By Bernard Sia

As an IT Outsourcer, I cringe at the thought of having to support 30 different variations of mobile operating systems; it does not matter whether the phone is service provider locked or jail-broken with viruses and all.

Who is to be blamed when the proverbial mess hits the fan?

Naturally the easy way out for an outsourcer is to draw a solid line that says, I am sorry, that is not within our contract. But seriously, as an innovative company; you would want to stand head and shoulders above your competitors and say; YES, we are able to support that phone. Not only that, we can secure critical business information, anywhere; anytime!

Personally, I find the whole security issue overblown. Since the dawn of civilization people have been lurking the halls of temples and rat on priests feasting on animal offerings, and no amount of inner sanctums could keep a lid on towns folk whispering.

Fortunately today; we have a host of technologies that allows us to trace how information flows, from who, to whom, on top of versioning every change that occurs.

Unfortunately, technology cannot change the human psyche. Whenever there’s an opportunity, opportunism arises.

Over in Malaysia, BYOD devices have taken over the boardroom; and senior management have made iPads and Berry’s the communications medium of choice. Don’t be surprised if you walk into the elevator of PETRONAS Twin Towers and you see tenants carrying an iPad, a Blackberry, his own personal mobile; with potentially an ultrabook tucked inside the suitcase.

So the right question to ask is not about the perils of BYOD, but how do you manage risks arising from Human Behaviour.

My take on it:-

a)    Make it a corporate policy
Ensure that all staffs sign on a document specifying their roles and responsibilities with corporate information.

b)    Make it known that big brother is watching

“WARNING”  this email is Information Rights Managed (IRM) and Data leakage Protected (DLP), and the sensitivity setting is “CORPORATE USE ONLY”. As mentioned, a number of IRM technologies allow you to monitor unauthorized information leakage and trigger a warning should the mail be forwarded beyond the corporate domain.

But seriously, if your staffs are bent on selling corporate information; there’s nothing that can stop the employee from taking a picture off the monitor; or even scribbling it down on a piece of paper.

c)     Be a great company, with a purpose, manned by good people

That trumps any security tool out there in the market.

Happy New Year!

By Cynthia Karena

iWallet, PayPal, apps may grow faster than banking innovation.

The banking industry has been given a warning: beware of new competitors stealing traditional financial services via technology.

Consumers with mobile devices have the potential to access financial services outside bank offerings, says Bob Hayward, a keynote speaker at the recent Retail Financial Services Forum in Sydney .

Non-traditional banking organisations are offering consumers everything from payments to insurance to investments, he says. Hayward is the chief technology and innovation officer at IT services company CSC Australia, which counts Westpac as a client. He is a former KMPG director and Gartner research fellow.

“We’ve already seen PayPal delivering services that used to be done by financial services. It’s broadening its horizons and moving into traditional payment markets. In the US, Home Depot stores allow people to pay with a PayPal pin. You don’t need anything physical like cash or credit card.”

PayPal solutions are taking over the traditional ground of banks, agrees Ovum research director Kevin Noonan. “We’re starting to see the banks (moving) but PayPal has stolen the march as online transactions have exploded.”

Apple has developed an electronic payment system for its iTunes and App stores, and Hayward is convinced it will make “a clear move” in finance services with the iPhone 5. Many observers believe the upcoming phone will have an iWallet app to replace cards and cash.

The good news for banks is that Apple’s strategy is not to become the number one payment provider, says Christophe Uzureau, research vice president of Gartner banking & investment advisory services. “It’s more about taking control of payments for their own products, and reducing their fees.”

However, the mobile banking market is ripe for the picking. According to Gartner, worldwide mobile payment transaction values will surpass $171.5 billion in 2012, a 61.9 per cent increase from 2011. It forecasts a market worth $617 billion with 448 million users by 2016.

The banks have allowed more nimble competitors in the mobile banking space because they were a little complacent in years gone by, says Ovum’s financial services technology research director, Denise Montgomery.

“They have allowed telcos and other digital media companies in the space. I don’t think they counted on the size of their competitors. They were looking at other banks, not at digital and telco giants.”

But now mobile banking is a high priority for banks, she says. The Commonwealth Bank’s Kaching app allows people to pay anyone by using their mobile number, email address or through a Facebook friends list, r via PayPass.

CommBank has done some “cool” and innovative things, agrees Hayward. “CommBank thinks more about being a technology firm than a bank. It wants employ the type of people who work for Google.”

Uzureau cites Westpac’s Cash Tank app, which allows people to quickly check the balance of a pre-selected account, as another example.

“Consumers are looking for specifics. Cash Tank is a very simple app that responds to a specific need, instead of an app that provides all different functionalities. It’s not about providing a sophisticated complex solution. Westpac has created a more targeted and specific application. This is a new (way of thinking) for banks.”

Leveraging the numbers

There’s a blurring of financial services – Google, Apple, and Facebook all have customer relationships,” says Tony Ritchie, vice president technologies, Asia Pacific, American Express, which has a Facebook presence.

“The challenge for (traditional) financial institutions is to respond more quickly than the rate at which organisations such as Google and Facebook introduce their services.”

American Express is forming partnerships with social media companies, including Twitter and Foursquare, and investing in new technologies and ventures, so it can introduce disruptive technologies, he says.

Hayward says the membership size of Facebook, Amazon and iTunes are a big consideration for the banks.

“Any one of these has more than ten times the customers as all the banks in Australia added together.”

However, Gartner says only 1 per cent of US online consumers prefer Facebook as a digital wallet provider. Customers don’t think their financial information is secure in the hands of a social media company, says Uzureau. “Consumer trust in Facebook is very limited.”

This gives financial institutions a clear opportunity to capitalise on existing consumer trust, and focus on security and financial control, he says. And “Facebook (and others) don’t have the financial skill set. Mobile banking is not a core competency.”

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/connected-consumers-go-where-banks-havent-20120625-20xd7.html#ixzz1yrQr5x6E

By Mark Atterby – Senior Staff Writer

In the last few years smartphone applications have emerged as another channel for organisations to interact with their customers. Smartphones and Tablets have evolved into a major computing platform. As such BPOs who manage the customer experience for their clients, need to have a strategy when it comes to developing mobility applications.

More and more consumers are using their smartphones to help them shop and many are walking into retail stores armed with their mobile device. While in store trying a product out, they can receive product and pricing information from other online or physical retailers. They can quickly share and obtain information with their friends, receiving feedback and reviews about the products they are planning to purchase.

Once they’ve bought the product or service their smartphone is increasingly the main vehicle for them to interact with the organisation for support or advice whether that’s via SMS, email, Skype, web chat or a traditional mobile phone call.

Retailers have tried to tap into this with mixed results. Research from Retrevo (http://www.retrevo.com/content/blog/2011/10/retailers-not-providing-smartphone-equipped-shoppers-what-they-need), highlighted how most consumers who use their smartphone for shopping are happy to download a retailers app, but most say that it had no impact in helping their purchase.

However, the development of apps for mobile banking has seen phenomenal growth, where concerns developed about growth outstripping capacity. Mobile banking is used in many parts of the world with little or no infrastructure, especially remote and rural areas. It is estimated that there is 1.7 billion people with a mobile phone but not a bank account, where as many as 364 million unbanked people could be reached by agent-networked banking through mobile phones.

BPO largely evolved from the outsourcing of inbound customer service calls as well as outbound telemarketing in an age when people wanted to talk to someone. In an age where people increasingly prefer the speed, comfort and anonymity of self-service, BPO providers need to incorporate mobility applications as part of their service delivery and technology investment.

Not just customers. SmartPhones and tablets are popular with employees and management.

Executives and managers hate being chained to their desks, and they love the power of tablets and smart phones. According to Datamark BPO providers are planning to provide clients with mobile apps for monitoring and auditing outsourced processes. Features will incorporate business intelligence, dashboards, analytics and instant messaging with the provider.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is expected to take off during 2012 [1]. Essentially companies will be encouraging workers to use their own mobile devices to perform work related functions. BYOD, while reducing hardware costs for the organisation, also increases employee satisfaction. People prefer to work on the devices they own and like using, rather than the slow or antiquated devices handed to them from the IT department.

These days people want everything at their fingertips, regardless of their location. Most leading providers have taken significant steps to adopt smartphones and mobility into their service delivery. BPO providers who do not take on the development of smartphone technology and mobility apps, will lose business and struggle in a market where the phone call is no longer as important as it once was.

1. http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/IT-Outsourcing/Enterprise-Applications/BYOD:-The-New-Me-of-IT-Consumerization/22/3/11825/GS1201239010447

2,300 employees from the UK, the US, China, Finland and India transferring from Nokia to Accenture.

IT consulting company Accenture and Finnish mobile maker Nokia have closed the agreement for Nokia to outsource Symbian software development and support activities to Accenture.

The agreement was originally announced on 22 June 2011, after Nokia announced that it will outsource its Symbian OS development along with some emplyees to Accenture.

With the closure of the agreemet, Accenture will provide Symbian-based software development and support services to Nokia until 2016 and also become the preferred supplier for Nokia in its transition to Windows Phone, said Accenture.

Accenture said under the agreement, approximately 2,300 employees from China, Finland, India, the United Kingdom and the United States are transferring from Nokia to Accenture.

Accenture Communications, Media & Technology operating group chief executive Marty Cole said Accenture is focused on growing their business in mobility and embedded software.

“We look forward to supporting Nokia in the execution of its strategy,” said Cole.

Accenture said it works with Avanade, a technology service company and focuses on Microsoft technologies, to provide further services to Nokia.

Source: Outsourcing BPO

The popularity of mobile or handheld communication devices has created a huge demand for mobile applications around the world, and the Philippines is one of the countries well poised to take advantage of this trend.

At the sidelines of a Power Mac Center mobile app development seminar where he is the resource speaker, Ramon Pastor of Numlock Solutions said that, although the country is currently lagging behind the field of mobile apps for now, talented Filipino developers can very soon catch up and provide here and abroad a robust supply of apps for mobile platforms.

“Worldwide, demand is higher than the supply. That’s why we have to encourage developers to go into mobile apps to take advantage of this growth. The Philippines can well be on the world map for mobile apps. We want to tell the world that if they want apps, they can come to the Philippines,” Pastor said.

The country has a huge pool of software and application developers who have been supplying the requirements of the country’s global IT outsourcing industry mainly in the fields of web and enterprise solutions. Pastor said that they just have to shift focus from enterprise solutions to mobile apps.

“The opportunity is here. More people are realizing that they can do a lot with their mobile devices, and are not limited to calling, texting, or checking emails. Companies are beginning to know that they can have apps made for mobile platforms, which is not this popular before. Thus, demand for mobile apps in the next three to four years, or even next year or so, will just grow exponentially. And we are up to it,” he said.
Meantime, Pastor laments how, in the past, big-name companies have tapped foreign IT consultants to develop apps for them.

“They’re not aware that mobile app development exists locally. That is why we have to drive people to join the industry. Demand is so high, they just go abroad. We hope that next time, we will be able to take advantage of this demand.”

Attended by over a hundred and fifty participants, the free seminar is part of the 17thAnniversary activity of Power Mac Center.

Power Mac Center Marketing Manager Joey Alvarez said, “Power Mac Center and developers have a symbiotic relationship. The more mobile apps are created for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad products, for example, the happier our consumers will be, and vice versa.”

Pastor said that he commends Power Mac Center for supporting the sector of IT programmers through seminars as he acknowledged the Apple Premium Reseller’s key role in ensuring that consumers get the best out of their mobile devices.

He said, “With this seminar, we are trying to make it easier for developers to go into mobile app development. Definitely, you cannot teach development in a very short seminar like this. But we can make them aware that the options are there, and that it is quite attainable even if they don’t have extensive experience in programming.”

Aside from the mobile app development seminar, Power Mac Center also conducted training on Apple’s latest Mac operating system, OS X Lion, and staged an exhibit showcasing its 17-year history at the Ayala Museum Lobby.