Security Featured Article

VeriSign (News - Alert), a provider of Internet infrastructure services, and RatePoint, an online reputation management and customer feedback platform for businesses, are now jointly offering a solution to help online businesses facing security threats, abandoned transactions and growing influence of social networks.

 

The new solution, which combines Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates from VeriSign with customer feedback capabilities from RatePoint, helps businesses boost confidence among consumers and increase their reputation in the market.

 

The VeriSign Secured Seal and EV SSL Certificates provide highly visible cues that the business is who it says it is. The SSL encryption currently secures more than one million Web servers, says VeriSign.

 

RatePoint allows customers to rate their overall satisfaction with an online business and its offerings. It helps online businesses to collect customer reviews, promote the reviews on their site and resolve complaints before they impact the online reputation of the business.

 

These features together tie into the rapidly emerging trend for consumers to look to other Internet users for unbiased insights into which business, product or service is worthwhile and trustworthy, say officials. Combining the benefits of the two services, online businesses can secure their sites, and they can also reduce abandoned transaction rates and boost consumer confidence.

 

Many enterprises have suffered crisis of confidence because of the influence of Internet social media, says Toby Bell, Gartner (News - Alert) research vice president. Apart from their failure to manage opinions about their brand and business, they fail in dealing with online frauds and scams. “Organizations have a great deal to lose if they do not become more adept at enterprise Internet reputation management. For these reasons, reputation management and security are becoming an online business imperative,” says Bell.

 

Chris Letendre, president of BuyMMOAccounts.com, a retailer of World of Warcraft accounts, says, “As an online retailer, security and customer satisfaction are two key drivers to attract customers and grow our relationships with them; it's all about trust. With VeriSign EV SSL Certificates and RatePoint, I can easily demonstrate my customer focus.”

 

“Consumer-generated Web content is proliferating, making online reviews a common first stop for consumers considering a purchase,” said Michael Lin, vice president of SSL product management at VeriSign, in a statement. “By offering RatePoint's acclaimed reputation management platform alongside VeriSign SSL Certificates, we're able to bridge the gap between consumers and the businesses that serve them.”

 

The VeriSign- RatePoint platform provides a fair, balanced and straightforward way for online businesses to connect with customers, to resolve potential disputes and to share reviews, Lin added.

 

“Online consumers buy only from those businesses they trust, which makes VeriSign SSL the ideal launch pad for delivering RatePoint's reputation management and customer feedback platform to online retailers and other businesses,” said Neal Creighton, CEO and co-founder of RatePoint, in a statement.