Intelligent Environments has
metamorphosed from being a small-scale bank support services
provider to a multi-disciplined digital and mobile banking platform
that serves four of the five largest banks in Britain and has
gained a foothold in the lucrative banking app arena, Maryrose
Fison reports.
Go deeper with GlobalData
To say that
Intelligent Environments (IE) has expanded its product offering
over the past 25 years would be an understatement. The London-based
digital banking solutions provider was founded in 1986, and merged
with business process outsource provider Documetric last year to
become part of the AIM-listed Parteq Group. It has grown its client
proposition, moving from primarily supporting bank integration
projects to launching and running a digital banking system and
mobile banking platform and gaining traction in the rapidly growing
app market.
“We aim to enable customers to
simply and conveniently manage their money while making sure that
we balance the needs of the consumer with those of the bank,” says
Philip Blundell, chief executive officer of IE.
Providing a digital banking
system
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By GlobalDataOver the past five years, it has
generated in the region of £20m ($32m) in revenues, with the lion’s
share deriving from NetFinance, the company’s digital banking
system which went live in 2005.
Blundell explains that the system
provides instant online applications for financial products, online
account management for customers and integration of the online
channel with existing business processes such as call centre
support, work flow and case management.
As a mark of IE’s confidence in its
own products, it promises clients the platform will be fully
integrated and live within 90 days and has gone so far as to
quantify exact figures for the amount of revenue financial
institutions could gain from using the product.
It calculates that online
applications can reduce bank acquisition costs by up to £4.90 ($8)
per application and online account management can generate savings
of a minimum of £7.50 ($12) per online customer. Usable product
design can increase the number of completed online applications by
40% and improved data validation and user-friendly processes are
viewed as increasing the number of applications that are accepted
first time by 20%. With a weight of evidence to demonstrate its
value, it is little wonder that high street banks have signed up to
the new system.
“We have 14 bank customers
including Lloyds and Barclaycard. Some host the platform themselves
so we are not aware of the total number of users, but we are aware
of nearly am online users,” says Blundell.
As well as supporting loans,
savings and investment products, the platform also supports credit
cards and commercial cards. The system provides an online system
for credit card issuers that allows customers to apply for a new
card online and then use the internet to manage their account.
Moving with the
times
Last year Blundell’s team took digital
innovation one step further with the launch of Mobinetic, a mobile
banking platform that allows users to check balances, pay bills and
transfer funds using a mobile phone.
It has proved a shrewd move with
banks all over the world, from Mexico’s Banamex to Finland’s Op
Pohjola, announcing plans to launch mobile services for retail
customers.
“The benefits to banks will include
increased marketing effectiveness through improved cross-selling
and the ability to attract new segments of customers; reduced
operational costs through lower transaction fees, channel migration
and fraud reduction and increased brand awareness,” says
Blundell.
In 12 months of development the
mobile platform swallowed more than its allotted £1m annual
research and development budget, but it represents a potentially
significant growth area. “The platform has cost over 1m and a
further investment is envisaged over the next three years,” says
Blundell. “But it is a subscription service and multi-year contract
which gives us a controlled and predictable recurring revenue
stream.”
Feeding mobile
appetites
As mobile banking solutions become
less of a novelty and more of a must-have for banks, the company
has extended its mobile banking solutions proposition with the
well-timed launch of two mobile phone apps.
In November, IE launched its
Barclaycard app, which allows iPhone users to check their balance,
view transactions and pay bills from a mobile phone. It has also
launched a Generali app – a savings and investments app – which
allows customers to check the value of their investment plans.
According to IE’s research, 300m
apps were downloaded by mobile phone users in 2009, and in 2010 the
number rose to 5bn. This year it is likely to exceed 17bn.
Blundell has well-founded opinions
on the likely growth of this sector for the mobile financial
services market. “Apps are crucial to many retail financial
institutions today to provide a differentiated and compelling
service to a highly fickle customer base,” he says.
And while mobile banking has been
slow to take off in the UK, he believes successes in markets in
Asia and the US are paving the way for more growth in mobile
banking here. IE has compiled research which shows that mobile
banking can increase client retention by 20%, increase customers
with 1-2% of new customer acquisitions being driven by mobile
offerings and cause a 70% reduction in call centre volumes.
“UK banks are now starting to wake
up to the benefits this channel brings. Barclays has seen dormant
accounts reactivated and HSBC now states that this will be ‘the’
channel going forward,” he says.
But with a stellar year behind him,
Blundell isn’t about to let the company make the easy mistake of
sliding onto the back burner. He has high aspirations for the year
ahead. “Over the coming 12 months, we want to continue to drive
revenue through direct relationships, further exploit our rapidly
growing strategic alliances channel and move into new markets,” he
says.
If last year’s performance is anything to go by, IE is on a
trajectory to fulfil many more targets in the coming months.
