There’s something important going on every time your customer uses a mobile device, and you’re probably unaware of it. It’s called a “mobile moment.” A mobile moment refers to when a person pulls out their mobile device to obtain immediate, contextual information.
Mobile moments are valuable for companies. They’ll want to make sure that consumers are turning to them when they want information in a mobile moment. Mobile moments offer an excellent monetizing opportunity for firms.
Here’s an example of a mobile moment: Jane walks into her local branch of a national chocolate shop chain, which we’ll call Ooey Gooey Inc. Ooey Gooey Inc. has a customer-facing app, which Jane uses quite frequently. When she walks into Ooey Gooey Inc., the app alerts her that the bonbon of the month is on sale, and it gives her a coupon to purchase it. Jane is happy about this turn of events, because she was planning on purchasing the bonbon of the month, and the coupon is the extra motivation she needed.
With opportunity comes responsibility. Mobile moments must be secure. During these moments, consumers share their identities, time, location and biometrics. All of those details can be exploited by hackers and criminals.
But how can the enterprise secure mobile moments? Currently, businesses use static security policies and controls. They don’t offer adequate protection against unscrupulous individuals who prey on unsecured data. Firms need to utilize dynamic security policies and control. As the name suggest, the security policies and controls will change based on what the user is doing at that moment.
Security can’t have a negative impact on user experience, though. If an application that captures mobile moments is very secure yet so difficult to navigate that no one wants to use it, it’s more of a liability than an asset. Balancing security with a positive and simple user experience isn’t easy, but it is a necessity.
Surprisingly, digital security has a very human component. The developers and programmers who create the apps which capture mobile moments must understand how to engineer security in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with user experience, yet is still strong enough to keep users safe.
Furthermore, the technology specialists responsible for capturing mobile moments need to be aware of national and international privacy regulations which prohibit companies from collecting, using and storing personal data.
Human creativity can also play a role in designing security measures for applications. Mobile devices provide companies with a wealth of information, such as the user’s location and what they look like. Developers and programmers can make security easy for users by giving them access to an application if they perform a retinal scan or furnish their fingerprint.
Capturing and monetizing mobile moments is an art. So is securing them. The opportunity to engage with customers should not take place without the necessary security precautions, and those security precautions should be a seamless, invisible part of the user experience.