Industry News -March 18th 2011
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RETAIL AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS
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Century-old Glen Cove Mansion Hotel Launches Mobile Website
“Mobile bookings are growing rapidly within the hospitality industry as a result
of our increasingly mobile society and growing sophistication of
Internet-enabled cell phones,” says Ata Kashanian, vice president and managing
director. “We wanted to be out in front of this, and are very pleased with our
mobile website. This is the future, even for a century-old historic hotel.”
Glen Cove Mansion Hotel and Conference Center’s new mobile site features:
- Vast connectivity: two in five adults (40%) currently have access to the
Internet through a mobile device, and GPS-enabled cell phones are now providing
consumers with location-based, geographically targeted choices
- Decreased loading time by reducing the number of kilobytes in each downloaded
page
- Enabled services to take advantage of mobile device capabilities, such as
clicking on a phone number to call
- The ability to add website to address book/favorites with customized icon
- Simplified navigation featuring main calls to action
- Enabled content to share with live website, so when an update is made via site
editing, or rate adjustments occur, the mobile website is automatically updated
- Strong calls to action, rapid response and added convenience for customers
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Organizational Data Breach Costs Hit $7.2M and Show No Sign of Leveling Off
Symantec Corp. and the Ponemon Institute’s 2010 Annual Study: U.S. Cost of a Data Breach reveals that data breaches grew more
costly for the fifth year in a row. The average organizational cost of a data
breach increased to $7.2 million and cost companies an average of $214 per
compromised record, markedly higher when compared to $204 in 2009. The study
also found that for the second straight year, organizations’ need to respond
rapidly to data breaches drove the associated costs higher. The sixth annual
Ponemon Cost of a Data Breach report is based on the actual data breach
experiences of 51 U.S. companies from 15 different industry sectors.
“We continue to see an increase in the costs to businesses suffering a data
breach,” says Dr. Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute.
“Regulators are cracking down to ensure organizations implement required data
security controls or face harsher penalties. Confronted with both malicious and
non-malicious threats from inside and outside the organization, companies must
proactively implement policies and technologies to mitigate the risk of costly
breaches.”
Key findings from the study include:
- Rapid response to data breaches is costing companies 54 percent more per record
than companies that moved more slowly. Forty-three percent of companies notified
victims within one month of discovering the breach, up seven points from 2009.
In 2010, these quick responders had a per-record cost of $268, up 22 percent
from 2009; companies that took longer paid $174 per record, down 11 percent.
- Malicious or criminal attacks are the most expensive and are on the rise. In
this year’s study, 31 percent of all cases involved a malicious or criminal act,
up seven points from 2009, and averaged $318 per record, up 43 percent from
2009.
- Negligence remains the most common threat. The number of breaches caused by
negligence edged up one point to 41 percent and averaged $196 per record, up 27
percent from 2009. This steady trend reflects the ongoing challenge of ensuring
employee and partner compliance with security policies.
- Companies are more vigilant about preventing system failures. System failure
dropped nine points to 27 percent in 2010. This trend indicates organizations
may be more conscientious in ensuring their systems can prevent and mitigate
breaches through new security technologies and compliance with security policies
and regulations.
- Data breach costs have continued to rise. The average organizational cost of a
data breach this year increased to $7.2 million, up seven percent from $6.8
million in 2009. Total breach costs have grown every year since 2006. Data
breaches in 2010 cost companies an average of $214 per compromised record, up
$10 (5 percent) from last year.
- Encryption and other technologies are gaining ground as post-breach remedies,
but training and awareness programs remain the most popular. Sixty-three percent
of respondents use training and awareness programs after data breaches, down
four points from 2009. Encryption is the second most implemented preventive
measure as a result of a data breach, with 61 percent. Both encryption and data
loss prevention (DLP) solutions have increased 17 percent since 2008.
Symantec recommends organizations implement the following best practices,
whether or not they have suffered a data breach:
- Assess risks by identifying and classifying confidential information
- Educate employees on information protection policies and procedures, then hold
them accountable
- Deploy data loss prevention technologies which enable policy compliance and
enforcement
- Proactively encrypt laptops to minimize consequences of a lost device
- Integrate information protection practices into businesses processes
The study, sponsored by Symantec and independently conducted by the Ponemon
Institute, takes into account a wide range of business costs, including expense
outlays for detection, escalation, notification, and after-the-fact (ex-post)
response. The study also analyzes the economic impact of lost or diminished
customer trust and confidence as measured by customer churn or turnover rates.
The U.S. Cost of a Data Breach Study was derived from a detailed analysis of 51
data breach cases with a range of nearly 4,200 to 105,000 affected records. The
study found there is a positive correlation between the number of records lost
and the cost of an incident. Companies analyzed were from 15 different
industries, including finance, retail, healthcare, services, education,
technology, manufacturing, research, transportation, consumer, hotels and
leisure, media, pharmaceutical, communications and energy.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Selects Incentives Advisors to Maximize Hiring Credits
Chipotle Mexican Grill, a 1,100 fast-casual restaurant chain, will deploy Incentives
Advisors’(IA) Incentives+ tax credit screening solution to make it easy to
screen job candidates for over 100 federal, state, and local hiring credits.
Incentives Advisors is a national company that specializes in turning HR
departments into profit centers by identifying, administering and securing
hiring-related government incentives.
Because IA is integrated into many of the largest talent management solution
(TMS) providers in the marketplace, Chipotle will be able to seamlessly deploy
IA's tax credit screening questionnaire within their TMS' online job application
process.
How it works
Candidates complete IA's 30-second, dynamic questionnaire within Chipotle's
online application, guaranteeing 100% of the job candidates applying on their
corporate website will be presented with the screening questionnaire. Screening
questions are based on how a candidate answers the questions as well as the
candidate's address and hiring location address. Recruiters can immediately view
the tax credit eligibility results within the TMS before an interview or offer,
along with a link to the pre-populated tax credit forms. Recruiters have
eligible new hires sign the forms and submit them to IA, which manages the
process from there.
Combining tax expertise and technology
Chipotle Mexican Grill's Staffing Manager, Dave McKlveen, comments on why he
chose IA's Incentives+ solution. "We like that candidates are screened for all
applicable federal, state, and local hiring credit programs upfront during our
online application process. We'll also greatly reduce our paperwork we normally
process with tax credit screening since HR will print forms for eligible hires
only, not every hire."
Valley View Casino & Hotel Selects Visual One Suite by Agilysys
Valley View Casino & Hotel in
Valley Center, Calif. has selected Agilysys’ Visual One suite, including solutions
for property management, comp accounting and sales and catering, to streamline
operations at its new 108-room hotel, which opened in November. The property has
used the InfoGenesis POS solution by Agilysys for several years.
"The Visual One system had all the functionality we needed for our new hotel and
event center, and it interfaced with a number of other software programs we were
already using," says Todd Jackson, vice president of information technology at
Valley View Casino & Hotel. "The user comments have been very positive, too.
Many of our employees are basic computer users, but they had no trouble at all
learning the new system. We were also pleased with the expertise and
professionalism of Agilysys staff during installation and are confident the
Visual One system will enhance operations and guest service."
The Visual One suite is a comprehensive and fully integrated property management
solution that offers a wide range of features and functionality, including front
office operations, guest history, housekeeping, reservations management and
more. Its user-friendly screens are laid out in a logical, easy-to-use format
with quick-feature icons and drag-and-drop capabilities. The solution, which
runs on a Microsoft® SQL Server database, has modules for accounting, club
management, comp accounting, condo accounting, guest marketing and sales and
catering.
Valley View Casino & Hotel is using the Visual One Sales & Catering module to
manage banquet operations in its new event center. The property is also using
the Visual One Comp Accounting module to code complimentary guest charges from
the guest folio, including patron self-redemption and manager comps. Staff can
code complimentary services at the point of reservation, at check-out or at any
other time during the guest's stay and instantly validate the authorization for
the comp. The module interfaces seamlessly with the property's casino patron
management system.
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