IoME: The Internet of Missed Expectations!

Have your heard? The latest buzzword is IoME: the Internet of Missed Expectations.

In the beginning, 1.0…

When financial institutions first entered into the internet space the initial foray was a website, or in other words, a hard to navigate and clunky electronic brochure chock full of stuff.

Over time, website design has evolved into delivering a continuously expanding inventory of useful tools that customers and prospective customers find helpful and interesting.

The logical next step to a web presence was to offer internet banking services. The internet-based bank added numerous products and features that extended the reach of the institution beyond the bank office hours and into the 7 x 24 X 365 realm.

Did banks miss a beat?

Security and authentication also played a key role in the expansion of services for business, small business, and consumers, but with all of this development, some application vendors have really missed the real trend of internet banking.

In basic terms, there are many device options that users can utilize to access their bank. In the olden days, the 90s, the device was the desktop computer, and that was all, folks! Today, the desktop is disappearing just as fast as homes with landlines.

Wireless networks and mobility are the trend. Laptops, tablets, and smartphones are the popular device options, with the smartphone becoming the de facto standard and tablets tied for second with laptops.

Here’s the problem: Users are becoming frustrated with the fact that internet banking is not device agnostic.

 Consider: A mobile app that requires user ID, and a password tied to an internet bank platform, that also requires another user ID and password. Net result, the mobile app will not work it the internet platform password expires, and the vendor charges the financial institution for access to the internet platform and the mobile app. We call this intentional double-dipping. A great revenue enhancer for the vendor.

Furthermore, a user can see their checks on the internet bank platform, but not on mobile.

Add billpay to the mix, and the consumer starts thinking: “There has got to be a better way!”

It can be done

There are internet banking platforms that are device agnostic.

Best practices web design today includes device detection software that will determine the type of the device being used and adapt accordingly.

(“Oh, you mean I can use my user ID and password from any device?” The answer is “Yes, any device, one platform, one user ID and one password.” Dang!)

A by-product of this technology is one charge from the vendor for each user. (Double dawg dang!)

Yes, it is true … and there is more.

These systems also have mobile capture, no matter what device is used. And your balances will be the same regardless of device used.

The device agnostic development principle is not new. Some vendors, however, have been very slow to roll out the device-agnostic platform because of their investment in the current platform.

Well, that is not your problem.

Not integrated (a growing problem)

It can be very frustrating when a customer is denied access to their mobile app because the Internet banking platform password has expired. They don’t know how to reset it and must wait until Monday for the bank to open.

More importantly, the customer doesn’t care how you have the dang thing set up … what they do care about is being able to access their bank when they want to … period!

There is hope!

It means taking a hard look at a new internet platform that will reset your internet solution to 2018 level technology.

Make the call and step up! Key factor to your search … you do not have to accept anything less than the de facto development standard today. So, don’t!

So, in today’s terms, there are some vendors that you can say are extra … and then some that are not enough!

You pick—but think of your customer before you do.

—The Wombat!