Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Why Canada is a Player but not a Leader in e-Commerce

Canada has been said to be a player but not a leader n e-Commerce. A recent survey by ePath Consulting looked into this paradox and came up with some interesting conclusions. For my article on their survey and the findings, click this link.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Crowdfunding Moves On

The idea of raising money over the internet for new business startups and charities has gained considerable prominence over the past two years. A leading website - Kickstart.com - has continued to flourish and is now accompanied by numerous others.

There has been controversy in the regulatory field, with initial resistance from the major securities regulators. However, the SEC blazed a path with new legislation - the JOBS Act - that has been followed by similar proposals from the Ontario Securities Commission.

The National Crowdfunding Association has a very informative website where it is pointed out that the industry was expected to grow 2.6 billion for 2012. Over 800 million was raised in North America.

Crowdfunding is now a legitimate means of fund raising, and one that is proving useful for countless business startups and charities. while it does require the involvement of legal advice for business startups in particular, nevertheless the potential for raising capital is tremendous.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Identity Management

Identify theft has been a major and growing problem in the cyber age. Identity management is a new and comprehensive answer. But is it enough? Read on at this entry in my Money.ca Blog.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Cloud Security is an Ongoing concern

A recent survey shows that companies have moved more than 25% of their processes to the cloud. But another survey shows that almost 40% of the companies feel their existing security is not adequate to meet the security risks of the cloud. Most of them retain the responsibility for security over the cloud rather than their provider. This indicates that companies can outsource most processes, they cannot outsource responsibility for security. This has been the case to date, but a better solution needs to be found, if they are to make best use of the cloud. One good approach would be to ramp up the role played by systems assurance. The major accounting bodies, such as CPA Canada and the AICPA have had Trust Services standards in place for years that could be used for this purpose. These services could be used much more effectively in the Cloud. For a summary of the surveys, follow this link.

Thursday, April 04, 2013

SEC Supports Social Media for Corporate Disclosure

In a ground-breaking move, the SEC has released a report in which it allows companies the use of Social Media, like Facebook and Twitter, for corporate disclosures. The move came after an investigation was launched into a disclosure by Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, on his personal Facebook page, that Netflix had exceeded 1 billion hours in streaming time during the month for the first time. That announcement precipitated a rise in Netflix's shares the next day. As a result, the SEC launched an investigation into whether that disclosure was in conformity with Reg FD, the groundwork rule that seeks to ensure all investors have equal access to information being disclosed.

Over the past several years, it's been a struggle for the SEC to keep up with rapid changes in the use of technology for corporate reporting - first the web, then blogs, now social media, among other things.

In this case, the investigation concluded that the use of social media would conform with Reg FD provided that companies alert investors that announcements will be coming over a particular source.

That sounds good and progressive, and it is, but it is going to create some issues both for the regulator and for investors. It's likely we will see further rules down the road in this area. Facebook, for example, provides users with a tool to post their status, and such announcements would presumably come through the status postings.However, previous status announcements quickly get buried in other postings and to find particular items requires scrolling back through everything on the site. Many investors are not going to monitor the Facebook sites of all their investments on a regular basis - along with the websites, blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, other social media and traditional news sources. With all this richness of media, it may be that the vehicles available for investors are becoming too diverse and cumbersome. Time will tell.

For the SEC report, check out the SEC site here.

Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Will it be BYOD or CYOD?

While many businesses are grappling with the idea of adopting a policy of allowing employees to use their own mobile devices for company purposes (BYOD) not all of them taking this approach to the issue. Some are starting to look at the idea of listing some alternatives for employees to choose from, a Choose Your Own Device (CYOD)approach.

CYOD involves screening out devices that cannot meet the security requirements of the company and/or cannot integrate with the corporate systems, but allows the employees some flexibility in the devices they use for corporate purposes.It's a compromise. Here's more on the topic.

Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Tablets and Smartphones - An Opportunity

Tablets and smartphone driven sales in the e-commerce world are growing rapidly. And this past year saw tablet sales outdistance phone based sales, although this may change again next year. Both are growing faster than PC driven sales. It is clear that one of the key drivers of tablet and phone usage is the existence of good apps. People like to go straight to an app rather than browse the web on their mobile devices, especially on their phones.

That means there is an opportunity for creative app developers in the e-commerce area. It's gearing up for a major growth cycle and largely in the mobile area. More in this article.