Ten years. A long time in tech. If only you could see what I’ve seen. Apologies for that quote from Blade Runner.

I have seen – and been part of some amazing things. Long before 2000. Like at NCR, sticking my head through a bank wall as an ATM went in. Looking back, that was pretty symbolic.

I remember putting the first PCs in banks, designing the first PC-banking support systems, watching Internet banking go live. Building new service centres. Yes, I was there, learning. But it wasn’t until LANZen I began to understand what I was part of. (more…)

I guess I would be on pretty safe ground if I was to say that the Internet has brought a sudden and dramatic change in the systems around us. We’re now empowered.

But think about it. This isn’t just evolutionary change. This is a revolution. We’re witnessing a shift – a paradigm shift in our sphere of influence.

I’m not talking about system usability or about the features we’re offered. This is radical. The driver of all these systems is being swept away by the tide. There are new owners. These will be social systems, driven by the system users themselves. (more…)

Now here’s one buzzword you’d be forgiven for not having heard before. But you will soon. It called Augmented Reality.

As the big-name digital agency Internet strategists try to kickstart their depleted client account coffers, this is what they’ll be trying to sell them. But the idea is bad, very bad.

It sounds OK, its about trying to create an on-line experience to emulate shopping for real. Sort of being there, but not being there, but really more a case of enjoying it, but not really.

These guys are smart, but I sometimes wonder what virtual planet they’re on. (more…)

12 years isn’t long in banking. Maybe too soon to build a corporate box to constrain it is why Bendigo and Adelaide Bank can do amazing things. Like PlanBig.

Maybe they remember they started as a community bank. Maybe they still believe in people, not just balance sheets. Yep, maybe that’s why. So what is PlanBig?

PlanBig is an on-line meeting place to launch discuss and get help to make ideas happen. A social network where want-to-doers can meet I-can-helpers. A place to float an idea or learn from others how they did things. A working social network community.

The surprising thing is that PlanBig’s not some grand plan pushed out of Wall Street or the City to kick-start a failed and untrusted banking community. Nothing could be further from the truth, or further away geographically. This is a small South Australian bank.

And they’re showing everyone the way. (more…)

Here’s part 2 of our look at payments that I began in my previous post. Let’s look at specific situations…

Imagine that moment we all dread. That tap of the pocket, or reach into the handbag and you realise that something’s missing. Your heart sinks. Which is worse, losing your cards or your phone?

I’m guessing that most people would say their cards. A phone can be bought anywhere. You may have a spare at home. But credit cards. Lose them, its a nightmare. Phone your bank or provider. Stop the cards. Order new ones. Change all your web retailer details. The list is endless. Ugh!

But a phone. Well, you just order a new SIM. That comes next day usually. So I guess the phone is less hastle, down the line. Pardon the pun… OK. That’s it for this episode!

Sorry, this is going to sound very cryptic. A kind of on-line gap analysis. But please, bear with me.

OK, put your phone and your credit/debit card in the palm of each hand and compare them. And when you’ve done that, look at your card alone. Tell me why you need it.

That’s all I’m saying at this point. I’ll be back to you later with that gap analysis I mentioned.

If I asked you to you consider “The wisdom of crowds” would you think about a knowledgeable assembly of minds or just see a rioting mob?

That’s my worry about internal crowdsourcing. I have friends who support football. Individually, each is reasonable and nice to know. Come Saturday they assume a group personality abandoning their own.

And its not pretty. Its about group psychology. Placed in a group, people seek acceptance. They want to fit in, comply, be part of the pack. Watch a US chat show. Why’s everyone cheering, is it really great or is it just the crowd around them seems to think so?

And are you really going to stand up and say, you know what – that’s a really bad idea. Maybe we should try doing this, get rid of that, whatever. Thoughts come from individuals. So why place them in environments likely to suppress expression of thought? (more…)

From guest writer, Mark Brown

It seems that each year we find companies vying for our attention with new technologies created to make it easier to spend our hard-earned money.

Masked in the guise of making our lives simpler and our finances easier to handle, incredibly, their efforts typically seem to result in healthy profits for themselves and larger debts for us.

Nevertheless, here are some advanced payment methods, some of which have already taken root in certain markets, while others are being still in the process of being developed, and still others are based only upon theory and future possibilities. (more…)

Enjoy those bonuses, City boys. The high street will be so very different next year – and your investors will have a better place for their money!

Walton and Co is seeking investors to start up as a bank. And like Metro Bank, its drawing its expertise from the City, in the form this time of gamekeeper-turned-poacher Paul Walton, an ex-FSA risk consultant.

Boutique banks promise change and Walton & Co’s differentiator is the quality of its advisor. Because its none other than Sir Peter Middleton, ex-chairman of Barclays.

I had the privilege of working for Sir Peter and found him both professional and honourable. I regard him as a true gentleman and unusually for such a position, to be very gracious. He’s bringing qualities that money alone can’t buy and will be their greatest asset. (more…)

Less than only a month after Metro Bank was granted a license by the FSA to bank in the UK, along comes Richard Branson.

The UK entrepreneur has paid £12.3 Million for Church House Trust, a small regional private bank based in Yoevil, Somerset. The bank will be re-branded Virgin Money as a first step into retail banking for the group.

Virgin Money joins US provider Metro and Tesco as the UK’s pioneer boutique bankers. Conventional banks, paralysed from the credit crash left the door open for new arrivals. Could this be the end of the high street bank as we know it? (more…)