Time To Reconsider Big POS Opportunity

ever-expanding TJX credit-card data theft

But despite the fact that most of my everyday wardrobe consists of shirts with some high-tech company's logo on it, it has me thinking. And it seems to me this incident highlights an opportunity for solution providers that have a concentration in integrating point-of-sale systems.

Security has always been an issue with POS, but as this story continues to unwind and the inevitable barrage of lawsuits hits TJX, the owner of Marshalls, T.J. Maxx and other retail outlets, other retailers are going to want to make sure their security precautions are adequate. If retailers, be they large or small, don't take every possible precaution, then some lawyer could very well argue that they should be hit with punitive damages because they skimped on trying to prevent all this. That could get ugly.

TJX last week revealed that it's being sued by several banks and other individuals in connection with its security breach, which saw some 45.7 million credit-card numbers stolen. It also suggested that payment-card companies and associations—such as Visa and MasterCard—may seek to levy fines as a result of the theft.

While this may be the largest theft of credit-card information we have seen, it certainly isn't the first, nor will it be the last.

I'm no technical expert, but we all know encryption software is just a piece of the answer.

For solution providers, the TJX debacle underscores a huge opportunity to act as a POS process consultant, starting at the checkout counter and following through every single step of an electronic transaction, including collection, transmission, storage and destruction of data. The opportunity seems almost endless, from security cameras aimed at the checkout counter to software and hardware that prevent this sort of thing from happening.

This will become an even bigger business when consumers begin to realize that the debit card they pull out of their wallet to pay at the counter doesn't offer them as much protection as the credit card does.

This is a case where an enterprising solution provider focused on POS systems might think of building a stronger presence in selling security around the inventory management and transaction of those systems. By following through for the retailer and examining central IT operations and how the credit-card data is handled, there is a margin-rich opportunity.

After all, is there a retailer that wouldn't prefer to spend more up front on IT security than defend itself against a barrage of lawsuits that could push it into bankruptcy?

How are you linking security and POS? Make something happen by e-mailing CMP Channel Group President Robert Faletra at [email protected].