Business | Technology
Web 2.0 to help banks connect with customers
Web 2.0 will soon be used in the banking sector, according to Adam Lawrence, an executive for IBM's software group.
- By Scott Shuey, Chief Business Reporter
- Published: 00:00 June 7, 2008
- Image Credit: Gulf News archive
- Banks are also being pushed onto the web by other web-based companies which are offering online loans.
Web 2.0 will soon be making the jump to the banking sector, according to Adam Lawrence, an executive for IBM's software group.
"It's one of the areas that we see a lot of push for [globally]," says Lawrence who is responsible for IBM's financial market solutions.
Financial institutions, according to him, are looking to use the software as much for internal purposes as for customer relations.
Web 2.0, while generally hard to define, offers users the ability to chat with each other, post information, or receive regular news updates. Regardless of how the software is used, Lawrence says financial institutions will likely retain much of social atmosphere that Web 2.0 is known for.
"Ya, it's like Facebook, but you're actually utilising all that stuff for internal knowledge," he says.
He says that companies are also planning on using the software to help target untapped areas of emerging markets.
"How do I put a face on the bank? How do I reach out to the unbanked [and] underbanked communities of the world? By not being this corporate institution of a bank, but actually create a connection and a profile that says 'I'm not here to make money for me, but I'm here to help you achieve what you need to do'."
Banks are also being pushed onto the web by other web-based companies which are offering online loans.
"Look at prosper.com or zopa.com, which are providing these types of community lending, and removing banks as the intermediaries." Both websites offers person-to-person loans, where anyone, after verification, can borrow and lend money.
"There's a lot of startups that are pioneering this [trend, which] banks are taking notice of," he says. Banks will ultimately have to keep pace and be able to offer these types of products.
But while they could start implementing similar types of services now, many are afraid of bad publicity, he says. Lawrence would not name any of the banks that IBM is currently working with to develop the services. Therefore, they are just exploring what they can do, which Lawrence describes as "very exciting for IBM".
"It's one of the few areas, from a technology perspective, where people are coming and saying, 'I need this, I want this, tell me more about it'."
Banks aren't the only sector looking to integrate Web 2.0 type services.
Ian Fleming, managing director of IFS, an enterprise software provider said his company is currently integrating elements of Web 2.0 into its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions with the aim of launching a beta, or test, version of the software in the third quarter of this year.
According to Fleming, the drive to develop this type of software is coming from the "iPod generation" which wants software that is easy to use.
"The normal ERP solutions offers you a pretty dull interface to work with, to say the least," he adds. "We've done a complete redesign. The whole look and feel is about simple navigation, shortcuts..."
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