The mobile phone, which caused a telecommunication revolution in the country, has also transformed the way enterprises conduct their business. The mobile is today a significant channel that allows banks to penetrate deep into the customer market. Identifying this huge potential, Barclays Bank recently introduced 'Hello Money', a full-fledged mobile banking service for its customers. A fairly young international bank in India, Barclays currently operates four branches in the country. However, it strongly believes that innovation and creativity will enable it to reach customers across the country.

A More Accessible Mobile Solution

Barclays wanted to offer a simple, convenient solution, and more importantly, one that would be accessible to all. However, the existing mobile banking propositions in the market involved several complex and cost-intensive steps like application downloads, remembering SMS codes and GPRS connectivity. "There are hardly any technology solutions which allow usage by varying degree of handset and customers. If you take a combination of the need to be inclusive and accessible in your banking, you hardly have any choice among the ready-made products," says Shridhar Guru, Director IT, Barclays Bank Plc. Due to its specific requirements, Barclays decided to build its own mobile banking solution in a joint effort with Bharti Telesoft, which helped the bank to build a core architecture of the mobile platform.

Hello Money is built on an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platform. Guru claims that as a protocol this platform has not been used so far in a mobile banking solution by any other bank in the country. Explaining the intention behind using this platform, he says, "The beauty of this platform lies in its simplicity. It allowed us the ability to allow a banking transaction without storing any information on the mobile handset, and also to make this service available on any type of handset."

Hello Money - A Bank In Your Mobile

Barclays has tried to provide an end-to-end banking experience through the ‘Hello Money’ mobile banking service. Barclays customers can access this service by simply dialling *598*1#. They can carry out several banking transactions, including account enquiry, fund transfers, bill payments, mobile recharge etc. On dialling *598*1#, customers will be guided to a mobile-based menu where they can choose from a number of options. After they enter the correct Hello Money PIN, they can immediately perform their required transaction on their handsets.

The service is currently available on all GSM handsets on the networks of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea in 40 cities across the country, at a monthly cost of Rs 30. While the solution offers a simple and convenient interface, the backend involves a complex communication and information infrastructure. Once the customer selects a particular option from the menu on the mobile, the instruction goes to the mobile network operator and then from the base switching centre it enters the bank’s infrastructure. The bank routes it through dedicated switches to the core banking system, and the entire information traces back. Barclays declined to provide in-depth details on the technology behind the solution, claiming it to be intellectual property and a competitive advantage in the market.

Treading the Unknown Path

It wasn’t smooth sailing for Barclays while developing and implementing the solution. It took around nine months to launch the solution from the initial conceptualisation. In addition to Bharti Telesoft, key partners like Sun Microsystems, IBM, Cisco and Oracle helped Barclays to establish hardware and software platforms. Barclays had to conduct an intense technical vulnerability analysis while designing the solution.

Security was a major concern that had to be tackled diligently. Barclays ensured that security and encryption are maintained at hardware, software and data level. The bank also faced challenges on the lines of defining and building something for the first time. It had to conduct many market surveys in terms of what will or won't work, what’s the best mechanism to deliver the solution, how to make it more secure, and other traditional challenges.

Becoming an Inclusive Bank

Barclays' customers are definitely excited about these new offerings as it allows them to avail of banking services according to their convenience. Guru says, "The satisfaction level I carry is that we were able to provide a unique amalgamation of convenience, security and accessibility to the end customers." Apart from this, Hello Money is also aiding the bank in its goal of being inclusive and reaching out to those who are still un-banked.

Barclays is also planning to extend the Hello Money service to the B2B market and making this service available on CDMA handsets. The bank recently ran a big advertising campaign in this connection, but only time will reveal whether it will help build market share in India.