Mobile Money Asia: Unburdening Phone Menus in Mobile Money

A very good article by no other than Ignatio Mas.

Totally agree that mobile money carry the characteristics of DI, thus it should be dealt appropriately by an appropriate organization. Happy reading!

Mobile Money Asia: Unburdening Phone Menus in Mobile Money: Disruptive innovation typically occurs when market outsiders conceive of a service with a radically simplified user experience, offer it a...

Mobile Money Asia: Indonesia’s Mobile Money Moons Align

Mobile Money Asia: Indonesia’s Mobile Money Moons Align: In the fourth most populated nation on the planet over half of the 270 million people are under 30 years old. Ambitious, ...

Keep the good news coming!

Another excellent blog covering the state of branchless banking / mobile money in Indonesia. Check it out:

mobilemoneyasia.blogspot.sg

Another Branchless Banking blog in Indonesia!

Another excellent blog on the subject by one of the few pioneers of branchless banking in Indonesia: Mr. Alit Asmarajaya of SinarSip. Here's the link http://branchlessbkg.blogspot.com.

Worth a visit, gave an unique perspective from the trenches of branchless banking implementation in Indonesia.

The Tools I used for my mega-writing courses

By now, I have been doing school for nearly 6 months. One semester down, another semester of classes to go, and who knows how many more time I have to spend after to complete my dissertation.

Nevertheless, despite my relatively short tenure on this—which I keep trying to downplay as a “course in writing”, the overly complicated and mildly annoying nature of the program and the sheer amount of materials being covered has started to overwhelm me. I suspect the same also true with my colleagues, each trying to stay afloat on top of their daily chores, family lives, career lives, and now inundated by the unending flood of academic journals and books.

During the semester break, I did what’s a look like the ritual, passage of lives, of every Ph. D students across the globe: trying to figure out what are the tools needed to makes live easier. Let’s face it, we’re all procrastinator by nature, and I am proud to admit that I might be the biggest one of all!

And to add to the insult, last month I started another unavoidable rite of passage of graduate students: blog writing. So now I ended up with some limited experience with some of the tools out there, and an empty blog. Naturally, the most logical solution would be trying to fill the void with whatever things occupying my mind at this hour, which happen to be the tools.

So, here it is!

Attempt #1: Donny’s current set of tools and workflow (Feb 2013)

1. Dropbox (Paid)
What a graduate student can do without a dropbox account? It is truly a heaven sent! If you happen to know people without dropbox account, more power to you (and more envy to you), as you can get a bunch of extra spaces for free. I wasn’t that lucky though, so I ended up subscribing for their extra spaces. So, make sure you have one working on your computer.

2. Mendeley (Free)

First time I heard about Mendeley was during my orientation (kudos to you mas Samuel, PPIM class of 2012 is forever indebted to you!).  Played with it for several months without much avail, but finally figured out what to do with it (which will be discussed toward the bottom of this blog.

3. DevonThink (USD 149)

I guess it will be easier to explain about this on the workflow discussion, but basically it is an very powerful “indexing” software that will help you find information.

4. Scrivener (USD 49)

After several attempts, finally decided to migrate my dissertation-writing environment to Scrivener altogether. For short documents, I, a creature of habit, is still relying at the old and trustful:

     5.  Microsoft Word (no explanation needed)

6. Skim pdf reader (interchangeable with Adobe Reader)

7. Evernote (apps) with Moleskine for Evernote (physical notepad).

In theory, the specially designed notepad will allow you to jot anything that came across your mind, and with an iOS device, these information can be easily transformed into indexed digital format. Good theory, but alas, I am lack of any iOS device at this moment. Bummer! Next semester perhaps!

8. Kindle (handy to get those hard-to-get book, which happen to be available on electronic version. My current (and my second kindle) Kindle Fire can also connect directly to dropbox as well, which is tremendously helpful). Don’t forget to get one of those styluses as well, guaranteed to make your lives easier

9. Rancillio Silvia Espresso Maker + Rancillio Rocky Grinder (my addiction to coffee grew stronger after I started with the program. What can I say, but it is comforting to know that a strong cup of freshly brewed espresso is only 2 meters away at any time). At work, I also keep a Handpresso handy in case those caffeine craving come without any warning.

10. MacBook Air, circa 2010

Bought one up when the first offered it at apple store. Who knew, after years of underutilization (itunes and safari only), now it is time to get the full amortization back! Connect it with a Dell Professional 24” monitor and you got yourself a powerful workstation. With the last week's announcement of 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display, I am starting to think it might be time to upgrade.

Most of the above tools (the apps, not the espresso machine), can be downloaded for free. What’s more important however, is how these tools are being linked into a workable “workflow”. It is not perfect, but this is currently my setting:

1. Create a “Journal to Read” folder on the desktop

2. Create another folder on the dropbox. I like to name mine using the convention “YYYY – folder name”. Hence, there’s a folder name “2013 – Journals” at my dropbox folder.

3. On the “preferences” menu of your Mendeley, go to “File Organizer”, and chose your dropbox folder as your destination folder. Don’t forget to tick the “rename document names” option

4. Next, also still in Mendeley, go to “Watched folder”, and then chose the “Journal to Read” folder on your desktop.

Trust me, this will eliminate a lot of confusions dealing with pdf files.  Basically all you have to do is grab your pdf file (maybe you got it through email, via web site, or download in proquest). Copy them all to the “Journal to Read” Folder, and when you start Mendeley, it will magically load these files, renamed it and create a copy on your dropbox.  Don’t forget to review the “need review” group whenever you open your Mendeley and adjust as needed. I found that at least you make the effort to check the Title of the documents, the authors, the journals, years, volume and number. This will make your lives much much easier later on!

In addition to automatic renaming of the files, and creating a copy on your dropbox (which later you can access from your other devices remotely), mendeley also creates an index of the documents. So instead of browsing the names of the files trying to remember which one is which, now you have the full power of Mendeley at your fingertips.

This work fine for class, especially when you are trying to match all those acronyms with specific class (you know, professors like to put acronyms for the journals they made you read). One thing to remember though is to open the pdf file OUTSIDE Mendeley. Although Mendeley does have its own pdf reader, anything you note or jot down within will not be compatible outside Mendeley. So, make a habit and open the file using Adobe Reader of Skim.

That’s it for the first part. On the next part I will try to elaborate more on my use of Devonthink (still learning) and Scrivener (also still learning). Keep on tuning!

Branchless Banking is an entirely new business model

1) Awareness of the disruptive innovation characteristics of branchless banking

As a business scheme, branchless banking carries all the characteristics of Clayton Christensen’s (1997) definition of disruptive innovation. This classification mandates the need to need to collectively and consciously recognise branchless banking as such. Managers will need also to be mindful on the implication of branchless banking’s disruptiveness on their organisation’s strategy, process, and most importantly, values and paradigms.

2) Creation of a new branchless banking business model

In congruence to point 1, in most cases organisations will need to devise an entirely new business model for their new branchless banking business. Note that the ‘new business’ is the operative word here. Too often banks try to jumble branchless banking business into the existing electronic banking channel, which I will argue will eventually result in a conflict.

3) Establishment of a fully empowered corporate venturing unit tasked at implementing the new business

It’s possible that traditional banking bureaucracy might kill a branchless project early. Thus, it will be necessary to form a flexible, empowered, and well-endowed ‘corporate venturing’ unit tasked at rapidly developing and bringing the new product to market, while maintaining the option of integrating it back into the core business later on.

Detaching Banking from Branchless Banking

In a recent CGAP blog article, branchless banking was touted as ‘the future of microfinance and banking’. Curiously, the particular article was also mindful of the fact that the progress of branchless banking has been slow. Indeed, despite the increased number of implementations worldwide, branchless banking’s reach has been relatively dismal. 

Currently, there are only 26 deployments globally that can claim reach of more than one millions users. Before going any further, it is necessary to make a distinction between the common notions of ‘mobile money’ versus ‘branchless/mobile banking’. Generally both terms are described as technology-delivered financial services products and several experts in the field suggest that the terms can readily be interchangeable. However, for the purpose of this article, I would argue that further classification based on the core product being deployed is necessary: electronic wallets for mobile money, and interest-bearing bank saving accounts for branchless banking. Naturally, this distinction implies that only financial services institutions have the ability to deliver branchless banking, not only due to regulatory reasons, but also due to technical and strategic grounds.

Given the impetus to expand the service to scale – particularly in the emerging markets where branchless banking has the highest potential of fulfilling its high promises of being safer, more efficient, and a more affordable way to transact – much has been said about the impediments for fully-fledged branchless banking implementations. More often than not, regulators are criticised for their lack of support towards the “need of the millions of poor who are denied access to affordable financial services”. In light of continuous advocacy by both international development institutions and donor agencies alike, and fuelled by well-publicised examples of successful (albeit unfortunately still very rare) mobile money case studies, we are now starting to see more innovative regulations geared specifically toward facilitating the implementation of branchless banking. Nevertheless, this is exactly where most of the confusion begins, especially for banks.

First of all, the issued regulations naturally imply traditional banking industry characteristics and constraints. This could result in two potential responses from bankers: the tendency to look at branchless banking as just an additional channel for their customers, e.g. the “electronic banking? We have been doing that for years,” type of response. And the other response, which could come even from the more enlightened organisations: the lack of banking-complied technology out there. This is not too surprising given the fact that the majority of solution providers out there confine their offerings to the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) environment. It requires extraordinary creativity and determination from the bank’s IT team to adopt MNO technology and adapt it to the specific needs of their banking business. 

Second, given the fact that the majority of banks carry heavy luggage in the form of traditional brick-and-mortar infrastructure, it is expected that they will attempt to use these infrastructure as much as possible for their new branchless banking business. Although this might be well justified for some organisations, this rather traditional –and hasty, way of thinking could potentially induce strategic complications for the service in later stages. By looking at the issue as a technical problem, banks are at risk of losing sight over the fact that branchless banking should be treated as a new business model, which does not necessarily fit the traditional way of working. Any effort made to encapsulate branchless banking within the confines of a traditional banking model could potentially imprison the new service with the old paradigms. 

Third, and often the most complex challenge, is the need for banks and MNOs to rethink their traditional form of partnership. While in the past banks and MNOs have been partnering to serve their mainstream clients’ needs, the specific requirements of branchless banking business models, especially those that are geared toward the mass market, would require a significant shift of perspective, which is not the easiest thing to accomplish. 

Based on my involvement with two recent commercial implementations of branchless banking in Indonesia (SinarSip and btpnWOW!), I want to bring forward a new perspective for banks wishing to capitalise the emerging trend of branchless banking. Branchless banking is not for every bank to implement. Indeed, successful implementation will require a confluence of unique exogenous factors (conducive regulations, supporting government, advanced penetration of the mobile network, and so on), as well as a strong visionary leadership in the private sector. On a firm level, the development of branchless banking as a new business would require the possession of advanced organisational capabilities and strong support from the stakeholders. 

Luckily, if the existing services might serve as credible indicators, there is less need for a full profusion of banks offering branchless banking products in one single economy. The establishment of a few, solid services might be all it takes to provide widespread financial inclusion access to the entire populations in most economies, which eventually could even change the way its citizen deal with money and finances. For a bank in possession of the right set of capabilities, as well as visionary leadership, this undoubtedly represents an extraordinary large and enduring opportunity going forward. But to accomplish this goal, they need to detach banking from branchless banking.

Hello World!

Finally, a blog!



This is way overdue as I meant to do this since long time ago, but I guess the decision to go back to school that I made last year was the last straw that finally pulled me in into creating (or more appropriately, trying to create) this blog.

Regardless, blogging is seems as a common milepost in a PhD journey anyway, so while I was expected to create tons of writing in the next couple of years, it looks just logical to create a place where I can dump them all... plus some more thoughts.

Let's see how this thing progress