Blog Entries for John Ginovsky

CFOs starting to adopt technological approaches to corporate strategy

jginovsky — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0100

It's a good sign for the economy that chief financial officers in general are shifting gears from coping with new regulatory and risk pressures, to thinking about business expansion and overall strategic planning.

What also is clear that, in this new world, new technology plays a crucial role. CFOs readily recognize that they have to not only get on top of the new tools, but must exp [...]

Bank BYOD is here to stay: Deal with it

jginovsky — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The consumerization of gadgets in the workplace, commonly called "bring your own device," or BYOD, like it or not, is here to stay even in the banking industry.

Make no mistake: Lots of companies do like it.

"BYOD strategies are the most radical change to the economics and the culture of client co [...]

CRM: It�s a tool, not a magic lamp

jginovsky — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Customer relationship management, and its cousin customer experience management, are not new. Back when in-person transactions dominated the average customer experience, banks spent fortunes on ornate marble lobbies, columned fortresses of buildings, and mighty vaults of gleaming steel, in large part to convey to the customer the bank's integrity, solidity, and trustworthiness.

Now, [...]

What�s new? Really. What�s new in your bank?

jginovsky — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 +0100

For some reason, the topic of innovation as a business practice popped up several times this past week.

Take, for example, two stories included elsewhere in this issue of Tech Topics. First, there is Gartner talking about "decision support processes," in which it says CIOs must realize that innovation needs to go well beyond the technology used to manage big data. They also wil [...]

All things mobile

jginovsky — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Often when they are discussed, mobile banking and mobile payments exist independent of each other, as if they are developing in their own silos and are seemingly unrelated in all but the most indirect ways.

The glaring fact, however, is that mobile banking and mobile payments share the property of mobility, and mobility, as analysts have noted recently, is the future of everything.

[...]

It�s a war out there

jginovsky — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Shields are down! Hull breach imminent! Take evasive action!

Such Star Trekian references should be taken at least semiseriously, in light of a number of studies, analyses, and vendor offerings released recently regarding business, and banking, preparedness-or lack thereof-to fraud, intrusion, and disruption.

Ju [...]

Some things not only change, but go away

jginovsky — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0100

In the banking industry there's a distinct sense that nothing ever goes away.

• ATMs and online banking were supposed to replace brick-and-mortar branches. Uh uh.

• Debit cards were supposed to do away with checks. Please.

[...]

In-memory computing�the next step for analytics

jginovsky — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Slowly but surely the term "in-memory computing" is entering the consciousness of bank CIOs, CEOs, and boards.

In-memory computing-IMC-is the storage of information in the main random access memory of dedicated servers rather than in relational databases operating on disk drives. As explained by Techopedia, some of the advantages of IMC include the ability to cache countle [...]

Whither wallets?

jginovsky — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0100

For a while it seemed like all the hoopla over digital wallets had died down, and no wonder-most people scratched their heads over how to make money out of them. However, several analysts have taken another look and things may be on the brink of heating up again.

But first look at comScore's study earlier this year. It painted a pretty dismal portrait of the digital wallet future. Th [...]

Fair weather or not, the cloud is coming

jginovsky — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The use of cloud computing in banking rumbles ahead, albeit somewhat overshadowed by flashier news of other technologies, such as mobile payments, Big Data, customer relationship management, and others.

Doing business in the cloud increasingly makes sense to lots of banks and other businesses. For business in general, Gartner says more than 60% of the respondents in its recent survey wil [...]

The complicated road to getting back to simple

jginovsky — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Something that the Executive Board said recently-and mentioned here as well-resonated enough to take a second look. To recap, they put it in the context of: "With rising costs and still-sluggish lending growth, the consumer banking industry increasingly sees improving customer experience as critical to maintaining or growing revenue. But in the current economic environment, many banks cannot afford to make large, across-the-board investments in service."

[...]

Experience counts�for the customer, most of all

jginovsky — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Yet another acronym is making the rounds; this one, CEM, or customer experience management, roughly combines the adage "the customer is always right" with the latest techno-scheme of "predictive analytics."

It's legitimate, although sometimes it's called something else. Aite Group, for example, refers to it as "marketing analytics" and Attensity refe [...]

Make the unbanked bankable

jginovsky — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Who wins when a bank finds a way to safely extend financial services to individuals traditionally deemed out of the mainstream?

Everybody.

And not just in the feel-good, glow-in-the-moment way (although there's nothing wrong with that). But in the dollars-and-cents, meat-on-the-table, and upwardly mobile way [...]

Security could be the most important use for Big Data

jginovsky — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0100

The application of advanced analytics to detect and thwart sophisticated fraud increasingly is seen as the next, logical step in protecting customer data and identities.

Talk about this potential unity of factors has simmered below the surface for some years, but recently some major players have brought the subject to the surface.

[...]

Innovation depends on having innovators

jginovsky — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0100

If you haven't already, read Steve Cocheo's lead article "Innovation: Start reinventing, or start dying," in Editor's Report, the companion newsletter to this one produced by ABA Banking Journal. It's terrific.

Steve covers an address by Sir Ken Robinson, a recognized expert on creativity and innovation in the corporate world, at the recent ABA National Conference f [...]

MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL Cybersecurity: See something. Say something. Really.

jginovsky — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0100

All of a sudden, it seems, cybersecurity is all over the news.

President Obama mentioned it in his state of the union address. It bears repeating here:

"America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber attacks. Now, we know hackers steal people's identities and infiltrate private emails. We k [...]

Take the game out of gamification; insert customer engagement

jginovsky — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Gamification. Sounds like yet another trendy, buzzy, shot-in-the-dark term people make up to hype the latest hair-brained approach to financial services operations, a term like Big Data, BYOD, or social media.

Wait a minute. Those other words actually have had legs, and are taken seriously by the industry now. So what's this about gamification?

&nbs [...]

Shrinking the experience gap

jginovsky — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Make no mistake: Research-along with the gut feeling of bankers and business leaders of all stripes-confirms that the customer is the absolute king, queen, prince, and princess, particularly in how they rate the importance of their experiences while doing business.

The technology giant Oracle recently issued a couple of reports focusing on the importance of the customer experience. Mike [...]

Breaking the barriers to Big Data

jginovsky — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0100

In this era of hyper-regulation, economic ennui, and desperate revenue requirements, the potential of Big Data is something like the holy grail: extremely desirable yet tantalizingly out of reach.

It's not that bank and other business leaders doubt the advantages that advanced analysis of data derived from customer interactions and other sources could bring to the bottom line. It [...]

GoBank makes a case to be the go-to bank

jginovsky — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0100

Guess what industry was rated as one of the worst for innovation, topping only airlines and pet care? That's right. Banking.

So says a Harris Interactive poll released recently. Of more importance, however, is who commissioned the survey: Green Dot Corp. That's significant because Green Dot just unveiled GoBank, its exclusively mobile, FDIC-insured bank.