Everything you wanted to know about a Mobile Banking Strategy but were afraid to ask

Mobile banking is no longer a new concept as it fast becomes common place in many markets. This is transforming the way in which banks reach and sell to customers and is creating substantial potential for banks to increase customer loyalty and revenue as well as attract new customers and strengthen existing client relationships. But only if it's done correctly and more often than not - it's not.

 

It is no longer enough to simply develop mobile banking features. Banks must take into account the differences between their mobile banking customers and tailor mobile strategies to specific segments of mobile customers. This will greatly increase the likelihood that goals will be achieved such as increased loyalty and revenue. Mobile banking in the UK: Sizing the Market Opportunity recommend a series of different strategies for various segments which they have identified. For example, they classified one segment of customers as ‘Innovators’. These customers use mobile banking on a daily basis and are happy to pay for services which makes them a profitable segment. However, loyalty amongst this segment is low and demands are high. As a result, this report recommends that banks advocate the “time-saving qualities of mobile, allowing loan and overdraft arrangement via this channel, and allow full customization of mobile services.” They believe this strategy will help banks reach full potential for this segment. B minus - less talking more action please!

They also classified another segment of customers as ‘Mainstreamers’. These individuals aren’t yet using mobile banking services but are set to use them soon. This segment is focused very much on simple and easy to use features. However, they are likely to use multiple providers for all their product requirements. This report recommends banks advocate ‘integrated management of all holdings’ to help ensure they are the only provider for customers banking needs.

Bain and Company recommend that banks segment customers by wealth. They found that mobile banking in the US was used more as customer incomes increased but at the same time, they were also found to be one of the least loyal segments as they expect more and are not easily impressed with functions. This means that banks cannot expect mobile banking to simply increase loyalty for all customers, they must go beyond this. C minus - could do more!

Bain and Company also state banks should focus on the more affluent customers as they are the most profitable segment. The reason for this is that once they are happy with services offered by the bank, they are more likely to promote the bank to their affluent friends and family and take on further products. In order to keep this segment happy, Bain and Company recommend services are tailored to the individual, expert advice is given and personal banking relationships are developed in order to turn wealthy mobile banking customers into promoters of the bank.

There are multiple ways to dice customer data, but as long as banks develop clear segments and tailor their services accordingly, they are more likely to enhance customer loyalty, increase revenues substantially and attract new customers in an extremely competitive market. Read our UK Banks catching up with Mobile Banking blog for some ideas on future mobile banking innovations.

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at:

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Banks Struggle to Cut the Mustard and Customers Jump Ship

Mobile banking is becoming the new norm in society as customers continue to embrace it as they recognise the convenience and simplicity involved. Mobile banking offers a multitude of benefits for banks - increased loyalty, reduced overheads and increased revenue to name just a few. However, realising 'what's in it for me' for the customer is a different story. 

Customers are increasingly searching for more sophisticated mobile banking functions with user simplicity and accessibility that are not readily available in the market and some are frankly not cutting the mustard.

A new study by Varolii shows that only slightly more than half of those surveyed were able to carry out more sophisticated banking functions via their banking app such as proactive account alerts and cheque deposits. However, customers continue to seek more proactive alerts to help them manage their money as the cost of living increases and the amount of disposable cash diminishes. With only just over half of banks already offering these features, others run the risk that their customers will jump ship.

Almost 2 in 3 customers believe banks are responsible for alerting them instantly when funds are low and there is not enough money to pay bills and this figure is much higher in 'younger' consumers. Many also feel a banking app could have helped them manage their finances better to avoid financial problems and that banks are profiteering through not offering a proactive service.  The big risk banks have here is that by not developing these features, customers will become dissatisfied and increasingly irate with the bank, with the possibility that they leave and go elsewhere or take their money out of banks altogether.

With account security being a number one concern, banks should be doing everything possible to safeguard accounts. Customers highlighted the number one feature they want from their banking app is to be instantly notified if there is any irregular activity suspected as they seek more control over managing the safety of their account. However, 81% are not receiving any such notifications. This does not help customers feel valued by their bank and has a negative effect on loyalty yet again.

The quality of banking apps is no longer 'a nice to have' but crucial as Varolii also reveals that apps which customers don’t find useful are likely to be deleted. Considering reports that the quality of mobile banking can be a key deciding factor on whether or not new customers join your bank, it is extremely important that banks focus on what customers are looking for and develop solutions which suit their needs to give them more valuable features.

Going forward, banks must develop more innovative mobile banking features or run the risk of losing customers. Find out how UK banks are beginning to catch up with innovations taking place in the market by visiting our HSL Blog.

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at:

http://www.hslmobile.com 

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Pancake Tuesday Arrives at HSL!

At HSL, we work extremely hard to ensure our customers are always happy but at the same time, we like to treat our staff with some fun company events to give our team an opportunity to bond and get to know each other.  

Last year events ranged from nail biting, stomach churning events such as the Edinburgh ghost tour and race car driving at Madtrax Mayhem to fine dining at award winning Dakota in South Queensferry.

Christmas was celebrated well at HSL with not one, but two company events! We attended the five star visitor attraction Dynamic Earth which offered staff the chance to see their unique interactive displays and where mince pies were had by many! We also organised our own in-house company event at our Livingston office where competitive spirits were raised over games of pool, quizzes and rounders!

As part of our 2013 New Year resolutions, we have placed some decorative bowls around the office containing a wide selection of fruit to encourage our staff to have their 5 a day. Today however, we decided to do a little detour from the Christmas diets with an extra little treat. New team member Anne Murdoch got dressed up specially as a chef for the day and cooked our entire Livingston team some very yummy pancakes.

We look forward to keeping you up to date with our company events!

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at:

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Messaging skyrockets as a result of snow

HSL's messaging went through the roof as a client sent almost 300,000 text messages in one day due to the disruption caused by the snow. They provide messaging services to schools around the UK and found SMS was tightly embraced as schools tried to desperately contact parents.

 

An article in the Guardian states that snow at the end of January resulted in hundreds of school closures particularly in the Midlands and reeked havok on transport systems with road closures, rail disruptions and flight cancellations. Goole Courier states another huge issue is the uncertainty that severe weather can create amongst parents and teachers over whether or not schools are to remain open. Stephen Clarke, Managing Director, Contact Group, states: “With the increasing frequency of severe weather in Britain, it’s particularly important that schools have a reliable communications system to keep parents informed. During this week’s heavy snow our Call Parents automated notification system has played a major role in reducing inconvenience caused by school closures by informing parents quickly about the current situation.”

SMS has established itself as an effective and reliable method of contacting a large group of people instantly and also gives great peace of mind as schools can rest assured parents will see the text and read it quickly. This saves parents an enormous amount of stress and worry and enables them to make appropriate child care arrangements if necessary. For the school, they are able to vastly reduce the number of inbound calls from parents and no longer need to try and contact every parent to inform them of school closures or email the parents and hope they log in and check their emails in time.

Text messaging can also be used by schools and companies around the world to quickly inform their staff if the office is closed. This is not just a helpful service, it is an employer's obligation to ensure staff are not traveling unnecessarily to work in dangerous conditions. Stephen Thomas, Croner’s Health and Safety expert, says: “Employers should have clear terms in their contracts to ensure there is maximum flexibility when bad weather happens. It’s a particular problem for people who live in rural areas and it is the responsibility of their employer to ensure they are taking precautions against dangerous commutes."

HSL's technical team work hard to ensure our messaging has a 99.99% availability. We offer high reliability to ensure our customers receive the very best service and assign dedicated account managers to ensure they can speak to someone directly regarding any questions and concerns they may have. We have been delivering messaging services across the globe since 1999 and creating hundreds of happy, contented companies.

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at: 

http://www.hslmobile.com   

follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter @hslmobile or Google+  

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com

Using SMS in Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are an important aspect of any business as they enhance relationships with customers and increase ROI. Sales teams can find information about a customer or prospect in one central location and managers can immediately find out how sales enquiries are progressing. As sales teams become increasing mobile, mobile CRM can hold a great deal of power and has been described by CRM Buyer as "decidedly one of the hottest trends for 2013".

Take A Byte specialise in all things booking related and run their own online CRM system called 'In-Contact'. They decided to add SMS services to allow businesses to send booking confirmations to their customers and send messages to their own staff. SMS messages are more likely to be read than any other form of communication so companies can have peace of mind that staff and customers are more than likely to have seen the message and can store it somewhere convenient - on their mobile phone which they can carry everywhere!

It was imperative that they were able to keep a record of exactly what had been sent and the cost of integrating text messages into their 'In-Contact' application was kept low. HSL's SMS service was perfect for this as it allowed Take A Byte to send a text message instantly from their application and to return a unique reference number to track the message to its final destination.

According to Damien Bhanji, Director of Take A Bye, "the best 2 things about the HSL SMS service are its speed and reliability." He also commented that, "It always makes me smile when we demo our system to potential customers and a message is sent from our application to their phone in less than 4 seconds."

SMS Expansion

Three years ago, Take a Byte recognised further opportunity to expand SMS services to their customers. Due to the nature of what they do, it was crucial that their customers could rely on their servers being operational 24/7. As a result of this, they decided to build a server monitoring application to alert their support staff immediately if there was a problem with a server. They needed the method of alerting staff to be a 100% reliable and therefore naturally turned to HSL's SMS services for the job. This has proved to be a great solution for minimising the down time of servers and therefore reducing the impact on service.

"Although the SMS service is only one part of the system it is much loved by the customers who use it."

Take A Byte have also launched a new service after several customers asked for the ability to send automatic SMS course reminders to their customers a set number of days before their course is due to start. As they stated "There is always a small proportion of people who forget that they have booked onto a course and this solution is designed to remind them so they don't forget."

Take A Byte have remained a valued HSL client for over 4 years and are committed to HSL for all their current and future SMS requirements. They have considered other SMS providers both at the beginning and whenever they review running costs. However, they find our prices very reasonable particularly when assessing the reliability of our service.

To find out more about how mobile communications can help enterprises around the world, please read our case studies

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at:

http://www.hslmobile.com   

follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter @hslmobile or Google+  

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com

 

UK Banks catching up with Mobile Banking

Banking customers in the UK will be able to send and receive money by sharing just their phone number shortly. The Payments Council has signed up 8 financial firms - which hold 90% of current accounts - and is set to launch this service by early 2014. 


So far Barclays, Cumberland Building Society, Danske Bank, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Metro Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander have become involved but the Payments Council has reported that they are in talks to encourage more financial institutions to take part.

The Payments Council has stated this will be a step in helping the UK banks catch up with the innovations that have already taken place overseas.  Adrian Kamellard, Chief Executive of the Payments Council, said: “This new service will offer a simple, secure way to split a bill for dinner, receive money from a friend or pay a tradesman without needing to remember or share account details.”

A number of UK banks have begun offering mobile banking services such as Barclays Pingit service which allows customers to make minor payments using their mobiles, whilst RBS & NatWest enable customers to withdraw up to £100 from an ATM using just a pin code sent to their mobile phone. However, compared to other countries such as the US and Asia these developments are relatively small and cautious.

According to an article in Telecoms.com expectation in the industry is that mobile banking will grow to 1 billion by 2017 with Nitin Bhas, senior analyst at Juniper Research, stating it is increasingly being viewed as a vital revenue source. Banks cannot afford to lose out on the massive opportunities that mobile banking can offer, particularly as consumers want more innovative services from their banks.

Some banks are beginning to look beyond the traditional mobile banking offering already by offering housing and mortgage apps. Halifax, as reported in The Financial Brand, estimated that buyers will use their smartphones three times more than they are at the moment to purchase their next property over the next 5 years. Estate agents are therefore quickly realising the benefits of mobile technology and are building apps to catch new customers, improve their brand image and increase loyalty.

What else can mobile banking do to help banks? In an article in the Telegraph it was reported that more than half of people residing in the UK state online banking services as pinnacle to bank loyalty particularly in light of the new reforms surrounding account switching. They also reported that although 81% of people use online banking and 20% use mobile banking once a month or more, only 45% will visit their nearest branch once a month or more.

Another survey by Bain & Company found mobile banking was more likely to increase a customer's likelihood to recommend his or her bank to other people than any other channel interaction.

The ath Power 2012 Mobile Banking study also conclude that mobile customers are more loyal and that the quality of a mobile service plays a key role in who they bank with for affluent customers and small business owners. They also state that the mobile channel will be important in fraud prevention as more people begin to use mobile services and become familiar with security alerts.

This year and beyond we expect to see further innovations in mobile banking across the UK as banks recognise the benefits of mobile banking for both their customers and the bank. We are already working with our clients to get ahead of the game but to find out a little more about how your customers can start their mobile banking journey, please read our case studies

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at:

http://www.hslmobile.com    

 

follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter @hslmobile or Google+   

 

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com

How can SMS be used for Emergency Weather Alerts?

Over 4000 of Newmont Mining employees work in the remote and tropical island of Sumbawa in Indonesia, close to the beaches of the Indian Ocean. Now, this may sound like paradise but this area is susceptible to extreme weather conditions such as Tsunamis and tropical cyclones.

Around the globe we witness extreme weather become more commonplace with scientists predicting that this will become more frequent as a result of global warming. Most recently, we saw Hurricane Sandy strike New Jersey and New York leaving devastating effects with emergency response teams struggling to cope - no-one foresaw it happening and did not plan for such a disaster. It is therefore becoming even more critical that governments and companies around the world have systems in place to handle these types of situations if, and when, they arise.

Newmont decided that it was critical to safeguard employees operating in this area against any potential emergency situations. Due to the robust infrastructure of mobile messaging networks, Newmont concluded that this would be the best option for an emergency alert system that would warn not only their staff, but also the local communities of an emergency weather situation.

So how does this work?

• Newmont monitors tropical cyclones and potential Tsunamis in the area through collecting information from the Indonesian Bureau for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics.
• Sirens were installed in 10 locations around the mine, each with a sound reach of up to 5 kilometers.
• If there is a warning, a command is activated through HSL’s mobile messaging technology which triggers the siren. 
• The siren system immediately alerts the miners and the local communities to evacuate the area. 
• Further text messages are sent to employees to give them further, more specific notifications.

Newmont carry out a drill of this procedure every month. Peter Ferrigno Sr. Manager Operations Support from PTNNT said: “The safety and safeguarding of our employees and communities is one of our core values and missions as a Mine and a Corporation. This technology has been used to aid us in achieving this by providing early warning system platforms for Tsunamis in the hopes of providing sufficient time for reaction and evasive measures to be taken should an actual event occur. The technology helps the warnings to be more immediate and effective in alerting our communities and staff in case of an emergency.”

So how can this help you?

HSL's Time Critical Communications Solution can be used by any government or company wishing to send employees emergency notifications reliably,  quickly and efficiently. This solution can be used for a wide range of purposes from notifying large numbers of employees immediately of unexpected office closures as a result of poor weather conditions to sending messages to emergency services regarding critical cases. In order to learn more about our solution and how it could help you, please view Hot Tips for Cold Snaps.

For further information regarding HSL, visit us at:

http://www.hslmobile.com    

 

follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter @hslmobile or Google+   

 

or call us on +44 (0)1506 605260

or email us at sales@haysystems.com