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May 2006 • Volume 11 Number 5
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Member Profile: Booz Allen Hamilton
This month Smart Card Talk spoke with Willy Dommen, Principal, Booz Allen Hamilton. Mr. Dommen has over twenty years experience in all facets of systems engineering, including economic analysis, technical feasibility studies, electrical and mechanical design, and development of procurement and contracting strategies. Currently, Mr. Dommen is a leader in Booz Allen's Electronic Payment and Smart Card business and is one of the firm's leaders for the Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12 initiative. He is a key contributor on smart card and transit fare payment assignments around the world, including Australia, Singapore, London, New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles, all of which started from the work he completed for Metropolitan Transportation Commission's TransLink ® program in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Dommen's client and project lists include development of a national health care card program in Italy, leading edge technology evaluation and strategy development for financial services companies, and RFID strategy development for global manufacturers of electronic systems. Mr. Dommen authors articles and presents internationally on micro- and mobile-payment, smart card and RFID systems. Mr. Dommen earned an MBA from the University of San Francisco. He also has a BS in Economics and International Finance in Zurich, Switzerland, and has completed a four year degree in Manufacturing Technology in Switzerland.
1. What are Booz Allen Hamilton's main business profile and service offerings? Booz Allen Hamilton has been at the forefront of management consulting for businesses and governments for over 90 years. Integrating the full range of consulting capabilities, Booz Allen is the one firm that helps clients solve their toughest problems, working by their side to help them achieve their missions. Booz Allen is committed to delivering results that endure. With more than 17,000 employees on six continents, the firm generates annual sales over $3.7 billion. Booz Allen provides services in strategy, organization, operations, systems, and technology to the world's leading corporations, government and other public agencies, emerging growth companies, and institutions. To learn more about the firm, visit the Booz Allen Web site at www.boozallen.com. To learn more about the best ideas in business, visit www.strategy-business.com, the Web site for strategy+business, a quarterly journal sponsored by Booz Allen.
2. What role does smart card technology play in supporting Booz Allen's business? All of our government and many key private industry clients, particularly financial services, are impacted by smart card technology. We have established world class capabilities and driven the use of smart cards in key sectors, such as, electronics benefits transfer, transportation payment, PKI, biometrics, identity management and access control. Our staff are also key contributors to standards development efforts across industries such as for the NIST FIPS 201 and smart card ticketing standards in North America, Australia and for ISO. Our smart card business is spread throughout the firm and has grown organically by references and word-of-mouth. We are involved in many of the world's most prestigious smart card programs, such as programs within DHS, NIST, Treasury, and HHS, and in the Washington Metro, London Oyster and Singapore EZ-Link programs.
3. What trends do you see developing in the market that Booz Allen Hamilton hopes to capitalize on? Convergence is a clear trend. HSPD-12 is driving the convergence of physical and logical access control on to a single platform. Organizational functions such as physical security have to coordinate with the IT department, and the demands on human resources have substantially increased. In the payment space, there is a convergence of devices. Mobile phones are becoming PDAs and PDAs have mobile phone capabilities; and both devices are being enabled with smart-card applications, such as a contactless credit or stored value. These trends impact how businesses operate. The value our Firm provides is helping clients navigate the business challenges presented by these changes in the market place.
4. What obstacles to growth do you see that must be overcome to capitalize on these opportunities? Funding is always a challenge whether in a government organization or in private industry. HSPD-12 is basically an unfunded mandate, therefore funding from other projects will need to be diverted to pay for meeting the mandate. In the private industry, making changes, even minor ones, to an established infrastructure can be very costly and returns may not materialize for the first few years. The other challenge is a lack of standards. A lack of standards slows adoption of new technologies, because of the switching cost of backing the "wrong" standard.
5. How do you see your involvement in the Alliance helping Booz Allen become successful? The strength of a professional organization lies in the quality and the contribution of the individual members. So, I am looking to see how Booz Allen can contribute to make the Alliance more successful. The Alliance provides a forum for the smart card industry to share ideas and solve problems to allow any industry associated with smart cards to progress, as demonstrated through the formation of the councils. The Alliance and its members provide a repository of smart card information and industry contacts that is frequently referenced during execution of a client assignment.
6. What is one of the most significant changes you have seen in the smart card business? To give context to the answer to this question, I have experienced the evolution of smart cards starting with the AT&T smart card in 1991, and have been part of the Alliance since it was still the Smart Card Forum. The most significant change is the financial institutions embracing of contactless technology for payment. Using contactless technology for payment, including mobile phones, presents significant opportunities to change payment-related behavior, similar to how the Internet changed shopping behavior. The operational benefits of contactless payment will materialize in real savings for merchants, thus driving adoption.
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