In the April 2009, Retail Technology Study, published by RIS News, 57% of all retailers in this statistically principled analysis reported that they believed their IT architecture is “Basic” as opposed to “Advanced.” Joe Skorupa, author of the Strategy and Transformation part of the report shares his observation, “ That’s a big number and not where organizations want to be in a time when efficiency and customer satisfaction have never been more critical.” He goes on to say, “ … Many impediments stand in the way, such as capital constraints and legacy systems, but this is a battle that ultimately must be won.”

And as sure as the sun rises and as multi-channel retailing expands the cumulative effect of data breaches, fraudulent attacks by sophisticated gangs and costly damages rises. Cyber threats and fraud do not discriminate when it comes to the networks they target, nor are insider attacks confined to brand name retailers.

In Loyalty Rules, Harvard Business School Press and Bain & Co. estimate that it costs 6 to 10 times more to acquire an existing customer than to retain one. It only makes sense that retailers take the necessary measures to fortify their systems to prevent network attacks and downtime.

With reputations and revenues at risk, organizations that want to gain a competitive advantage must renovate on the inside. PCI compliance is the number one effort that 74% of all retailers will devote their time and significant resources to over the next 3 years, according to the April 2009 Retail Technology Study.

The Alpha Bay Adaptive Integrated Retail System—AIRS®— has been architected with the PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standard. Functionality of AIRS® provides all of the standards managed by the PCI Security Standard Council for preventing credit card fraud, hacking and other security vulnerabilities and threats. AIRS® provides retailers with the needed centralized management of security rules and policies across a distributed environment, real-time monitoring and logging services, even at the Point-of-Service (POS). The AIRS® approach enhances profitability by effectively protecting the network and customer data from compromise in an integrated manner. As a result, users of the system can reduce IT overhead and operational costs, exploit new or expanded revenue streams, and comply with industry standards concurrently.