Software application development
This blog is intended to provoke discussion and exchange between like minded software application developers, engineers, architects, project managers - and keen hobbyists too.
Friday 10 October 2008, 8:24 AM
Financial collapse & debunking electronic banking myths
I needed to use a debit card for slightly more than the usual cost of a sandwich, as you might imagine. So to complete this transaction I had to go to my bank (ok I could have just phoned) to warn them of the impending transaction and agree that, if needed, the car showroom credit check system could ask me to confirm the name of my first goldfish (or whatever) for security purposes.
Does that sound convoluted to you? I didn’t mind really, there’s so much fraud about these days and it did make things ultra secure. But what if I had just tried to pay electronically I wonder? How about if I wanted to pay from my mobile phone even?
So that was the real world.
Back in ‘snazzy media technology land’ I am reading this week’s news on banking databases, DBAs and the application developers that feed these systems to keep them alive and humming along nicely. Not only is online banking as safe as houses, but mobile banking (so the vendors would have us believe) has reached hitherto unheard of levels of security.
Consumer education remains key to widespread adoption we’re told. The fact is that standards and interoperability, let alone a truly robust platform to build applications for this stuff on, have also held the market back. Back in 2004, Bill Gates didn’t exactly help the situation by saying that SPAM would be solved within two years did he? That kind of comment leaves scars on the public subconscious.
The survey I’m looking at is called, “Mobile Banking: The Second Wave Global Mobile Banking Survey 2008,” and it emanates from Sybase 365. It shows that only a third of banks currently offer mobile banking facilities, but another third plan to offer mobile services in the next 12-24 months. It’s hard to place complete faith in figures that span the entire globe from Asia-Pac to Europe and the Americas, but try telling HSBC not to think global huh?
If mobile banking is to succeed and successfully integrate with Internet banking, I wonder what the governing factors will be in this zone. There’s clearly a consumer confidence angle, there’s also clearly a long way to go in the phishing & scamming arena.
Going deeper, the applications that drive these transactions will need to be foolproof. Going deeper again, the databases that process this data will need to be agile and have powerful design and build features. Deepest of all, surely the platform that these technologies are built on will have to be as hard as nails (or super-robust as the vendors would probably say).
So what car did I buy my wife? Promise you won’t laugh? Click here.
PreviousComments on this post
Good article, good thoughts - and a great choice of cars!
Those things are immensely popular here in Switzerland, as you might imagine, and everyone I know who owns one has loved it.
jw
They are tough little things. Very safe!
Thanks to you both guys,
But hey, hang on - that's two votes for SMART cars and none yet for electronic or mobile banking!
But hey, 72 miles to the gallon and a cassette player no CD - great! I can get all my old Yes and Genesis albums out the loft now...
AdrianB
Didn't anyone notice that you were parked in a designated 'no parking' zone?
I use electronic banking fairly extensively, but I have to admit that my comfort level varies; when I am at home on a wired network connection, everything feels fine. When I am at home on a wireless connection, with WPA2 security, I get a little uncomfortable. If I am on the road and on a cellular connection, I am quite uncomfortable, and actually don't use e-banking unless I absolutely have to. If I am on the road and on some sort of public WiFi connection, I don't use it, period.
Now, a lot of that is nonsense and gut-feeling, I'm sure.
As for mobile (cell phone or PDA) e-banking, I'm not likely to try that anytime soon for two reasons. First, the screen size on anything I have of that type is much to small to be useful; second, I am uncertain of the technology, but in my experience these things invariably have growing pains, and I'm tired of being the one that finds them.
I suppose that puts my feelings squarely in the "consumer education" problem area. I wonder if that is generally indicative, or if I am just old...
Moley, leave it to you to notice the parking restriction...
jw 10/10/2008
I use online banking as a last resort, and if I'm on wireless I'll add an extra layer of encryption using hotspot shield, but yes I as well feel uneasy about the whole thing, just a spooky feeling.
Dig the genesis and yes, they were musical masterminds!
You could transmit your zen i 3 p m pod whatever player to the cars radio.
Indeed, wireless online banking when you are in a hotel to check your account to see if you can afford the steak and chips has got to be a no no.
JW's got it with the screen size aspect too though. Web on mobile works well for football scores I'd say. But the survey also said that mobile web bankers (careful how you say that) don't just check balances they also make payments and transfers. I don't the fact that the vendor's platform for this work is whizz bang impressive. But we're talking real world implementation here I think.
As for no parking zone, that picture could have been taken when the car was moving!
As for prog rock, it's my second home by the sea.
