Towards a unified framework for mobile banking

A recent article described the mobile banking and payment industry as "confused". I tend to agree with this observation, especially after I read the article. (Read here). The article attempts to identify the different models used in offering mobile banking solutions and comes up with nine. The interesting thing is that I don't think that this is even close complete. One probably could describe another five more (especially considering emerging markets). This means that one can do mobile banking in at least fourteen different ways!

This diversity in how the problem is approached and solved is extremely problematic because it can lead to many problems:

• Developing interoperable solutions will be difficult because different systems operate in a different way. While the need is big to inter-operate (Read here), it would be difficult with many different approaches to consider.
• Evaluating different solutions (for instance for a RFP) is difficult because different vendors may approach the solution in different ways. It would then be difficult to compare the solutions and get to the best answer.
• The problem with skills will be propagated. As it is, we do not have enough skills in the industry. When staff move from one company (having applied mobile banking in one way), to another company (with a different model) productivity gains will be slow.

In short, it would be beneficial if we had a unified framework for mobile banking. It is not clear how this will be achieved, though and who will take responsibility for this.