Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
departments and transform it into content for the media site.
A Web content management system helps to simplify and
streamline this task. Departments posting stories to the site
can specify run dates determining when the story is available
to the media and for how long. The PR staff adds metadata
content tags to each article so that the information can appear
on several related sites in different contexts. On game day,
the site displays a special page that draws information from
many locations within the NFL systems, including game
schedules, injury reports, and team standings.
The new NFL media portal offers improvements for both
reporters and those that manage the resource. Reporters find
it much easier to find timely information to fuel their stories.
About 3,500 media staff signed up to use the new service
within the first month it was offered. This fosters goodwill
between the media and NFL. The NFL PR staff appreciates
the automation that allows them to easily manage the flow of
information to the portal even while traveling. As increasing
amounts of products are digital in nature, streamlining the
process of acquiring those goods and automating the task of
assembling them is key to success for the vendor.
In Canada, MasterCard and Visa are rolling out mobile
wireless payment pilot programs this year. However, credit
card companies need the support of cell phone handset
manufacturers and carriers to successfully launch the
programs. MasterCard is working with carrier Bell Canada
and using handsets from an unnamed vendor. Visa is working
with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and is determining who
the carrier and handset manufacturer will be.
MasterCard might have an advantage over Visa in that it
already has significant penetration in this market with its
PayPass technology. More than 28 million MasterCard
PayPass cards are being used at more than 109,000
merchants worldwide. MasterCard is starting a trial with Bell
Canada employees who will be paying with their phones and
testing the benefits, which include faster checkouts and
additional services. For example, financial services are pro-
vided that allow you to check your transaction history and
bank balance and conduct online banking transactions.
Another benefit is avoiding having to carry a wallet packed
with plastic.
The big question in this race is whether consumers are
interested in paying with their phones. A 2007 survey of 15-29
year-old Canadians showed that only 8.8 percent of those
surveyed were interested in contactless payments via cell
phone. Some people have voiced concern over security and
privacy issues surrounding wireless payments. The technol-
ogy might also decrease battery life in cell phones.
Providers are concerned about the legal risks of offering
m-commerce services over near-field communication tech-
nologies. “Who's responsible for liability issues?” asked Anne
Koski, head of payment innovations at the Royal Bank of
Canada at a recent conference on the topic. If money is lost
due to inefficiencies in the technology, who foots the bill—the
handset manufacturer, the carrier, or the bank? Legal teams
are devising the answer to this important question. Those in
the industry know that convincing customers of the security
of the new system is important in winning them over to the
technology.
Data reliability, authentication, fraud, theft, and privacy
protection are all issues that these companies are con-
fronting as they begin planning their marketing campaigns.
Some believe that creating a standard for mobile payments is
the most important factor in launching mobile payments.
Being able to advertise the stability and security features of
an agreed upon standard would help in winning over con-
sumers. However, a standard might mean that companies
such as MasterCard have to overhaul their entire PayPass
network.
Many believe that consumer education is also important.
In the early days of Internet-based e-commerce, many people
were afraid to purchase products and services on the Web due
to concerns over privacy and security. Most of those people
have overcome those fears in exchange for the convenience
and opportunities that online shopping offers. Proponents of
m-commerce and contactless payment systems are hoping
that once educated, consumers will choose the convenience
of paying by swiping your cell phone over any perceived risk.
Discussion Questions
1.
What makes NFLMedia.com a B2B e-commerce system?
2.
Why has the NFL invested so much in NFLMedia.com?
What benefits does the investment provide the NFL?
Critical Thinking Questions
1.
What improvements were made to NFLMedia.com that
the press appreciates?
2.
What other portals might the NFL consider for providing
information and services to other groups?
SOURCES:
IBM Staff, “The NFL scores a win with extranet media portal,” IBM
Case Studies, February 15, 2008,
www-01.ibm.com/software/success/
WebHost TALK Staff, “IBM Powers NFL Media Portal,” WebHosting TALK,
February 1, 2008,
www.webhostingtalk.com/news/ibm-powers-nfl-media-
portal;
NFL Media Portal,
www.nflmedia.com,
accessed June 21, 2008.
Case Two
Companies in Canada are racing to see who can motivate
Canadians to start paying at the register with their cell
phones. You are probably familiar with MasterCard's PayPass
technology that allows people in many countries to make
payments at checkouts by touching their credit card to a pad.
The cards are equipped with a chip that supports near-field
communication (NFC), passing credit card information to the
receiver in the payment pad. Now vendors want to do away
with plastic credit cards altogether by embedding NFC
chips in cell phones and allowing customers to make
payments by touching their cell phones to pads rather than
credit cards.
