Mobile Money, Self Bank and Integration Marketing – A Marriage Made in Athens South Africa
Before taking a look at the marriage between Mobile Money , Self Bank and Integration Marketing in South Africa, let us quickly take a look at one of the most notable examples of Integration Marketing in modern marketing history.
African Mobile Banking Operators Face Barriers to Success Despite Large Customer Bases
Africa is very rarely the pioneer of new technology, but in the case of the hugely successful mobile payments service, Mpesa, Kenya has produced a world first – and continues to attract worldwide recognition for it. However, the glow of success is quickly fading for the provider of Mpesa, Safaricom, as all the major mobile operators in Africa are already offering, or are about to offer, matching services. But what is perhaps most disappointing for Safaricom, and indeed for Kenya, is that Mpesa is not making much money.
Does Mobile Banking Require a Card?
This may seem a strange question. Mobile banking was always going to be the alternative to cards, a cheaper easier to manage product/channel combination that would sweep away the straight jacket of pricing and rules associated with the card industry. This would allow microfinance institutions to avoid the costs associated with issuing and managing cards and the costly infrastructure on which they can be used. An increasing number of practitioners and providers believe that this is a simplistic view. However it now seems likely that realising the full potential of mobile banking is most likely to come from the integration of mobile and card solutions, products and channels.
Mobile Banking – The Future of Banking is Here
The advent of the Internet revolutionized the way the financial service industry conducted their businesses. They empowered organizations with new business models and new ways to offer non-stop accessibility to their customers. The ability to offer financial transactions online has also created new players in the financial services industry, such as online banks, online brokers and wealth managers who offer personalized services, although such players still account for a tiny percentage of the industry. Mobile devices, especially smart phones, are the most promising way to reach the masses and to create “stickiness” among current customers, due to their ability to provide services anytime, anywhere, their high rate of penetration and potential to grow has made them a dominating force in the world of e-banking. The mobile banking business model depends on banking agents, i.e, the retail or postal outlets that process financial transactions on behalf of telcos or banks. The banking agent is an important part of the mobile banking business model since customer care, service quality, and cash management will depend on them.
Mobile Banking on Your Fingertips
Mobile banking basically refers to the availability of banking services on one’s mobile phones. This service may be broadly classified into two broad categories: Mobile payments and mobile information services. Mobile payments include utility bill payments, cash transfers, payments to vendors, etc. Mobile information services include balance updates, transaction updates, etc. These are also at times offered to top customers as separate services, exclusive of mobile banking.