Community

Despite all the fanfare about Paym, a quick straw poll around our office shows that there will be a very slow take up at best.

Reasons range from non-availability, worries about risk to general apathy.

This really does not seem to have been communicated very well outside of the payments community.

Not sure if the Payments Council wanted a "soft launch", but they certainly seem to have achieved it.

Thanks for the comments Ketharaman.

My point was that a SOA Wrapper will tend fix the legacy system in aspic, and prevent further innovation in a legacy core, and limit it to "easier" changes in the peripheral systems that just work with the wrapper.

If the underlying core data structures and relationships are wrong then more and more work (and resulting complexity) is needed in the wrapper to support such innovation.

At some point these core card based data structures need to become customer centric to cope with the demands of mobile and omnichannel banking.

But we are still waiting for "the straw that breaks the cammel's back".

Great case study Gerry,

I agree that agile and incremental development is the best way to go in a fast moving market.

In my blog last week, Mobile and the SOA Silver Bullet, I also pointed out the pitfalls of building  mobile solution on shaky legacy foundations.

Agile development of any application works best when building on top of a true open and service based platform, where the underlying services are proven and reliable.

I tend to agree Matt.

Apple have waited for the dust to settle on NFC and now that HCE might finally allow mass roll-out, it is ready to make its move.

If it can bring the usual iPhone usabiility to mobile payments then this might actually be the catalyst we are all waiting for.

Great post Richard.

Mobile is now the sexy new toy for the banks – and the UK will soon reach “mass market” adoption with Paym

I also agree with you that Branches are here to stay – but banks must ensure that they are not just maintained as a non-mobile relic, but reinvented as a valuable and integrated place to do business as part of a customer centric model that means customers get the same great service whatever channel they choose to use.

Great Blog

It is clear that the pace of change is accelerating and the only way to plan new IT systems is to plan for further change.

There needs to be a stable and secure base of standards and compliance but an architecture that actively provides for future change and innovation will provide both agility and longevity.

Such platforms exist today, but moving away from the current short term “sticking plaster” approach to developing existing systems is often seen as “to risky”.

A culture change is needed to adopt such an approach.

Internet banking is no longer the sexy new toy for the banks – mobile now has that mantle.

But as you rightly say it has become one of the main channels for a majority of customers to do their day to day banking.

I also agree with you that Branches are here to stay – but banks must do more than finding a workable business model to sustain old and new channels, they need a customer centric model that means customers get the same great service whatever channel they choose to use.

Thanks for the tip off on the latest scam.

Did you also know that Orange charges £1.00 per minute to call a European landline? - It is ourtageous, but somehow it is legal!

I assume that a digital bank does not want to handle cold hard cash – just like the “virtual” First Direct over 20 years ago.

However given the current state of maturity of purely digital channels, I assume that the digital bank will still need to issue traditional payment cards to allow its customers to transact with real merchants.

There is still plenty of room for a banks of whatever type to do things better!

Two stories for the price of one, but this mixes proper good news with wishful thinking.

From personal experience contactless card acceptance and usage is indeed rising, it is quick and easy and works first time. 

Again from a personal perspective mobile NFC does not always work first time (on my Galaxy S3), and I only try it if I have a friendly merchant.

Mobile NFC mat well reach mainstream, but the contactless card already has - let’s celebrate that achievement.