MyInvo, Inc. reportedly announced the introduction of its latest application, www.myinvo.com, which is offered as a Software as a Service, or “SaaS (News - Alert)” solution that helps customers and small- to medium-sized businesses manage their assets online with guaranteed security.

"From online banking and bill payment services to online shopping, consumers have rapidly embraced a variety of internet based internet tools, but have lacked a comprehensive, convenient solution to manage assets and personal inventory," said Max Coebergh, president and CEO of myInvo, in a statement. "We created myInvo to answer that need, and feel that there is a huge growth opportunity present in this market segment."

Officials at myInvo said the new SaaS solution requires customers to pay a yearly subscription, which starts as low as 5 cents under $20 to $100 depending on the number of items and documents that are required to be securely managed online. Customers do not have to purchase, download or install any software since myInvo provides the requisite Web estate, and all customers require is anywhere, anytime access to the Web.

"When you document your belongings, you can actually see how much you actually own,” said Alphonse DePalma, senior vice president of marketing for myInvo, in a statement. “The ability to accurately and reliably record and track your personal assets may also give you an opportunity to take a second look at your insurance coverage."

MyInvo said customers can upload photos of assets, scanned images of house mortgages, jewelery receipts, car documents, serial numbers, account details, appraisal value, warranty information and insurance information. Customer specific documents can be accessed, changed, and printed directly from the Internet, and while there is no need to save the documents on a desktop, it is advisable to have some sort of documentation back-up. Maybe on a USB thumb drive, for example.

"In the event of a loss, myInvo provides a clear, detailed record of your assets that can be used much more effectively than a list drawn from memory. MyInvo makes settling for insurance companies' estimated values a thing of the past."

A conventional SaaS model is based on a pay-as-you-use basis. Recently, SaaS has sprouted new business models such as managed on line services and subscription based services, such as this one form myInvo.

Customers are turning to SaaS because of the significant cost benefit and freedom they have to pay for only select components of their choice from software suites, and the flexibility to add other requisites as and when the need arises. Prior to this innovative customer driven request for ‘a use and pay, when required only’ approach, entire solutions had to be bought and installed at a significantly higher one-time cost.

IT support resources such as staff, network equipment, installation fees and annual maintenance contracts are kept to a minimum, if not eliminated. With lesser pre-installed information to wade through, systems become more agile and corrective measures require lesser bandwidth, are more focussed and can be done remotely.

MyInvo offers customers four different packages and all four have myWallet and IfFound services included. The $19.95 package allows 20 myItems and five myDocuments, the $50 package allows 50 myItems and 10 myDocuments, the $75 package allows 100 myItems and 50 myDocuments, and, the $19.95 package allows unlimited myItems and 75 myDocuments.

Officials said that myWallet allows customers to store credit card and debit card information as a backup in case of theft or physical as well as memory loss. IfFound allows customers to print item or document specific labels on valuables such as smartphones, Laptops and MiFi devices so that if lost, the looser can post a lost item request and, more importantly, the finder can report a lost item they found on the myInvo web site, or by calling myInvo customer service.

 "It is astounding to learn how many mobile phones and other valuables are being lost each day," Coebergh said. “People today carry many more items of value on them and we believe that putting an IfFound label on each item, will give our users greater peace of mind.”

The company said that a customer’s account is password protected. It is therefore of prime importance that the medium you use to access your myInvo account is secure

A recent survey reported that 80 percent of respondents allow at least part of their profiles to be searchable through Google (News - Alert) or other public search engines, and more than 66 percent of respondents knowingly or unknowingly share personal information with strangers, and these factors combine to leave them more vulnerable to financial loss, identity theft and malware infection than they realise.

The report claimed that more than 58 percent are clueless about who is viewing their profile and 73 percent don’t restrict any profile information from being visible through public search. In addition, more than 33 percent include at least three pieces of personally identifiable information and more than 33 percent use the same password across multiple sites. The report also found 30 percent do not have protection against viruses and spyware; and, at least 25 percent accept “friend requests” from strangers.

The research company claimed that some of the smarter hackers guess passwords based on publicly available information. I recall an IT geek pal letting on that there is software that can actually run several permutations and combinations for zeroing in on passwords based on very little data, and the most common passwords to be avoided are names of loved ones including pets, birthdays.

VeriSign, too, in the interest of the entire global network community, reportedly has issued “Ten Commandments” for steering clear of MITM attacks that have been exposed by Black Hat.

 

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