Executive Director’s Corner
Active Members Receive Most Value from Alliance
In this month’s member bulletin, I look inward at the Secure Technology Alliance organization, rather than providing my usual outward-look at the markets we serve. Earlier in July, we completed our annual member survey, which provides an opportunity to ask our members what matters most to them and how the Alliance organization serves those interests.
For this past year, our member overall satisfaction percentage was 87.8 (on a scale of 0 to 100), higher than the 86.0 score in 2017, and just short of the 90+ ratings we received in 2015 and 2016. That indicates that we are meeting our members’ expectations in general since the rebranding and mission expansion was completed from the Smart Card Alliance in March 2017. Somewhat surprising, our Government membership scored the highest satisfaction level at 92.8, followed by our Leadership Council members at 86.2. 2018 was good year for government-focused activity with the new federal identity policy draft being released this spring and the Transportation Council cross-organization project with the U.S. Payments Forum work being done on contactless open loop payments acceptance in transit.
Members who identified themselves as “very active” in the Alliance scored the highest individual satisfaction rating of 89 out of 100, compared to inactive members. who rated their satisfaction at 80. It indicates that the most active members in the Alliance are the individuals who also derive the most value from the organization. I suspect this is because they have a high level of interaction with fellow members and the staff which helps them in their own professional life. The Payments Council had the most individuals respond to the survey, and their members had the third highest satisfaction rating, after the Mobile Council and the Access Control Council.
When asked what were ranked the highest values that the Secure Technology Alliance provided, the top three were council collaboration with other members, influencing standards and best practices, and networking opportunities with other members. Members were also highly satisfied with the Alliance communications programs, like this member bulletin and the daily industry news, and the published resources, like the industry council white papers, ranking both higher than 4.0 out of 5.
I want to thank all our members who took the time to complete the survey and provide this important feedback. The Alliance staff and I are passionate about the work of the Alliance and our goal is to make every individual and every organization member proud to be associated with the Alliance. We also want them to challenge themselves and their industry colleagues to do more to stimulate the adoption and widespread application of connected digital solutions based on secure chip and other technologies and systems needed to protect data, enable secure authentication and facilitate commerce.
Thank you for your support and interest in our organization.
Webinar This Week: Identity on a Mobile Device – Access Control Use Cases
The Alliance Identity Council is host the second webinar in its series on mobile identity credential use cases this Thursday, July 26th at 2PM ET/11AM PT. The webinar, Identity on a Mobile Device – Access Control Use Cases, explores the uses of mobile identity credentials for physical and logical access security.
The webinar will discuss:
- An overview of the Secure Technology Alliance mobile identity landscape initiative
- The technologies and approaches for using identity credentials on mobile devices for physical and logical access
- Next steps for leveraging mobile identity credentials
Presenters included: Tom Lockwood, NextgenID, Inc.; Dr. John Fessler, Exponent; Neal Fallon, HID Global; and Randy Vanderhoof, Secure Technology Alliance.
Additional webinars in the series will be scheduled in the early fall.
Securing Digital ID 2018 Conference
Registration is now open for “Securing Digital ID 2018,” a new event from the Alliance, is scheduled for Dec. 4-5 in Alexandria, VA, just outside of Washington, DC.
This topical meeting will feature presentations and panel discussions on digital identity solutions and authentication technologies, business challenges balancing security and convenience, policies that help guide common practice, and interoperability standards. There will also be opportunities to network with security experts and cybersecurity integrators already using smart identity security solutions.
Register, and make your travel plans today to ensure your spot.