Singapore, February 12, 2014 – Mobile payments and mobile marketing remain top investment priorities for banks in Asia. While the gross of the initiatives are largely similar in nature, some players in Asia/ Pacific are taking mobile innovation to the next level.
A new IDC Financial Insights Asia/Pacific report has identified 50 mobility initiatives that add a new innovation angle to mobility and analyzed each initiative based on criteria such as technology, monetization potential, ecosystem requirements, and target audience.
More insights are revealed in the IDC Financial Insights report, “Mobilizing Financial Services in Asia/Pacific: 50 Pioneers Lead the Way”, February 2014.
Thomas Zink, research manager for IDC Financial Insights Asia/ Pacific believes that some of these initiatives have the potential to revolutionize the way payments, marketing and loyalty, investments, and the workforce are managed in the financial services space today.
” Mobile financial services are becoming a core component of any customer-centric big data strategy. Not only is it generating a wealth of actionable data for contextual marketing, but it is turning into the main marketing and communication channel given its immediate nature, share of mind and reach.”
Other key themes among these pioneering initiatives include:
- Customer experience, convenience and simplicity are the main success factors for any new mobile application and payment tool
- Mobile financial services have outperformed expectations in its ability to unlock new customer groups, who never had a banking relationship, particularly in emerging markets, but also among the youth segment.
- Large-scale infrastructure projects for proximity payments will continue to face slow adoption unless they offer a real value-add over existing technologies. A wide merchant acceptance and interoperability between different providers and across technologies will be crucial to move forward.
- Smarter devices and interoperable technologies may soon reduce the need for proximity payments as the virtualization of commerce proceeds. Smart selection of the most suitable payment method by the device, may mitigate many of the challenges with proximity payments today.
- Mobile security remains underestimated, particularly from the consumer’s end. New malware is bypassing two-factor authentication and banks and vendors need to up their capabilities and develop new and integrated mobile security concepts, such as mobile enterprise management.
About IDC’s Predictions
IDC’s annual Predictions in APEJ draws upon the latest IDC research and a worldwide brainstorming exercise among IDC’s 1000+ analysts. This was followed by an extensive regional review to weigh in on key industry events, user trends, vendor strategies and economic measures that promises to uniquely define the technology trends that would impact and drive the market in APEJ for 2014. Across the globe, following the release of IDC’s global top ten predictions, IDC’s geographic, technology and industry teams will be releasing their own specific predictions in the coming months.
About IDC Financial Insights
IDC Financial Insights assists financial service businesses and IT leaders, as well as the suppliers who serve them, in making more effective technology decisions by providing accurate, timely, and insightful fact-based research and consulting services. Staffed by senior analysts with decades of industry experience, our global research analyzes and advises on business and technology issues facing the banking, insurance, and securities and investments industries. International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology market. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology, media, research, and events company. For more information, please visit www.idc-fi.com, email info@idc-fi.com, or call 508-620-5533. Visit the IDC Financial Insights Community at http://idc-insights-community.com/financial.
About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. For more than 50 years, IDC has provided strategic insights to help our clients achieve their key business objectives. IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. You can learn more about IDC by visiting www.idc.com