Finally it is sinking in.  Computers and internet have been with consumers since roughly 1992 with early adoption then adoption through late 90’s and early 2000’s.  In our industry as recent as 2003 senior banking executives still referred to online banking as a passing phase.  A consultant (Forrester?) coined the phrase “bricks and clicks” to summarise the obvious that branches would in fact be supplemented by online and life would carry on.  Enormous amounts in the billions of dollars were invested delivering ‘common customer experience’ across thousands of branches over the next 5 – 10 year period. Yet in one … Continue reading Welcome to The Machine

The RBC Mobile Wallet, came out yesterday. It uses NFC and I have to  predict this will be the start of a big uptake in Canada for mobile payments.  RBC Mobile is as simple as a download for your android phone, and from my understanding it is available before log in within the RBC app.  Then when you tap you will be guided through the acquirer rules for pin just as you would with your debit card.  I hear rumours that two other Canadian banks are close behind. Side note:  when am I going to see this cool stuff for … Continue reading RBC launches mobile wallet

@Carole_Beatty #sapbankingday Live blogging from the day.  Introduction by Randy Lenaghan highlighted the de rigeur standard industry drivers in financial services today. Customer centricity as a principle Core systems upgrading Customer insight driven by data He also pointed out a more subtle point that like IBM, SAP is having to quickly adapt to a world that many of us saw coming but was hard for multinationals to see. To quote Randy “SAP cannot be a legacy erp vendor any more" which was refreshing I though.  Sap is transforming because of changes brought on by Cloud and SaaS (Software as a … Continue reading SAP Banking Innovation Day Toronto – Chris Skinner

I think its time to revisit the relevance of demographic shift in terms of technology adoption.  What got me thinking about this was this report from Scratch/ Viacom on the Millennial generation, and their thoughts on banks.  The report is not talking about the usual shift to electronic channels. The report indicates millennials see banks as irrelevant.  The Millennial Disruption index The three-year study from Scratch, an in-house unit of Viacom that consults with brands, found that a third of millennials believed they’ll be able to live a bank-free existence in the future. In the age of Simple, Square, and … Continue reading Millennials see banks as irrelevant | Scratch

BMO just released an update to their mobile app which now appears to be a full fledged app and it is quite superb.  I say that based on the look and feel, the functionality, and the app flow.  It has a nice set of introductory screens highlighting the changes, and the subtlety that is included in the functionality. But the coolest part is that it feels like a modern app now with slide outs (below) and generally a very clean interface, fonts and presentation.  Lastly it includes the new ‘book an appointment’ function which I am told is directly hooked … Continue reading BMO upgrades their iphone app with a completely new interface and it is superb