Access Group wins Oracle Partner of the Year award for Siebel

E-Access Private Limited,part of Access Group, a leading IT services provider acrossPakistan was awarded the prestigious“SIEBEL PARTNER OF THE YEAR AWARD”by Oracle at a ceremony held at Serena Hotel, Islamabad on June 30^th 2010.

Oracle the undisputed leader in CRM space with its Siebel CRM Products, awarded e-Access to recognize its contribution in selling and successfully implementing Siebel CRM to Enterprise Customers in Pakistan. E-Access has worked closely with Oracle SAGE-WEST team to offer Siebel to various industries, particularly in financial institutions, FMCGs and pharmaceuticals.

The Award was received by Mr. Owais Zaidi, Chief Operating Officer, Access Group. Mr. Owais Zaidi, on this occasion commented that,“It’s an honor to receive the Partner of the year Award for Siebel. We are really passionate about the Siebel offering and our relationship with Oracle. Our belief and commitment towards Siebel enabled us to provide our customers with world’s best CRM solution to enhance their Front line productivity across Sales, Service and Marketing domains. We firmly believe in our relationship with Oracle and would like to extend special thanks to the Applications and Channels team for our combined success.

My special thank to our customers, as without their trust on us we would not have achieved this milestone.”

Dubai Islamic Bank and flydubai launch online booking payment service

 Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) announced today the launch of a new booking payment method for flydubai and DIB customers via Al Islami Online Banking.

This new service makes travel bookings even easier for DIB customers, who can now book and pay for flydubai bookings without a card and from the comfort of their homes or offices. The bank is also in the process of enabling flydubai payments through Cash Deposit Machines (CDM) for both DIB and non-DIB customers. The signing ceremony took place at the bank's head office, and was attended by senior officials from the bank as well as the Dubai-based airline.

Philadelphia-area bank to accept check deposits from mobile phones

Customers of Conestoga Bank in suburban Philadelphia soon will be able to deposit checks from their mobile phones as part of an agreement the bank signed Monday with J&B Software Inc.
J&B Software, a payment processing, imaging and electronic content-management company, will provide a hosted mobile-deposit solution for Conestoga customers, enabling them to deposit checks into their accounts from their iPhone, Blackberry, Android and other cellular phones, says a J&B Software spokesperson.

Conestoga Bank decided to offer customers check deposits from their mobile phones because J&B Software’s hosted service reduced many of the upfront costs of installing a mobile-deposit system, Richard Elko, president and CEO of Conestoga Bank, tells ATMMarketplace.
Conestoga Bank, which is based in Chester Springs, Pa., will launch the mobile-phone deposit service later this year. "It will be available in September after summer ends," Elko says.

Apple iPad targeted by Avaya device

While Apple is set to rev up the hype machine at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) today, Avaya seems about ready to introduce an iPad-like device for business users that might steal a little of Steve Jobs thunder. The Avaya device acts like a phone, has support for video and all manner of wireless technology.

The concept of such a chameleon appliance was revealed by Avaya during VoiceCon last fall when the company said it would blend the device with versions of Skype, Google and Yahoo applications hardened for business use.

How Sybase rescued itself and became worth $6 billion

 Few companies get a chance at a second life. When John Chen signed on as CEO of Sybase in 1998, the database software vendor was, in Chen's own words, "a very, very dead company." Once a strong competitor to Oracle, Sybase had lost its way, in part because it missed the opportunity to enter the enterprise application market Oracle now leads.

Over the next decade, through the efforts of Chen and his team, Sybase turned around and reinvented itself as an enabler of the "unwired enterprise." Then, in mid-May, enterprise software giant SAP offered to aquire Sybase, citing Sybase's leadership in both mobile and in real-time analytics.

Man accused of biggest credit-card breach in U.S. history

According to an article just filed by The Washington Times, the Justice Department has charged a Miami man with perpetrating what is being coined "the largest alleged credit and debit card data breach ever charged in the United States."

The Times reports that Albert Gonzales, 28, is accused of stealing data that affected more than 130 million credit and debit cards. Gonzales, whose nicknames include "soupnazi," targeted 7-Eleven; Heartland Payment Systems; and Hannaford Brothers Co. Inc., a Maine-based supermarket chain.

Along with two unnamed co-conspirators, Gonzales launched an attack on the networks and sent the stolen credit and debit card information to computer servers in California, Illinois, Latvia, the Netherlands and Ukraine. In one earlier case, Gonzales was charged with stealing credit card information after hacking into the computer networks of TJX Corp., a discount chain that operates Marshall's and TJ Maxx stores. He also reportedly infiltrated BJ's Wholesale Club, Barnes & Noble Inc., the Sports Authority, Boston Market restaurants, Office Max, Dave & Buster's restaurants, DSW shoe stores and Forever 21. In that case, he is accused of stealing 40 million credit card numbers.

Gonzalez is being held in New York and faces decades in prison if convicted in all three cases.

Source: ATMMarketPlace.com

SunGard adds corporate actions feed to MarketMap

SunGard has expanded the market data content of MarketMap, its multi-asset market data, analysis and information services solution, with the addition of a new global corporate actions data feed from Exchange Data International. According to EDI, the feed covers data for 78,000 equities, 4,100 depository receipts and 2,700 exchange-traded funds.

MarketMap provides access to data from around 160 exchanges and over-the-counter sources. The new consolidated corporate actions feed should help MarketMap customers receive a range of corporate information issued from over 100 countries on the same user interface as the price information, helping keep access simple. It will also add to MarketMap's securities instrument and time-series databases with price history adjustments, as well as merger and acquisition data, changes of ISIN, stock adjustments, capital changes and dividend payments.
Source: Banking Technology Magazine

Luup draws on T24 to support mobile payments

Mobile payments systems provider Luup will be integrating Temenos T24 banking components as part of Luup's growth strategy for their existing mobile payments offering aimed at financial institutions and their customers, from corporates to consumers. Additionally a strategic partnership agreement between Luup and Temenos is expected to open up joint business and growth opportunities.

In the retail banking sector Luup can allow banks to offer person-to-person money transfer and ATM cash-out, person-to-merchant bill payments, salary payments to name a few. Added to this, are the possibilities of global mobile remittance services. For corporate banks and their corporate clients, Luup's technology is designed to enable corporates' end users to make and receive payments, authorise invoices and initiate payments using a company mobile.

Temenos will provide Luup with a range of banking functions to complement its existing platform through a service oriented architecture. It is hoped that this will deliver the flexibility and scalability required to progress the business further globally.

Source:Banking Technology Magazine

People Using Iphones as Wallets

New iPhone case turns phone into mobile wallet

In the near future, customers may be able to use their iPhones as creditcards. DeviceFidelity has built an iPhone case that will enable an iPhone itself to be used as a form of payment. Customers would be able to leave purses and wallets at home, carrying only their iPhone, and make purchases. While similar devices are commonly used in Japan, DeviceFidelity’s website will run trials in the second quarter of 2010 for North American usage.

Source: ATM Market Place

Branchless Banking is just 19% cheaper than Traditional Banks

According to the recent CGAP’s global pricing study report on banking services targeting poor, unbanked and under-banked people in Africa, Asia and Brazil, mobile banking and other forms of branchless banking are found to be cheaper than traditional banking, but the gap between the two is not a very significant one. The study, conducted across 16 providers and 10 countries finds that on an average, branchless banking is just 19% cheaper than traditional banks. 

The study analyzed the services of branchless banks like Afghanistan’s M-Paisa, Brazil’s Bradesco and Caixa, Cambodia’s Wing Money, India’s Eko, Kenya’s M-Pesa and Zap, South Africa’s Mobile Money etc. It found that by comparing 26 branchless banking pioneers and traditional banks with products aimed at the same kind of customers, on average, branchless banking is 19% cheaper across eight services. These services included money transfer, short‐term safekeeping, medium‐term saving for asset, bill payments, high usage (as a proxy for financial inclusion) average monthly transactions per M‐PESA user in 2008 and average monthly transactions per Kenyan banking customer in 2008.

New Credit and Debit Card Security Technology by Heartland Payment Systems

Heartland Payment Systems has commercially launched its new state-of-the-art payment card security technology.

According to a press release, Heartland has spent more than two years developing, and 10 months beta testing, this end-to-end encryption technology called E3. E3 is designed to protect cardholder credit and debit card information, rendering scrambled data useless to cyber criminals.

Sun National Bank Goes Mobile With mFoundry

Multi-Mode Sun on Hand(TM) Solution Allows Customers to Bank from Any Mobile Device

Sun National Bank announced today that it has partnered with mFoundry to launch Sun on Hand(TM), a state-of-the-art, fully integrated and comprehensive mobile banking solution for its customers. Featuring text messaging, mobile web and application technology, the program makes financial management possible anytime, anywhere for people with mobile phone access.

Sun on Hand(TM) provides Sun National Bank customers with secure access by allowing them to check account balances, search transaction history, transfer money, and pay bills via their mobile device. Launched in late February 2010, the integrated program supports interactions via instant text messaging (SMS), mobile web browser, and mobile applications for use on the iPhone, iPod Touch, Blackberry and other major devices. Recognizing that today's banking consumers seek enhanced connections to their financial institutions, mobile banking helps redefine convenience.

US Airways Wins Self-Service Excellence Award by Extending Self-Service Check-in to the Curb

US Airways has received the 2010 Self-Service Excellence Award in the "Best Travel/Hospitality Deployment" category for improving the passenger experience with self-service check-in kiosks from NCR Corporation. Presented annually by KioskCom, the awards  recognize the most innovative and successful self-service programs.

US Airways partnered with NCR, a leading provider of travel self-service solutions, to reduce wait times and streamline passenger processing. The airline initially deployed NCR TouchPort IIC kiosks in 2007 to improve passenger flow within the airport. With passenger usage at nearly 80 percent, US Airways extended the convenience of self-service check-in to the curb with the first deployment of "outdoor" NCR TouchPort 80 kiosks.

Android owners are top mobile banking users

Oddly enough, iPhone users aren’t those most likely to be doing their banking via mobile device. Instead, Android users are the most frequent users of mobile banking technology, according to a report by Javelin Strategy & Research.


The report, which focused on the expected rapid increase in consumer use of mobile banking, found Android owners were the most likely to have logged into their bank’s mobile site in the past seven days. iPhone users came in second.

Mobile banking popular and growing fast
Though mobile banking still lags behind traditional banking and online banking in terms of popularity, smart phone users are adapting to the technology quickly.

Nearly half of iPhone and Android owners use mobile banking at least once every three months. That total is nearly triple the average for all consumers. About 20% of all consumers expressed interest in banking from their phones. But as smart phone penetration grows, that number is expected to rise as more people adopt mobile banking, according to the report.

Source: My Bank Tracker

Sybase Announces Sybase Mobility Platform

Sybase is unveiling its Sybase Mobility Platform, a framework for bringing business applications and services such as banking and analytics to mobile devices. Many of those applications leverage SAP products such as SAP Business Suite, although Sybase executives are not saying how SAP’s recent $5.8 billion acquisition of Sybase will ultimately affect the Sybase Mobility Platform’s future roadmap. The Sybase Mobility Platform involves several components, including mobile servers, mobile applications, and mobile services.

Sybase unveiled the Sybase Mobility Platform, a framework for bringing business applications and services such as banking and analytics to mobile devices, on May 20. The platform features mobile servers, applications and services operating in tandem. The more prominently featured initial applications include Sybase Mobile Sales for SAP CRM and Sybase Mobile Workflow for SAP Business Suite, reflecting the close partnership that eventually led to SAP’s recent bid for Sybase.

Free Webinar: Retail Banking Outsourcing - An executive roadmap to optimizing branch operations

Sponsor: Diebold

Date: May 27, 2010

Time: 2:00pm EDT                                                                 

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Is strengthening operational efficiencies a top priority for your bank?

You are not alone. Banks around the world are seeking solutions to optimize branch operations and many have turned to outsourcing.

In this free webinar you will learn:

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       - Outsourcing of retail banking
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Register Here

Source: ATM Market Place

State Bank of India launches State Bank freedoM - Mobile Banking Service

Customers can transfer funds, view the balance & mini statements of their accounts, pay bills, request for cheque book, recharge prepaid mobile connections, view Demat Account details, top up Tatasky/ Other DTHs and conduct mCommerce transactions.

State Bank Mobile Banking Service, “State Bank freedoM”, was launched in March 2009 on a pilot basis in all the branches of State Bank of India offering its retail customers another alternate channel for simple, convenient, secure, Anytime Anywhere Banking experience. Registration for the Service has been enabled at ATMs and customers holding Debit Cards can register for the facilities without visiting any branch. The service is offered free of charge by the Bank. However, the customers will have to pay the charges levied by the telecom operators for the SMS/ GPRS.

Western Union, Absa to Offer Cross-Border Money Transfers via Internet and Mobile

First Money Transfer Service in World to Offer Seamless Platform Across Multiple Electronic Channels

South Africa's largest retail bank, Absa, and Western Union, a leader in global payment services, have enhanced their joint service offering to Absa accountholders by allowing them to conveniently access the Western Union(R) Money Transfer(SM)service to send or receive cross-border money transfers using either a cell phone or Internet banking.

Absa -- voted as Africa's most innovative bank -- and Western Union have developed a convenient solution for Absa accountholders wanting to transfer money to friends and family living abroad.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority focuses on VAS on Mobile

Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr. Mohammed Yaseen said PTA’s focus is on Value-Added Services (VAS) through mobile 2.0 applications in the high penetration mobile telephony services. He was addressing in Connect 2010 ICT Forum – Telecom Session . “I very much foresee the further development of presently available technologies and those coming ahead through value added services and content.” Yaseen said emphasis has been shifted on e-commerce, e-agriculture and e-education that open the doors of opportunities to young innovative minds, bridging unseen gaps between all potentials players of ICT proliferation. “The growth has shown positive signs while the revenue collection also increased and we look forward to continuing our revelation of promoting ICT sector of Pakistan through a joint collaborative approach.” He said the future ICT technologies are likely to evolve twofold in shape of “Internet of Things” where everyday objects can make simple communications on-line, and “Innovation Ecosystems” for dynamically exchanging resources, applications, services and knowledge. He added that in response to transparent policy and regulatory apparatus, our market has observed liberalisation, greater private sector participation and competition. PTA has sent the draft of Third Party Regulation for branchless banking to the State Bank of Pakistan. “We have proposed to promote mobile banking in the country and want to encourage multiple branches and multiple mobile companies. We are waiting for the response”, he said. Responding to questions regarding access of police to CDR, he said this is confidential data and the matter will be resolved by Interior Ministry by formulating SoP in this regard. As far as issue of installing jammers in the jails is concerned, the related department should submit application with the Ministry of IT and this could only be done through a specific procedure, he added.

Source: Daily Times, Pakistan

Free Webinar: Avatars Drastically Reduce Call Center Costs

Date & Time: Wednesday, May 19th, 2010  - 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET 

Register Here

An increasing number of Fortune500 companies have started to use Virtual Agents - Avatars to enhance their customer experience and decrease eCommerce drop rates. Ten years ago, virtual web agents were expensive, and only large clients could afford a relatively unsophisticated product with limited functionality. In 2010, they are very affordable – offered now to everyone as both a SaaS model or as licensed software, integrating seamlessly with other self-service tools, and provide powerful technology to solve customer's customer service problem more easily.

Watch Forrester, Comcast and InteliWISE answering key questions:

• How can these virtual experts immediately answer customer requests on the web, being a first - line of defense for Customer Service, the Help Desk or FAQ?
• Will they enhance other Service tools, like click-to-chat, call- back, Social Networks?
• How can this technology be built into any website within days, handling customers requests with a high accuracy of more than 85%, and at an unbelievable price of pennies per customer interaction?

Register Here

Source: CRM Magazine

Tata Consultancy Services innovation network awaits its Siebel moment

The company’s COIN model, though making money, is yet to seea big hit six years after its launch

While Indian companies understand that innovation is the lifeline of business, they are only just realizing that the process is neither easy nor systematic. Six years after the model was conceptualized, much before the software industry took client-driven innovation seriously, the Co-Innovation Network (COIN) of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) has begun making money, but that one big hit remains elusive.

“At least 75 solutions developed jointly with start-ups in the last five years are now part of TCS offering,” said chief technology officer Ananth Krishnan. “The COIN model is generating revenue but I’m still searching for a Siebel-like success in India.”

Gold Dispensing ATM Launched In The Gulf

Abu Dhabi's top hotel has upped the stakes in the contest to have the most glitz in the Gulf by installing an ATM that dispenses gold bars.

The machine at the Emirates Palace monitors the daily price of gold and offers small bars that weight up to 10 grams or coins with customised designs.

Thomas Giessler, the German entrepreneur behind the idea, chose Abu Dhabi because of its high-rolling atmosphere. Gold to Go, Geissler hopes, will tie in nicely with the region's traditional ties in gold commerce. The launch was timed well as on the day gold hit a record high of more than $1,245 an ounce.



Source: Sky News

How to accept credit card payments using your mobile phone

A new application for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Android-powered phones turns mobile devices into a handheld Point of Sales, letting US-based consumers accept credit card payments from virtually anyone who is willing to get their card out of their wallet.

Mobile payment options are rapidly expanding as consumers gravitate towards a paper-moneyless society.

The trend has been around for a long time but is only now becoming a readily-accepted (and secure) method of payment in the Western world. Consumers in Japan and South Korea have been able to make small payments for goods and services with the swipe of their mobile phones for years and have become heavy users of mobile payment systems.

Mobile banking more popular with younger crowd

Banking on the move is more popular among younger consumers, according to a recent report from the Auriemma Consulting Group.

The firm said incentives were a strong motive for younger people to sign up for mobile banking services, which allow them to keep track of checking and savings accounts on their cell phones. Of respondents to a survey, 40 percent of people 18 to 45 said incentives tipped the scales when it came to picking mobile banking.

"While instant feedback and convenience are the predominant reasons for using this service, incentives are becoming more of a motivator than in the past," says Nancy Stahl, editor of the report.

Overall, mobile banking is still not taking up a large portion of the market.

Thirteen percent of Americans take part in it, though experts expect it to become more popular in the future.

Mobile banking may also be a way to tap into consumers who do not have checking or savings accounts. A recent report from Javelin Strategy and Research showed that many unbanked consumers have access to mobile devices, which could help connect them with the financial community.

Source: e-wisdom.com

Best Practices in the Call Center: A Customer Touch-Point Methodology

Oracle the leading technology player talks about best practices in call center. The focus of this white paper on different touch point Web-self service, IVR, contact center agents, Face to face transactions.

1. First thing one should focus is to track the interlay of all the touch point mentioned above. Which will serve as a Key performance indicator.

2. To have one touch point linked with other e.g. web chat with call center agent available through website.

3. Create different view points or reports to track customer segments, frequent call records.

4. Define a matrix for plotting volume and complexity.

5. Define KPIs to be consistent with your new findings.

For more details download the white paper Download(pdf)

CRM@Oracle - Forecasting Presentation

Forecasting capabilities of Oracle CRMs are one of the most powerful feature present in them. Oracle have recently started series of  different presentations on features of Oracle CRMs. Below is the presentation on Oracle CRMs - Forecasting. I will hopefully add few more presentations of this wonderful product in up coming days.

CRM@Oracle - Forecasting

Mobile banking potential far greater than PC banking

Since the Reserve Bank of India's mobile banking guidelines came out in October 2008, more than 32 banks have been given clearance for some form of mobile banking or payment service to be offered to their customers. The annual value of transactions using the mobile banking channel is in the region of Rs150 crore, involving about two to three million transactions. But let us put this in perspective - after all it has taken more than two decades for credit card penetration to reach just about 3 per cent of the population, or about 30 million people!  

Since it does take time to go from giving approvals to actually getting the service to the market in any meaningful way, it is clearly still early days for this new alternate channel. But a quick litmus test indicates three things.

Run Rate:

Experience so far within a year or so of the mobile, prepaid and other concomitant directives is that the run rate for our mobile transactions has grown by six times, whilst pure banking customer related transactions in Nepal and India have grown 10 times.

CRM Cloud Computing Provider to Offer Online Banking

FinancialForce.com, a major player in online cloud accounting solutions built natively on the Force.com platform from CRM cloud computing provider Salesforce.com, has extended its functionality by adding electronic processing of bank payments to its online accounting offering.

Officials with FinancialForce.com said that the customers will benefit from a fully automated, on-demand end-to-end payment system.

Company officials said that through integrations, initially with SunGard in the US, which supports check processing and banking system integration, and Albany Software in the United Kingdom, a company developing electronic payment software for Bacs payments, FinancialForce Accounting users will have one integrated system for managing customer accounts and making and receiving payments.

Upcomings: CRM & Call Center Complimentary Webcasts

1. The ABCs of Marketing Analytics

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 — 11:00 am PT / 2:00 pm ET

REGISTER NOW for this complimentary webcast

Join Sam Boonin, Vice President of Marketing at GoodData who will share best practices for building great marketing dashboards, and review how GoodData uses marketing analytics to 'walk the talk' of running a metrics-driven business. Our featured presenter, Suresh Vittal, Vice President and Principal Analytst at Forrester Research, will discuss the ABCs of Marketing Analytics.

2. Avatars Drastically Reduce Call Center Costs

Wednesday, May 19, 2010 11:00am PT / 2:00pm ET

REGISTER NOW for this complimentary webcast

Watch Forrester, Comcast and InteliWISE answering key questions: How can these virtual experts immediately answer customer requests on the web, being a first - line of defense for Customer Service.

Source: destinationCRM

Telco to help rural majority access banking services

Dtac's Pakistani partner lays blueprint for developing countries

Telenor Pakistan, the country's number two mobile operator, has recently purchased a bank and is now using its banking license through its network of franchisees and top-up agents to offer banking services to Pakistan's largely unbanked population, with savings, insurance and international remittance soon to follow.

Remote Telenor Franchise in the misty hills of Dungagali, Pakistan. Telenor has 150,000 franchisees. Some 20-30,000 of these will be upgraded and trainedto offer EasyPaisa microfinance to the unbanked majority in Pakistan.

Known as EasyPaisa, the idea by Telenor and the State Bank of Pakistan is to find a sustainable, profitable new banking model to help the billions in developing countries break out of the cycle of poverty by providing them with low-cost, convenient financial services.

In an exclusive interview, Roar Bjaerum, Telenor Pakistan Vice-President for Financial Services, and Arif
Abdul Qayyam, Telenor Pakistan Director for Financial Services, explained the history of this innovative project.

CRM Software - How Do You Measure Return on Investment (ROI)?

The cost of ownership and return on investment of your CRM software depends on your requirements initially and over time. As your business changes, so do your CRM requirements. A well planned CRM software strategy can save you time and money now, yet allow you to scale your solution as your organisation grows.

For many companies, a cost of ownership model over a 3-5 year period will give a better return on investment with an in-house system. To justify this however, you need to think out your strategy carefully. One of the key decision points is whether you will need to integrate CRM software into your accounting system or a specialised customer service or ERP system. In this case, although the initial cost of ownership can be quite substantial your return will justify such an upfront investment. The initial costs for example will involve license fees, consulting fees and deployment costs.

Oracle Siebel CRM demo for iPad

Oracle announced support for the iPad by combining their Siebel driven REST API with the Apple iPad OS SDK. Siebel is turning out to be a surprisingly versatile development tool for contemporary social capabilities. They are never ceasing to surprise at this point.Here’s a look at a Oracle/Siebel iPad app as demonstrated:



Other than Siebel, Sugar CRM have also launched its application for Apple iPad

Brett King: Who gets it right with Internet Banking opportunities?

by: Brett King.Author, Bank 2.0,
      banking4tomorrow.com

Take a look at your retail or consumer banking website or homepage. I can 100% guarantee that regardless of who you are, and in what market you are in that I know exactly which part of the site is clicked on most. Contact us? Nope. Press Releases - definitely not. The biggest Ad banner on the homepage? Nope...

Figured it out. Well the headline gives it away. It is the login button. In developed economies click-thru rate from the bank homepage can be as high as 97% of traffic that visits the homepage, and in developing markets it still hovers around 70-75% generally.

The thing is that in most cases banks spend a considerable amount of money each year trying to entice new customers to apply online or to send in their details so someone in the mortgages team, call centre, preferred banking or private banking team can reach out to them. Acquisition must be a key metric of any direct channel team today. However, in most cases the visitors to your homepage are existing customers. Thus, 70-95% of daily traffic is being channelled immediately from the homepage to the secure internet banking website behind the login.

So let's get this straight. Your bank marketing team has just spent US$1m upgrading your site and putting offers all over 3rd party properties to direct traffic to your website and trigger acquisitions, but still 95% of visitors are clicking through to Internet Banking. How much product are you selling behind the login? Well, if you are most banks - virtually zero. Why? Because most managers see Internet Banking as a transaction platform designed to lower the cost of operations by transferring low-margin or costly transactions to a direct channel with a lower cost than a branch or call centre.

Dynamics CRM Online to expand into 32 more markets

Microsoft plans to expand Dynamics CRM Online, its competitor to the successful Salesforce.com cloud service, into 32 more markets later this year, the company said Sunday.

The expansion will happen in near conjunction with the next version of Microsoft's customer relationship management service, known internally as Dynamics CRM "5." There are 1.1 million paid users of the CRM line, said Marie Huwe, general manager for Microsoft Dynamics marketing.

"This is a really big thing for our business. We're making a big bet on CRM Online," she said. "I'm sure you've heard Steve Ballmer say, 'We're all in.'"

Indeed, the Microsoft CEO in March told an audience of University of Washington computer engineering students that the software superpower is playing its hand for cloud computing. CRM Online is just one of Microsoft's many cloud services. And like many of the others, CRM Online has a formidable online foe – in this case, market-leading Salesforce.com.

Genesys: Survey of 16 countries shows companies face increasing customer service challenges from lack of cross channel communications

A new survey of consumers in 16 key countries finds that consumers are adopting multiple communication channels much faster than companies are ready to respond. The survey found that in 2009, over 90 per cent of consumers have used multiple communication channels when contacting a company's customer service.



Sponsored by Genesys from Alcatel Lucent and Ovum, a leading research company, the survey builds on data gathered in 2009 to determine the costs of poor customer service, to measure changes in consumer behaviour, and to understand the challenges for enterprises in implementing customer service solutions to handle enquiries across communication channels.

Police embraces e-banking

Tuesday, 20th April, 2010
By David Mugabe

MEMBERS of the Police force will no longer need to go to the bank to withdraw money to carry out transactions, thanks to a new e-banking initiative.

MAPSwitch Uganda, providers of electronic financial services, plans to extend its branchless banking service to the force. Roscoe Nsubuga, the managing director, said the service enables clients to withdraw money, transact business, buy airtime or check their account balances using an electronic device at specific access points.

The roll out of the service to the Police force comes after a successful launch in the military. It is, however, currently only open to PostBank customers although negotiations are on to bring other banks on board. The Police force has over 30,000 servicemen and women. The mobile banking platform has already benefited over 57,000 UPDF soldiers, who belong to the Wazalendo military savings and credit cooperative organisation (SACCO).

Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications

 Bern Elliot, Steve Blood


Unified communications offers the ability to improve how individuals, groups and companies interact and perform tasks. Enterprise planners and managers should review how this emerging generation of communication software and systems can improve their business operations and processes.


Unified communications (UC) offers the ability to significantly improve how individuals, groups and companies interact and perform. UC also enables multiple communication channels to be coordinated. In some cases, separate servers may be consolidated, but, more frequently, UC adds functionality to existing communication applications. Key technologies include Internet Protocol (IP)-PBX, voice over IP (VoIP), presence, e-mail, audioconferencing and Web conferencing, videoconferencing, voice mail, unified messaging (UM), instant messaging (IM), and various forms of mobility. Another key capability of UC is that it offers a method to integrate communication functions directly with business applications; Gartner calls this capability "communication-enabled business process" (CEBP).

The Latest ATM Features Are in Your Pocket

Technology now in development will marry cell phones with ATMs and give a whole new definition to the concept of mobile banking.

To the convenience of the mobile phone and that of the ATM, add another—the convenience of the mobile phone and the ATM working together to save retail-banking customers time, improve the security of their transactions, and increase their loyalty to financial-service institutions.

If this convergence of cell phone and banking sounds like mobile banking, it is—and it’s more. Mobile banking, or the ability to conduct financial transactions on the fly from a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA), has captured a lot of headlines lately. Yet quietly in the works for several years now has been the courtship of the mobile device and ATMs. The know-how to marry these two technologies has been lab-tested and could be in users’ hands within three to five years.

Tameer Bank eyes 30m bill payments by year-end

by: The News(Daily English Newspaper) 

Around 300,000 utility bills were paid through the facility of ‘easypaisa’ in March, while these numbers will be enhanced to 30 million by the end of the current year, a top executive of the bank said.

In a lecture on Friday on “New developments in microfinance”, Nadeem Hussain, President, Tameer Microfinance Bank, said that the consumers are availing the off-banking facility through retail network. “The consumers are also being provided a facility of remittances at the local level,” he added.

HDFC Bank, NCR win Asian Banker Technology Implementation awards

20 Apr 2010

India’s second-largest private bank, HDFC Bank, and NCR Corp. took home two prestigious awards from the 2010 Asian Banker Technology Implementation Awards, according to a news release from NCR. The awards, which recognized the HDFC Bank and NCR for multichannel capability and ATM installation and management solutions, were judged among 60 financial entrants.

HDFC Bank and NCR received the ‘Multi-channel capability’ award for innovative use of the NCR APTRA eMarketing solution, which is used by HDFC Bank to communicate with its customers and prospects in a seamless way across the Internet, e-mail, mobile, call center and ATM channels. And the best ‘ATM Installation and Management Solution’ award was given for HDFC Bank’s use of the NCR APTRA eMarketing solution to improve customer service, reduce ATM-transaction times and operating costs and establish new revenue channels through HDFC’s ATM network.

Shopping Guide to CRM Software for Small Business

By Lauren Goldman

April 20, 2010
If you own a small or medium business, entering the CRM software market can involve a system-wide implementation of a new business suite, or it can simply be the equivalent of dipping a toe in the water with the addition of a basic contact manager.



In either case, it's easy to dive into a solution that later turns out to be too small for your company's needs or too expensive to customize.

"I think it's really important for companies that are going down the CRM path to make sure that they know what they need before they even look at a vendor," said Brent Leary, co-founder and partner at CRM Essentials, "Do a really serious and honest analysis of what you're trying to accomplish, what your challenges are -- what are you trying to fix? Is it something related to losing customers, or is it something related to finding more customers or keeping them longer?"
Keeping It Simple

TANDBERG Is Now a Part of Cisco

Cisco TelePresence powers the new way of working, where everyone, everywhere can be more productive through face-to-face collaboration. By building your global video community, you can do more with less, transform your organization, drive competitive advantage and be greener.

TANDBERG is now a part of Cisco TelePresence. Cisco now offers the industry's most comprehensive and interoperable telepresence portfolio and an integrated architecture for face-to-face communication so you can collaborate, play, and learn in whole new ways.

Download:

Cisco TelePresence Solutions Overview Brochure (pdf) 

Source: Cisco.com

Magic Quadrant for CRM Multichannel Campaign Management

24 April 2009 Adam Sarner
Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00166621

Unica, SAS, Teradata and Oracle are leaders in the multichannel campaign management market. Infor CRM Epiphany moves into a niche position, refocusing on CRM in its installed base. Marketo enters the market in the fast-growing SaaS multichannel campaign management area, focusing on lead management.

Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation

22 July 2009 Robert P. Desisto
Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00168995

Oracle CRM On Demand joins salesforce.com and Siebel as leaders in the sales force automation Magic Quadrant.
Despite slow sales due to the economy, organizations continue to invest in sales force automation (SFA). Gartner has not seen a drop-off in customer requests for help with vendor evaluations related to SFA. We have seen slightly more emphasis on software as a service (SaaS) due to tight capital budgets and the use of smartphones to drive salesperson adoption. Most vendors have come up with service and/or integration capabilities with fast-growing social networks, but sales organizations have been relatively cautious in embracing social-networking integration with SFA.