ASIL Receives "Best of Santa Clara" Business Award
WASHINGTON D.C., - Advanced Solutions In Logistics, Inc. has been selected for the 2008 Best of Santa Clara Award in the Business Management Consultants category by the U.S. Local Business Association (USBLA).
The USBLA "Best of Local Business" Award Program recognizes outstanding local businesses throughout the country. Each year, the USBLA identifies companies they believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and community.
Michael Singleton, Vice President of Operations, accepted the award on behalf of ASIL, Inc. saying "This is truely an honor and we appreciate the recognition for our accomplishments." Two years earlier, the ASIL, Inc. team was awarded the 'Keeping America Strong' award.
The 2008 USBLA Award program is focused on quality. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the USBLA and data provided by third parties.
Contributed by ASIL Marketing
Feature Article
Reducing Fraud in Internet Sales
You received the Customer’s order. You shipped the Product. Now, where’s the money?
With current declines in business orders and sales, it’s increasingly important to squeeze every dollar out of your revenue generating operations. Does your business operate an internet sales channel? If so, consider the impact fraud is having on your profitability and take steps to mitigate losses to your bottom line.
Fraud is prevalent in CNP (Card Not Present) sales activity. According to reports from the U.S. Census Bureau Retail E-Commerce Sales reports, the online revenue loss due to fraud, was $3.6B in 2007 up $600K from values reported in 2006. These figures represent a loss of 1.4% in revenue, however, this loss doesn’t tell the whole story.
A CyberSource 2008 Fraud report cites the following statistics*:
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Overall order rejection rate due to suspicious orders averaged 4.2%
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Accepted orders, later determined to be fraudulent, averaged 1.3%
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Merchants manually review 1 out of every 3 orders created
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Order review rates average 32 orders per hour with outcomes of 90% acceptance and 10% rejection
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52% of Merchant’s budgets, on average, are spent on Order Review operations activities
* Based on a survey of 318 online merchants representing small, medium and large-sized North American organizations
The total profitability lost is much more than the 1.4% indicated earlier. To the initial revenue loss, we must add the cost of staff, technology and facilities to review orders, the cost of technology investments implemented to mitigate fraud exposure, the cost of rejecting valid orders and customer dissatisfaction due to incorrectly classifying valid orders as being fraudulent, and the opportunity cost of the lost revenue and the ability of the company to invest/use that lost revenue to grow the business. When doing so, we find the overall company impact significantly higher than simply the missed 1.4% revenue value.
The people committing fraudulent CNP transactions are savvy and wily people. In some case they are organized and in others they are simply people taking advantage of loop holes and gaps in a company’s process controls. So what is a company to do to mitigate the revenue and profitability loss from fraud? Consider the following as potential remediation techniques:
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Make fraud mitigation a strategic investment for your CNP operation
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Improve automated detection of risky orders and invest in new fraud prevention capabilities
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Join industry forums to obtain and share best practices/experiences/knowledge
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Leverage industry experts in performing process audits and developing gap analysis
The staff at ASIL has experience in process analysis, process mapping and CNP processing activities. We are versed in a variety of analytical techniques to assess order activities and order processing methods. By employing a set of standard assessments, based on PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards), we provide your company valuable insight into methods you might implement in remediating fraudulent CNP order exposure. Let us help you achieve new areas of profitability and success in this ever changing economy.
Contributed by Warren White
November 2008 Spotlight
Economy Under Siege
Our economy is under siege, this can be evidenced by all of the activities and calamities that have been occurring in the financial markets. Businesses are waking up to a harsh cold reality. The natural tendency is to reduce and cut. This includes pink slips, project stoppage, and other expense cuts.
While this approach can buy time, it doesn’t resolve systemic issues that may exist. New efforts designed to remedy known problems are also at risk. It is interesting to note that many companies will quickly discard rational thought and focused efforts about driving change in hopes that the reactive approach will yield greater results.
The fact is that change does take time and resources. Conversely, it took time and resources to get into the challenge that may exist. Continuing to feed it a little less by cutting back dollars, doesn’t address the heart of the matter. Yet, it does make it a little bit less painful, and it makes us feel like we have made progress.
It is during the leaner times that companies are truly at risk of falling even further behind their competition. Successful companies recognize that there is a balance that must be maintained in order to achieve a competitive parity or advantage. This includes staying with transformational programs that redefine the value proposition or operational delivery to increase customer and shareholder value.
How do you ensure that the chosen few are preserved and delivered? Sponsorship is critical to the success of any transformational effort, and even more so during challenging economic times. One of the greatest struggles is to keep the momentum to transform a business versus cutting back spend and letting it stay the same. The business case must be made and must be able to stand the test of time through the unexpected changes that may occur.
Determining which efforts to continue or stop requires a clear method for understanding the value from each program. Building a common basis within organizations to assess and decide is no small task due to the decentralized models that exist. Industry reports show that the value gained from aligned and improved decision making is worth the time and focus to set the standard for success. If you uncertain where to begin, give us a call at ASIL, we specialize in helping companies understand the value of their future.
Contributed by Peter Pazmany
Our Software Products
Click on the links below to view ASIL, Inc.'s MAX Partnering® self paced software demonstrations:
Self Assessment Sample Questionnaire - This demo will enable you to respond to a small sample of self assessment questions focused on change management and create a Heat Map of your responses to see areas that may need attention. The Driving Complex Change® methodology addresses the six areas of Direction, Ability, Incentive, Resources, Structure, and Action that can impact your effectiveness of change management.
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