By now, we will have all heard the news that was released Aug. 26, when the Information Commissioner launched an investigation into how a second hand computer holding personal details the Royal Bank of Scotland, NatWest and American Express was sold on eBay auction for £35.

According to the Daily Mail, Andrew Chapmap found the information on the computer's hard drive, and it has been reported that the information included bank account numbers, phone numbers, mothers' maiden names and even the signatures of the American Express, NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland customers.

CRM Software could have prevented the information being on the second hand computer. A CRM System installed onto a private secure server where every user accesses the server remotely would have ensured that all the customer data was not on any users machine and therefore not have raised this personal details security risk and kept the banks involved reputation intact.

Stuart Amery is the marketing coordinator of PPD Computing, developers and providers of customer-tailored CRM software. With easy-to-use tailored solutions, you can minimize risks and costs, by having no wasted functionality while potentially increasing profitability and customer satisfaction. Amery can be contacted at stuarta [at] clim8 [dot] com.