Christophe Langlois to live blog at FinovateStartup

Last October, I traveled to New York to cover the excellent first Finovate event organized by Jim Bruene from NetBanker and the Online Banking Report.
 
Jim and his team did an excellent job: twenty of the most innovative startups in the online finance space were presenting. I had a great day. I was extremely busy networking with the presenters and the attendees  as well as shooting 10 interviews with Mint, Prosper, LendingClub, Vancity, Yodlee, CheckFree, Huntington, Billeo, Jwaala and Geezeo.

In 2008, Jim and his team will organize 2 events: FinovateStartup on April 29th in San Francisco, and Finovate 2008 on October 9th in New York.

Live blogging from San Francisco
Jim and I kept in touch, and I am proud to announce that he invited me to be the guest blogger at FinovateStartup!
I will travel to San Francisco from the uk to blog live on NetBanker.

It is a unique opportunity to take part of one of the most exciting online finance conferences of the year. 

Special discount for the Visible Banking readers
I am glad to be able to offer you a special discount worth $100. Please note that this special offer is reserved to the first 5 readers to use the discount code "visiblebanking" during the registration process.

Come and meet with 40 of the most promising startups in online finance
Jim announced the final demo line up last week. The format of Jim's event is sharp and works very well: each company has only 5mn to demo its flagship product. Usually, the Founders of the companies themselves are on stage. They are passionate people, and I strongly recommend to attend the event if you have the chance.

 
Here’s the complete lineup by company type: 

• Checking/savings: Andera, First ROI, SmartyPig, 
• Financial shopping/comparison: Credit Karma, FindABetterBank, SmartHippo 
• Investing/asset management: Boulevard R., Cake Financial,
  CAPS (Motley Fool), SocialPicks, TradeKing, VaultStreet, Vestopia, Zecco 
• Lending/credit: Lending Club, Loanio, Prosper, SimpleTuition, Wonga 
• Mobile banking/payments: Aradiom, ClairMail, Diversinet, Tyfone 
• Personal financial management: Buxfer, Expensr, Jwaala, Mint, Wesabe 
• Security: Authentium, Guard ID, Guardian Analytics, TrustedID, Vidoop 
• Other: IP Commerce, Unified Money, WorkLight and four stealth startups 

It will give me the opportunity to catch up with the Founders I have interviewed last time, as well as a few companies I met in London: Authentium, Wonga and WorkLight.
 
I will stay in San Francisco from Saturday 26th April to Friday 2nd May. My goal is to meet as many innovative companies as possible and shoot short and insightful video interviews.

If you are a startup, a bank, or a major vendor in the online finance space, please do not hesitate to send me an email (cm_langlois[AT]yahoo[DOT]co[DOT]uk) to organize a meeting!
 
Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Coverage of Finovate 2007
* Interview John Sharp, CEO of Authentium

Westpac Enterprise 2.0: unleash the potential of web 2.0 "behind the firewall"

Westpac, Australia's oldest bank, is acknowledged as the web 2.0 leader among the big four banks in Australia. Please find below the presentation David Backley, CTO of Westpac, gave at the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum in February 2008.

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Westpac fully embraces social media
I invite you to check an extremely interesting article on web 2.0: Westpac turns to Web 2.0 free for all.

It is always a pleasure to find out about a major bank implementing web 2.0 technologies "behind the firewall" (btf). Especially when it is a leading, old and traditional, bank. Usually, those initiatives are driven by the top of the IT Organization: it always helps if the CTO of the bank believes in blogs, wikis and social networking.

Please find below a few key extracts from the article. I wish more CTOs shared David's vision on social media. Banks should embrace web 2.0 technologies. I believe David, and as a consequence Westpac, have the right approach.

"The rationale is that people will waste time if they want to waste time," Backley says. "Most people who work for us will do the right thing, and see that others are doing the right thing. Many of these things can be self-managed."

A liberal policy toward access to Web 2.0 sites might become necessary, he suggests, to attract skilled workers in the future.

"There is a war for talent out there," he said. "The next wave of people we hire are going to be used to this kind of technology. In two or three years time, if [these potential employees] aren't provided this technology inside the organisation, or at least a link to it from your network, that may affect their choices about who they work for."

Banking 2.0: cut your teeth on "behind the firewall" projects first
I invite you to check my post/videocast on the four kinds of social media projects at a bank. "BTF projects" are easier to implement. The bank has "more control", the content is only accessible internally, and there are ways to measure the impact on productivity or on the number of cross sell opportunities. Those projects are easier to sell to your Senior Executives.

The benefits of using social media and user generated content internally are tremendous. Providing wikis and blogs is an efficient, and cost effective, way to urge people to collaborate and increase their visibility in the bank. It helps them identify the relevant skills within the organization and work more efficiently. It could also help them to shine and create opportunities.
 
Imagine if internally you had access to a social network matching Linkedin's quality of profiles and intuitive interface... Wouldn't it be great? You are looking for some competitive intelligence info or insights on a specific industry: what if you just had to type in a few key words to find your colleagues with the relevant background and contacts in the industry? How much time would you save?

The challenge does not lie in the technology or the platform (you can use MS sharepoint, Lotus Software, Facebook, or any kind of homegrown platforms) as long as the tools are secure and intuitive. The challenge lies in educating people, convicing them is is worth using those tools, filling up their profile, sharing their expertise on their blog, or contributing to the wikis.

It is critical to reward your members for their contribution and their time spent online.
 
A social network is only as good as the quality of its member profiles and its search feature.

Banking 2.0 V-News: the 4 kinds of social media projects

According to me there are 4 kinds of social media projects at a bank. Please find them, sorted from the lowest to the highest risk level:

1. Behind The Firewall (BTF)
Intranet 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 projects: internal wikis, blogs, social network and search.
2. Internet Banking
Accessible from your clients only, in the secure internet banking or via a platform provided by a third party (best time-to-market).
3. B-to-B
Your target: any SME or Entrepreneur. Time is money, those members need to be convinced. It is not in their interest to trash your brand. And they also want to be visible.
4. B-to-C
Your target: anybody / mass market. This is the most challenging kind of projects of all. It is more tricky to reward your members. You may have to deal with malicious activities. But you can always address those challenges with the right moderation process.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
Please note that the list is not exhaustive.

1. BTF
* Interview Allon Mason, co-Founder of YouFig
3. B-to-B
* Join2Grow.biz (Fortis)
* small business online community (Bank Of America)
* Interview Catherine Ossemerct, Head of Media-Channels at Fortis
4. B-to-C
* Wells Fargo 2.0
* PickURAdvisor.com (ING)
* YourPointOfView.com (HSBC)
* Interview William Azaroff, Interactive Marketing and Channel Manager at Vancity
* Interview Craig Hepburn, Global Webmaster at STA Travel
* Interview Fergus Hampton, CEO of Millward Brown Precis

Podcast with IBM on Innovation in Banking

Please find below an interview with IBM on Innovation in Banking.
The video is available on TechWeb TV.