Customers have told you that their credit card details have been compromised and they think it happened on your website? Then you have a problem – or rather: at least two problems!
(more…)
A little while ago, a sailing enthusiast, let’s call her ABC for simplicity’s sake, approached me about the Mini Transat. The reason and aim of the question were: A few years ago, I had supported a young sailor to cross the finish line of the Mini Transat. Could ABC do the same, meaning: finish the Mini Transat?
ABC was completely serious and had a big goal in mind, a seemingly overpowering goal. How, where and what to start with? And when? What do I have to think about? And can I afford it at all?
In this article, I explain how I was able to help ABC approach the dream of participating in a Mini Transat in a structured way and make a decision. And that with just a few steps.
(more…)
If you are asking yourself: “Do I have to be PCI compliant as a merchant?”, I’d love to ask you something in return first:
Do you accept credit or debit cards from your customers? That is, any kind of cards from Visa, Mastercard & Co?
If yes, you must (should) be certified according to PCI DSS.
If, on the other hand, you do not offer your customers any payment options with credit or debit cards, then you are not obliged to be PCI certified or PCI compliant.
Regardless of this, I would still recommend that you look into PCI DSS and its security features. The reasons for that you can find in this article.
(more…)
How can you optimise project duration to get back on track again?
There are supposed to be projects that do not go exactly according to plan. Since this happens so rarely (caution: slight understatement!) I have put together a few points to help the few unfortunate project managers whose project is affected by this to optimise and work on their project duration.
The project plan has been drawn up in detail, the people involved give their nod to the planning – and then real life happens. Employees fall ill, suppliers work imprecisely, misunderstandings work negatively on mood and motivation. The first delays occur in the work packages, the project seems to become more expensive, the target date is in danger and then you also discover the little monster “scope creep”.
How could this have happened?
There are quite a few things which could be twisted to improve this situation. In this article I aim to help you to optimise project duration for your project.
(more…)
The Critical Path Method (CPM) is a technique for identifying the time-critical activities of a project.
These identified activities are often (rightly) given a lot of attention. Be it to guarantee the timely completion of the project or to take corrective measures in case of a delay.
So much for the theory, but how do we get there and what do we do with it?
(more…)
To successfully implement projects and bring them to the finish line, many aspects are required. One of them is the knowledge of the requirements for the project and the project goal. And handling those requirements is the main task of a requirements engineer.
The requirements engineer therefore plays an extremely important role within a project. To answer the question of what the result should look like and how best to proceed to achieve it, it is essential to know exactly what the requirements for the result are.
What a requirements engineer is and what he does exactly, I explain in this article.
(more…)
In a nutshell: Analyse and understand business processes and structures in detail and develop solution proposals and improvements for processes, IT systems and structures. Through appropriate communication, the business analyst establishes a result that works for all parties involved.
Thus he plays an important role in the (further) development process of companies.
What exactly a business analyst is, what his tasks are and why he is so important for companies, I will explain in this article.
(more…)
In April 2005, I passed the PMP exam. More than 17 years later I look back: What positives (or negatives) did the PMP certification bring me?
The Project Management Professional (PMP) is a certification of the Project Management Institute (PMI). There are thousands of pages on the web that list the advantages of the PMP; fortunately, some also look at the disadvantages – mostly neutrally.
I do not want to explain the PMP in general here, that has already been done enough by many other authors, project managers and consultants. Rather, I will describe the influence on and the change for me personally.
(more…)
As a Qualified Integrator and Reseller (QIR), we support you with the installation, maintenance and compliance with security standards for payments with credit cards or debit cards. Compliance with these standards is mandatory as defined by the major card schemes. It is designed to protect card data from fraud and theft.
In this article you will learn who needs a QIR and what advantages it gives you as a merchant and also as a customer.
(more…)
With CNP – or “card not present” – transactions, the seller neither comes face-to-face with the customer nor physically handles the credit or debit card. This is the case, of course, anytime a payment transaction doesn’t take place onsite at your shop.
CNP transactions encompass all online purchases in online shops as well as online bookings paid for with a credit or debit card. This includes payments made over the telephone (yes that still exists for teleshopping or booking a trip, for instance), e-mail, fax and postal orders from a catalog.
(more…)