As smartphones and tablets become the primary browsing devices for customers, there’s more and more talk about adopting a mobile-first strategy. The only problem is: mobile is channel, not a strategy.

If you want to win with your customers in the digital world, you’ve got to put them first, not the latest device. Mobile-first as a communication strategy just doesn’t cut it in the real world. It’s purely a design concept, it’s an important piece of the puzzle that has to be gotten right, but it’s still only one piece. Yes, you have to be on the mobile channel, in these days of 24hr connectivity and constant mobility that is a given, but you have to be there in the way that your customers want you to be. That means you have to know your customers first.

If the rapid rise of mobile has taught us anything, it’s that when you spend the day riding around in someone’s back pocket, you’d better know more about them than their screen size or whether they’re an iOS or Android fan. Succeeding digitally through the mobile channel isn’t only about the ability to provide portability and immediate access to information, it’s about personalization. Creating an app or mobile site purely with the device in mind is both costly and foolhardy. A recent study from The People’s Web showed, that in April of 2013, on average over 50% of digital traffic comes from a device NOT in the top-ten list of popular devices. That just goes to show how vast the proliferation of devices has become, how difficult it is to design for mobile, and how easy it is to get it wrong for more than half of your customers.

Similarly, a large-scale 2012 study conducted by Google showed that 90% of customers use multiple devices to complete a task. This shows that prioritizing the mobile channel over other digital channels isn’t a winning strategy.

Clearly what is needed is a customer-centric strategy that delivers a seamless experience across multiple devices.

By focusing on your customers and not a specific device, you will be able to create uniquely engaging experiences that win their hearts as well as their business. Don’t build expensive apps for countless devices; create differentiated apps for your customer segments and show them you can meet their needs on any device and across all channels. Identify your customer segments and target them with offerings that they can customize to their individual requirements. The ever widening use of HTML5 and other web-based technologies means that device and channel specific initiatives are not the only choice. Don’t be fooled into adopting a strategy that will put your brand out of reach of your customers. Put your customers firmly at the heart of everything you do and your brand will stay in theirs, and whatever device they’re using this moment or next week.

[Title image from: http://almaer.com/blog]

The Benefits of Adversity / BAI Strategy

Renowned author and social commentator Malcolm Gladwell on the risks of banks becoming too depersonalized, and what they can do to shrug off their bad boy image.

Inefficiencies and Inadequacies – the Tricky, Techy Truth / Finextra

Finextra blogger and Head of Innovation at ING Hans Tesselaar believes that a holistic approach and a shift towards empowered Enterprise Architecture is the answer to aging IT systems.

The IT Group is Not Your Business Partner / Gonzo Banker

The Gonzo Bankers at Cornerstone Advisers on why bank execs need to stop blaming IT teams  and start educating themselves about what consumers want and what technology can deliver.

How do you Build a Digital Bank? / Financial Services Club

In a meeting of financially minded minds, Jim Marous interviews Chris Skinner about his latest book How do you Build a Digital Bank?

Would you like Fries with that? Activity-Based Marketing in Banking / Snarketing 2.0

Senior Aite analyst Ron Shevlin identifies a new trend in marketing that banks can capitalize on to boost cross- and up-sell campaigns.

Serendipitous Innovation / BAI Strategy

BAI interviews Frans Johansson, CEO of the Medici Group, to find out how banks and other financials can inspire innovation in the work place by breaking down communication silos.

5 Areas of Innovation all Credit Unions Need to Monitor / CreditUnions.com

An indepth look at the latest fintech advancments from last month’s Finovate and how they can be applied to credit unions.

How to get the Most out of Mobile Banking Apps / BankTech

Mobile first customers expect more from banks than a one-size-fits-all approach. In order to start differentiating their offerings they are going to have to break down internal silos and let marketing into IT.

Wells Fargo Rebuilds Website, Mobile Apps for Corporate Clients / American Banker

One of the world’s biggest recognizes the value of differentiating digital and mobile offerings and upgrades digital with HTML5 based tech for for better experiences and flexibity.

8 Tips to Maximize the Marketing Value of Facebook Cover Photos / The Financial Brand

Who doesn’t love a list now and then? Here’s a nice round up of how you can turn your Facebook profile into an award-winning piece of real estate. Enjoy.

Last week’s webinar featured Backbase CEO and Co-Founder, Jouk Pleiter, and Jelmer de Jong, Global Head of Marketing, on the latest trend that is impacting every enterprise with a digital presence.

The shift towards a more customer-centric business model through digital innovation is nothing new, but, according to leading industry analysts, it’s definitely picked up steam in the last year. Jouk and Jelmer took a look at some of the innovations and changes in customer behavior that are behind the increased pace in customer experience innovation, and also discussed what business value a true customer experience platform should be capable of delivering.

Jouk began by discussing the current state of play in technological innovation. He noted that it must be expensive and time consuming for vendors to attempt to offer all the services today’s customers expect as the landscape of features and services is divided and scattered.

The two then spoke about Forrerster’s findings that almost all companies now recognize that they have to meet their customers on the digital channels and deliver a SUPER (simple, ubiquitous, personal, empowering, reassuring) digital customer experience. They debated what a superior customer experience would be from the point of view of the customer and how that can be translated into actual features and services, deciding that cross-channel experiences and device orchestrated sessions, as well as customization would be important.

Moving on they covered the need for a customer experience platform to have a customer-centric, ‘outside-in’ structure that empowered all stakeholders, including customers, IT, and business. Jouk presented a basic model that represented the core elements of the CXP. It showed a lean portal core, Web Content Management, Digital Marketing, Forms, and Mobile & Cross-Channel Delivery. Together they discussed how each of these four elements supported the essential tools needed to create a true Customer Experience Platform. They wrapped up with a lively Q&A session.
You can see all the slides from the webinar here, or watch the YouTube video to get the audio commentary.

mBank’s Jacek Ilijn on what He’s Looking Forward to at the Upcoming NetFinance Europe / BANKNXT

It’s only a month until this year’s NetFinance event in London. BANKNXT spoke with mBank’s Head of Product Management, Jacek Ilijn, to find out what he’ll be talking about and what he’s looking forward to. Plus, BANKNXT members get a £500 discount off the full ticket price.

Worldwide Devices to Reach 2.35 Billion this Year / Finextra

2.35 billion devices will be active on the planet by the end of this year. What does that mean for banks generally, and for their Heads’ of Mobile Solutions in particular?

Six Financial Services Firms Win Prestigious Awards in Digital Marketing and Media / Broadway World

Find out which banks have craced the code of digital marketing for the financial services according to research from Brand New Media and Northwestern University.

Personalized Service in the Digital World / Affluent Strategies

JP Nichols on how technology is affecting financial advisors and what the future may hold.

Bank’s Facial Recognition Software Reveals How People Really Feel About Money / The Financial Brand

New Zealand bank BNZ uses innovative software to create an engaging campaign guaranteed to get people thinking about their finances by asking them how they really feel

[Image from:BNZ Bank]

How to Adapt to the Always-On Generation / Finextra

As Millennials come of age, banks are going to need to invest in flexible technologies that allow them adapt to the increased digital demand of young consumers.

Getting Big Data Right for Smaller Banks / BAI Strategies

A look at how smaller banks can use technology to leverage big data for cross- and up-sell campaigns to compete with the big boys data – without breaking the bank.

Unified Platform Key to Changing Wealth Management Tech / ABA BAnking Journal

Banks should adopt a unified platform approach for wealth management to break down silos and improve efficiency.

How the Decomposed Bank will Compete / Financial Services Club

Chris Skinner ponders how banks can strategize to continue to compete as new entrants to the financial industry continue to take bites out of their services.

Top Challenges Facing Bank CIOs over the Next Year / BankTech

BankTech asks industry leaders what Bank CIOs can be expected to tackle in 2014, answers include big data, innovation, and customer service.

It’s impossible to ignore the impact mobile has has had to enterprises online. The question is no longer whether or not to join the digitally mobile pack but how to do it in a way that meets both the needs of the customer and the business.

In 2008, when the first of the smartphones splashed down into the web, the adoption rate of Mobile (with a capital ‘M’) blew even the most optimistic estimates out of the water. Many were taken by surprise but retail and technological innovators like Amazon, Google, and Apple quickly adapted and blazed a trail that many have failed to follow. Customers behaviors and expectations changed just as quickly and those who were unable to deliver hemorrhaged market share. It’s been five years since the mobile revolution put customers firmly in the driving seat and, if anything, there’s the potential for there to be even more blood in the water, as one leading financial technologist, Bradley Leimer claims, saying “as we move further into digital experience, the next decade will be even more incredibly disruptive”. Although Leimer’s comments are directed at the financial services industry, the case he makes can be applied to any consumer-driven industry struggling for mindshare in a competitive, digitally driven market.

Knowing where to start, especially if you don’t have the digital marketing budget of say, Pepsi, can be hard. There are two commonly adopted approaches for those looking to start engaging effectively with their customers online but there’s also a third, which we think combines the best of both worlds and delivers more for less. First, let’s take a look at the first and most basic option: Responsive Design.

Responsive design is a software design practice that ensures your website will scale to fit the screen of whatever device it is being viewed on. The reason why responsive design has become popular is because it’s a great way to ensure your customers get to experience a version of your site optimized to their phone, and with so many different phones, tablets, and screen sizes out there it’s impossible to create a separate mobile site for each one.

The Boston Globe was one of the first, and largest successful examples of responsive design in 2011. They capitalized on their innovation with a comprehensive campaign that showed customers they were ready to deliver the news on the device of their readers’ choice.

This approach is clearly a step in the right direction. It solves many of the issues of maintaining superior usability across multiple devices but it doesn’t allow you to differentiate your brand further or deepen engagement with your customers. The only way for enterprises and brands that want to build on brand loyalty and establish real relationships in the mobile world is to create an app. It sounds so easy ‘just build an app’. But therein lies the rub; you won’t be building just one app. It’s almost exactly the same issue as with trying to build one mobile website without responsive design; just as mobile screens aren’t the same size, neither do their operating systems run on the same technologies. This means that for every app you want to build you have to multiply production costs by the number of devices you want it to run on. Each device comes with its own Software Developer Kit (SDK) and it must be built according to those specifications, which usually require costly specialist engineer skills. The production cycle is often lengthy, as is the delivery and deployment cycle for any updates or changes. All of which rely heavily on IT teams to actualize and make it difficult for marketing and business teams to react quickly to market fluctuations or actual events that can directly affect operations. However, with 85% of consumers now preferring apps over mobile optimized sites, you can’t afford not to one… even if you can’t afford to have one.

Happily, there’s a third solution that combines the best of both worlds; the beauty and simplicity of responsive design, plus what are known as ‘hybrid’ apps that don’t require huge amounts of IT resource and outspend. It’s possible to create a website, and a secure portal that is populated by widgets, which can be combined to create hybrid apps. The beauty of widgets is that they are like lego blocks; they seem insignificant on their own but together they can become a force to reckon with. Widgets are small, autonomous apps that are created with web-based technologies like HTML and Javascript, which every developer is familiar with. The developer just has to ‘nest’ widgets with the relevant functionality together to create a hybrid app that to the end-customer looks and feels exactly like a native app. This means there’s no need for costly engineers and no lengthy production cycles. Even better, web languages are agnostic, they can run on OS, so once your widget-app is built, all you need to do is wrap it in a delivery container (readily available pieces of code) specific to each app store and distribute them, ready to be downloaded.

Your site and ‘home-made’ hybrid apps can be easily managed from a single point; your customer experience platform. In this way you can manage all digital points of contact, deepen your relationship with your customers through the personalizable apps you have created, and ensure a smooth customer journey across any device, any place, any time.

[Title image from: http://www.escapepod.ca/2012/08/02/living-responsively/]

Hot on the heels of their latest customer win in the UK with leading insurance provider Hiscox, Backbase has announced their plans to further expand their operations in the United Kingdom.

Backbase, the Customer Experience Platform specialist, has revealed that they will begin an aggressive hiring campaign fo find the right candidates for their growing operations in the UK. The innovative software provider, which was recently placed in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the 3rd year running, currently employs 150 senior technology and usability experts in their Amsterdam, New York, and Singapore offices. Backbase’s London office is located in the heart of the city’s historical financial district and their UK expansion will create at least a dozen new positions for the vendor to fill.

“We’re very pleased to be able to focus on this exciting market. London, and the UK, present a vast amount of potential for growth,” said Jouk Pleiter, Backbase’s CEO. “We have seen a dramatic upswing in the need for financial institutions and enterprises to meet the needs of their customers’ online and provide outstanding digital and mobile experiences. There is a definite sense of urgency for organizations to deliver, and this is reflected by a significant increase in demand since we rolled out our first successful projects in the region, which is an opportunity we are more than prepared to explore to the fullest.”

For full details on Backbase’s plans for growth, read the press release. To find out more about their Bank 2.0 portal solution, download the white paper.

Mobile is Already Mainstream – Including at Starbucks / Finextra

Founder of Moven and renowned financial technologist, Brett King, says mobile he doesn’t know what the mobile debate is all about – it’s clear that mobile is already everywhere and he’s got the numbers to prove it.

Facebook Advertising and the Future of Financial Marketing / The Financial Brand

Neil Hiltz, Global Head of Marketing for Financial Services at Facebook, revealed a few secrets about Facebook’s advertising platform and they’re good…scary good.

Pulling the Levers of Change / BAI Strategies

Managing Editor of BAI Strategies, Kenneth Cline, sits down with business consultant and CEO of ChangeLabs, Peter Sheahan to find out how banks must change their attitude if they’re going to exploit new opportunities.

To Wait or not to Wait Before you Create the Mobile Social Bank / Financial Services Club

Financial consultant and commentator Chris Skinner ponders whether now is really the time to go all out on social media.

Business Banking Leaders: It’s Time to Start Boosting Client Engagement / Gallup

In this part of Gallup’s series on the shifting landscape for FIs, Gallup offers insight on how to focus on the customer and break down silos that are roadblocks to engagement.

Banks with Dedicated Innovation Teams on the Rise, Bank Innovation Survey Reveals / Bank Innovation

The results from the State of Banking Survey are in and the biggest finding is that 64% of banks now have dedicated innovation teams focusing on online and mobile, which is considerably higher than last quarter.

Networking & Social Media: Foundations of Customer-Centric Banking / BankTech

Banks can leverage social networks to manage relationships, improve branding, map customer behavior, and more in order to create a more customer-centric model.

How Banks Can Win Customers with Savvier Marketing and Smarter Tools – with Equity Bank’s John Hanley / BANKNXT

The latest interview in BANKNXT’s ‘Stories from the Vault’ series come from seasoned finacial marketer John Hanley. Read the piece to find out how he’s made content work for Equity Bank and why PFM tools are the one to watch.

Mobile Banking Puts Consumers in Control / BAI Banking Strategies

A great breakdown on the difference between multi-channel and omni-channel strategies, plus a look at how mobile is continuing to transform banking interactions from Fidelity Information Services’ Snr VP, Doug Brown.

What my 3-Year Old Can Teach Banks & Credit Unions About Online Marketing / The Financial Brand

A few lessons that come straight from the mouths of babes that banks can use to be a little more creative and a lot more straight forward when it comes to getting what they want.