R&D Tax Credits in the Time of COVID-19

Uncle Sam wants you… to conduct research and development. That’s why there’s incentives to do so written into the U.S. tax code. In times like these, we’re all looking for ways to save some cash. The good news is you might already be eligible for these credits for something as simple as creating an internal workaround process to limit staff and consumer interaction. The process doesn’t need to be new to the world, just to your organization.

With all tax benefits come strict rules, but don’t let that deter you. Do your balance sheet a favor and find out if you qualify for R&D tax credits today.

The Importance of Information

TransUnion is a global information and insights company that fosters trust between businesses and consumers by ensuring that each person is reliably and safely represented in the marketplace. Because of our work, organizations can better understand consumers to make more informed decisions, and personalize their experiences.

As technology continues to change the way we interact within the marketplace, the importance of information becomes more evident, and ensuring efficiency strengthens our global reach. This is why our approach to technology is, in and of itself, a key part of what drives TransUnion’s success. Consumers and clients rely on us to look beyond the world as we know it and evolve our systems to explore the endless possibilities.

Because of this we are transforming our infrastructure through various cloud-enabled processes to deliver solutions at the demanding pace of the digital world – ultimately positioning us to innovate more rapidly, optimize operations, and create tomorrow’s solutions for our clients.

How is TransUnion evolving technology?

Like many technology-focused companies, we have an opportunity to streamline the sprawl and duplication of infrastructure that has occurred as we’ve doubled in size over the past five years. During that time, we have developed applications that create value for us. These will be reconfigured and optimized into a more modern application-program interface (API) based architecture.

We are reconstructing how networking is done with data in a cloud-enabled framework – making accessibility to our vast global insights automated and secure. Monitoring tools will allow us to understand how we can provide solutions that are right-sized for the businesses we serve. This opens up incredible opportunities to connect with the world around us in more rapid and collaborative ways.   

Transforming technology impacts three major areas of our business, that when combined, creates a synergy of endless possibilities. For example:

• Internal operations: Transforming the way we rely on cloud-enabled solutions will reduce our reliance on previous technology – allowing for more automation, enhanced security, and more processing power to deliver solutions to our customers. 
• Products: Shifting the operation allows our engineers to develop products with all features while keeping security in mind at every step of the way. We’re not only committing more time to meaningful work, we’re putting more of our thinking behind it. The end result is secure, reliable, feature-complete products that perform as expected.
• Our clients: This change in our infrastructure does more than just transform our technology. The results of all of this combined will help us innovate and meet the changing needs of the market.  Consumers will have tools that will improve their experience and protect their information, enabling their trust. We have the opportunity to partner with our clients’ success every day and this enhanced offering only pushes the boundaries.  

Adapting to advanced technology

Advancements within technology have impacted all industries over time, requiring all of us to embrace the fast paced world we live in. New generations demand specific experiences on how they want to interact within the marketplace. To be successful at understanding the benefits of this evolving landscape, we must think about how our clients want to conduct business. Our client-centric approach allows us to adapt to advanced technology.

To continue this ongoing technology transformation, TransUnion has appointed Akshay Kumar as Executive Vice President of Global Technology Architecture & Strategy earlier this year. Read more about Kumar and his proven track record, here. 

“TU has made a focused investment to speed up this migration,” Kumar shares. “Technology is changing and requiring us to be flexible for adapting to the future. And with that, clients look to us because we have an industry leading technology stack with a culture of customer focus, accountability, and performance.”

The opportunities are endless and we’re looking for innovators 

We provide our associates the opportunity to advance their growth so they can learn new ways to increase efficiency and productivity. Supporting our teams by empowering them to bring their skills and help us better evolve our business. We want our team members to grow within the organization and we’ve committed to continually invest in our associates.

Our leadership team is also looking for ways to create meaningful experiences that cultivate exciting solutions. Roles are increasingly varied in function to encourage everyone to bring their curiosity to the table. As the future of technology continues to change, our approach on how we think about our internal functions need to evolve as well. Our associates are not limited to one type of position. Everyone is encouraged to take advantage of the resources we offer to truly create an environment that fosters innovation.

We continue to look for ways to connect with innovators and leaders who are drawn to the incredible opportunities that lie ahead. We’re hiring people who are motivated by being hands-on, have a persistent curiosity about the way users interact, and look forward to serving our communities. If creating the next wave of solutions excites you, then consider your next challenge on our Technology Team at TransUnion.

Click here to watch a quick introduction of Technology at TransUnion

Register here to stay in the loop for all TU career updates

Find open roles here

There are things you can do to improve application security even if you’re unable to recruit and retain an application security engineer.

In a previous post, I highlighted some of the challenges associated with hiring appsec people. We see companies struggle to hire a single appsec engineer, only to have them leave within a year without having accomplished their goals, or leaving a lasting positive impact on the organization. This can happen for a number of reasons:

• The new hire was a technical subject matter expert thrust into a leadership role
• The new hire was a leader who did not have technical expertise and struggled to build credibility with the engineering team
• The new hire was unqualified and placed in the position because the company needed to fill the role

Here’s some good news.

I’m willing to bet that your best appsec engineer candidate is already on your engineering team. You just don’t know it yet. And neither do they. After 17+ years of appsec experience, I see a repeating pattern. You can usually find one person who is interested in and passionate about application security – but they don’t consider themselves a security expert. Assuming they’re a good software engineer, this is a great opportunity.

In this person, you have someone with intimate knowledge of your environment, and the relationships needed to make security improvements. Half of the appsec battle is knowing what applications you have, how data flows through your environment, and where your known security issues are. The other half is having the credibility and leadership capabilities to prioritize changes and allocate engineering effort. Paying a penetration tester to maybe discover security issues that your engineering team already knows about is a waste of time and money. You’re better off giving your secret appsec engineer a voice and some power to get issues resolved.

How do you identify your secret appsec engineer?

The simplest way is to ask. Talk to your team and understand where their interests lie. Ask them if they’re interested in appsec, and offer to send them to training and conferences. Early in my career, I had a boss who saw my passion for appsec and paid for me to go to my first OWASP conference in 2004. My primary role was as a support engineer on our WAF product, but I ended up also functioning as a security champion, finding and escalating security issues to our R&D team. After I knew my boss supported me, I doubled my appsec efforts, my abilities increased, and my career trajectory was set.

Another way is to offer appsec training to your engineers to see who enjoys it and excels. Carve delivers Threat Model training to dozens of engineering teams over the course of a year. This training is highly engaging and interactive – not your typical powerpoint slide show. In any class, you’ll quickly identify the people who are attending because they were told, and the people who are genuinely interested and engaged on the topic of application security. Occasionally, you come across the vocal skeptical engineer who thinks everything is fine, and that application security is a waste of time. This person, with the right leadership, can sometimes be turned into your biggest application security asset.

Here is a challenge for you. Over the next few weeks, talk to your team, and find these two people:

1. Your secret application security engineer
2. Your vocal security skeptic

Given the circumstances of the last few months, the following seven Chicago companies are looking for candidates who are driven but flexible.

Their teams help customers file their taxes, create 3D training models, pay employees more seamlessly and more. But core product offerings alone aren’t enough to entice talented job seekers. 

At DoorDash, CSC Corptax and SurePayroll, employees get opportunities beyond their job description: volunteering at nonprofits like Feed My Starving Children, ongoing learning opportunities and company-wide field research. 

Current onboarding customs may not include in-office handshakes and first-day lunch outings. But research shows that company culture, as well as organizational culture, matters. In 2017, employee experience platform Kazoo found that 49 percent of employees surveyed said company culture influenced their employee experience more than their physical workspace or technology at their disposal. Below, professionals from seven Chicago companies shared some of the reasons they’re excited to go to work each day.

We love working with our customers to give back to our communities! We spoke to Built In Chicago about how we can make a difference together:

CSC Corptax

What they do: CSC Corptax has provided customers with technology-based tax solutions since 1975. The team’s software solutions include data and entity management, tax planning and tax compliance services.

One thing that would surprise people about CSC Corptax: Each year, more than 500 CSC Corptax employees and customers pack meals for global nonprofit Feed My Starving Children at the company’s CONNECT user conference. “Last year we packed a record 132,480 meals, bringing our total to more than 700,000 meals so far,” Director of Software Development Ganesh Kumar said. “There’s nothing quite like connecting with customers while doing something so meaningful.”

One trait all team members share: Flexibility. “As an individual, you need to be able to switch gears and reprioritize tasks, especially in the current tax environment,” Kumar said. “Our response to COVID-19 shows how we’re able to pivot to manage change.” Case in point: the entire company was able to work from home without impacting operations. 

As if our 2020 wasn’t challenging enough, we are now confronted by another crisis that we must address. We are all feeling a lot of pain, anger, frustration, sadness and yes, fear. Especially because, with respect to race relations in the U.S., the progress feels both significant and still not enough at the same time. Nobody needs to be told how to properly treat another human being, and that’s not going to happen here – clearly racism and the killing by police of George Floyd, among others, similarly over time, are unacceptable to us. We stand by all peaceful protesters of these senseless events, and we are anxious for justice to be served, properly and swiftly!

DigitalOcean’s values start with community and end with love. We are expanding our Hub for Good program to support nonprofits, projects, and startups that are actively fighting for a range of causes that include reducing inequalities, promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, and productive employment for all.

When we initially launched Hub for Good in April, the program was designed to support relief efforts during the height of COVID-19. We are proud to have received over 1,000 applications to date, helped launch almost 600 projects, and have donated over $150,000 in infrastructure. Hub for Good started as a space where our community came together to build and share projects and resources with missions centered around COVID-19 relief efforts.

Now, we are broadening, indefinitely, our Hub for Good program to assist with other challenges our community is facing and, based on the extension, will commit up to $500,000 in infrastructure credits. We stand for equality and justice and want to donate our infrastructure to help our community build solutions to help the world better address both.

We are proud to support those who are making a difference and inspiring even more action. We hope you’ll join us in our mission to uplift our community, bring us all closer together, and make the positive impact on our world that we need so urgently now. 

We’re in the process of making these changes to the Hub for Good page. Stay tuned to learn more about these updates, and how to get involved and spread the word.

Stay strong and stay safe and, most importantly, stay focused on the good we all can do!

Great Place to Work’s best work places in Chicago 2020 features the top 40 small and medium size companies; Centro comes in at number 4! 

WHAT EMPLOYEES ARE SAYINGIt’s the energy they put into their people. You hear so often now the importance of having good employees, but Centro supports us to be GREAT employees.

To determine the 2020 Best Workplaces in Chicago, Great Place to Work® analyzed confidential survey feedback from over 27,000 employees in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Employees responded to over 60 survey questions describing the extent to which their organization creates a Great Place to Work For All™. Eighty-five percent of the evaluation is based on what employees say about their experiences of trust and reaching their full human potential as part of their organization, no matter who they are or what they do. Great Place to Work analyzes these experiences relative to each organization’s size, workforce make up, and what’s typical in their industry and in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The remaining 15 percent of the rank is based on an assessment of all employees’ daily experiences of innovation, the company’s values, and the effectiveness of their leaders, to ensure they’re consistently experienced.

To be considered, companies had to meet the Great Place to Work-Certified standard. To ensure companies had a sufficient presence in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area, at least 4% of the survey respondents at large companies and at least 20% and a minimum of 10 of the survey respondents in small and medium companies needed to be from the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area. Companies with 10 to 999 people were considered for the small and medium category; companies with 1,000 employees or more were considered for the large category.

This ranking was finalized prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and does not reflect companies’ roles or responses to their people or communities in addressing the impact of the coronavirus.

The year 2020 will likely be remembered as the point of origin for a massive change in the e-commerce landscape. Brick and mortar locations closed their doors, and consumer shopping habits changed overnight in the wake of the novel coronavirus. Businesses that sell their products online, understandably, felt the sudden pang of anxiety over the unknown implications of a national shelter in place mandate.

The following weeks have seen a roller coaster of market shifts, vague announcements from industry leaders like Amazon & Walmart about the distinction between essential vs nonessential products, and uncertainty around fulfillment bandwidth nationwide. Logical Media Group partners with companies representing a variety of industries and products, some deemed essential and some not. COVID-19 has changed the nature of our relationship with our clients, as each day presents new questions and concerns about the viability of driving revenue through digital marketing.

Effects of Coronavirus on Logical Media Group E-Commerce Clients

Panic and anxiety have set the economic tone of the pandemic thus far, but for e-commerce companies there has been another side of the coin, and a shiny one at that. In reviewing March and April performance data, Logical has seen an overwhelmingly positive impact for our e-commerce clients. Within the Grocery & Gourmet category, we have seen a four digit (2,000% +) increase in revenue on Google Advertising. Food that can be delivered to your door was always going to be the big winner here, though. See how other categories are fairing below:

* Data pulled from Logical Media Group Google Advertising MCC

This chart represents the change in performance trends in Google Advertising spend alone for Logical Media Group e-commerce clients, organized by category, between March 15th, 2020 – April 27th, 2020 compared to January 31st, 2020 – March 14th, 2020. The boost is substantial for groceries, but our clients in every industry have experienced growth in purchases and revenue. The consistent decrease in Average Order Value is indicative of a change in consumer purchasing habits, with shoppers making smaller purchases more frequently. This could be attributed to more conversative spending choices, or a wait-and-see approach to shelter in place policies.Another thing to note is Logical clients in the Grocery and Dietary Supplements began offering free shipping at the onset of quarantine, lowering the average AOV.

* Data pulled from Logical Media Group Google Advertising MCC

Here is the same client data now organized by the various “channels” within Google Advertising. Search and Shopping see positive growth, to be expected with the aforementioned spike in e-commerce conversion rates. Display ads, traditionally associated with top funnel brand awareness, have seen an unprecedented increase in purchases, revenue and AOV. Throw out all preconceived notions of what may or may not work for your business during the COVID pandemic — it is possible to achieve growth on any channel in any industry.Effects of Coronavirus Around the Industry In addition to our client success stories, we can look around the industry for expanded data sets. Bazaarvoice, an e-commerce thought leader, recently published data by category from their own customer data. You can see a dramatic increase in page views across categories that aren’t related to critical pandemic survival (e.g. groceries).

Of particular interest to e-commerce focused businesses will be their findings on actual order revenue within that same time period.

Categories that are seeing success aren’t necessarily the obvious ones, either. Hardware and Sporting goods have enjoyed substantial growth as consumer behavior shifts towards extended time at home. The anecdotal evidence behind this isn’t overly complicated: folks home from work are going to take the opportunity to work on their homes.

How to Plan for What’s Next

 There are a few other factors, most notably unemployment percentages and expendable income per household, that will determine the long-term scalability of investing ad dollars in this category. The good news is that ad investments are flexible and impermanent,  very much like a hot iron that requires striking when an opportunity presents itself.

 On April 13, Amazon lifted all shipping restrictions on nonessential inventory to allow third‑party sellers to resume sending inventory to its FBA warehouses. Additionally, Amazon has continued to issue new purchase orders after implying that nonessential PO’s would be halted. While Logical recommends practicality and caution in any investment strategy, consistent market monitoring is a part of the value we provide our clients. With two growing brands, both relatively new to the Amazon marketplace, an opportunity is upon us to make our mark. Our priorities for client are simple:

1. Optimize listing content to assist with category ranking improvement and consumer engagement
2. Drive sales and new customers through organic and paid advertising efforts, the second piece of category ranking improvement
3. Create a positive user experience, generate new reviews and return traffic, the third piece of the category ranking puzzle

Should You Keep Spending on Advertising?

 Ad spend will, of course, be used to generate a return, and the highest one possible at that. The secondary benefits, however, can’t be forgotten in this equation. Logical is proud to partner with Sellics,an industry leader in Amazon reporting and analysis tools. They break down the process by which Amazon determines category rankings into a much simpler concept: The Self-Perpetuating Flywheel.

Source: Sellics.com

Many factors are built into each of these heavily simplified flywheel portions, but the point is that Amazon and its algorithm smile upon brands that participate in all aspects of that flywheel. Putting ad dollars behind your product listings, generating sales and subsequent reviews are a crucial part of any growth strategy.

Final Thoughts

 The obstacles and potential pitfalls are well documented and will absolutely require consistent attention.

• Fulfillment and means of production
• Economic stability and presence of expendable income
• E-Retailer bandwidth
• Category limitations based on “essential status”

While these factors likely aren’t going anywhere, neither is our window of opportunity to introduce your brand to a brand new audience and fill your top funnel.

The role of e‑commerce, Amazon in particular, is currently as critical for the growth of digitally focused brands as it will ever be. Despite the uncertainty that clouds the entire marketplace, we have little reason to believe that the dramatic shift to online shopping will have anything other than a positive impact on marketplaces long term.

Amazon has taken steps to secure its fulfillment and supply chain operations by seeking to hire 100,000 new employees for their warehouses during the pandemic. If that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t bright enough, sellers which use FBA have once again been given approval to send inventory to Amazon warehouses nationwide on April 13th.  As operational functionality slowly stabilizes, Logical expects to see a sustained growth pattern in e-commerce marketing across all categories.

So, you’re one of the millions of people out of work. It’s hard and you’re likely experiencing the stages of grief. It’s emotional, and you are not alone. Our jobs contribute to our personal identities, and when drastic changes happen due to external circumstances, it impacts us in many ways.

The current global situation reminds us that the only constant is change. When you are ready to get back in the game, know that new opportunities await! Everything happens for a reason, and with each door that closes, a new one opens.

How do you find that so-called “open door”–or should I say, the right open door–for you? Review potential questions you may have and answers/ideas to combat the hurdles and uncertainties that may enter your brain as you get back into the job hunt:

“I don’t see any jobs open right now that actually fall into my interests and expertise. What do I do?”

This time is a gift. Use it to boost your resume with online certifications, education, and e-learning. Is there something you’ve been itching to learn more about? Master some Google tools with Google’s Skillshop, or check out Centro’s Digital Media Essentials training here. Self-improvement, one of Centro’s core principles, is a lifelong endeavor. The more skills you showcase, the more appealing you’ll be to recruiters, and the more confident you’ll feel overall.

“I’m interviewing but nobody even wants me. I should just give up.”

Never give up! Keep practicing storytelling, pitching, and articulating your skill set—you can have all the accolades in the world and the most pristine experience on-paper, but you need to be able to weave and tell a compelling personal story! You may be in a tough spot, but do you still showcase a positive attitude? How are you persevering through adversity to leverage your unique skill set? Own YOUR story, make it special, and perfect the way you share it.

“I’ve been out of practice. The thought of interviewing after all this time scares me. How can I get some practice before the “real” thing?”

Interviewing can be scary. You are being evaluated and for lack of a better word, “judged,” based on a piece of paper and first impression. But remember, just as you are being evaluated—you are equally evaluating the employer. This must be a two-way street to ensure compatibility. In order to “dust off the rust” and feel prepped and confident, ask a trusted professional and/or friend to quiz you virtually with questions.

Practice telling your stories and answering questions on-the-fly. Since interviewing will be done virtually for the foreseeable future, this helps you articulate your accomplishments proficiently, via webcam. Don’t forget to also check out interview tips from the pros, such as LinkedIn’s recent article about the “6 Interview Skills that Will Get You Hired” or these remote interviewing tips.

“I’ve gotten an offer, but the pay is way lower than the standard I have set for myself. They said when crisis mode ends, things will change, but how can I trust that’s the case?”

The economy is currently in struggle. Trust that you have worth but remember to look at the opportunity as a whole and not just the salary. Ask questions about health plans and other benefits, work flexibility, mental health support, family programs, growth opportunities, office culture, etc. Take time to sit down and consider what’s most important in your life.

“I’m sending out resumes everywhere but I’m getting no responses.”

Reset your expectations. Don’t abandon career goals, hopes, and dreams. Instead, think about what other jobs fall within your wheelhouse of skills and interests. The job market may not be ideal, but an unlikely opportunity could turn into something you never knew you wanted or push you into learning something new.

“What good does networking do me if the people I’m talking to aren’t in the position to hire someone? Also, how do I network when I’m quarantined…?”

Networking is always your friend. Check out what Goldman Sach’s recruiters have to say about networking and events during uncertain times. Set up networking conversations and manage your time wisely. This is an opportunity to learn more about someone, what they do, the company they are at, etc.

If the conversation goes in a direction that potentially solidifies your desire to work at their company, or in their line of work, it never hurts to ask them to keep you in mind when their company begins hiring.

You can say something similar to, “I know you aren’t hiring currently and I’m fully aware of the challenges companies are facing at this time with COVID-19, but if you hear anything in the industry or at your company about a need to hire someone with my skill set, please do keep me in mind.” A shameless plug can lead to a world of opportunity. After your initial conversation, don’t forget to keep in touch to keep yourself top of mind! A thank you note for their time will go a long way.

Make a list of people in your network. If you’re a recent grad, think about your favorite professors, or any professionals you respect, are comfortable with and look up to. Think of old internship supervisors, old managers, coworkers, pals that are employed, family members, friends, friends of friends of friends, etc.—make a personal goal to reach out to a certain number of people per day.

How does this look virtually? Seek out connections on LinkedIn or reach out via email. Be clear and specific with your ask—why are you reaching out, how are you, connected, and how much time are you asking for? Then, you can Zoom call, Facetime, or call them via phone. We are lucky to have a multitude of ways to connect with people even when it can’t be in-person at the nearest Starbucks. Make it happen!

Looking to explore more interviewing, networking, digital resources, and more? Centro’s here for you! Check out our blog or connect with us via our Centro Prep Facebook Community.

You are going to overcome this challenge, and we are all going to make it to the other side of this pandemic with an amazing story to tell! Take some deep breaths, hang in there, and stay well!

So, you’re one of the millions of people out of work. It’s hard and you’re likely experiencing the stages of grief. It’s emotional, and you are not alone. Our jobs contribute to our personal identities, and when drastic changes happen due to external circumstances, it impacts us in many ways.

The current global situation reminds us that the only constant is change. When you are ready to get back in the game, know that new opportunities await! Everything happens for a reason, and with each door that closes, a new one opens.

How do you find that so-called “open door”–or should I say, the right open door–for you? Review potential questions you may have and answers/ideas to combat the hurdles and uncertainties that may enter your brain as you get back into the job hunt:

“I don’t see any jobs open right now that actually fall into my interests and expertise. What do I do?”

This time is a gift. Use it to boost your resume with online certifications, education, and e-learning. Is there something you’ve been itching to learn more about? Master some Google tools with Google’s Skillshop, or check out Centro’s Digital Media Essentials training here. Self-improvement, one of Centro’s core principles, is a lifelong endeavor. The more skills you showcase, the more appealing you’ll be to recruiters, and the more confident you’ll feel overall.

“I’m interviewing but nobody even wants me. I should just give up.”

Never give up! Keep practicing storytelling, pitching, and articulating your skill set—you can have all the accolades in the world and the most pristine experience on-paper, but you need to be able to weave and tell a compelling personal story! You may be in a tough spot, but do you still showcase a positive attitude? How are you persevering through adversity to leverage your unique skill set? Own YOUR story, make it special, and perfect the way you share it.

“I’ve been out of practice. The thought of interviewing after all this time scares me. How can I get some practice before the “real” thing?”

Interviewing can be scary. You are being evaluated and for lack of a better word, “judged,” based on a piece of paper and first impression. But remember, just as you are being evaluated—you are equally evaluating the employer. This must be a two-way street to ensure compatibility. In order to “dust off the rust” and feel prepped and confident, ask a trusted professional and/or friend to quiz you virtually with questions.

Practice telling your stories and answering questions on-the-fly. Since interviewing will be done virtually for the foreseeable future, this helps you articulate your accomplishments proficiently, via webcam. Don’t forget to also check out interview tips from the pros, such as LinkedIn’s recent article about the “6 Interview Skills that Will Get You Hired” or these remote interviewing tips.

“I’ve gotten an offer, but the pay is way lower than the standard I have set for myself. They said when crisis mode ends, things will change, but how can I trust that’s the case?”

The economy is currently in struggle. Trust that you have worth but remember to look at the opportunity as a whole and not just the salary. Ask questions about health plans and other benefits, work flexibility, mental health support, family programs, growth opportunities, office culture, etc. Take time to sit down and consider what’s most important in your life.

“I’m sending out resumes everywhere but I’m getting no responses.”

Reset your expectations. Don’t abandon career goals, hopes, and dreams. Instead, think about what other jobs fall within your wheelhouse of skills and interests. The job market may not be ideal, but an unlikely opportunity could turn into something you never knew you wanted or push you into learning something new.

“What good does networking do me if the people I’m talking to aren’t in the position to hire someone? Also, how do I network when I’m quarantined…?”

Networking is always your friend. Check out what Goldman Sach’s recruiters have to say about networking and events during uncertain times. Set up networking conversations and manage your time wisely. This is an opportunity to learn more about someone, what they do, the company they are at, etc.

If the conversation goes in a direction that potentially solidifies your desire to work at their company, or in their line of work, it never hurts to ask them to keep you in mind when their company begins hiring.

You can say something similar to, “I know you aren’t hiring currently and I’m fully aware of the challenges companies are facing at this time with COVID-19, but if you hear anything in the industry or at your company about a need to hire someone with my skill set, please do keep me in mind.” A shameless plug can lead to a world of opportunity. After your initial conversation, don’t forget to keep in touch to keep yourself top of mind! A thank you note for their time will go a long way.

Make a list of people in your network. If you’re a recent grad, think about your favorite professors, or any professionals you respect, are comfortable with and look up to. Think of old internship supervisors, old managers, coworkers, pals that are employed, family members, friends, friends of friends of friends, etc.—make a personal goal to reach out to a certain number of people per day.

How does this look virtually? Seek out connections on LinkedIn or reach out via email. Be clear and specific with your ask—why are you reaching out, how are you, connected, and how much time are you asking for? Then, you can Zoom call, Facetime, or call them via phone. We are lucky to have a multitude of ways to connect with people even when it can’t be in-person at the nearest Starbucks. Make it happen!

Looking to explore more interviewing, networking, digital resources, and more? Centro’s here for you! Check out our blog or connect with us via our Centro Prep Facebook Community.

You are going to overcome this challenge, and we are all going to make it to the other side of this pandemic with an amazing story to tell! Take some deep breaths, hang in there, and stay well!

The year 2020 will likely be remembered as the point of origin for a massive change in the e-commerce landscape. Brick and mortar locations closed their doors, and consumer shopping habits changed overnight in the wake of the novel coronavirus. Businesses that sell their products online, understandably, felt the sudden pang of anxiety over the unknown implications of a national shelter in place mandate.

The following weeks have seen a roller coaster of market shifts, vague announcements from industry leaders like Amazon & Walmart about the distinction between essential vs nonessential products, and uncertainty around fulfillment bandwidth nationwide. Logical Media Group partners with companies representing a variety of industries and products, some deemed essential and some not. COVID-19 has changed the nature of our relationship with our clients, as each day presents new questions and concerns about the viability of driving revenue through digital marketing.

Effects of Coronavirus on Logical Media Group E-Commerce Clients

Panic and anxiety have set the economic tone of the pandemic thus far, but for e-commerce companies there has been another side of the coin, and a shiny one at that. In reviewing March and April performance data, Logical has seen an overwhelmingly positive impact for our e-commerce clients. Within the Grocery & Gourmet category, we have seen a four digit (2,000% +) increase in revenue on Google Advertising. Food that can be delivered to your door was always going to be the big winner here, though. See how other categories are fairing below:

* Data pulled from Logical Media Group Google Advertising MCC

This chart represents the change in performance trends in Google Advertising spend alone for Logical Media Group e-commerce clients, organized by category, between March 15th, 2020 – April 27th, 2020 compared to January 31st, 2020 – March 14th, 2020. The boost is substantial for groceries, but our clients in every industry have experienced growth in purchases and revenue. The consistent decrease in Average Order Value is indicative of a change in consumer purchasing habits, with shoppers making smaller purchases more frequently. This could be attributed to more conversative spending choices, or a wait-and-see approach to shelter in place policies.Another thing to note is Logical clients in the Grocery and Dietary Supplements began offering free shipping at the onset of quarantine, lowering the average AOV.

* Data pulled from Logical Media Group Google Advertising MCC

Here is the same client data now organized by the various “channels” within Google Advertising. Search and Shopping see positive growth, to be expected with the aforementioned spike in e-commerce conversion rates. Display ads, traditionally associated with top funnel brand awareness, have seen an unprecedented increase in purchases, revenue and AOV. Throw out all preconceived notions of what may or may not work for your business during the COVID pandemic — it is possible to achieve growth on any channel in any industry.Effects of Coronavirus Around the Industry In addition to our client success stories, we can look around the industry for expanded data sets. Bazaarvoice, an e-commerce thought leader, recently published data by category from their own customer data. You can see a dramatic increase in page views across categories that aren’t related to critical pandemic survival (e.g. groceries).

Of particular interest to e-commerce focused businesses will be their findings on actual order revenue within that same time period.

Categories that are seeing success aren’t necessarily the obvious ones, either. Hardware and Sporting goods have enjoyed substantial growth as consumer behavior shifts towards extended time at home. The anecdotal evidence behind this isn’t overly complicated: folks home from work are going to take the opportunity to work on their homes.

How to Plan for What’s Next

 There are a few other factors, most notably unemployment percentages and expendable income per household, that will determine the long-term scalability of investing ad dollars in this category. The good news is that ad investments are flexible and impermanent,  very much like a hot iron that requires striking when an opportunity presents itself.

 On April 13, Amazon lifted all shipping restrictions on nonessential inventory to allow third‑party sellers to resume sending inventory to its FBA warehouses. Additionally, Amazon has continued to issue new purchase orders after implying that nonessential PO’s would be halted. While Logical recommends practicality and caution in any investment strategy, consistent market monitoring is a part of the value we provide our clients. With two growing brands, both relatively new to the Amazon marketplace, an opportunity is upon us to make our mark. Our priorities for client are simple:

1. Optimize listing content to assist with category ranking improvement and consumer engagement
2. Drive sales and new customers through organic and paid advertising efforts, the second piece of category ranking improvement
3. Create a positive user experience, generate new reviews and return traffic, the third piece of the category ranking puzzle

Should You Keep Spending on Advertising?

 Ad spend will, of course, be used to generate a return, and the highest one possible at that. The secondary benefits, however, can’t be forgotten in this equation. Logical is proud to partner with Sellics,an industry leader in Amazon reporting and analysis tools. They break down the process by which Amazon determines category rankings into a much simpler concept: The Self-Perpetuating Flywheel.

Source: Sellics.com

Many factors are built into each of these heavily simplified flywheel portions, but the point is that Amazon and its algorithm smile upon brands that participate in all aspects of that flywheel. Putting ad dollars behind your product listings, generating sales and subsequent reviews are a crucial part of any growth strategy.

Final Thoughts

 The obstacles and potential pitfalls are well documented and will absolutely require consistent attention.

• Fulfillment and means of production
• Economic stability and presence of expendable income
• E-Retailer bandwidth
• Category limitations based on “essential status”

While these factors likely aren’t going anywhere, neither is our window of opportunity to introduce your brand to a brand new audience and fill your top funnel.

The role of e‑commerce, Amazon in particular, is currently as critical for the growth of digitally focused brands as it will ever be. Despite the uncertainty that clouds the entire marketplace, we have little reason to believe that the dramatic shift to online shopping will have anything other than a positive impact on marketplaces long term.

Amazon has taken steps to secure its fulfillment and supply chain operations by seeking to hire 100,000 new employees for their warehouses during the pandemic. If that light at the end of the tunnel isn’t bright enough, sellers which use FBA have once again been given approval to send inventory to Amazon warehouses nationwide on April 13th.  As operational functionality slowly stabilizes, Logical expects to see a sustained growth pattern in e-commerce marketing across all categories.

Per the cliché, “truth is stranger than fiction”, who could have predicted the catalyst to bring the longest bull market in recorded history to an abrupt about face would be a virus with a name synonymous with a popular imported beer. 

Just prior to the historic sell off, much attention was being focused on the recently passed SECURE Act which promises to change the landscape of today’s retirement plans over the coming years.  One of the provisions in the SECURE act involves an investment concept in existence for decades that has been rarely utilized by plan sponsors.  Known as “guaranteed income” programs, the SECURE Act provides  safe harbor protection for employers offering such a program in their retirement plans.

When the permanent pension was the norm, a retiree with a pension could know that a check was coming in every month for as long as they were alive.  Guaranteed income programs emulate these desirable features of the permanent  pension within a 401(k) plan.

Those who have chosen a program that provides the assurances of guaranteed income for life would likely be more inclined to stay the course and remain invested when the inevitable bear market occurs, confident  that their income in retirement would not be impacted during declines in the market.  Staying the course should lead to better long-term investment outcomes based upon historical data on the markets over the last three decades:  

Over the last 30 years through Friday, 3/20/20, an investor who missed the 10 best days of returns would have earned just 6.20% instead of 8.84% annualized over the 30-year period.  If the investor missed the best 30 days, they would have earned only 2.95%.  In missing the 30 best days, a dollar would have grown to just $2.39 instead of $12.67 by staying fully invested.  *-

Another reason to consider offering  guaranteed income programs in a 401(k) plan, is that they mitigate two key risks that retirees face:

1.       Sequence of return risk

2.       Longevity risk

Click on the following link to see an article that describes these two risks in detail: https://www.illinoistech.org/news/news.asp?id=490451.

For over three decades, as a Senior Retirement Plan Consultant, I have focused on assisting employers and their retirement plan participants to accumulate assets for their retirement. Call me today to discuss how guaranteed income programs, combined with the strength of UBS, can help assist your employees to retire with dignity and in the lifestyle that they envision. 

Direct: 847-277-2123

Email: thomas.kret@ubs.com

*Sources: Northern Trust Research, Bloomberg.  Charts show the annualized compound return and growth of $1 using daily return data on the S&P 500 Index over the past 30 years ending 03/20/2020 assuming the (0,5,10,20,30) best returning days are excluded from the sample.  

Chicago – May 19, 2020 — Centro (https://www.centro.net), a global provider of advertising technology, today announced the release of new products and upgrades that help advertisers with automation and visualization for campaign reporting, workflow management and forecasting. The advanced tools give brands and agencies more control of their campaigns. These are available in Centro’s Basis, the industry’s most comprehensive, automated, and intelligent digital media platform—and the only software solution of its kind to consolidate digital operations across programmatic, direct, search, and social campaigns. Learn more at https://www2.centro.net/basis.

Digital media professionals showcase results and prioritize actions through these product upgrades within Basis:

• Campaign Performance Presentation auto-generates a polished PowerPoint showing post- or mid- campaign performance data from direct buying, programmatic advertising, paid search and paid social—in just a few clicks. The presentations’ branding is customizable to align with the user’s company or client. This dramatically reduces the time needed to collect, organize and prepare data for “wrap-up” reports.
• Basis is now connected with Google Data Studio—a reporting tool for creating highly customizable, branded, live reports or dashboards with data visualizations. Campaign data from agencies and media teams easily port into it, which is shared with stakeholders online, streamlining communications related to campaign progress. Centro also provides custom templates.
• Basis’ redesigned home screen dashboard helps users optimize their work by highlighting client or campaign priorities and informing their decision-making. One interface draws attention to the user’s necessary actions by showing an overview of proposals, insertion orders, line item pacing, campaign KPIs, comments from partners and clients, and more.
• Forecasting analyzes a campaign’s set-up to instantly predict how many impressions are available and how much the user will be able to spend (based on KPIs) in programmatic ad channels. Users are empowered to build smarter media plans, distribute budgets accurately, and make campaign adjustments quickly.

“Connecting Basis to Google Data Studio is a game-changer for media teams and agencies that want to showcase their value. Rather than spending time transferring data from one system to another, our team is focused on communicating insights and results to our clients,” said Sarah Bergen, ad operations specialist, VI Marketing and Branding. “VI Marketing was an early adopter of Basis because it empowers us to build strong digital media capabilities differentiated by automation, comprehensiveness, agility and intelligence.”

“Centro’s product development balances the need for agencies to have powerful and scaled ad buying and activation with automated execution and workflow of all the other important elements of their business,” said Tyler Kelly, president, Centro. “Our latest additions to Basis focus on visualization, to make it faster and easier for media professionals to comprehend what is happening in their business— and synthesize their knowledge into insights for their clients or advertising stakeholders.”

Value to customers

Without automation, tasks such as reporting, creating presentations, media planning and campaign adjustment are typically manual processes that are both time-consuming and prone to errors. Adding visualization to these tasks enhances the quality of work users put into campaigns. The latest Basis improvements add to its qualities in delivering data in a simple and easy-to-understand manner via dashboards, performance screens, business and campaign insights, private marketplace details, tactic editors and more.

About Centro

Centro (https://www.centro.net) is a provider of enterprise-class software for digital advertising organizations. Its technology platform, Basis, is the first of its kind SaaS advertising solution unifying programmatic and direct media buying, along with workflow automation, cross-channel campaign planning, universal reporting and business intelligence. It boosts media, team and business performance by enabling advertisers to plan, buy and analyze real-time bidding (RTB), direct, search and social campaigns in a single platform. Headquartered in Chicago with 44 offices covering North America, South America and Europe, Centro has received numerous accolades for its commitment to employees and workplace culture.

# # #

Enacted in 2008, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) continues to be the most consumer-friendly biometric privacy law in the country. In the wake of the Illinois Supreme Court’s seminal 2019 decision in Rosenbach v. Six Flags, plaintiffs have filed hundreds of class action lawsuits against businesses and employers in a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, logistics, retail, hospitality, food and beverage, health and technology. These lawsuits have been filed because of a perception that BIPA, as interpreted by the Illinois Supreme Court in Rosenbach, creates significant liability where biometric information has been collected from an employee or consumer without first providing notification and obtaining consent, even if no actual damages have been suffered.

In the spring of 2020, however, there have been a handful of court decisions that have bucked the previously plaintiff-friendly BIPA trends and perceptions. In the biometric privacy wars between consumer, company and insurance carrier, these recent cases have ruled in favor of the company, in areas such as federal subject matter and personal jurisdiction, interpretation of BIPA obligations and exceptions and BIPA-related insurance coverage disputes.

BIPA and Article III Standing

For the last few years, there has been a controversy amongst federal courts as to the circumstances for how a BIPA lawsuit can meet Article III subject matter jurisdiction standards when the plaintiff has not alleged that he or she suffered any actual damages. Some federal district courts previously held that the mere collection of biometric information by an entity, without any accompanying actual damages, does not satisfy Article III’s injury-in-fact standing requirements. These rulings led to plaintiffs and, less frequently, defendants using the “ace card” of a motion to remand a case to state court as a way to undermine proceeding in federal court or slow down the litigation.

On May 5, 2020, the Seventh Circuit, in Bryant v. Compass Group USA, Inc., put an end to these legal maneuverings and held that the mere collection of biometric information is itself enough of an injury in fact to confer Article III standing. The court stated that a violation of BIPA’s requirement that notice is given to an individual before his or her biometric information is collected (codified in Section 15(b)) is not a purely procedural requirement. Rather, failure to provide the required notice deprives an individual of informed consent and the ability to decline participation in the activity for which collection is required. However, the court held that a violation of BIPA’s requirements as to proper policies and retention standards (codified in Section 15(a)) does not create an injury in fact, but rather is akin to “an invasion of [ person’s] private domain, much like an act of trespass would be.” Thus, any claim based upon Section 15(a) cannot remain in federal court unless the violation in question caused actual harm.

The takeaway from Compass is that BIPA plaintiffs can sue in federal court and defendants can remove a Section 15(b) BIPA case filed in state court to federal court ⁠— if diversity requirements are met ⁠— without fear of the case being remanded for lack of standing.

Personal Jurisdiction and BIPA

Many companies have wondered about how far the requirements of BIPA extend jurisdictionally, and whether its strict provisions can apply to businesses having merely tangential contacts with Illinois. A recent case from the Northern District of Illinois has shed some light on this question.

In Bray v. Lathem Time Co., Case No. 3-19-CV-03157, an employee filed a class action lawsuit in an Illinois federal district court against Lathem Time Co. (Lathem), a Georgia-based company that designed and sold biometric-based timekeeping systems to his former employer, a lumber sales company, to track the time worked by hourly employees. The employee alleged that, even though he did not work for Lathem, the company violated BIPA by collecting, storing, using and/or disclosing his biometric information without giving notice and obtaining consent from him or establishing a biometric information retention policy as required by BIPA. Lathem moved to dismiss based upon lack of personal jurisdiction.

On March 27, 2020, the court granted Lathem’s motion. It held that Lathem did not have sufficient contacts with Illinois to establish personal jurisdiction. In particular, Lathem’s operation of a highly interactive website that could be used in Illinois was insufficient, absent any physical presence ⁠— offices or facilities ⁠— in Illinois or intentional targeting of Illinois customers (i.e., maintaining a sales or marketing program in Illinois, having advertising in Illinois, or sending representatives to Illinois). Moreover, the division of the plaintiff’s former employer with whom Lathem conducted business was actually in Arkansas, not Illinois. As such, the court held that the random, fortuitous or attenuated contacts that Lathem had with Illinois was insufficient for personal jurisdiction.

Lathem provides a reminder that irrespective of the strict nature of BIPA, courts will still require sufficient contacts to Illinois and a company can take proactive steps to avoid establishing these connections by being mindful of its physical presence in Illinois and whether it specifically markets to Illinois customers.

The Duty to Give Notice and the Definition of “Possession”

Many unresolved questions remain on the merit of BIPA claims, including the question of who exactly has the duty to seek consent from consumers ⁠— the initial collector or also other parties that come into possession of biometric information. In Corey Heard v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., Case No. 19 C 4158, a federal court in the Northern District of Illinois shined some light on when the obligations under BIPA to obtain consent are triggered, and what it means to actually “possess” biometric information for purposes of statutory liability.

In Heard, the plaintiff, a respiratory therapist in Illinois, filed a class action lawsuit against Becton, Dickinson and Company (Becton), which manufactured an automated medication dispensing system that was used by the plaintiff. Becton filed a motion to dismiss, contending that, as the manufacturer of devices used by other companies, Becton did not actively collect biometric information and thus it did not have the duty to provide notice and obtain informed consent from consumers, despite the fact that it retained the collected biometric information.

On Feb. 24, 2020, the court granted Becton’s motion, and, carefully construing the language of BIPA, held that the consent requirement (codified in Section 15(b)) only applied to entities that directly collected information, as opposed to a company whose device was merely used for the collection. The court also held that the plaintiff did not sufficiently allege that Becton had “possession” of biometric information ⁠— so as to invoke other BIPA provisions. The court noted that there were no allegations in the complaint that Becton “exercised any form or control over the data or that it held that data at its disposal.”

Heard is an important case that could have broad-reaching implications. First, it may allow a path to victory for timekeeping or other manufacturing or technology companies whose devices are merely used by another party, and who do not actively target consumers for collection. Heard may also provide a defense to cloud-service companies who have been sued under BIPA, and who merely host biometric data collected by other parties, but do not have actual access to the data in a readable form. Heard also provides a reminder that federal pleading standards are not automatically met by “merely parroting” the statutory language of BIPA in a complaint. Finally, at least one other federal court in the Northern District of Illinois – Figueroa v. Kronos Inc., No 19 C 1306 – has disagreed with the rationale in Heard and has allowed BIPA cases against outside vendors to proceed.

BIPA’s Healthcare Exemption

BIPA contains a statutory provision exempting from its requirements for information captured from a patient in a health care setting, or information collected for health care treatment.

In Vo v. VSP Retail Development Holding, Inc., the plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against VSP Retail Development Holding, Inc. (VSP), a manufacturer and seller of prescription and non-prescription eyewear. VSP’s website offered a virtual software that allowed consumers, like the plaintiff, to use their smartphones and other web-camera enabled devices to “try on” eyewear remotely after using the phones’ cameras to scan the consumer’s facial geometry. The plaintiff alleged that VSP scanned her face and used the information regarding her facial geometry without giving notice and obtaining her consent or establishing a biometric information retention policy as required by BIPA. VSP filed a motion to dismiss the complaint based upon the healthcare exemption.

On March 25, 2020, the court granted VSP’s motion to dismiss, holding that VSP’s alleged face scan was obtained from a patient in a health care setting. The court examined HIPAA’s definition of “health care,” which is: (1) “[p]reventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, or palliative care, and counseling, service, assessment, or procedure with respect to the physical or mental condition, or functional status, of an individual or that affects the structure or function of the body” and (2)”[s]ale or dispensing of a drug, device, equipment, other item in accordance with a prescription.” The court noted the complaint alleged VSP manufactured and sold prescription and non-prescription eyewear, which federal regulations classify as Class I medical devices. The court further found that VSP’s collection of facial geometry was similar to the diagnostic service typically performed by an eye care professional in order to ensure the proper fit for the corrective eyewear and that the collection is therefore from a patient in a health care setting.

Under BIPA, the health care exemption can be a powerful weapon for certain defendants, as Vo helps highlight. It can be creatively applied to industries traditionally not considered “healthcare.”

Insurance Coverage for BIPA Claims

In BIPA litigation, a key question is whether the defendant to a BIPA claim is entitled to any insurance coverage under a pre-existing policy. This question is dependent upon the specific coverage language used in the policy.

In West Bend Mutual Insurance Company v. Krishna Schaumburg Tan, Inc., the defendant to a BIPA lawsuit, Krishna Schaumburg Tan (Krishna), sought coverage from its insurance carrier West Bend. The carrier agreed to defend Krishna under a reservation of rights, and then filed suit seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Krishna. The trial court held that West Bend had a duty to defend under the insurance agreement.

On March 20, 2020, the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District affirmed the trial court’s decision. The key question focused on how to interpret the insurance policy’s definition of “personal injury,” and whether the underlying BIPA lawsuit fell under this term. The policy defined “personal injury,” in part, as injuries arising out of “oral or written publication of material that violates a person’s right of privacy.” The court held the underlying lawsuit’s allegations that Krishna disseminated biometric information to third parties satisfied the “publication” aspect of the policy’s definitions. The court also narrowly interpreted a data-privacy related coverage exclusion, stating that it only applied to violations of statutes governing “methods of communication” such as emails, faxes and phone calls, and “not to other statutes that limit the sending or sharing of certain information.”

The West Bend case has important implications for insurance coverage of BIPA claims. It also has a potentially significant effect on the proper statute of limitations under BIPA, which is silent on the limitations period. Defendants have argued that the one-year catch-all statute of limitations for slander, libel or for publication of matter violating the right of privacy found in the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure applies, and, interestingly, this catch-all has nearly identical language to the policy definition in West Bend. It remains to be seen whether the effects of the West Bend ruling will extend beyond the insurance context.

These cases show that the language of BIPA, as interpreted by the courts, is nuanced and there are some important defenses for defendants to consider. One thing is certain ⁠— due to the hundreds of BIPA cases that have been filed in state and federal courts in the last year, it is expected that there will be many more decisions on important procedural and merits issues in the next six months.

Taft attorneys remain committed to monitoring this ever-changing area of the law and providing counseling and litigation services for companies who are dealing with issues related to the collection of biometric information.

This post originally appeared on the Taft blog, here.

The Taft Law Team

Enacted in 2008, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) continues to be the most consumer-friendly biometric privacy law in the country. In the wake of the Illinois Supreme Court’s seminal 2019 decision in Rosenbach v. Six Flags, plaintiffs have filed hundreds of class action lawsuits against businesses and employers in a broad range of industries, including manufacturing, logistics, retail, hospitality, food and beverage, health and technology. These lawsuits have been filed because of a perception that BIPA, as interpreted by the Illinois Supreme Court in Rosenbach, creates significant liability where biometric information has been collected from an employee or consumer without first providing notification and obtaining consent, even if no actual damages have been suffered.

In the spring of 2020, however, there have been a handful of court decisions that have bucked the previously plaintiff-friendly BIPA trends and perceptions. In the biometric privacy wars between consumer, company and insurance carrier, these recent cases have ruled in favor of the company, in areas such as federal subject matter and personal jurisdiction, interpretation of BIPA obligations and exceptions and BIPA-related insurance coverage disputes.

BIPA and Article III Standing

For the last few years, there has been a controversy amongst federal courts as to the circumstances for how a BIPA lawsuit can meet Article III subject matter jurisdiction standards when the plaintiff has not alleged that he or she suffered any actual damages. Some federal district courts previously held that the mere collection of biometric information by an entity, without any accompanying actual damages, does not satisfy Article III’s injury-in-fact standing requirements. These rulings led to plaintiffs and, less frequently, defendants using the “ace card” of a motion to remand a case to state court as a way to undermine proceeding in federal court or slow down the litigation.

On May 5, 2020, the Seventh Circuit, in Bryant v. Compass Group USA, Inc., put an end to these legal maneuverings and held that the mere collection of biometric information is itself enough of an injury in fact to confer Article III standing. The court stated that a violation of BIPA’s requirement that notice is given to an individual before his or her biometric information is collected (codified in Section 15(b)) is not a purely procedural requirement. Rather, failure to provide the required notice deprives an individual of informed consent and the ability to decline participation in the activity for which collection is required. However, the court held that a violation of BIPA’s requirements as to proper policies and retention standards (codified in Section 15(a)) does not create an injury in fact, but rather is akin to “an invasion of [ person’s] private domain, much like an act of trespass would be.” Thus, any claim based upon Section 15(a) cannot remain in federal court unless the violation in question caused actual harm.

The takeaway from Compass is that BIPA plaintiffs can sue in federal court and defendants can remove a Section 15(b) BIPA case filed in state court to federal court ⁠— if diversity requirements are met ⁠— without fear of the case being remanded for lack of standing.

Personal Jurisdiction and BIPA

Many companies have wondered about how far the requirements of BIPA extend jurisdictionally, and whether its strict provisions can apply to businesses having merely tangential contacts with Illinois. A recent case from the Northern District of Illinois has shed some light on this question.

In Bray v. Lathem Time Co., Case No. 3-19-CV-03157, an employee filed a class action lawsuit in an Illinois federal district court against Lathem Time Co. (Lathem), a Georgia-based company that designed and sold biometric-based timekeeping systems to his former employer, a lumber sales company, to track the time worked by hourly employees. The employee alleged that, even though he did not work for Lathem, the company violated BIPA by collecting, storing, using and/or disclosing his biometric information without giving notice and obtaining consent from him or establishing a biometric information retention policy as required by BIPA. Lathem moved to dismiss based upon lack of personal jurisdiction.

On March 27, 2020, the court granted Lathem’s motion. It held that Lathem did not have sufficient contacts with Illinois to establish personal jurisdiction. In particular, Lathem’s operation of a highly interactive website that could be used in Illinois was insufficient, absent any physical presence ⁠— offices or facilities ⁠— in Illinois or intentional targeting of Illinois customers (i.e., maintaining a sales or marketing program in Illinois, having advertising in Illinois, or sending representatives to Illinois). Moreover, the division of the plaintiff’s former employer with whom Lathem conducted business was actually in Arkansas, not Illinois. As such, the court held that the random, fortuitous or attenuated contacts that Lathem had with Illinois was insufficient for personal jurisdiction.

Lathem provides a reminder that irrespective of the strict nature of BIPA, courts will still require sufficient contacts to Illinois and a company can take proactive steps to avoid establishing these connections by being mindful of its physical presence in Illinois and whether it specifically markets to Illinois customers.

The Duty to Give Notice and the Definition of “Possession”

Many unresolved questions remain on the merit of BIPA claims, including the question of who exactly has the duty to seek consent from consumers ⁠— the initial collector or also other parties that come into possession of biometric information. In Corey Heard v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., Case No. 19 C 4158, a federal court in the Northern District of Illinois shined some light on when the obligations under BIPA to obtain consent are triggered, and what it means to actually “possess” biometric information for purposes of statutory liability.

In Heard, the plaintiff, a respiratory therapist in Illinois, filed a class action lawsuit against Becton, Dickinson and Company (Becton), which manufactured an automated medication dispensing system that was used by the plaintiff. Becton filed a motion to dismiss, contending that, as the manufacturer of devices used by other companies, Becton did not actively collect biometric information and thus it did not have the duty to provide notice and obtain informed consent from consumers, despite the fact that it retained the collected biometric information.

On Feb. 24, 2020, the court granted Becton’s motion, and, carefully construing the language of BIPA, held that the consent requirement (codified in Section 15(b)) only applied to entities that directly collected information, as opposed to a company whose device was merely used for the collection. The court also held that the plaintiff did not sufficiently allege that Becton had “possession” of biometric information ⁠— so as to invoke other BIPA provisions. The court noted that there were no allegations in the complaint that Becton “exercised any form or control over the data or that it held that data at its disposal.”

Heard is an important case that could have broad-reaching implications. First, it may allow a path to victory for timekeeping or other manufacturing or technology companies whose devices are merely used by another party, and who do not actively target consumers for collection. Heard may also provide a defense to cloud-service companies who have been sued under BIPA, and who merely host biometric data collected by other parties, but do not have actual access to the data in a readable form. Heard also provides a reminder that federal pleading standards are not automatically met by “merely parroting” the statutory language of BIPA in a complaint. Finally, at least one other federal court in the Northern District of Illinois – Figueroa v. Kronos Inc., No 19 C 1306 – has disagreed with the rationale in Heard and has allowed BIPA cases against outside vendors to proceed.

BIPA’s Healthcare Exemption

BIPA contains a statutory provision exempting from its requirements for information captured from a patient in a health care setting, or information collected for health care treatment.

In Vo v. VSP Retail Development Holding, Inc., the plaintiff filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against VSP Retail Development Holding, Inc. (VSP), a manufacturer and seller of prescription and non-prescription eyewear. VSP’s website offered a virtual software that allowed consumers, like the plaintiff, to use their smartphones and other web-camera enabled devices to “try on” eyewear remotely after using the phones’ cameras to scan the consumer’s facial geometry. The plaintiff alleged that VSP scanned her face and used the information regarding her facial geometry without giving notice and obtaining her consent or establishing a biometric information retention policy as required by BIPA. VSP filed a motion to dismiss the complaint based upon the healthcare exemption.

On March 25, 2020, the court granted VSP’s motion to dismiss, holding that VSP’s alleged face scan was obtained from a patient in a health care setting. The court examined HIPAA’s definition of “health care,” which is: (1) “[p]reventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, rehabilitative, maintenance, or palliative care, and counseling, service, assessment, or procedure with respect to the physical or mental condition, or functional status, of an individual or that affects the structure or function of the body” and (2)”[s]ale or dispensing of a drug, device, equipment, other item in accordance with a prescription.” The court noted the complaint alleged VSP manufactured and sold prescription and non-prescription eyewear, which federal regulations classify as Class I medical devices. The court further found that VSP’s collection of facial geometry was similar to the diagnostic service typically performed by an eye care professional in order to ensure the proper fit for the corrective eyewear and that the collection is therefore from a patient in a health care setting.

Under BIPA, the health care exemption can be a powerful weapon for certain defendants, as Vo helps highlight. It can be creatively applied to industries traditionally not considered “healthcare.”

Insurance Coverage for BIPA Claims

In BIPA litigation, a key question is whether the defendant to a BIPA claim is entitled to any insurance coverage under a pre-existing policy. This question is dependent upon the specific coverage language used in the policy.

In West Bend Mutual Insurance Company v. Krishna Schaumburg Tan, Inc., the defendant to a BIPA lawsuit, Krishna Schaumburg Tan (Krishna), sought coverage from its insurance carrier West Bend. The carrier agreed to defend Krishna under a reservation of rights, and then filed suit seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify Krishna. The trial court held that West Bend had a duty to defend under the insurance agreement.

On March 20, 2020, the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District affirmed the trial court’s decision. The key question focused on how to interpret the insurance policy’s definition of “personal injury,” and whether the underlying BIPA lawsuit fell under this term. The policy defined “personal injury,” in part, as injuries arising out of “oral or written publication of material that violates a person’s right of privacy.” The court held the underlying lawsuit’s allegations that Krishna disseminated biometric information to third parties satisfied the “publication” aspect of the policy’s definitions. The court also narrowly interpreted a data-privacy related coverage exclusion, stating that it only applied to violations of statutes governing “methods of communication” such as emails, faxes and phone calls, and “not to other statutes that limit the sending or sharing of certain information.”

The West Bend case has important implications for insurance coverage of BIPA claims. It also has a potentially significant effect on the proper statute of limitations under BIPA, which is silent on the limitations period. Defendants have argued that the one-year catch-all statute of limitations for slander, libel or for publication of matter violating the right of privacy found in the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure applies, and, interestingly, this catch-all has nearly identical language to the policy definition in West Bend. It remains to be seen whether the effects of the West Bend ruling will extend beyond the insurance context.

These cases show that the language of BIPA, as interpreted by the courts, is nuanced and there are some important defenses for defendants to consider. One thing is certain ⁠— due to the hundreds of BIPA cases that have been filed in state and federal courts in the last year, it is expected that there will be many more decisions on important procedural and merits issues in the next six months.

Taft attorneys remain committed to monitoring this ever-changing area of the law and providing counseling and litigation services for companies who are dealing with issues related to the collection of biometric information.

This post originally appeared on the Taft blog, here.