Monthly Archives: September 2011

In Canada, Mobile Banking is Used by Over 12% of Mobile Subscribers

Posted by Shai on September 26, 2011

A new report is out highlighting the popularity of mobile banking in Canada. The “Canadian Online Banking Insights” report was published at the end of July by comScore. (Hat tip to MobileSyrup.)

Putting 12% in context

Quite a few good data points in there, but the one that caught my eye is that 12.3% of all mobile subscribers are using mobile banking. On one hand, this seems low, given that mobile banking has existed, in one form or another for almost 10 years. On the other hand, if you tried some of those early attempts at mobile banking, you’ll recall how unpleasant they were to use. The game didn’t really start until smartphones became prevalent (specifically the iPhone) about 4 years ago. And it took few more years after that to reach another important milestone that we hit only at the end of last year: Availability of iPhone apps from all the major banks in Canada. (See my post from December: RBC releases mobile app. Now all the banks are in.) With that in mind, the 12% number is actually quite impressive. (I haven’t seen any data, but I would guess that prior to 2010, that number was probably 1-2%.)

What’s behind the growth?

The forces propelling this growth are

  1. Dramatic improvement of usability brought by the smartphone.
  2. The growing penetration of smartphones.  (Read this: By 2015, smartphones will rule the mobile planet.)
  3. Mobile banking apps are adding more functionality. One much anticipated improvement is the “eWallet” where small payments can be made directly from the phone.

But where is the call center?

However, one area where the apps have lagged is integration with the call center. Today, if you tap the “contact us” link, it simply triggers a regular phone call. No context from your on-device interactions is preserved (i.e. you are starting a new interaction “cold”). Furthermore, none of the amazing functionality of the smartphone is put to use. This is a very large wasted opportunity. It’s an opportunity to improve customer experience and to improve call center efficiency.

It’s just around the corner, actually

Luckily we’re working with a number of banks to change this situation. If you want a peak into the near future, download our whitepaper “Fonolo for the Financial Industry” or tune in tomorrow at 2pm ET for a webinar focused on the financial industry. (If you miss it, come back and watch the archive when you get a chance.)

 

Fonolo named “Best Contact Center Solution” at ITExpo!

Posted by Mike on September 14, 2011

We were surprised and delighted today when Fonolo was named “Best-of-Show” in the “Contact Center Solutions” category at the ITExpo conference. You can read the formal announcement (and see the other winners) here.

If you are attending ITExpo, please drop by our booth (#422) to see a live demonstration and chat with our team. You can also see Shai speak on two panels tomorrow. Details here.

Rich Tehrani, the conference chairman and CEO of TMC said

“We’re pleased to honor Fonolo with a ‘best-of-show’ award, and we congratulate them for standing out amongst a large and highly competitive field.”

 

Shai Speaking at Cloud Communications Expo

Posted by Mike on September 8, 2011

Our CEO will be participating at the upcoming Cloud Communications Expo, which is co-located with the ITExpo conference in Austin. (See this post from earlier in the week on Fonolo’s involvement at ITExpo.)

Shai will be speaking on September 14 at 3:45 as part of this session:

Three Big Problems. Three Big Answers

Moderator: Larry Lisser, Principal , Embrase
Three dispruptive companies in Cloud Comm will each profile the big problem they are solving, or seeing as a growing one and the market drivers behind it. The audience will tell us if they agree.

We hope to see you there.


Fonolo Going Big at ITExpo

Posted by Shai on September 6, 2011

ITExpo is one of the mega events of our industry, and Fonolo is participating in a big way this year.

If you’re planning to be in Austin for the show, which runs Sep 13-15, we’d be thrilled if you stopped at our booth (#422). You’ll be able to glimpse the future of the call center experience via live demos of Fonolo — both web and mobile. We’ll be showing some capabilities there that haven’t been seen before, or mentioned in this blog. You’ll also be able to chat with the Fonolo team about our product and see if it is a fit for your call center. If that’s not enough incentive for you, we’ll also be raffling off some great prizes!

I will be speaking on two panels, both on September 15th:

Harnessing the Customer Service Experience with a Multi-Channel Approach

Description: Today’s consumers are sophisticated. They want flexibility, and simply don’t want to be tethered to just one way of doing business with a company.  As a result, a one touch-point approach – by way of the landline telephone – doesn’t cut it. In a given day, consumers go to and fro between their mobile phone, computer and landline – all based on what is convenient to them to make it through their hectic days. As consumers’ habits change, so too must the approach that businesses take with their customer service solutions….  cont’d

This panel is part of the Call Center track, and will be at 11:00 am. We’ve tackled the topic of multi-site call centers several times on this blog, including this post last month by Jason.

 Bringing the Social Experience into the Business Context

 Description: As business continue to migrate to new work patterns, including more mobile and remote workers…greater collaboration with customers, and an ever increasing number of connectivity options… they often become lost in a sea of applications and services, ultimately reducing the benefits of each one. … [Thus] presenting an enormous opportunity for businesses to leverage the social media experience in their business collaboration environments… cont’d

 This panel is part of the Business Collaboration track, and will be at noon. The impact of social media on customer service was the topic of a webinar I did in May, and can now be viewed on-demand here. I also discussed the topic in this blog post: How Twitter is changing the customer service equation.

We hope to see you in Austin!