Today was research (long) day, spending time with our friends at Forrester Research.  Topic was of course online banking, and how banks stacked up against each other.  Some obvious thoughts from the day:

1. Web self service is about really getting inside users heads, and understanding what they might be thinking about in addition to the task at hand, so that we can provide contextual help at precisely the right time.  Bill payment was a  great example;  when scheduling a future payment, the kinds of things on a customers mind, are
   1. when is the due date
   2. when is the latest "pay by" date to ensure the money gets to the biller by the due date
2. In consideration of new initiatives, what's in it for the Bank?  If there is a cost saving to be gained, and its also something that customers want to see, then its a simple decision to proceed, based on available  investment money of course.
3. Cheque imaging and e-statements are complicated
   1. cheques are almost redundant in Canada (retail) but prevalent in US.  Cheque presentment is probably just a waste of effort for retail in Canada
   2. e-statements are becoming prevalent in US, but Canadian banks are simply offering to turn off statements, and customers are satisfied to rely on account history, provided there is 12 months history
   3. getting this mix (estatements, and cheque presentment) is critical, otherwise it could be an expensive mistake
4. etrade are a best practise in terms of integration of public site and online banking sites. 
5. Aggregation as originally considered, ie pulling multiple banks' information together into one space is a non – starter.  Aggregation components may be useful as a tool in support of other activities.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

Thats enough for now – some things have to be kept back for competitive advantage 🙂