Virtual Banking: A Guide to Innovation and Partnering

Chapter 3 Connected Financial Commerce Location-Based Services, Mobile Commerce, and Digital Wallets

“The interesting products out on the Internet today are not building new technologies. They’re combining technologies. Instagram, for instance: photos plus geolocation plus filters. Foursquare: restaurant reviews plus check-ins plus geo.”

—Jack Dorsey, Cofounder of Square and Twitter

We’ve talked about the effects of “mobile” and “social” on consumer behavior and how it is influencing financial services. The effects of location-based technologies will have a dramatic impact on how financial services will be delivered and the level of service you might come to expect from your financial services provider. We’ve discussed the powerful influence of the mobile phone and the higher level of expectations consumers have when shopping or managing money. With location-based services now such a normal part of a smartphone, it becomes a given for banks, consumers, retailers, and technology companies to work together to create more compelling customer experiences. How do banks benefit? They can better target their customers’ specific preferences and maintain relevance with their customers by making it easy to use their services on other applications. Eventually, location-based services will be something that bank branches can leverage—knowing their customers’ interests and needs as they walk into a branch. Similarly, retailers will have an opportunity to connect more deeply with their ...