Wisdom of Timing by Sid Sidner
I've been chatting with Sid Sidner of ACI Worldwide this morning. Sid and ACI were our partner on an Information Cards meets Payment Networks demo at Digital ID World this past week. Sid always writes very wise and thought provoking emails, the one below was no exception as he shares his perspective on the role of timing in any emerging technology intersection. I couldn't agree more with his thinking, but he puts it so elegantly, I felt like sharing.
"I fundamentally believe in Kim's vision and the seven laws of identity. This is
grounded in the reality of human existence, which is a powerful basis for a
business plan. However payments are a huge, complex, entrenched system with
liberal sprinklings of greed and politics all the way through it, so it takes
awhile for it to change. ACI is always looking for an "event", something that
forces the system to change. Debit cards were an event. The change from
single DES to triple DES encryption was an event. The introduction of EMV
smartcards in Europe was an event.
EMV will come to the U.S. but it is still a ways off.
Payment and phones will intersect, but that is a ways off, at least on a
massive scale. Payments in PCs, phones, and set-tops will someday get strong
security. Integration with TPM chips will be important, as will better
UIs.
Ray
Kurzweil, the genius inventor, stresses that timing is critical to successful
inventions. That is why he spends so much time tracking trends. I agree
completely. It is why I spend so much time thinking about the future of
e-payments. We want to be prepared for the future, for The Event. We don't
want to blow our resources on premature events, but we don't want to be late to
market, either. It is important to be a visionary; it is also important to be
cautious. To me this is the essence of great commercial engineering and
entrepreneurialism.
I was thrilled to have an
opportunity at DIDW to sensitize the identity community to the aspects of a
major, real-world identity system. Enterprise and national identity are cool,
but financial identity is cooler, I think. There is nothing like money and
commerce to focus the mind. I also like being able to make noise inside ACI and
the PCI in general, to get them thinking about the world beyond plastic. It is
a classic technical evangelist role. My astrological sign is Aquarius. I have
been teaching and bringing knowledge to people all my life. It is something I
do well, I think. Too well according to my girlfriend, Joan - she rightly
points out that I should shut up and listen more."
