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?

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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

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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.