Everyone Wants to Get into Your Wallet

It’s generally accepted that, for most people, the idea of sitting down at a kitchen table monthly and sorting through – and paying – bills, expenses and budgets is a relic of the past. Just as online shopping has overtaken brick and mortar stores in overall sales, online bill pay, money transfers and banking management have changed the utility, finance and banking industries. With no shortage of avenues available, the new horizon isn’t always more sites, more accounts, more functions.

Sometimes, the new horizon is less.

Some of the largest names in the online arena are making a bid that the next big thing isn’t just managing finances online, but rather, managing them all in one place (and one familiar place at that). Last year, Apple launched Apple Pay, a digital wallet service that allows a user’s iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch to serve as a transaction point at retailers – a digital credit/debit card, directly transacting with the banks. While others have struggled in this concept (Google Wallet, Softcard and PayPal, among others), Apple leaned on greater security measures and a better customer experience to make their entry more successful. The jury is still out on Apple Pay, as some retailers and large exchanges have refused to accommodate it, but it has shown that this new way of doing business is practical, feasible and seemingly secure.

Facebook and Google are focusing their energies on leveraging their already popular offerings – Messenger and Gmail, respectively – to offer more services to a public familiar and trusting of what they know. Facebook has been working in conjunction with some major online retailers to add shopping abilities within the Messenger program. Users will be able to add items to an existing order, communicate with the retailer about customer service issues, and even track the shipping of items. Additionally, Facebook has been working to make money transfers available within Messenger. If a digital wallet is added to Facebook Messenger, it seems an eventual outcome will be a user’s ability to shop, pay, communicate, track and review a purchase all within the app.

Google, meanwhile, is hard at work on a program they are calling “Pony Express.” The goal of this new Google program is to consolidate banking management into Gmail, allowing users to pay all of their bills, schedule future payments and receive messages. Google is counting on Pony Express, assuming that people are already familiar and comfortable using its email platform.

The value, as all of these industry leaders know, is simplicity. Apple wants to eliminate the need to carry a wallet full of plastic cards, vulnerable to theft. Facebook is aiming for Messenger to become as all inclusive as possible. Certainly Google is betting that users will want to accomplish as many goals from within their Gmail as possible. But they are certainly not alone in finding ways to ‘work smarter, not harder’ in online banking.

The local picture: Statos and BillHighway

Media Genesis has worked with companies blazing a trail on this front locally. Ann Arbor based Protean, for instance, has developed Stratos, a system in which a user can replace all of their banking options and credit cards with one card. This card is unmarked, and tethered to the phone of the user, so that it cannot be stolen and used. With daily reports of identity theft and data breaches, security steps like the ones pioneered by Stratos are the key to user acceptance.

BillHighway offers users a detailed Expense Management System. BillHighway was started in the late 1990’s as an online method for organizations to detail and split expenses and has grown to a company specializing in assisting clients – especially nonprofits – consolidate their financial management into one location. Their systems integrate with the most popular financial resource management tools available, like Salesforce and Raiser’s Edge, and help organizations eliminate redundancy, schedule financial events and manage resources more efficiently.

As security advances are made and user trust builds, the management of finances is becoming a strictly online venture. Major traction is being gained – Apple Pay just announced a partnership with Discover Card this week, allowing users even more options. It is a safe assumption that soon the first question will not be ‘is online financial management the way to go,’ but rather ‘which platform should I use.’

• New top choice for shoppers: Online overtakes brick-and-mortar – http://www.cnbc.com/id/101205503
• Google Working on Project to Let You Receive and Pay Bills Directly Inside Gmail: http://recode.net/2015/03/24/google-working-on-project-to-let-you-receive-and-pay-bills-directly-inside-gmail/
• Facebook Starts Turning Messenger Into a Shopping Platform: http://recode.net/2015/03/25/facebook-starts-turning-messenger-into-a-shopping-platform/
• Discover Announces Apple Pay Support Beginning This Fall: http://www.macrumors.com/2015/04/27/discover-apple-pay-fall/