Steps towards transparency

Having readily available data for an industry is crucial for all stakeholders both within the industry, and those who are suppliers and customers of this industry to establish their performance build their plans, anticipate their investments, …

Our secure transactions industry still has a long way to go before it becomes as transparent as its partners. However, major milestones happened this week: SPA, the Smart Payment Association, released its shipment figures, showing 2009 volumes of smart card based payment cards, split by geography and technology (cf. Payment section). In the mobile communication segment, SIM alliance has been releasing shipment figures for a few years already. Another important event this week is the result release from Giesecke & Devrient, which as a private company is not committed to release any figure, which gives analysts some data is a step towards transparency (cf. Focus section).

To build a strong image for our industry, to attract investment, and to build more development and more market, we need to be more transparent. This will be achieved by making more data available, a task undertaken by industry associations such as SIMalliance or SPA, and also by independent consultancies, such as ourselves. Several of our Smart Insights Reports are already available from our website, and more will come shortly.

Thierry Spanjaard

Chief Editor

Smart Insights