Mobile banking gets hot, hot, hot

It may be cold and dark for much of the day outside Tieto’s Scandinavian offices this winter, but inside we’re focused on what must surely be one of the hottest topics in the global financial sector: mobile banking.

And no, this isn’t the same hot air that’s filled the past decade, when enthusiasts talked up the prospects of a nascent technology that still had a long way to go in terms of business strategy, usability and basic technology fundamentals. Today, we’re part of a revolution that is changing the way consumers interact with their banks, and we’ve put together a range of solutions and services to help our financial sector clients meet the changing demands of their customers and stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market.

There’s now a growing number of examples of mobile banking technology achieving real-world results. Danske Bank caused a storm when it released its ‘bank in an iPhone’ in September 2010. In the US, organizations including US Bank and Visa have been at the forefront of mobile payments innovation. And in cities such as Nice, consumers are being encouraged to forget about loose change and pay for goods by simply flashing their phone in front of a reader.

A revolution

It’s a revolution, changing the way consumers interact with financial institutions. And it’s a revolution that’s proving attractive both to financial firms and mobile operators, as well as the industries that are now converging with these sectors.

But it’s not enough for a bank to have a simple mobile offering that sits in a silo separate from the rest of its retail business. Instead, this service must be fully integrated, offering consumers a great 24/7 way of interacting with their bank at a time and place that suits them. Interaction in our vocabulary is a two way street. Giving end-users the ability to subscribe to event streams generated by their own financial products makes it possible to react to important events when they happen without the intrusiveness of traditional messaging and voice communication practiced by financial institutions today. What’s the value? Would you see value in having a near 24/7 premium channel open to your customer’s personal device where you could reach them anytime without any inconvenience? This is where Tieto can help.

Experience

Tieto understands the changing needs of retail bank customers, and knows the importance of providing banking flexibility to an influential base of individuals who will vote with their feet if they do not get the service they want. Although price is important – and Tieto is committed to cost efficiency – quality and service experience are the key differentiators, and we are well placed to help our clients be the winners in the race for mobile banking customers. Furthermore, we are committed to delivering services and solutions to schedule, enabling banks to bring their products to market quickly and realize the opportunities of their mobile offering.

Capability to execute

Tieto’s expertise is based on a lot more than its experience of the banking sector. Drawing on company-wide skills, we enable banks to benefit from our knowledge of working with other industries to enable them to maximise their mobile presence. Unlike niche players that can tackle only one part of a project, Tieto has the skills – and the resources – to execute complete mobile projects, handling them from the business case and consulting stages, through to actually designing and building the service and manage the lifecycle on all the mobile platforms.

For example, Tieto devised the pocket bank concept, an application that allows consumers to use their mobile phones to receive personal messages, with one touch accept the bills, find the nearest ATM using GPS technology and transfer money between different accounts. It enables them to remain in control of their finances and they can configure it so they receive as much – or as little – information on their banking activities as they choose. We have also collaborated in the Mobile Financial Services (MoFS) Nordic venture, along with Aalto University, Nordea and Nokia, to help deliver mobile banking solutions so people can use their handsets to make money transfers, make payments via Near Field Communication (NFC), book tickets and carry out other banking transactions.

Tieto has established an NFC mobile ticketing pilot system, in partnership with the city of Tampere in Finland, which enables users with mobile phones that support travel card functionality to use their handsets to top up their cards and view the balance and usage history. It has also provided the smartphone solution behind the first Nordic mobile insurance service aimed at car owners who have been involved in a car crash. It’s a great offering, providing consumers with the ability to contact their insurer in an emergency wherever they are in the world.

We are at the leading edge of the mobile banking and payments sectors, with a number of our employees holding key positions in industry groups that are defining the future of the market. For example, Tieto is an active member of the Mobey Forum, where its contribution to the organization’s Implementer Guidelines for Mobile Remote Payments white paper has been fundamental in helping the industry move forward.

How can we make your business mobile? Contact us at financial.services@tieto.com