Over the last few years, there has been an enormous shift in employees working remotely, especially during lockdowns, which means that businesses are forced to evolve or fail, creating both challenges and opportunities.
There has never been a greater need for a fool-proof remote working strategy with businesses looking at more people working from home and needing to provide flexibility to both employees and customers.
One of these challenges is something that we get asked often, and that is for us to help our customers create a customer journey to be as frictionless as possible.
As we see new technologies emerging, such as virtualisation of applications covering audio & written across the board enable us to do what we do best – payment security integration how & when clients need it. The businesses that will thrive engage with their customers on the channel or the device that the customer prefers. These channels are not necessarily the most convenient for the business, whether online over the phone via a smartphone application or even a voice assistant.
As such, businesses now need to be omnichannel by nature – Anytime & Anywhere.
The number of available channels is actively increasing for customers to make purchases, essentially by entering payment details and personally identifiable information (PII). These channels will also never decrease in number, so you don't necessarily get to retire an old one when you introduce a new channel.
As well as interacting with customers via any channel they prefer, there is also the expectation that businesses make adequate steps to protect the customer's privacy and keep sensitive information safe. This includes information such as payment details, which is an immense concern when operating remotely and across new channels.
It's important to note that the Security standards council expects businesses to comply with PCI DSS even in the face of Covid. Businesses are still expected to ensure that the data and information that they are collecting from customers remains safe and secure.
"The PCI SSC is dedicated to providing necessary guidance to the payments industry during evolving circumstances related to COVID-19. The current climate is forcing more global organisations to a remote-work model. As organisations make this shift, it is important to maintain security practices to protect payment card data."
Unfortunately, this level of compliance doesn't go away because of the current situation but, in some cases, becomes heightened in terms of the potential risk and the ability to look at alternative solutions to improve how a business operates moving forward.
1. First Fun Fact: Over 35 Billion payments were made in total in 2020, with card payments accounting for over 50% of all payments in the UK1. Silver Lining alone processes an estimated annual transaction value of over £1 Billion through our PCI systems.
2. Second Fun Fact: Over 60% of the UK’s adult population worked from home during the first lockdown with 26% of planning to continue to work from home permanently or occasionally2.
