Customers and solutions

Customer focus

We put our customers at the center of our Company strategy. We want to ensure they can rely on every one of their Gemalto contacts as well as our products and services. As a result, we have very high levels of customer confidence in all our businesses around the world.

Every year we commission an independent ‘Tell Me’ survey, which consists of 470 face-to-face interviews with customers who rate their satisfaction with different aspects of our businesses. Our aggregate score of 715 represents ‘best-in-class’ against our global peer group, and recent increases in that rating over previous years show our investment in customer focus has paid off.

The survey tells us that our customers value our employees’ skills, availability, pro-activity and transparency, as well as the fact that they are well supported by the rest of the organization. Our levels of services are reaching excellence in core card businesses and are challenging the major players in software and solutions. That tells us Gemalto is a trusted company that customers can rely on.

Our improvement initiatives will continue to be driven by customer feedback, and our account managers regularly share yearly action plans with their customers to ensure we are always aligned to their strategic and operational needs. As a result some 60% of our customers now say they wish Gemalto to be their trusted partner to face the opportunities – and challenges – of the future in the digital realm. We also answer any enquiries from customers who wish to maintain a CSR standard throughout their own supply chains.

715

Our customers rated their overall confidence in Gemalto as 715 out of 1000, representing a ‘best-in-class’ score and an increase of 13% against 2008.

Security

Security is what we sell – but it is also critical to Gemalto as a source of trust in the market. We aim for excellence in the integrity and confidentiality of assets and data belonging to Gemalto and our customers.

We achieve this by promoting a security culture. Dedicated programs for all our employees help them maintain the highest levels of both logical and physical security. At the corporate level, we maintain a full risk register that is constantly updated – which means our internal security standards and policies surpass regulatory requirements. These systems are monitored, audited and tested on a regular basis.

Every employee and every site must contribute daily to achieving our objectives of ensuring our customers’ security infrastructures are never compromised. We maintain external certifications on all R&D, production and personalization sites – awarded by companies like Visa and MasterCard, and conforming to standards such as ISO 27001. And we use our own leading-edge security technology to protect our own, and our customers’, data.

Business continuity

We have plans in place to deal with external events and to ensure as far as possible the continuity of our operations for the benefit of our customers. Our crisis management system, being deployed at all our sites, is based on established response plans. Our key sites have undergone specific risk assessments and special focus was given in 2009 to ensure protection of personnel or preparedness for remote working, in order to cover any pandemic absenteeism.

Greener products

We have worked hard to develop products that enable our customers to offer green solutions to their end-users: degradable cards made from PLA that still meet stringent banking industry specifications; smaller sized cards that reduce the use of materials; readers optimized for ultra-efficient use of plastics and other non-renewables. We are also planning a global roll-out of our compliance with the EU regulations on the use of chemicals (REACH), in conjunction with the implementation of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). That means our suppliers also integrate Gemalto environmental requirements into their own systems.

Support for consumers

ID theft, credit card fraud and lost data always make headlines – and the coverage is usually negative. The general public can easily get the impression that their digital lives are vulnerable and complex. A TNS Sofres survey in 2008, commissioned by Gemalto, confirmed that people have many questions about the security aspects of the digital services they use – but they didn’t know who to turn to for answers.

With thousands of experts looking after the safety of banking data, telecom subscriptions and government services, we knew we could help reassure anyone who needs quick and practical advice on these issues. By allaying their fears, we realized we could support our customers as they roll out even more advanced digital services.

We therefore responded to this unanswered need by launching a consumer advice web site www.justaskgemalto.com. This offers FAQ’s, articles and a series of 3D animations showing how digital security works. Visitors to the site can ask questions – such as how to choose a good password or safeguard mobile phone contacts – that are answered by Gemalto experts. During 2009 the site had more than 1.1 million visitors.

Mobile financial services in the developing world

In many parts of the developing world, lack of banking infrastructure is hampering economic growth and entrepreneurialism. As a result, Gemalto has been working with its partners to create entirely new approaches to mobile banking, mobile money transfer and mobile payment.

We work with operators – such as MTN and Mcel in Africa, Telenor in Pakistan, and a host of banks in regions like Latin America and the Gulf – to allow people to use their cellphone as a banking, wallet and transaction system. The uptake has been remarkable. After just seven months in Uganda, we had more than 370,000 users conducting more than one million transactions per month. Most of the transfers are for small values. For instance in Africa, the average amount is around USD15 – workers sending money home or paying bills. But this suddenly opens up myriad life choices for people who might otherwise be tied down to locations where there are few opportunities. Introducing fundamental changes in the way people worldwide carry out transactions, mobile financial services have important socio-economic impacts in these emerging and developing markets where lack of efficiency, transparency and infrastructures hamper development.