Are you in banking, financial services, in technology, in fintech?

What motivates your work, your efforts?

Whether you are working in operations, marketing, sales, service, or technology, or somewhere in between, this is a fascinating time to be in financial services.

As our own industry pulls out of this great recession, something feels, well, different.

Behavior is changing, and innovation is the key to survival. Disruption is accelerating the need for efficiency and agility to meet these changing demands.

How do you follow the disruption impacting your institution? How are you adapting, innovating?

Where is your inspiration?

For me, I am focused on connecting with the people who are the inspirations of innovations and learning from their process, the way they think.

What do I mean?

This week was a great example of getting the most out of conversation and chance.

I had the opportunity to attend the two-day Bank Innovation conference in San Francisco, and was able to spend time with long-time Twitter friends like Matt West from MoneyDesktop and Billy Robbins from Wells Fargo.

These guys have great insights around the online channel and PFM. And through them both, I have met some really interesting folks in fintech because, like me, they are connectors.

Talking with these two and new contacts from BB&T, Suntrust, Wells Fargo, and others in fintech, I really like where PFM, mobile, rewards, and payments are headed…but I’m still pretty convinced that the majority of banking institutions won’t be around in 10 years.

There is simply too much disruption taking place, and only the largest institutions, the most nimble and forward thinking financial innovators will survive.

And that keeps me motivated.

You can see the numbers and my thoughts in my recent presentation on 10 Key Trends from the Community Banking Trenches with Backbase.

During the conference, I also got to spend some time talking shop with Joshua Reich of Simple. Their app and approach to data looks really great, and it’s very exciting to hear tidbits about their launch. I’ll try to write (or find) some more words about the panel Josh was on with Wells Fargo, and the battle of a discussion around social banking (their sparring was fun to watch).

But this post is about a different type of innovation.

After the second day of the conference, I had the great fortune of finally meeting Peter Vander Auwera from SWIFT. Peter is Innovation Leader at SWIFT and Innotribe, and is a TEDx speaker and REXpedition member. SWIFT, and their community also drive Sibos, which brings together influential leaders from financial institutions, market infrastructures, multinational corporations and technology partners to do business and shape the future of the financial industry.

This organization is a change agent that not only is highly engaged in the future of financial services, their taking a huge part in shaping it.

If SWIFT, Innotribe, Sibos, mean nothing to you, and you think Finovate is the only must-see conference in fintech, I encourage you to view some of the content below and engage with Innotribe.

Peter and I talked about the future of financial services, the process of stepping off the diving board into the great unknown, his recent post on corporate rebels and my call for organizations to embrace their pirates.

We also talked at great length about how SWIFT approaches innovation through Innotribe. I’ll have to write about this more, but I’ll say that just about every organization can learn from the model.

I wish I had a great deal more time to spend with Peter. I look forward to meeting more of his team, and sharing views about how financial services is changing, how the utility of the banking model is changing.

After not much more than an hour with Peter, I feel that some of my perceptions around corporate transformation through innovation had fundamentally changed.

And that’s how innovation can change an organization. It’s like a spark that ignites in one person and grows like a wildfire.

And that’s a little bit like the point of Innotribe.

This post just scratches the surface of some of my thoughts on the influences from my conversations this week, but I wanted to put aside some thoughts on the week to spur some future posts.

In the past year, I have had the fortune of sitting down with Brett King, Scott Bale, and some other great minds in financial services.

And now within a week I get to pick the brain of people like Josh Reich and Peter Vander Auwera.

If I sound a little star struck, that’s the point.

Because of something as simple as connections I’ve made through Twitter, I’ve been fortunate to meet people who’s content really influence the way i am thinking about key topics like innovation and technology. These are conversations that we should all be having.

No matter what your industry, no matter who you are. Find, and talk to your sources of inspiration. And then share what inspires you with your community.

Gain value. Share. Add value. Repeat.

It’s time to connect, and start to shake up your thinking a bit.

What are your influences?

What do you think/know of Innotribe?

Were you in SF this week? What did you think of Bank Innovation?

Chime in.

Read more of Peter’s ideas about change and innovation. Hopefully some of his thinking will inspire you and the way you influence your organization.

Some of his recent posts include The Innovators Risk and Corporate Rebels United.

Learn more about Innotribe

Learn more about SWIFT

Learn more about Innotribe Startup Challenge – 2012

Innotribe Startup Challenge NYC (Feb 2012)

If you are interested in innovation, financial services, and everything in between, I encourage you to connect with heathervescent (thank you for connecting Peter and I during his trip to SF this week) and @petervan.

From FastCompany: Maps used to be beautiful, when cartography was as much of an art as a science, and dragons were as likely to be waiting on the other side of the world as new spice trades. But as of late, maps have swapped beauty for convenience and clarity. Designers at data visualization house Stamen have created a very cool compromise for digital maps. It’s a watercolor-like skin for any OpenStreetMap project, and it’s totally remarkable. Streets have an organic, analog roundness to their edges, and bodies of water aren’t a solid blue, but a mix of hues and color densities, as if the map is actual, textured paper slathered with a casual mix of water and paint.

Read the Full FastCompany Post on Stamen Maps

Stamen Map of Bay Area

http://maps.stamen.com/watercolor/embed#9/37.8853/-122.3709

I was quoted on The Financial Brand’s site this week providing my take on merchant reward programs like those offered by Cardlytics, Truaxis/Billshrink, or Segmint (Financial Brand: The Free And Easy Way To Reward Debit + Online Banking Users).

Here was the section Jeffrey pulled from an earlier blog post on my site (I encourage you to read the full post linked below), which was in response to a recent post on Netbanker.com.

What do you think? Are these type of merchant reward programs the next stage of social engagement, providing value to your clients and local communities/merchants, or are they yet another way that national and super-regional banks are going to innovate with scale where we cannot? Chime in.

Merchant Reward Critics Say More Local Offers Needed (Abbreviated Version)

Nearly 100% of the offers presented to financial consumers through the Cardlytics system are for a percentage off or a specific dollar discount. Presently, most of the offers are from big national brands like Burger Kings and The Body Shop. There aren’t many localized offers and merchants.

Bradley Leimer, head of online and mobile channels at Mechanics Bank, says that needs to change.

“Today, too many of these merchants are national chains and offers are not necessarily directly related to existing behavior,” Leimer wrote on his personal blog. “If you shop online and use your debit card at the Gap, does that mean that you also would use a coupon at Aeropostale? Maybe.”

“The big issue in this area is getting enough relevant offers in front of customers,” Leimer points out. “Merchants still must be convinced to go beyond the usual ‘3% off’ that you see everywhere.”

“Even though I really like the Cardlytics model, we need a few more things to happen,” says Leimer. We need a few more BofA sized banking partnerships to drive adoption, we need to add more contextual and proximity-based merchant modeling, and recruit FI customer/merchants to fill in categories and location.”

Financial Brand: The Free And Easy Way To Reward Debit + Online Banking Users

10 KEY TRENDS FROM THE COMMUNITY BANKING TRENCHES

Over the next decade, the banking industry is poised for dramatic change. Sure, we’ve heard this before from the likes of Brett King (author of Bank 2.0 and Branch Today, Gone Tomorrow) as well as from technology mavens that are driving the idea of the demise of banking through the rise of mobile payments, the loss of physical branches, and the rise of the socially connected consumer.

But something is really going on here that is worth exploring. It looks like they might be right this time.

Societal behavior is changing, and this seemingly goes beyond traditional economic, demographic, and generational shifts that have always had some impact on financial services. This just may be about our industry’s survival, at least in the form that we know it today. What is the average banker thinking about the impact of technological changes and this ongoing shift of expectations? What is your perspective and how does it compare?

In this Backbase webinar, Bradley Leimer, community bank technology developer and engagement banking proponent discusses key trends in financial technology and how they relate to consumer and business behavior. He explores topics that are relevant to community banking, financial services, and the changing expectations we now face.

Couldn’t find a link for this, but Intuit’s cash management/business online banking just got sold. This just changed some of what I might be working on this year. Who in your mind has the best business platform for < $100B financial institutions?

Important Announcement from Intuit

Good morning,
Intuit has helped small businesses and consumers save time and money for more than three decades. This is in our DNA and consistent with our strategy to help financial institutions increase their relevance and profitability with these segments.

To increase our investment and focus on delivering for small businesses and consumers, we announced in a news release today our intention to sell our commercial banking business to Bottomline Technologies, a recognized global leader in online cash management solutions with broad and deep understanding of commercial banking.

The transaction will include Business Financial Solutions as well as Business Banking and is expected to close in the coming weeks. Upon closing, your Business Banking and/or Business Financial Solutions relationship will transfer to Bottomline Technologies. You will remain an Intuit Online Banking customer.

There is nothing you need to do right now, and there will be no immediate change in your experience or that of your business and consumer customers. Intuit and Bottomline Technologies are jointly focused on a successful transition for our business customers and, as such, Intuit will continue to provide certain commercial banking support services for an extended period of time. Upon closing, Intuit and Bottomline Technologies plan to engage with all affected customers to discuss their overall strategic plan for business services.

Bottomline will be an important strategic partner for Intuit in the commercial banking space, and together we will be better able to serve the full range of our customers' needs. Critical to our decision to partner together is the alignment of our core values across customers, and the emphasis we both place on customer-driven innovation. We are both committed to our customers' success first, working with and for each other to create sustained business value. Our companies will work together through cross promotions, referrals, and joint sales efforts to deliver innovative solutions for both small business and commercial customers.

More information about Bottomline is included below along with answers to several of the questions we anticipate you may have. Upon closing, Bottomline plans to engage with all its new clients to discuss their overall strategic plan for business services, so we'll be in touch with you soon with more information.

If you have questions not addressed below, please contact your Relationship Manager or Customer Care.

Questions and Answers

What has been announced?

Intuit Financial Services has made a deliberate decision to sell our commercial banking business to Bottomline Technologies in order to concentrate our resources on improving the solutions and services small businesses and consumers receive from their financial institutions.
Who is Bottomline Technologies?

Bottomline provides collaborative payment, invoice and document automation solutions to corporations, financial institutions and banks around the world. The company's solutions are used to streamline, automate and manage processes involving payments, invoicing, global cash management, supply chain finance and transactional documents. Organizations trust these solutions to meet their needs for cost reduction, competitive differentiation and optimization of working capital.
Bottomline has extensive experience in the banking and financial services industry. They provide transaction banking solutions to 15 of the 25 global banks and serve more than 40 financial institutions in the US and throughout the world. Headquartered in Portsmouth, N.H., Bottomline also maintains offices in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Why Bottomline?

Bottomline will be an important strategic partner for Intuit in the commercial banking space, and together we will be better able to serve the full range of our customers' needs.
Critical to our decision to work together is the alignment of our core values across customers and employees, and the emphasis we both place on customer-driven innovation.
We are both committed to our customers' success first, working with and for each other to create sustained business value.

What does this mean for Intuit Financial Services' Small Business strategy?
With this transaction, we are focusing even more on helping financial institutions differentiate in Small Business by accelerating investment in our open platform architecture and leveraging assets and best practices across Intuit and beyond.

Because small business is in our DNA, we are uniquely positioned to help financial institutions increase their relevance and profitability with this and other emerging business segments.
Why is Intuit Financial Services focusing on Small Business vs. Commercial Banking?
Intuit has helped small businesses and consumers save time and money for more than three decades. This is in our DNA and consistent with our strategy to help financial institutions increase their relevance and profitability with these segments.

We continue to view small business as a significantly underserved market where we can help financial institutions win. With this transaction, we are focusing even more on helping financial institutions differentiate in small business by accelerating investment in our open platform architecture, and leveraging assets and best practices across Intuit and beyond.

When will this transaction be completed?

The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks.

What happens between now and closing?

It is business as usual for both Intuit and Bottomline, and there will be no immediate change in your experience. Upon closing, Intuit and Bottomline plan to engage with you and discuss the overall strategic plan for business services.

Is Intuit out of the commercial banking business?

No. While Intuit will not develop/ manage commercial banking solutions, we will be offering them to customers through our strategic partnership with Bottomline.

Together, we will bring more innovative business banking offerings to more financial institutions faster through Bottomline's services-oriented architecture and Intuit's open platform architecture.
Intuit and Bottomline will work together through cross promotions, referrals, and joint sales efforts to deliver innovative solutions for both small business and commercial customers.

10 Trends From Community Banking Trenches bit.ly/wBCeal More innovation presented than an iPad introduction. @leimer @backbase

— Jim Marous (@JimMarous) February 28, 2012