Too Big to Fail.. But, Too Big to Care?

Good guess, I am alluding to the Banking Industry. When Banks hemorrhage – slightly or severely – Uncle Sam pulls cards from the Keynesian deck (Keynesian Economics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynesian_economics ). Multiple factors including the heavily clichéd “Too Big to Fail” phrase comes to mind. But are these banks too big to care? Well, social technologies like FB, Twitter – and better yet – the access to technology via smart phones for not so smart folks, compounded by the human condition of advertising one’s current situation/feeling/emotion (example: “I am watching Hobbit and it is wicked good” OR if you prefer “Coffee at the Starbucks off the Beltway is supremely sucky”) have indeed wreaked havoc on the “Totalitarian Bank”.

Case in point; I am pretty sure Bank of America (let’s call it BofA) could have cruised its way to the bank (pun intended) after charging each customer $5/mo fee for using ATM/teller or whatever it was they were charging their customers. Why? Because the customers 10 years ago would have fretted at the travesty but could not assimilate a Tea Party-esque movement in a timely fashion. Why? Because, 10 years ago, they had to go home and turn on their PC, connect to the internet and then send “chain emails” to folks about this $5/mo travesty. Super effective right? NOT! And 9 times out of 10, the emotion is gone. People have had time to relax and they just don’t care; they accept in an oddly Zen kind of way. They justify the extra $5/mo charge as another subway sandwich or something else equally boring. BofA would have made a killing then.

But not now. What happened this time around? Insta tweets and FB posts. via the ubiquitous smart phones about the gall of BofA for charging the $5/mo did them in almost instantaneously. They retracted the $5/mo charge. So, they are NOT too big to care. They HAVE to care.

Let’s look at the Bank’s evolution. Back when, there were no Oink Money Loans or payday advances, my Grandfather would physically go to the bank for money, loans, investments etc. There was no credit card and it was a neighborhood bank where “relationship” was king. Then the banks got greedy; they wanted to grow by orders of magnitude and so they gobbled up all the Mom/Pop banks. Result? Customer centricity – predicated on relationships – was down the toilet. So, large banks had no insight into their customers; why, I changed banks because the new bank gave me a FREE alarm clock (which I could pick up at Wal-Mart for $9.95). There was no loyalty.

So, in order to increase Customer Centricity, Banks have continuously improved how they interact with you and me; their customers. Today, I can use my Bank App on my iPhone, Android or Windows Phone or Tablet and pay my bills, deposit checks and do some pretty cool things on the run.

But these Apps that were once (not too long ago) meant for PC use, now need to be available and perform just as well on my hand held device that comes in multiple form factors.

Therefore, these Banks need to quickly get a grip on Mobility to get closer to their customers or have droves of customers move to different banks. Why Mobility? The market is extremely fragmented & chaotic with iOS, Android & Windows. New OS versions are released at a rapid rate (vis-à-vis OS releases that we are used to with desktops/laptops). Device vendors (Samsung, Apple, Google, Dell, RIM, Nokia, HTC, Good, etc.) are releasing new devices at a rapid clip compared to H/W refreshes we are used to in the PC world.

If I were a Bank, how can I stay ahead of the curve to ensure I am offering a reliable, scalable and secure service to my customers who are using my Apps to transact (pay bills, deposit checks)?

The answer? These Apps need to be tested (QA’ed) for functionality, reliability, performance and scalability; just like their desktop brethren.

iLink Systems has developed a Mobility Testing Offering as a logical extension to our QA portfolio of offerings. We help our clients build out a Mobility Strategy as well as help our clients Test Mobile Apps by using our Best Practices, Methodologies and technologies such as Perfecto Mobile (https://www.perfectomobile.com/).

Blogger : Madhav Ranganathan