Like-for-like

Regular readers of this blog (there are some of you out there, I'm sure of it!) will know that I used to be Editor of FStech's sister title, Retail Systems.

I recently had lunch with a contact from my retail days and somewhat inevitably conversation turned to retail technology vs FS technology. "I'd imagine there is a lot less innovation in the financial services sector than there is in retail," said the contact, his logic being that, with many of the big financial institutions, it's a case of throwing large amounts of cash at  legacy transformation projects. Retailers, on the other hand, have less money to play with and so sweat the small stuff, which is where true innovation lies.

Regular readers will also know that the 2012 FStech Awards took place last month. It was my first awards and it was interesting to compare the entries to those received during my time as head of the judging panel for the Retail Systems Awards. There were indeed a number of entries detailing projects which were immense in scale but not particularly innovative. But at the same time, there were lots of examples of how financial institutions are making innovative and effective use of technology in such areas as social media, mobile banking, payments, cloud computing and green IT.

To cut a long story short, the FS tech sector is just as innovative (arguably more so in several areas - e.g. social media and mobile) as retail.  By way of example, I offer up a U.S. Bank project which involves employees piloting an iPhone app that uses augmented reality technology. The Find US+ app enables users to locate the bank's branches and ATMs. When pointed in a specific direction, the phone displays a computer-generated graphic for each location, its address and distance based on the user's GPS location. Each graphic is colour-coded to reflect whether the location is open, closing in an hour or closed. The app recognises when the user arrives at the destination and asks if additional information is requested. It also provides the best route and hours of operation.

There's a video on the bank's YouTube channel demonstrating the technology. It can be found here.

How cool is that?

And the winners are...

Sore heads and tired eyes at FStech today, in the aftermath of our 2012 Awards.

The event, now into its twelfth year, was held last night at the Lancaster London Hotel. Lloyds Banking Group, RBS, Hastings Direct and Barclaycard/Orange were among the winners. You can find the complete list of winners here.

Congratulations to all those who picked up a gong. Thanks to our sponsors, judges and everyone who came along. It was a really enjoyable night. Now, must go home and sleep...

2012 FStech Awards draw near

It's almost that time again...The winners of this year's FStech Awards will be announced tomorrow night.

The event, now into its twelfth year, will be held at the Lancaster London Hotel. This is my first Awards, having joined FStech from sister title, Retail Systems, in June 2011. I feel confident in saying that the judging panel have come up with the strongest list of winners since the Awards were founded 12 years ago. There will be a full house (the events team have just told me that this year's table sales are the highest yet). And the rather spiffing Alun Cochrane will be hosting. So it's all set up to be a great night.

Look forward to seeing many of you there!

2012 FStech Awards: the shortlist arriveth

Phew! After much huffing and puffing, scratching of head and nashing of teeth (have I milked it enough?), I've finally completed the shortlist for the 2012 FStech Awards.

You can find it here.

Congratulations to all those who made the final cut. I've been really impressed by the standard of entries and now look forward to meeting with the judges to decide the winners. Also look forward to seeing many of you on the big night - Wednesday, 28 March at the London Lancaster Hotel.

2012 FStech Awards: the shortlist cometh

Well, the entry deadline has come and gone and now I'm busy putting together the shortlist for the 2012 FStech Awards.

It's proving to be something of an epic undertaking as we've had a record number of submissions. This is my first FStech Awards and I have to say that I've been really impressed by the standard of entries - some great examples of how financial institutions (such as Deutsche Bank, RBS, Lloyds Banking Group and BNP Paribas) are making innovative and effective use of technology in such areas as social media, mobile banking, payments, datacentres and customer service.

The shortlist will be available early next week. Judging will take place in mid-February and the big night will be on 28 March at the Lancaster London Hotel. Whilst this is my first awards proper, I have been to the last few events, to hand out an award on behalf of sister title, Retail Systems, so I can confidently say we're in for a great night. Look forward to seeing many of you there.

So here it is Merry Christmas

This will be my last blog post of 2011 (no cheering, please!) I took the November/December issue of FStech to press earlier this month and my last day in the office is this Friday. With the mag out of the way and Christmas fast approaching, this week is basically a stream of lunch meetings and Yuletide parties, including SourceWire's annual press do at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street. It’s a tough job but…

I’ll sign off by wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. It's been an eventful year for yours truly. I started 2011 as Editor of sister title Retail Systems and end it at the helm of FStech. I've thoroughly enjoyed the first six months in charge and am looking forward to kickstarting 2012 with the FStech Awards (shortlist to be sorted, followed by the judging day in early February...lots to get through). Thanks to all who have supported and worked with the title this year, including Paul Rodgers for doing a great job of chairing our Payments Technology Conference in November; and those who have agreed to be on the judging panel for the aforementioned awards: that man again, Paul Rodgers; Wil Cunningham, Disaster Recovery Extension Program - Delivery Lead, Lloyds Banking Group; Ramzi Musallam, Information Security Consultant, Greatpark Consulting; Neira Jones, Head of Payment Security, Barclaycard; Kevin Brown, Head of Global Product Management, RBS Global Transaction Services; Tim Holman, President, ISSA-UK and CEO 2-sec; and Glenn Murphy, Head of IT, London & Capital.

Right, I’m off to gorge myself on mince pies and mulled wine. Happy Christmas and here’s to a prosperous 2012!

Upwardly mobile

Just going through my notes from last night's FStech roundtable (sponsored by Elavon) which covered contactless and mobile payments.

Thanks to Wil Cunningham of Lloyds Banking Group for chairing and to the attendees who contributed to what was an interesting, lively debate. I'll run an indepth review of the roundtable in the next issue of FStech, but for now here are some of the stand out comments:

When it comes to contactless, it's like someone has built a Ferrari but the roads are full of potholes.

There are real positives. Look at McDonald's - they rolled out contactless in a matter of weeks. They have a compelling contactless proposition.

The industry needs to look at how it deals with messaging at different levels. The idea that cash is dead is utter nonsense. The cards and payments industry does itself no favours by claiming otherwise. Cash will be with us for many years to come.

With the rise of Facebook, Google and Apple and NFC-enabled phones, are we approaching the stage where we say, why do we even need a bank account? We can make the switch from bank to cell phone provider.

This discussion brings up an interesting scenario. With the exception of the two ladies at the end of the table (NB: Sonia and Emma, FStech sales ladies), we are a bunch of boring old farts. We're talking about email but it is so last century. Young people are not even having this debate, they are on Facebook and so on and they are communicating and looking out for one another on a whole different level to us.

2012 FStech Awards

The website for our 2012 awards is now live. You can find it here.

Three new categories this year: Best use of Technology in Customer Service;  Best use of Mobile; and Green IT Initiative of the Year.

This is my first FStech awards so really looking forward to receiving the entries, working with the judging panel to determine the winners and, of course, to the night itself.

Make a note in your diary: 28 March 2012 at the Lancaster London Hotel, Bayswater. Hope to see you there!