Further Exploration about Innovation in Payments
This morning's panel titled 'Omelettes and Eggs: Innovation' at the Digital Money Forum explored the extremes of the issues of innovation in payments.
Perhaps the most basic question asked from the audience was 'why does innovation matter?' "Because it does" wasn't exactly the collective answer from the panel - but the question got to the point that it's not often that technology itself drives innovation. (Opening new markets is, to me, perhaps the best answer).
A venture investor asked the panel where theyd' put their own money to work. Among the answers from the panel: prepaid and mobile, opportunities that might emerge from new real-time 'instant' payments (e.g. FPS in the UK), innovations that truly address user (as opposed to merchant) needs and can demostrate user adoption, and a prepaid solution that truly addresses the needs of minors.
I didn't get my question out, but I believe, for Banks, innovation is a matter of survival. Listening to Alan from Google, was quite refreshing. He emphasised the need to ensure innovation addresses a customer need. Bank innovation is focussed on revenue first, hence innovation gets killed by internal naysayers, due to lack of business case, cannibalisation etc. Yet a customer view would drive usage, and surely that need would drive innovation in pricing, or elimination of costs to offer a business case.
More and more I believe Banks must carve off new businesses to be able to escape the old thinking, and develop innovative ideas, but that carving off has to be done with adequate capital, and safety from being pulled back into the corporate umbrella.
Posted by: Colin Henderson | April 23, 2008 at 04:48 AM
One of the speakers on the panel, Charles Cohen, made this comment: "UK boards of large companies tend to be dominated by accountants. US boards tend to be dominated by lawyers. Now, technologists are moving up the organization and we are possibly in a generational change where in a few years boards will be dominated by technologists."
I like that. So I could still have a job for a long time to come.
Posted by: Aneace Haddad | April 23, 2008 at 06:12 AM