Innovation Roundup – June 28, 2012

Global financial services innovation & news

• Jack Dorsey,  the darling of all financial services press, talks about Square and how the company hopes to infuse financial transactions with a dose of human intimacy.  A great profile and insight from Wired.
• Citibank Singapore gives customers the ability to deactivate and reactivate a credit card on the spot, as well as the option to specify a time period to activate overseas transactions for ATM and debit cards.
• The reality is, consumers view most banking brands as undesirable and wholly undifferentiated. That’s why the battle cry ‘Differentiate or Die’ has never been more relevant in the financial sector.
• Digital wallets will start to transform not just the customer interaction but the entire payment ecosystem – for example, PayPal is now accepted at more than 2,000 Home Depot stores across the country. In the next month, the company, which once existed only in cyberspace, will invade Abercrombie and Fitch
• Expect big news about Google Wallet out of this week’s Google I/O, the company’s annual conference for developers. The word from several people familiar with the plan is that Google will announce changes to the product amounting to a “Google Wallet 2.0.”
• This Qatari bank branch looks more like the interior of a luxury yacht than a place you open a savings account
• Among the many victims of RBS’s systems meltdown over the last few days, the most unusual may be Natalie Westerman, a 22 year old woman who happens to go by the name @natwest on Twitter.
• Challenges such as financial illiteracy and enacting the right regulations to prevent consumers from being scammed are identified by one industry watcher as reasons for slower adoption of mobile payments technology in Asia.
• Asia’s affluent segment is one of the fastest growing and most exciting in banking today. Yet, their needs have been underserved, or served in a fragmented manner, by banks.
• Facebook phasing out credits, in with real payments and local currencies, could become the next Paypal!
• This Kickstarter project is funding a Facebook game, created in cooperation with top game developers, psychologists, debt-counselors, youth and behavioral economists, allows kids to experience the consequences of personal financial decisions and learn how to avoid debt traps in a safe environment.
• The Bull and Bear Steakhouse at the Waldorf-Astoria in New Yorkis cutting back the prices of its cocktails in line with stock market drops.
• Among the features of Kiwibank’s new iphone app (and there are many — a fast-access 4 digit PIN log-in, full account history, lists of future payments, funds transfer options, bill payments and much more), the most notable is a click-to-chat service. If a customer needs help, they can just push a button in the Kiwibank app to initiate a two-way chat with a service agent.
• This Siri based assistant in BBVA’s internet banking is interesting too – can a computer give you financial advice?? Probably.
• Chinese bank card provider China UnionPay, the only bank card available in China, is teaming with China Mobile Ltd, the state-owned telecommunications company, to create a mobile payment business using NFC technologies.
• If only we could write customer letters like this – one day! (Fake alert)
• Pesky startup Square, slowly taking over merchant transactions in the US, has design at its core. “Traditionally in a financial institution, you have massive barriers to working together, you have a risk-averse culture and you have a lot of fear,” Founder Jack Dorsey said. “It’s rare for a financial institution to focus on design first.”
• Speaking of Square, iZettle aims to be its competitive European rival, with $31m in funding this week.
• This video explains the 08 Financial Crisis in laymen’s terms – we should use the same format and tone for ANY complex product or service for our customers. Any of these epipheo videos could give you more of a clue too.
• DBS have launched a new Rewards iPhone app – not necessarily pretty but some simple gain and redeem functionality there
• A review of a handful of flagship bank branches from across the globe – does the flagship branch still have its weighty meaning?
• Digital wallets are fast becoming more sophisticated, and more importantly more comprehensive. Lemon.com is the latest app on the block that can handle all cards and receipts, although Apple’s new Passbook feature is the clear leadout towards the wallet when combined with iTunes.
• I challenge you to keep your conversations with customers as simple as these classic money related drawings from Carl Richards at Behavior Gap. Don’t get too distracted by these fun venn diagrams from This Is Indexed though.
• Dave Birch gives a great presentation proposing a safer approach to personal (banking) identification. Dan Gusev gives further commentary on it.
• Commonwealth Bank have run a huge campaign around the word CAN – see the ad and range of services to back it up – not sure the ad hits the mark! Aussies hate these motherhood statement bank ads
• A new partnership with PayPal will give TiVo users the ability to explore interactive ads and buy products directly through the interface using their PayPal account.
• The financial crimes that are destroying the economy of the developing world. For every dollar of aid that flows into developing economies, many more leave through complex networks of shell companies, false invoices, and tax havens. What would happen if all that money stayed in these struggling economies?
• Moneydesktop looks to be a comprehensive PFM tool for both customers and banks
• Facebook has begun rolling out a new mobile payments system  that reduces the number of steps users must take to complete a purchase from seven to two.
• This cute short film from Rikke Asbjoern (made for Cartoon Network) explores a common UI problem: tiny, densely-packed buttons = fat fingering.
• Looks like everyone is getting into the mobile to mobile payments – even big old Barclays
• Investors should buy assets in U.S. dollars and other currencies of strong developed nations because Japan may default within five years, said Takeshi Fujimaki, former adviser to billionaire investor George Soros.

 Other sources of customer experience & focus innovation

• The ‘First Person Pathfinder Experience’ delivers a virtual tour of the car’s interior that highlights key features of the vehicle while emulating the interaction between customer and car in a showroom environment.
• Microsoft has bought corporate network tool Yammer (think internal Facebook) for US$1.2bn … why?
• Speaking of Microsoft you probably saw they launched their Surface tablet, challenging the iPad and other similar devices. Biggest buzz? The keyboard built into the cover …
• We need to run our large, slow companies like small nimble startups otherwise startups will overrun us
• All the winners of the recent Cannes Lions Advertising Awards are here in this slideshow … only one bank there I can see
• Ever wonder where people check in on Facebook?.
• Work Backwards from the Customer. Stick to a vision and the company shall succeed, advises Amazon Senior VP Diego Piacentini in this interesting video.
• Gulf News, the UAE’s leading English daily newspaper, wanted to reach even more readers and convert them into subscribers. It turned to the ritual of the daily coffee as a way to get closer to customers, with Twitters help.
• Asus, the tablet and PC maker, do a nice show and tell on the power of tablets and how they designed and developed theirs
• Think Skype is big? Go see how many people are using Tencent’s QQ right now
• A lost wallet in a stadium box-office containing a ticket to the next important derby belonging to a fan of the opposite team. Would you give it back?
• Yes iTunes has landed in Singapore (and 11 other countries too).
• And the iPhone 5 will have NFC built in – prepare for everything to change!
• Who’s getting ahead, Singapore or Hong Kong?
• Ever wondered what the new Apple office might look like? Put on your sunglasses – here comes the glaring porcelain white interior you’d imagine Apple would have. Office Snapshots is a great site – all the startups office spaces are there!
• Obsessed by interesting facts and data? You must sign up for the BrainMail email newsletter today! So essential …
• Turn ANYTHING into a touch interface (Watch the video!). Banana Piano? Pencil Joystick? Water Dance Pads? Cat Photo Booth? All possible.
• It’s clear mobile advertising just hasn’t taken off like it was supposed to. Its still exploding but not all pervasive…
• 32 innovations that  will change your tomorrow – electric clothes anyone?
• Nokia to cut 10,000 jobs, which means some pain for Microsoft no doubt
• Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired magazine, went to China for a 2 month ‘holiday’ (sabbatical?) and took one second of footage per day, stringing it together into this terrific set of ‘moving’ postcards
• 2 things from Japan- This vending machine has a see through interactive screen for you to choose and fulfill your purchase; this scanner recognizes products by their shape and by how they look, making barcodes obsolete
• Microsoft intends to advertise to you based on your mood, not just your demographic. Instead of showing targeted ads by only tracking the user’s online activities, the patented technology can also recognize the user’s emotional state based on facial expressions, speech patterns, and body movement. Also rumors today that Microsoft is launching a challenger product to the iPad … (good luck with that!)
• The US Government has released its roadmap for digital government. Some techy content here about accessing and using data in meaningful ways. “At its core, the strategy takes a coordinated, information- and customer-centric approach to changing how the government works and delivers services to the American people”. Nice. Next challenge – execution.
• From Love to Bingo – one of the rules of advertising is to show the product – here’s how you do it when your product is millions of stock shots – great ad!!
• This project uses design to solve 50 problems in 50 days in a journey acrossEurope. Wonderful that he solves problems rather than dreams up new (unwanted) things using a pen and paper. Not too common these days (except here in CX!).
• Make room in your 2013 budgets for this made-from-scratch fresh pizza vending machine. Makes oven cooked pizza in less than 3 minutes and comes complete with takeaway box, cutter, oregano and napkin. (Yes I’ve mentioned pizza before – it’ll be a theme here!)