Low Incremental Unit Cost per Customer

SAKEM is made for bottom line efficiencies, with low unit cost per new customer.

Return->

The quest for operating cost efficiencies in a high security application environment motivated the SAKEM procedure invention.

Direct Costs Reductions Related to Security Device Distribution

If a security scheme relies on a physical object (a security device) as an electronic identification means, a need for distribution arises. With the SAKEM procedure, the security device is left in an uninitialized state until its delivery to a potential client and the client registration. The device is therefore anonymous and useless if it falls into wrong hands (as a case in point, the GSM mobile telephony client registration process uses anonymous but partly initialized security devices which were found vulnerable in the case of temporary possession by a fraudor, according to a security alert posted by the Smartcard Developer Association, Pleasant Hill, CA).

So, the direct cost reductions come from the use of the most efficient distribution mechanism in a given situation, irrespective of security concerns (e.g. selection of a courrier service without consideration of trust).

Direct Costs Reductions Related to Software Distribution

When the security scheme is based on client-side software for which a security initialization is needed, the SAKEM procedure allows any software distribution method to be used, again because the initialization does not occur until the client decides to register.

So, the most efficient software distribution mechanisms can be used for software distribution, while maintaining the highest level of security allowed by software-based security solutions.

Labor Costs Reductions for Initial Client Authentication

Any process for new client enrolment in a high security environment needs some human intervention (otherwise, the process is deemed to rely on client enrolment done by a third party, e.g. a credit card company or a certification authority, CA, and this third party needed human intervention for initial client enrolment). The human intervention is broken down in one or more of the following tasks:

• making a judgement about the legitimacy of the applicant request for registration,
  
  
• consulting reference services in the process of authenticating the applicant's identity (credit bureaus, address verification services, and the like),
  
  
• processing a registration from submitted by the applicant (data entry, verification of handwritten signature, filing the original),
  
  
• establishing a personal contact with the applicant (greeting a personal visit to a branch location, answering an inbound telephone call, attempting an outbound telephone call),
  
  
• requesting information from the applicant during this personal contact with the applicant,
  
  
• verification of applicant's identity during this personal contact with the applicant.

With the SAKEM procedure, every required manual task from the above list can be consolidated into a single activity (the verification of applicant's identity). It makes the activity more complete and meaningful to the worker, and saves operating costs in many ways:

• higher worker productivity,
• avoidance of tracking multiple human interventions for a single client,
• lower error and exception rate.

Other Direct Costs Reduction Features

• The SAKEM implied security model suggests the use of the secret key cryptography (SKC) mechanisms, which translates into lower unit cost of security devices.

Return->