Introducing Money Mesh

Times are changing, and the time time for me to bring myself into the new era of publishing is upon us. Over the past few months I have thought long and hard about the appropriate way to establish a platform on which I can say my thoughts, insights and outlook. Which lead me to the desire to build a platform for idea, a platform that would be larger than just myself. A platform that would be open to contributions for the world’s leading minds. That platform is Money Mesh.

The technological, social and cultural developments over the past 10 years have accelerated the global rate of innovation. Today, we are witnessing the seismic demographic shift from a traditional and passive media consumer group to an empowered and anytime-anywhere generation of knowledge creators and community builders.

Recent events have shown that social networks possess the power to enrich everyday encounters and enable political upheavals. Mobile devices have facilitated the anywhere-anytime approach to and availability of services, while extending the reach of the financial ecosystem.

Money Mesh seeks to speak in the midst of these changes and aims to explore the ongoing evolution of how our dynamic human network liveswith its money. This blog/forum/platform will provide timely discussions on themes such as technology innovation, social networks, security, regulation, mobility culture shifts and behavioural change in an increasingly mobile and connected world.

I hope to not only share my experiences and insights on these developments and trends, but also initiate a continuing dialogue with thought-leaders, visionaries and innovators who share my passion for making money more mobile and accessible for everyone.

For those who have followed my publishing over the years, I thank you all for your support, the joinery continues at Money Mesh 

www.money-mesh.com

Disjointed Eco-System… what's the point?

This morning I had a challenging start to the day, not only was it a Monday, but my NETS FlashPay Card was down to less than one dollar. Which means I can't access public transport until I top it up. So I jumped on the Bus with the aim of paying cash, so I could get to the MRT station where I could top up my card. But… Singaporean buses don't accept anything over a Two Dollar note, I only had a Ten. Frustrated, I now had to walk in Singapore's humid morning to the 7-Eleven, roughly half way to the MRT Station. During those 15 minutes I kept thinking in amazement that a bus driver was unable to accept anything more than a two-dollar note. He wasn't even willing to let me ride the bus to the MRT station so I could top-up.

Upon arriving at 7-Eleven I hit a major Eco-System limitation with NETS. You can only Top-Up your NETS FlashPay with Cash, you can't use your NETS Card. In complete amazement, I had to now walk out the front of the building to get cash, so I could come back an pay cash to top-up my card. Why would a domestic scheme create such a situation where one of their products can't interact with another? I associate the ideas with imagine you couldn't pay your VISA Credit Card off using your VISA Debit Card. Thus leaving me a super frustrated consumer.

After loosing close to 45 minutes working my way around the various constraints of the system, it leaves me pondering a key question: What is NETS thinking? Have they completely lost any concept of what it means to be a scheme provider? Why would they create products and services that require the consumer to juggle the end-points? I am complete lost as to how such a constraint even exists, surely I am not the only person to come across this.

If you are going to build a domestic scheme eco-system you need to ensure you encapsulate all the eco-systems end-points. Your value add to the flow of money is meant to be secure customer convenience, not to create more challenges. So I end this blog note with a message to the NETS scheme in Singapore. I strongly suggest you re-evaluate the gaps in your current service offering, you need to ensure you give the consumer end-to-end convenience. Not just deliver where you've been able to negotiate favorable commercial agent agreements. Remember it's your brand on the back of all these products, so the consumer will judge NETS, not 7-Eleven, not Guardian and not the MRT. NETS are responsible for end-to-end experience and convenience. Taking this into account might actually help create a more complete and completive offering.

Recipes to Success #1: Building the EcoSystem

Over the years, I am continually asked what is the 'secret sauce', 'silver bullet' or 'killer app' to ensuring Mobile Money success. And I have to admit, there is no secret, there is only the ability to learn from the repeated mistakes and successes of those that have pioneered before you. Such an approach isn't specific to emerging markets, developed markets, Africa or Asia, but it is a strong set of learnings that one should investigate, understand and consider when making their own play in mobile financial services. One of the key successful factors is understanding and building the eco-system.

Far too many mobile money businesses go head first into launching products that have little market research and little consumer understanding on the chance that 'build it and they will come' or 'copy M-Pesa' will ensure success. Operations like these are continually faced with disappointing adoption rates, or low active utilisation. Thus leaving executives puzzled or disillusioned on around the hype of mobile for financial services.

Building the Eco-System is at the top of my list of insights as a theme that many forget. This may sound simple and straight forward, but one needs to be aware this is not something you can buy, outsource or ignore. It's a constant journey of discovery, adaptation and refinement. It doesn't finish upon launch, nor does it finish within the first year. Best of all, it a journey that will engage you in the fascinating exploration of cash and transaction flows within your market. It involves understanding the various actors within the community, how and why they interact, where they interact, what is the relationship between them. Only with this level of understanding will the market opportunity for Mobile Money be obvious. This could be as simple as witnessing the amount of cash that friends or family send between each other via trusted couriers, or huge queues at a factory on payday. This is your secret sauce, engaging and understanding the world people live in, then finding the points in the ecosystem that could be better.

I have such a recipe, which I have used dozens of times to guide the industry towards success. Engage, Penetrate, Accessibility, Control, Sustain & Learn, Re-Plan, and re-Execute. Let's take a look at each step:

1. Engage: 

First and foremost you must find a way to get amongst your target market. Spend time understanding their everyday needs, pressures, movements, etc. Find out how much cash they carry, and why that amount. Where they travel regularly to buy things, get services, or exchange money? Document everything you find, take photos, exchange contact details. These people will be key in your journey of market understanding and service refinement.

2. Penetrate: 

With a clearer understanding of the market, document your theories on where you feel a service can penetrate the ecosystem. Remembering commerce and financial transaction already happen, your just looking for gaps where you feel a service might enhance or benefit those involved. Start by listing just a dozen. This list is where you make a soft launch of the service. Get those people deeply engaged, because they will be your champions over time.

3. Accessibility: 

Okay, so now you have a few theories on getting into the ecosystem, but you have to remember, once you convert transactions from cash to virtual money, such in the cause of Mobile Money. Those individuals brave enough to be early adopters will need assurance that they can still get access to their money. There is no point trying to address the payday queues at a factory, if the only way they can get cash is to travel to a bank or ATM to make a withdrawal. The access needs to be within their current life & ecosystem, but of course you already know where their life happens from your engage findings.

4. Control: 

While hyper growth is fantastic, it also means you have to scale your service foot print to meet the demand, which creates a risk that you have poor customer experiences outside your existing field of service. Take Facebook for example, they executed a carefully controlled launch, one university at a time. During the initial phases of your launch you will learn ten fold from your original market engagement findings. The ecosystem in which you activate needs to be readily accessible so you can quickly collect market feedback. Make sure you document this feedback, as it will be extremely valuable as you refine the service offering.

5. Sustain & Learn: 

As the ecosystem organically grows, you need to maintain your engagement so that you may observe it grow patterns, behavioural usage, challenges, etc. Ongoing observation and documentation.

6. Re-Plan: 

Revisit the theories you had during the penetrate phase and add to the list, no doubt the number of theories you now have are double or even triple. You need to link your findings in the field in a cyclical manner enabling a highly engaged feedback mechanism into your market planning, service planning and penetration plans. These will be key as you enter more and more ecosystems. Don't be afraid you remove the theories that didn't work, just don't forget why didn't work.

7. Re-Execute: 

This is where the model completes the cycle. Go back and re-engage, whether that is engaging a new ecosystem, or reengaging the same but broader community. You'll enter with an enhance understanding, which will make you more observant and in tune with the community.

This all may seem fairly straight forward, but you'd be surprised how often companies looking to enter the Mobile Money space forget to engage the ecosystem and learn through a repeatable process. The process is scalable, so as your team size grows the process remains with a greater power as you gain more and more perspectives on the market.

So there you have it. A Jamie Oliver style recipe for success in launching Mobile Money. If you'd like ore details, I am always not to far away.