Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
Ron Shevlin beat me to saying it in his post, Mobile Banking: Boom or Fizzle?, but I think it bears repeating: The recent upsurge in talk about mobile banking finally becoming mainstream may just be hype.
Recently on CUES Tech Port, I published both Banking on the Go?” and "Banking on the Go? Part II," which take a look at the great improvements in mobile technology and consumer acceptance of it that have occurred in recent years.
My own Nexus post, "Get 10 Cents a Transaction Without Being a Bank," which covered cell phone-based payments with no bank account required, was enthusiastic that mobile payments were about to really catch on. Mobile payments may in fact catch on before mobile banking, but it turns out I might have been too excited too soon.
Enter my attendance at Cathy Graber's Graeber's recent CUES Webinar, "Raining on the Mobile Banking Parade." VP/principal analyst at Forrester Research, Graber Graeber agreed with what I've been reading and writing--up to a point. Her research confirms that mobile technology is better than ever and that many more people are using it. What her research doesn't find is any sizable demand for mobile banking from even the Gen Y crowd who have wireless devices and use text messaging.
The upshot for credit unions, according to Graber Graeber: Don't do mobile just because the competition is. You won't lose members because you don't have mobile banking.
I wrote more about this in today's issue of CUES Tech Port. CUES members can access it here with their passwords. I'll be glad to send my manuscript to any blogger who wants to see it. (Oh, and by the way, Happy Thanksgiving!)
