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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Sybase Makes Mark with mBanking Solutions

By Michael Scheibach, Executive Editor, BankNews magazine

The rapidly increasing number of companies with mobile banking solutions has had a twofold effect: first, more companies in the mobile arena have resulted in improved technology and more affordable options; and, second, more companies in the mobile arena have made the selection process for a mobile banking partner more arduous.

A question being asked by many financial decision-makers: If I choose this vendor today, will another one have a better solution in a year, or even six months?

One company now in the mix comes with strong credentials:
Sybase, a globel leader in delivering enterprise and mobile software to manage, analyze and mobilize information. Its Sybase mbanking 365 solution allows banks to roll out mobile services incrementally. According to Diarmuid Mallon (right), senior product marketing manager for Sybase 365, banks can launch the product by providing mobile alerts and self-service features such as account balance(s), money transfer, bill payment and location-based services (e.g., branch finder). For business users, services can include current/previous day balance and transaction detail, current-day snapshots, pending transaction approvals, wire release and intra-company funds transfers.

The company's Sybase mPayments 365 allows new service offerings, such as micropayments, bilhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifl pay and top-ups. "You can purchase goods from merchants, top-off credit balances for airtime, or make person-to-person payments, loan payments, bill payments and more," says Mallon.

Andrew Mikesell (left), mcommerce product director for Sybase, sees an evolutionary path from mbanking to mpayments, with exciting results.

"In terms of ROI," he says, "initial mbanking services are generally focused on cost savings from moving existing transactions into the lower cost channels. It is only as the services move from non-transactional to transactional services that new services can be created, and hence new revenue. We don't see mobile banking as an end-point, but rather the start of the path to a complete range of mcommerce services. We strongly believe a complete mcommerce solution is comprised of mbanking, mpayments, mremittance and mCRM services (vouchers, loyalty, customer engagement and marketing)."

To learn more about Sybase 365, check out the company's website: www.Sybase.com.

And be sure to read my Technology Focus column in the October issue of BankNews for more about Sybase mbanking and mcommerce solutions.