President Uhuru Kenyatta and IBM Research-Africa Director Kamal Bhattacharya shake hands during the opening ceremony for Africa’s first IBM research in Nairobi /File
IBM and Monitise have announced a global alliance to deliver cloud-based mobile commerce solutions to help financial services institutions embrace the mobile channel and better engage with customers.
The partnership will seek to deepen IBM’s MobileFirst philosophy and financial services as Monitise brings on board its expertise in mobile banking and payments capabilities.
“As the market for mobile payments is expanding, we are continuing to invest in the IBM MobileFirst portfolio to address this opportunity,” said Steve Mills, Senior Vice President and Group Executive. “The combination of our capabilities with Monitise will provide value to our clients, enhance the customer experience and drive business growth.”
The partnership with Monitise comes days after IBM announced plans it will jointly develop apps and software with Apple targeting business users.
IBM is banking on its cloud infrastructure and analytics to leverage on growing demand for real-time decision making. The IBM-Monitise partnership will offer financial institutions access to data analytics to offer customers targeted services such as in-store engagement and location-based offerings. Financial services providers will also deploy new digital and mobile money solutions while reducing costs and driving new revenue streams.
“Mobile is increasingly becoming the primary way for us to bank, pay and buy. Central to our strategy and collaborations is a drive to enable the businesses we work with to adopt solutions that help them engage more effectively with existing customers and unlock new commercial opportunities,” said Alastair Lukies, Chief Executive of Monitise plc.
“At a time when money is becoming more digitized, this strategic alliance with IBM will support financial institutions across the world in developing effective cloud-based strategies that make a real difference to consumers’ lives.”
In addition, IBM and Monitise plan to collaborate with IBM Ready Apps, a suite of industry-specific, pre-configured apps that can be easily customized and deployed.
