found a few reviews, mostly referencing a syncing problem the app was having. Growing concerned, I visited the company website and clicked on the support link at the top of the page. This took me to a page on Get Satisfaction devoted to this product. 

If you are not familiar with Get Satisfaction, it is a nifty web service that provides you with all the tools you need to respond to customer concerns and requests, without having to build out the system yourself. You simply set up a page for your product or service on Get Satisfaction, point customers who need support to that page, and then provide employees to spend time answering or responding to those support needs. 

The interesting part of the Get Satisfaction business model is that customers do not need to wait for you to set up a page for your service, they can do it for you simply by posting a question or a comment! Then that page will fill up with customers discussing your product without you even being aware of it. Luckily, once you become aware of it, you can then 'claim' it and start responding to the discussions that have already taken place. 

Get Satisfaction does a good job of making it clear if a company has claimed a page or not. A banner at the top of any page will let you know if that company is actively monitoring the page and responding to customer needs. 

When I visited the Zenbe Get Satisfaction page, the banner clearly stated that Zenbe had employees watching and participating in the page. Also, the fact that I was sent to this page from a link on Zenbe's own website, clearly indicated that they were aware and using this service. 

You can imagine my shock when I read down the list of problems and complaints on this page, and realized that most of them were six to nine months old with no response from any company representative. There were many posts talking about the syncing problem that was indicated in the reviews I had read, and a number of posts on many other software and server related problems customers were having. Zenbe had made a few responses to a small number of these, but nothing in recent months. 

More troubling than that, however, were the number of posts in the last few months questioning if the company was even still in business! Customers had grown so concerned about the lack of response from Zenbe that they had started assuming the company no longer existed. This is the exact opposite reaction you want customers to have when they reach out to you for customer support. 

As you can imagine, I did not purchase the app. 

Your business needs to have a plan at the very beginning on how you will deal with customer support issues and then make sure it is implemented. Nothing will kill your business faster than losing your customer's faith. Be prepared to devote time and resources to staying in contact with customers and making sure that they have their concerns addressed. If you put it aside, thinking you will come back to it later, you will lose business. Just ask Zenbe. 

The web activity tsunami that comes along with ecommerce during the holidays should keep every retailer on their toes. Lots of traffic can also mean plenty of threats to data and privacy. RACK59 helps businesses keep their data secure at our colocation facility in Oklahoma City, so an article we found at ITBusinessEdge.com with advice for protecting businesse during Cyber Monday and beyond brought up some great points.

Here’s a look at some good tips for businesses to keep from being online victims during the holidays:

Have a DDoS Response Plan: A solid DDoS plan should be explicit about the steps to be taken by an IT team in face of a DDoS attack.