Mobile banking death by spotligjht

It is common knowledge for performing artists that it is significantly more difficult to perform in front of a live audience than doing a recording in a studio. The tension of making a mistake can lead to stuttering and a performance that is not as good as it can be. In looking at deployments of mobile banking and when they are successful and when not, I have come to the following conclusion: "Spotlights can kill a mobile banking deployment". While exceptions exist, it is often those deployments that people do not talk about too much that are becoming profitable.

Mobile banking is such a hot topic. Conference organisers are constantly looking for successful case studies and researchers for guinea pigs to disect. This means that immature deployments are often scrutinised to such a degree that it fails partially because of the massive amount of visibility.

I believe that this is because of a combination of the following reasons:

• The owner of the mobile banking deployment is now so busy touring the international conference circuit that he/she does not have enough time to focus on a complex/delicate business.
• Visibility of a deployment, inadvertently also leads to scrutiny and criticism. This in turn impacts the bullishness of stakeholders and the energy and commitment to making the venture work starts to decline.
• By publishing insights and competitive aspects about a service in a specific market, pre-warned competitors now have time to respond, often limiting the positive impact of the service.

I can think of examples of all of the above and I am convinced that (maybe contrary to popular believe), it is actually better not to talk about your mobile banking deployments and to just get on with the job to make it a success. By doing this, you have a better chance of meeting your objectives.