Operational Agility

I don’t know why I have such an interest in this topic but having just read this Finextra report I am still pining for a leap forward in contactless payment technology.  Or not so much a leap forward in technology, as a bit of joined up thinking and collaboration.

I don’t want a VISA key fob, a payment card or a calculator with proximity technology.  I don’t want anything new to carry round.  Quite the reverse, I would like to greatly reduce all the crap in my pockets, so please my I have my contactless payment technology installed in my mobile phone?

If we are really in a so-called technological revolution, why do I still need a wallet, or a key ring for that matter?

My dream of using my mobile phone to replace all the useless tangible items in my wallet (like cash, credit cards, debit cards, memberships cards, receipts, loyalty cards etc) is clearly some way off, in the UK at least.

Royal Bank of Scotland is the latest UK bank to offer a contactless payment card.  But targeting 12 McDonald restaurants in London by October as being capable of taking the payment?  Exactly what use is that?

Come on UK banks – we need more ambition here.  The technology is surely available to jump the next 14 tiny steps and take one giant leap into the 21st century by enabling us to use our mobile phones as wallets?

Maybe APACS needs to get together with the mobile phone manufacturers and create some standards?  Or maybe we need to think more widely.  Is this a job for Monitise?  I suppose Monitise are too payments focussed, so to get loyalty/membership cards in the mix perhaps Nectar need to get involved too?

Or maybe there is a new business venture here – perhaps a spin-off from a major tech company, a mobile phone manufacture or even a forward thinking bank?

Surely the rest of the world is miles ahead of the UK here – can anyone enlighten me?

When you work in an industry as highly regulated as financial services (and I have worked there both directly, and indirectly) you come to expect the odd scandal.  Pensions mis-selling, current account charges, ATM usage fees are just a handful of the recent uproars from financial services customers in the UK.

The latest decent sized revolt has been over “unfair” bank charges imposed on customers whose accounts have gone beyond their borrowing limits.

There is a danger of victimless crime syndrome here.  People who say “the Government should pay for our rubbish to be recycled” conveniently ignoring the fact that the Government is funded by us, the taxpayers.  People who make bogus insurance claims believing that “the insurance company has loads of cash and can afford it”, conveniently ignoring the fact that if everyone took that view, then the insurance industry would implode, meanwhile the do-gooders suffer ever increasing premiums.

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Roo Reynold’s post IBM virtual world guidelines outlines the recently launched “code of conduct for IBMers in virtual worlds”.  This adds to previously published guidelines for blogging and general business conduct.

Obviously, as an employee, Roo is bound by these new rules to take a positive stance on them isn’t he?  Maybe?  Maybe not.

It’s easy to knock the gorillas and I often do, but on this occasion I think IBM has got it about right.  The very fact that a code of conduct exists acknowledges that IBM:

a) is encouraging its employees to participate online for the corporate good; and

b) acknowledges that in such a large organisation there has to be some control (but not too much restraint).

In our small company, anyone who wants to participate in online worlds, blog, or commentate, and purport to represent Blue Prism can do so, because they can speak directly to a director if in any doubt.  But there needs to be some guidelines surely?

Do you remember when the inimitable Dale Carnegie said “dress for the job you want tomorrow, not the one you had yesterday”?  Of course “dress” was a proxy for the way you think, and the way you act in all respects.  One of our consultants once asked me what our dress code was.  I told him that, when on customer site, he should dress as well as the best dressed customer rep (but not better).  This is also a proxy for fitting in with our customers and business partners in all regards and as a simple principle is easily understood, if a tad primitive.  I think this extrapolates well into a “code of conduct” for online behaviour too.

IBM’s rules do cover well this principle of being respectful and protective of the brand but also appropriate to the environment of the virtual world.

The gorillas don’t have the luxury of our much looser “common sense” interpretation, and I think IBM is more empowering its employees than restricting them with this code of conduct.

It’s interesting to note how different enterprises treat their staff in respect of the office space they provide.

I was at a large UK retailer for a meeting, yesterday.  Retailers are not renowned for overpaying their staff or providing luxurious facilities.  However there has to be an understanding that, if you want your staff to be the smiling face of your company you better treat them with respect.

From the outside the building looked like a massive tin shed with porthole sized windows.  From the inside the floor plan was huge and lacked natural light.  However, there was smart furniture, well laid out with sound deadening screens where required.  There was air conditioning.  IT facilities looked excellent on the face of it.  An abundance of meeting rooms was supplemented by clever (and cheap) refreshment areas.  I thought they had made every effort to make the best of a difficult environment.  The staff seemed mostly upbeat and good humoured as far as I could tell.

On the walk back to the car park I passed the adjacent building which, although identical in architecture, contained a different company, a gambling operation that has been around for donkey’s years.  Without even going into the building I could see the difference.  Windows and doors were wide open as staff struggled in the heat.  The people I saw moping in and out of the building looked bored.  There were no external recreation areas.  The reception was small and uninviting.

I am not sure if this is about the (internet driven) resurgence in parts of the retailing sector and a decline in old gambling formats causing affordability issues, or whether it’s a reflection of two differing management styles.  Either way, I know which company I would rather work for – it’s not just about wages.

Had to laugh at this announcement from Barclaycard.

The three in one “OnePulse”card:

1.  Chip and PIN card – your regular debit card
2.  Contactless payment card (but only in participating retailers and only in London)
3.  Oyster card (contactless travelcard for the London Underground)

Barclaycard call this “the future of payments in London” which really falls short in ambition for me.

Why can’t I import all that functionality (and more) onto my mobile phone so I don’t need a card at all?  That sounds like the future of global payments.

However, despite this derisory post, I must admit that I will be applying for one, as it does look like the best we’ve got in the UK right now, and at least it means my Oyster Card can go in the bin.  That is, unless Barclaycard have read this and terminate me as a customer!

I was reading this finextra.com article about Barclaycard and Oyster preparing for the launch of the small payments card in the UK (in fact only in London).

Although, as a Barclays customer, and Oyster Card holder, this will mean one less card for my wallet, its only a tiny, rather limp step in the direction of the contactless payments of the future.

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Lest anyone had forgotten how centrally important IT systems are to an enterprise then this story from the BBC website should serve as a good reminder.

Implementing a new mission critical system is never easy, especially if it involves a significant data migration.

I just hope that British Gas went for a Big Bang changeover.  If they did, then probably the mess will get mopped up quite quickly.  In fact the level of damage could have been worse for such a major exercise.

However, if this is the start of phased migration then there are many months of misery to come for the call centre people.

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In an effort to reduce global warming, I often get on my carbon tippy toes and take the train across the Pennines to work.

On one such occasion last week, whilst waiting at my local station I heard a digitised voice from the tannoy “We…are…sorry…to…announce…that the………O…Seven………twenty…three is delayed by approximately…………six………minutes.”

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I was interested to read this article today http://www.finextra.com/fullstory.asp?id=16581 about Citi and Obopay.  I checked out https://www.obopay.com/ and I like what they are doing.

It’s an interesting step forward and has the advantage of using current technology.

However, it doesn’t meet my requirement of being able to throw my wallet in the bin as there is still reliance on a plastic card to bridge the gap between modern technology and last century’s.

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