Big Brother is Old News
This could easily be a post about technology invading our lives. How we are watched and examined and manipulated through out electronic connectedness. But why? If you aren’t aware of the erosion of your privacy and risk to your financial security by now, this blog isn’t going to help you.
I wanted to mention some really cool, or really worrisome (depending on your viewpoint) uses of tracking technology that I’ve discovered recently. I may be on the trailing edge when figuring some of this stuff out, but I’ll bet you weren’t aware of all four, or at least not to the point of thinking how they might affect your business.
The first is using your web visitor information for business intelligence. Hopefully we are all tracking how many visitors come to our sites and what they look at. What I didn’t realize is that the technology now allows us to drill down to the individual visitor level, and to identify who that visitor was.
So what? Well, I have a client who is pitching a large multinational on a new program. He is getting a good reception from the folks he’s dealing with, but he knows that it has to go further up the ladder for approval. In back tracking his visitors’ URLs, he noticed one that traced to the prospect’s European headquarters. A little further digging showed multiple and lengthy visits by a corporate officer. That’s a handy thing to know when it’s negotiation time.
Another neat piece of business help is in digital documents. There are two examples here. The first is online document storage. You can place electronic documents in a secure online file, and only those authorized can gain entry. These services have been improving over the last 5 years. Where you formerly just gave a password to a user and hope they respected it, now you can demand digital ID from each individual on every entry.
Another up-and-comer for easier business dealings is digital signature via phone. How many of you are near a fax right now? How many are near a mobile phone? If you don’t have a fax handy, you probably aren’t near a scanner either. Document signing services like Echosign (www.echosign.com) allow you to execute legal documents with your finger on the phone’s touch screen.
But He Keeps on Coming
Moving a bit further into big bro’ land, we must consider the bounties being paid by 
the repo man. Used car repo companies now sign up hunters to take photos of license plates and upload them to their web portal. The hunters include a description of where the car was seen (WalMart Parking lot on Main.) Computers process the plate pictures, and send a notification when one is identified as “hot.” No word on what happens to the thousands of license plate pictures that the computer doesn’t care about.
OK, I have to say it. This last one is really, really big brotherish, even if the technology is widespread and not even unusual anymore. Allstate is offering a new version of Good Driver discounts. They will track you with GPS, and give you a reduction in rates for driving at the speed limit, or driving only limited miles, or only in good neighborhoods. Their pitch is “Why pay for insurance you don’t really need?”
Of course, insurance companies exist to make money. Might this technology also be used to identify fast drivers or those who park in dark palces at night? I don’t know, but I’m not signing up for that one any time soon.
Are there any other cool tech uses for small business out there? Add them on in comments.
