That’s why I’m particularly pleased that we will be working closer than ever before with AOK (Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse, or the Health Insurance Fund) in Germany, which looks after around a third of the country’s population (about 25 million people). We’ll be issuing an additional 15 million second-generation eHealth cards, which will enable electronic prescriptions, and (with the holder’s consent) provide emergency services with allergy or drug intolerance information about the holder. The key here is that they are now built directly into the design of the card.

I believe that the better use we make of technology, the better the service which can be delivered. If my card can grant access to my online patient file, including my prescriptions, it reduces the risk of error and will allow health services to provide more tailored care based on my past, present and future needs.

One of the most common concerns about digitizing patient information is the perceived risk, should the card fall into the wrong hands. However, the eHealth card we will be providing for the German public under AOK will feature a number of integrated security features to help reduce fraud. The card will include a portrait photo of the insured person on the front, which, combined with the secure authentication function of the operating system, ensures the legitimacy of the rightful cardholder. All patient data on the card would be encrypted, meaning that, in order to read that information, you would need to have the card itself, the patient’s consent (in the form of a PIN code), and a doctor’s card to “request” the patient data. Some data, such as any allergies, may be available without the patient PIN in case they are unconscious, but would still require a doctor’s card, his PIN and the appropriate reader with two card slots.

KPMG Australia recently spoke at Gartner’s Infrastructure, Operations and Data Centre Summit, with Bernard Salt highlighting the necessity of ensuring the over-60s are well-looked after. If we prepare now, ensuring that we have the systems and technologies in place to cope with ageing populations and rising healthcare costs, to better identify patients and their treatments across borders, and help deliver technological advances as and when they happen, we might just be able to toast each others’ health for many years to come.

That’s an astonishing number of people who are using early mobile devices, but that doesn’t mean they are missing out on the latest advances in mobile payments. You may have seen my post a few days ago about Gemalto being selected as the technology provider for Transfer in Mexico, which aims to bring banking services to previously unreachable areas thanks to mobile phones. This is all possible through traditional text (SMS) messages rather than through data-hungry applications. 

As research group Forrester identified on their mobile payments blog last month, electronic money will keep on growing until it becomes the norm for us to make digital payments for every purchase. The impact this is already having in places such as Mexico and Kenya is phenomenal, letting people send money to friends and family, pay for shopping, utility bills, or even transport, without the need to travel or carry cash around potentially dangerous areas.

Kenya in particular is a world leader in mobile payments, where its M-Pesa platform has been in place for years and now has over 14 million subscribers. In fact, only last week Business Daily Africa’s George Ngigi reported on the Mobile Money Africa blog that, “Cash deposits held by mobile phone money transfer providers have grown to more than Sh176 billion (US $2.1billion), equivalent to a tenth of the Sh1.5 trillion held by commercial banks.”

As far as adoption goes, there are two main criteria that need to be met. Namely, that the service is secure, yet easy to use. Contrary to some beliefs, mobile transactions are actually a lot more secure than traditional methods. Your check won’t get lost in the post; your bulging pay-packet won’t get stolen on a night out and no data is left on your phone, as the above diagram shows – all transactions are secured digitally in the cloud using proven TSM technologies. The Gemalto Mobile Payment Platform (GMPP) identifies the sender, and uses a second channel – Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) – to prompt the sender for his PIN. If the PIN is correct, the user is authenticated, the GMPP processes the request and executes it.

Kenya has been making the footprints in which other nations can follow on the journey to a cashless society. Opening banking and transfer services up to all, no matter what network or device, could lead to the biggest shake-up of the financial world in living memory. You don’t need an app or the latest NFC handsets to take part in the next big global revolution. The Irish author Jonathan Swift once wrote that “a wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart”. In the next few years we may also see the wise man with money in his phone as well.

What? But there’s no massive paradigm shift, or the chance to spawn hundreds of new startups!

No, it seems that we are just simply on the verge of gaining real value in the B2B space from massive use of mobile data, democratized by the iPhone and formalized by BYOD policies. But don’t expect to see these apps showing up on an app store anytime. They are strictly private, because the key to their success is tapping into the corporate data center, which raises interesting security issues.

Philippe Banh from Pernod Ricard, a beverage company, was on hand at the EBG roundtable event I attended, and talked about the benefits, both intended, and unintended, from outfitting their sales force with iPhones. The Pernod app is quite simple in this initial incarnation: it shows a map of the rep’s territory with all the customers geo-located. Clicking on a customer brings up contact data, location data which can launch a GPS application, and all the current promotions which apply to that customer. As Philippe put it “there are no more excuses for not knowing about promotions”. The result is a jump in volumes ordered.

David Marchesseau from SAP took us through the top applications businesses are looking to “mobilize”, and like the Pernod case, CRM is top of the list. Others include customer service, Business Intelligence, or warehouse and transport management. Pretty mundane stuff, but if you can get to just the data that you need, instantly, on the go, then you get efficiencies and better decisions. That requires placing ergonomics of the application at the forefront. That’s also something you can build a business case around, with measurable ROI. In fact when SAP looked at the companies furthest ahead in the mobilizing their data, they saw an average of 20% more revenue and margins increased fourfold.

But when I asked about security, it all seemed like an afterthought. Remi Rocca from EDF, an energy company, said that their app had a login and password to get to the secure client data. When you think about how many smartphones are lost and stolen on any given day, that doesn’t seem like quite enough. And, with BYOD policies increasingly being introduced into the workplace, this will surely become a bigger problem in future unless measures are in place to protect the data even if the device goes amiss.

What about you and your business? Would mobilizing your data, your real business data – not the company catalogue, give you an advantage? How concerned are you about securing that access? Is password-poor security a deal-breaker?

Former Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula was the first person to be issued with one of Brazil’s new biometric ID cards, shortly before he vacated his post at the start of 2011. Over the next decade, 150 million Brazilian citizens will join him as one of the world’s most ambitious ID projects takes shape.

The Registro de Identidade Civil (RIC or Civil Identity Registry) card gives Brazilians a unique, multipurpose identity number based on their fingerprints and also includes a photo, signature and a chip containing biometric and biographical details. The RIC is replacing a number of different identity numbers (including Registro Geral (General Register), social security, work, health and student numbers) issued at both state and national level, to provide a single, standardised and nationwide system of identification. 

As my colleague Amy Gant recently discussed, the lack of a single, universally-held form of identification threatens to play havoc with the upcoming US elections, as authorities will struggle to verify the identity of those voting. Brazil will have no such problems once the RIC card roll-out is complete. In addition, card holders will benefit from smoother transit both within Brazil and at its national borders, whilst also gaining better protection against fraud and other crimes.

Brazil is a fast-moving-market for growth. Protecting the identities of its hundreds of millions of citizens is no small task, but it is one which is essential if the country is truly to become one of the world’s economic and cultural superpowers.

Then your smartphone buzzes with a reminder – it’s your best friend’s wedding and you’re the best man. How do you get back to reality in time for the wedding? Especially when you realised your money has run out, you have to overcome travel issues, find an outfit, get a shave AND find a present in time?

This is our new video which sums up all the aspects of our lives that Gemalto touches, helping Joe make it to the wedding in time. Drawing on NFC technology, secure and fast bank transfers courtesy of his parents, some nifty authentication and mobile commerce, Joe sprints across different countries (and draws on help far away) in record speed aided by his smartphone and the supporting technologies.

It’s a great example of where technology touches our lives, encompassing many of the areas of our business and where we help facilitate a secure, yet convenient digital lifestyle.

Let us know your thoughts on this as well as your predictions for how this might look in ten years’ time. In the meantime, we’re going to ensure that all these technologies are as secure and convenient as they can possibly be. And hope that Joe makes it to the wedding in time.

(Of course, in our view, if you forget your best friend’s wedding, you probably shouldn’t be best man.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcaLllaUG3s

The NSTIC is working towards something we absolutely need on the Internet: trust. According to the adage as immortalized by the Peter Steiner cartoon in The New Yorker in 1993, ‘On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.’ Our system today is broken; we have no idea who is who on the Internet.  Run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and led by Jeremy Grant, NSTIC aims to create an identity ecosystem that will be “a user-centric online environment, a set of technologies, policies, and agreed upon standards that securely support transactions ranging from anonymous to fully authenticated and from low to high value. Key attributes of the identity ecosystem include privacy, convenience, efficiency, ease-of-use, security, confidence, innovation, and choice.”

NSTIC’s Jeremy Grant and team are not aiming to create a government-led identity program. Instead, NSTIC will give private companies the tools to develop the system themselves, through providing federal funding to meet, determine standards, and begin pilot programs.

One-year-old NSTIC has accomplished a lot, including: creating a framework for its policies and structure; having its federal funds put in place; putting out the call for proposals for pilot projects and picking the finalists; and announcing its intention to support a private-sector led steering committee with $2 million in funding.

In year two, we should expect to see more work towards implementations. As far as timing goes, Jeremy told Federal News Radio that by this summer, the steering committee will be put into place, and up to eight grants for pilot projects will be awarded. Jeremy also told CNET’s John Fontana that he expects up to three federal agencies to announce major initiatives that align with NSTIC by the end of the year.

Jeremy said this to John Fontana about year one:  “In Washington, where it often takes years to get anything done, we’ve gotten lots of praise for accomplishing so much so soon with so little.  But in other circles, I get asked why it’s been a year since the President signed the strategy and the world hasn’t changed. Both sides have their points.”

True, we aren’t entering year two of the NSTIC with a more trusted and secure Internet, but we are entering it being a whole lot closer.  This is the time for public and private sectors to come together to make year two a success.  I envision a lot of effort, a lot of voluntary work, and a lot of standards work in the coming year.  What do you think?

The service allows customers to use mobile phones to set up bank accounts, transfer money, withdraw cash from ATM’s, purchase airtime and pay at merchant points of sale.

So what will it mean for Mexico? Transfer is designed to remove the barriers to financial inclusion, and gradually bring the advantages of financial services to the entire population of Mexico to help them lead healthier financial lifestyles. With the introduction of Mobile Money, customers can enjoy all the benefits of electronic currency in a truly digital world. We think the ability to store money securely in a virtual bank account and be in control of it from a mobile phone is something everyone, worldwide, should be party to.

Gemalto’s involvement with Transfer not only connects the three partners, it ensures the increased security and safety that comes with using all electronic money. The ability to make electronic transactions instead of cash transactions, (e.g. domestic money transfer, in-store payments, 24/7 airtime top-up) means that all Transfer customers will no longer have to risk carrying anonymous cash through unsafe areas.

In Mexico, only 30 percent of the population is registered with a bank. For the remaining 70 percent day-to-day life is dominated by cash. This means that approximately 80 million people have no access to formal financial services – because, until now, banks have not served the bottom of the pyramid. Although the unbanked earn, save, transfer and borrow money, these types of transactions take place outside the formal regulated financial environment.

Using Transfer, simplified bank accounts are associated with a customer’s mobile number and the account can be loaded through direct cash deposits or money transfers. Without getting too technical, mobile-triggered transactions are based on text (SMS) messages authenticated over a protected (USSD) channel with a personal identification code.

Once registered, customers can perform their first ‘cash in’ transaction to load funds into their Stored Value Account, transfer money from their bank account to the SVA, or receive a money transfer from someone else directly to their mobile phone.

It’s fast, simple, available 24 hours-a-day and all logged via SMS and/or email. What’s more, no information is stored on the device thanks to Gemalto’s secure data hosting. Understandably, you can see why we’re excited and we hope Latin American users will be too.

EMV is not commonplace here in the United States yet, but we’re on our way – MasterCard, Visa and now Discover are all on board, and 19 U.S. financial institutions issuing EMV credit and debit cards.  We know we need EMV chip technology to increase security and prevent fraud and the use of data from breaches (like the Global Payments data breach) .  But there is an even more basic reason why U.S. consumers should not wait around for mandates to kick in, and find a way to get an EMV chip card as soon as possible: it takes a lot of the hassles out of traveling.

The truth is, going to Europe, Asia, even Canada and Mexico with a standard U.S. magnetic stripe credit card just won’t cut it anymore.  Even if you plan to rely on cash, you’ll still get stuck when dealing with unmanned toll booths and ticket machines that accept only EMV chip cards.  The only way to get through an international trip hassle-free is by putting an EMV credit card in your wallet.

The good news is that actually getting a chip card is easier than ever.  Last week, Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, gave Fox Business News some tips on how consumers can get the cards.

Vanderhoof said that “all banks are going to tell you their cards will work internationally,” so it is best to ask specifically for “EMV” or “chip-enabled” cards.  We agree.  If they don’t offer the technology, find another bank that does.

He also said, “Customers who want a card for international travel purposes might be able to qualify for that card, but they might lose some other features, such as cash back or rewards, that they have on their existing card.  It’s up to the individual financial institutions how they package the other capabilities.” So, it is best to ask your financial institution about features and rewards on your new EMV chip card.

We also like this new option for consumers that don’t want to commit to a new credit or debit card – a prepaid EMV card.  Last week, FIS launched the FIS Travel EMV Card.  It has both chip and magnetic stripe, so it can be used at home and abroad.  FIS is planning to offer the card to financial institutions so they can instantly issue the cards to customers.

At Gemalto, we think it’s great that travelers have so many options to travel more easily, and are happy to pass along all of this helpful information.  The white sneakers, shorts and fanny packs?  Sorry, we can’t help with that…

The comment is true, considering that 2011 brought us 535 breaches, with 30.4 million sensitive records involved.  The biggest breaches included Sony, Epsilon and NASDAQ.  We’re only a few months into 2012, and still seeing “data breach” in the news at least weekly – there are enough that SC Magazine has dedicated an entire blog to tracking them, The Data Breach Blog.

What are businesses doing wrong?  According to Henry, “Too many companies, from major multinationals to small start-ups, fail to recognize the financial and legal risks they are taking—or the costs they may have already suffered unknowingly—by operating vulnerable networks.”

Because they don’t recognize the risks, they simply react when breaches occur, instead of putting plans in place to prevent attacks in the first place.  We know this is not working.  Henry said that the plan needs to start with leadership:  “If leadership doesn’t say, ‘This is important, let’s sit down and come up with a plan right now in our organization; let’s have a strategy,’ then it’s never going to happen.”

But while we are not winning the war against hackers, we can still turn it around.  Being proactive instead of reactive is the key to better overall security.   It is a fact that weak passwords and stolen identity credentials are the reason for most breaches.  It’s time to throw this method away; strong security does not start with weak and hacker-friendly usernames and passwords.

Instead, companies of all sizes need to get on board with the fact that, at this point in the war, they need strong, multi-factor authentication (something you know, something you have, something you are) as the basis to their security plan.

Many projects are already in place, leading to Brazil slowly but surely catching up with the Western world when it comes to using technology to advance services and lifestyles as well as boost the economy. As we will show here though, this will continue into the future.

Brazil is already ahead of others when it comes to innovation in agriculture, oil production and ethanol technology. But in terms of digital, how Brazilians adopt technology to their cultural and economic needs and realities is more important than the digital technology they produce. This is an emerging economic power with a can-do mentality and a voracious appetite for the latest advances.

Let’s see what is in store for the future:

Personalized financial services – banks are no longer just a supplier service but are becoming a provider of knowledge as they offer financial education information and services. There are still a lot of people in Brazil who don’t have a bank account, so peer-to-peer financing will become more important.

4G – with Brazil due to host the 2014 World Cup, the government hopes to have 4G in place in time to be able to take the crown of the first ‘mobile’ World Cup.

Spending and saving on the internet – with internet banking and ecommerce moving to smartphones and tablets and internet services available on digital television, the ability to both spend and save online will help foster even more awareness of financial accounting to boost the Brazilian economy and give its citizens more financial education.

Growing convergence between commerce and social networks – as one of the most sociable countries with nearly 60% of ‘Class C’ on social media, Brazil offers a prime opportunity to track the convergence between commerce and social networking. As social networking becomes more available on smartphones and tablets, the opportunity will increase further.

Ultimately, however, none of this will be feasible without the infrastructure being in-place and widely accessible. The Brazilian government already has a response to this: it is working on a project to make WiFi universally available – even on beaches! This will further increase digital access making Brazil a hot technology and innovation hub – and most certainly ‘one to watch’.