A huge thank you to all that attended the BASH, presented by Google, on Friday, October 26th and the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco.
The company was amazing and while everyone was having a great time, we were raising money to help those in need and provide crucial support to our professional community.
Of course, there were important annoucements like:
-The Friend of BAARC award given to Nat Katzman and John Lawrence for their incredible work on our video. See it here!
-The Wally Award given to our own, Chairman, Stuart Montgomery.
-And lastly, the generous donation from our friends at SF BIG.
See all the pictures here!
Again, our sincerest thanks to our sponsors. We couldn’t have done without you!
The banking industry has made mobile marketing a priority. They have embraced this market by making functionally and secure apps. VP of Mobile at Resource examines how the banking industry has not made mobile a “next year” priority.
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Consumer-Focused Mobile Marketing Is the Tip of the Iceberg
Written by: Stephen Burke, VP of Mobile at Resource
In my role as managing director of our San Francisco/Western Region office, I have the pleasure of meeting many unsung heroes in the rapidly growing mobile commerce economy in North America. Most of my connections are with start-ups and mature companies focusing on consumer mobile services, so it’s always refreshing—and sometimes eye-opening—to meet someone driving massive mobile dollar volumes “behind the curtain” of enterprise mobility.
Our office recently hosted an evening for about 100 members of the San Francisco branch of the American Marketing Association, and I had the pleasure to be on a “What’s Happening in Mobile?” panel moderated by Will Decker, vice president and product manager for the Wells Fargo corporate mobile banking platform, the CEO Mobile® service.
Will kicked off the panel by asking the audience to guess how much money moved through the CEO Mobile service (mobile web and iPhone app) in 2012. He offered three choices:
- $170 million
- $1.7 billion
- $17 billion
The winner? $17 Billion!
That’s right. In 2012, Wells Fargo’s wholesale banking customers (large and small enterprises) initiated and approved $17 billion with mobile devices. If you speculate about volumes generated by other money center banks and larger regional players, you’d have to guess that nearly $100 billion in commercial transactions occurred over mobile networks and devices last year. Just as a reference, eBay and their PayPal subsidiary are the largest consumer-facing mobile commerce players, weighing in at around $14 billion.
According to Will, Wells Fargo has been building its corporate mobile offering since it launched in 2007, starting with secure services that enable senior level financial managers to approve transactions on the go. Based on continuous customer feedback through surveys, advisory councils, and ethnographic research, they have evolved the offering to include a lot more services, including those that let customers transfer funds between accounts, monitor fraud, make deposits, view reports and balances, and manage expense account reporting and out-of-pocket expenses.
“Wells Fargo is committed to listening to our customers and delivering the secure tools they need to do business anywhere,” said Will. “The CEO Mobile service is popular with customers and an important channel that continues to evolve rapidly in response to customer feedback and demand for access to mobile banking products and services.”
Some might have expected the banking industry to lag faster-moving ecommerce or other businesses in embracing mobility, but in fact U.S. banks have been some of the most aggressive, and consistent, builders of high-performing and secure mobile apps and services.
It makes sense—banks have to go where the demand is, and they discovered (perhaps earlier than their counterparts in other sectors) the necessity of having clear mobile strategies, consistent cross-functional alignment, and consistent investment in innovation.
What does this mean for consumer-focused brand marketers? First, it can be a wakeup call for those brands, or executives, who may think that mobile remains a “next year” priority. Second, Wells Fargo’s commitment to continuous feedback to inform mobile service evolution underscores the importance of not just knowing “the mobile consumer” but instead knowing “your mobile consumer” and tailoring services and offerings accordingly. Too often brands get caught up in competitive benchmarking, which has merit, but lose sight on the specific trends and behaviors associated with their consumers.
Finally, a rapid pace of mobile service evolution is key—rather than work on an annual plan, look at your mobile offerings as “software” and plan continuous refreshes and adaptations, rather than annual “Big Bang” releases.
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