What You Can Do With IP

The most interesting things being done with networks are all too often trade secrets, but we got a few hints from one business ISP.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [June 26, 2006]

Far too many businesses still don't know what they can achieve with your network. Is that because your potential customers will never learn about the most interesting applications?

Atlanta, Ga.-based EarthLink acquired Vancouver, Wash..-based New Edge Networks late last year (see EarthLink Means Business), it retained the New Edge brand and many of the employees.

We spoke recently with New Edge spokesman Sal Cinquegrani about what the company's business customers are doing with its network. The company specializes in franchises and other multi-location businesses.

Video monitoring for business
One multi-franchise fast food owner used digital video to get to the bottom of a simple problem: he was earning less money than he should have been.

Cinquegrani says the business owner created a program that overlayed the transaction information on the real time video of the drive through window. In one case, the video showed one person paying for a single order and receiving several bags of food.

But the biggest payback was unexpected. Someone ordered a drink, and while the staff weren't looking, threw it on the floor and pretended to fall. The customer sued but the case was dismissed when the video showed what had really happened.

Throughout all of this, the business owner was monitoring all the stores from a remote location.

Pricing to the market
Other distributed businesses include people who run gas stations that have convenience stores. Gas stations are full during rush hour and empty at other times, so Cinquegrani said that some have started changing their prices during the day, much like some trains charge more for peak time service than off peak service.

In addition, gas stations with digital signs can use the signs to advertise soda or other items in the convenience store.

Throughout, the business owner can monitor the business and change prices from a remote location with a few keystrokes.

Payment processing
Cinquegrani said that retail businesses are particularly interested in fast and accurate payment processing (and also in a related money topic: check verifications). Getting it done faster and cheaper saves money.

He said that one customer, who felt he was being charged too much for credit card processing, gave out gift certificates, valid for a subsequent visit, to customers who paid in cash. This person saved an estimated $37,000 per year in credit card processing fees, while also increasing revenues. The gift certificates were generated and validated by an in-store system.

Cinquegrani said that New Edge has been working with payment processors for some time (see, for example, the New Edge press release New Edge Networks and Chase Paymentech Tighten Privacy on Bankcard Transactions: Direct connections bypass the Internet, offer merchants compliance with PCI standards). We'll be talking to New Edge about this again and will then be able to tell you more about the company's payment processing plan and the technology involved.

Conclusion
Meanwhile, Cinquegrani said that business customers can improve any aspect of the business by using technology. "The only limit is the imagination," he told us. "The only reason we don't hear more about it is that when a company innovates, they see it as a trade secret."

—End