Extending the lead

In the last five years, Internet banking dramatically extended the geographic reach and improved customer service for community financial institutions coast to coast. But Internet years are dog years-seven times the pace of business as usual. Today, the time for a simple transactional Website is passing

First, community financial institutions that were quick to adopt online services have developed a sharper customer focus in order to optimize the power of the Internet as a direct marketing tool. Recognizing that not all customers are equal, they use sophisticated data mining features to match services to enduser life cycles, mindset and income.

Next, while early online bankers were technically exceptional, typically academic and largely more affluent, a new mass market of end-users is emerging. As a result, online banking leaders in the community marketplace are enhancing the "WOW" factor of financial sites.

The bank-branded and controlled E-- Commerce portal builds a new front-end to online banking services, permitting online bankers to consolidate financial transaction and information services on one Internet page. This provides both Retail and Commercial customers an efficient way to organize, simplify and manage a complete portfolio of daily financial transactions. And is that portfolio ever growing!

Thanks to Gramm-Leach-Bliley, the industry mushrooms with third-party alliances to provide end-users with online versions of traditional services such as mortgages, lending and trust as well as third-party offerings that broaden the banking category and fortify customer relationships. These include insurance, brokerage, sweeps, financial planning and retirement accounts for starters.

What's more, the same third parties who once threatened the field are now pulling it all together. Account aggregators help community financial institutions protect depositors and cut the playing field down to size by providing one-click access to all end-user account balances-- bank, brokerage, credit card, airline miles and email.

Taking the portal a step further, online banking leaders tap the B2B market with merchant Web hosting. The community financial institution helps its commercial customers gain local and global visibility through its start page. The financial institution increases revenue opportunities from not-so-classic sources such as Web hosting and advertising fees.

Looking ahead, a virtually inexhaustible flow of technology gadgets grows to meet the demand for "WOW" and "NOW," which are the twin consumer emotions that drive technology's advance across the World Wide Web. Wireless access phones (WAP) and biometric authentication-a computer mouse that reads a fingerprint before granting online access-are two of the slickest toys coming up for customers of leading online banking vendors.

But state-of-the-art is a journey, not a destination. So, developing a forwardthinking Internet strategy now is crucial.

As industry leaders prove, those financial institutions that successfully extend the lead are beefing up their marketing mix. Top dogs offer more value, richer content, wider interest, broader financial services and greater convenience.

Q UP, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Austin, TX, is a leading provider of Internet banking and E-Commerce portal solutions for financial institutions, primarily community banks of $10 billion and under. Visit Q UP, An SI Company, at www.qup.com, email info@qup.com or call 512-336-3000.