Canadian Mobile Operators are supporting Mobile Money
I had the pleasure of participating as both a panelist and moderator at
the Mobile Money Canada event last week. It was a fantastic gathering
of professionals actively involved in the Mobile Financial Services
industry in Canada. I would like to recap some highlights from the
session I participated in entitled: "What is the right Mobile Money approach for Canada? Bank Centric, Mobile Operator Centric, or Collaboration?" The other guest panellists included:
- Patrick Kelly, SVP Business Development at Monitise Americas
- Jason Hurlbut, Vice President, Global Sales & Business Development at CPNI Inc.
- Aran Hamilton, Vice President - Strategic Partnerships at EnStream LP
The topic itself was rather controversial and is usually a source of
fierce debate in many similar forums globally. However it was
surprising to see that in Canada it seems that there is more consensus
around a collaborative approach to mobile financial services. This was
highlighted by the following key moments in the panel discussion:
- Aran Hamilton assured the audience that all the major
Canadian Operators (Bell, Rogers & Telus) were not vying for
'ownership' of the end consumer with regards mobile financial service
offerings. Rather the carriers see themselves as being enablers for
this service offering and that Canadian banks would ultimately own the
customer relationship. Mr. Hamilton explained that this was the main
reason the 3 carriers jointly created Enstream in order to provide this
interoperable platform for banks to use.
- A member of the
audience, representing Telus Mobility, reaffirmed Mr. Hamilton's
statement about ownership of the consumer relationship and the desire
of the canadian operators to have this managed by banks.
- There
was a consensus that both carriers and banks offer unique benefits to
the mobile financial ecosystem and that the industry should be forward
looking in realizing that a lot more opportunities for service
innovation can be realized if both parties collaborate.
- It
was pointed out that the consumer should be the prime focus in
determining the right service model as ultimately it is the consumer
that must benefit in order for there to be success. When the consumer
benefits then there will be tangible benefits to all parties in the
ecosystem. As a result, operators and carriers should not attempt to
implement a Bank or Mobile centric model but rather start from the
consumer up and determine what hybrid model best suits their needs.
This will differ from market to market which is why we see different
success stories in various countries around the globe.
- There
should not be any confusion on how banks & operators both cooperate
and compete in this space. The analogy was drawn to technology vendors
that compete on emerging technologies, whereby they collaborate on
matters that impede progress of the industry (by creating industry
standards and standards bodies) and compete in areas where they can
differentiate themselves. Likewise banks and operators must cooperate
to establish common industry standards and interoperability for mobile
financial services. Once this is done the industry as a whole can
progress and the various players can begin to differentiate themselves
with value added services, pricing, and incentives, etc.
Overall, it was a very stimulating and entertaining debate and
highlights how Canada is definitely ready to become a pioneer in the
mobile financial services space.
