Charlene talks here about applying the power of social networks and extrapolates that into the world of business.

My business, banking, is the very antithesis of these concepts today, yet I believe banks that consider them in the future, in their product & channel development, will win. Banks can no longer sit behind desks in big buildings and expect customers to flock inside. Banking was a captive market, but that is shifting rapidly, and internet is the driver.

Charlene Li’s Blog: Forrester’s Social Computing report

“Easy connections brought about by cheap devices, modular content, and shared computing resources are having a profound impact on our global economy and social structure. Individuals increasingly take cues from one another rather than from institutional sources like corporations, media outlets, religions, and political bodies.To thrive in an era of Social Computing, companies must abandon top-down management and communication tactics, weave communities into their products and services, use employees and partners as marketers, and become part of a living fabric of brand loyalists.”

Relevance to Bankwatch:
Customer loyalty was driven by customer service delivered across the counter. That has changed, and customer loyalty is being driven by new factors, such as convenience, quality of self service, access to relationship manager through electronic channels, alerts, and breadth of functionality.
Social networks serve to illustrate competitive differences, and highlight opportunities. In the future they will also be delivery channels for services, including banking.