Sunday Business Post - Media and Marketing - 28th January 2007
Last year, more music tracks were purchased as downloads in Ireland than were bought in CD-single format, writes Dermot Corrigan...
Last year, more music tracks were purchased as downloads in Ireland than were bought in CD-single format.
In 2006, there were 1.3 million physical singles bought and two million tracks downloaded.This total includes album tracks as well as specially released and marketed singles.
Meanwhile, annual digital music sales worldwide almost doubled toUS$2 billion.Inevitably, this change is having an impact on music charts. As of January 1, 2007, the Irish music singles’ charts now takes into account all music sold online, as well as the physical releases available in traditional bricks and mortar retailers.
‘‘The dramatic change in the way the charts are compiled is that you now don’t need a physical release to count in the charts,” said Dick Doyle, managing director of IRMA, the Irish Recording Music Association.
Online downloads were first counted in July last year, however for the first six months distributors were required to have a physical release in the shops within two weeks to be considered for the charts. From the start of this year, all music sold, whether over the internet or over the counter, is counted by ChartTrack, which compiles the sales figures for IRMA.
‘‘It has not had a massive impact, but some new things have come in,” said John Pinder, the managing director of ChartTrack.
Chasing Cars from Snow Patrol had stopped selling physically as the stock had run out, but it was still selling online and re-entered the charts.Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody also entered on the strength of just downloads. While Chasing Cars was first released in August last year, Bohemian Rhapsody dates from October 1975.
The Christmas Number One in Ireland was X-Factor winner Leona Lewis with A Moment Like This. This song remained on top of the pile for the first two weeks of the new compilation system.
ChartTrack measure sales traffic at nine Irish downloading sites. These include large industry players such as the Apple’s iTunes and Sony Connect sites, smaller independent start-ups such as downloadmusic.ie, as well as downloads to mobile phones from 3 Music and Vodafone.This combination covers over 90 per cent of the total music bought online in Ireland.IRMA have been involved in promoting the official Irish singles and albums charts, based on consumer sales, since 1992, when Gallup were awarded the contract to compile the sales information.
ChartTrack have been providing the statistics since a management buy-out from Gallup in 1996. Both ChartTrack and IRMA are eager to make sure that the charts remain relevant in the 21st century.
‘‘The charts are there to reflect what the consumer is doing. The customer has been adapting more and more to the digital delivery services, whether through mobile downloads or to their computers. So it is up to us to reflect what the consumer wants, and what the consumer is buying,” said Doyle.
The new method of determining the singles charts opens up a number of different possibilities, including the prospect of one band filling all the spots in the top ten.
‘‘For example, if the new U2 album comes and all the tracks sell enough they could all get in the singles chart. It is really now a songs chart rather than a singles chart as such, said Pinder.
It also means the potential to see more golden-oldie or independent songs making surprise appearances in the singles charts.
Until recently if an old or previously unknown song came to prominence (for example after appearing on a Levi’s Jeans television advertisement or in a Quentin Tarantino movie) fans had to wait for distributors to react, whereas now they can go online in seconds to purchase the track.
‘‘People are going to hear things and then buy them,” said Pinder. ‘‘A big advert, using an old song can fire that back into the charts, or use of the song in a soap opera or on a film soundtrack. Different influences will push different songs.”
Another advantage for consumers is that the cost of downloading songs online is typically lower than purchasing a CD. For example, A Moment Like This costs €4.99 in HMV in Dublin, stg£3.99 on Amazon.co.uk and 99cent from iTunes.
There are now over four million songs available for immediate purchase online from approximately 500 online music services in 40 countries worldwide, however, due to Vat restrictions Irish consumers must buy only from Irish sites.This obviously poses a threat to the business model of high-street music retailers, who are being forced to adapt to the new reality. HMV recently installed booths in their stores where customers can purchase and download music on site.
‘‘I think traditional bricks and mortar retailers are going to have to offer both the physical disk and the online side,” said Doyle.Doyle predicts that we will see more independent acts represented in the Irish charts in the future.
‘‘A lot of independent acts - who for some reason haven’t been signed by a big label or do not want to be signed by a big label - will produce their own digital tracks and will sell them online,” he said.
‘‘It should mean more independent type acts will make it into the charts, and much more quickly,” said Doyle.
The four major global music distributors Universal, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI have also moved quickly to ensure their presence in the online market.
‘‘The download market, as well as the physical market, is still dominated by the four major labels,” said Pinder.
Dave Pennefather, managing director of Universal Music Ireland, said that he welcomed the step.‘‘It is wonderful that there are so many platforms out there where people can go and legitimately get access to the music available,” he said.
Universal was adapting well to the new reality, and despite the vexatious problem of illegal downloading, its sales were remaining constant.
http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=MEDIA+AND+MARKETING-qqqs=mediaandmarketing-qqqid=20498-qqqx=1.asp
Sunday 28 January 2007
Huge digital impact on music charts
Thursday 25 January 2007
Opportunity Knocks for MBA Students
Sunday Business Post - Recruitment Section - 14 Jan 2007
There are many options for Irish professionals wishing to pursue an MBA here and abroad, writes Dermot Corrigan
In Ireland, all the main third level institutions, including University College Dublin; Trinity College Dublin; University College Cork; University of Limerick and the National College of Ireland, Galway, run Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) courses.
According toNick Barniville, MBA Programme Director at the UCD Michael Smurfit School of Business in Dublin, the best option for each candidate depends on their individual aims and circumstances.
“Different people have different goals for their MBAs,” said Barniville. “The main reason to do an MBA in Ireland is that the way business works here is so highly networked,” said Barniville. “One of the things that is different about Irish programmes is that there is more industry interaction.”
Irish students can also opt to study overseas in the US, Canada or Australia. Many EU countries offer MBA and EMBA courses tailored to the needs of international students, with English as the language of tuition.
“Getting international experience can only help someone in terms of getting a job, and in terms of having an exposure to the kinds of markets they will be dealing with in the future,” said Boris Porkovich, MBA director of the International University of Monaco.
“I think it is very important for people to study internationally is that in order to progress in any job now, everyone needs to understand clearly and carefully the differences that they will encounter. People need to actually know how to manipulate those differences in order to create better market opportunities for their companies.”
MBA programmes typically last for between one and two years, while EMBA courses are usually two year programmes.
Students on EMBA courses are more likely to remain working, and study by block release, where they take attend classes during a set number of weeks spread throughout the year. MBA programmes are usually, but not always, taught on a full-time basis from 9AM to 5PM on weekdays.
However, for candidates keen to add an international dimension to their career, there are definite advantages to studying abroad.
“If you are looking to have an international career, there is a big advantage in going to a school which has an international presence and having an international brand recognition,” said Arnold Longboy, Director of Corporate Relations and Recruitment with the Chicago Graduate School of Business – Europe Campus.
“One thing about doing an international programme is that usually the people you are studying with too tend to be much more international, so you will actually learn a lot more just by being with these students on the programme. Here in London we have forty different nationalities and you learn directly from the people from those cultures, as opposed to from a professor who has studied doing business in a different culture.”
The delivery methods and timetables of international MBA programmes at European and US universities are often designed with the requirements of international students in mind.
“75% of students taking our EMBA in London actually fly in from outside of the UK to participate in it,” said Longboy “About 80% are either Western, Eastern or Central European, then the rest come from the Middle East and Africa.”
One obvious consideration for potential MBA students is cost. Tuition fees for MBA programmes are typically higher than for other postgraduate courses. The fees for the full-time MBA Programme at Smurfit Business School for 2006-2007 are €26,700.
Barniville said that most students see the costs as an investment, considering the potential for improved earning potential following graduation. He said that the UCD fees compare favourably with international competitors such as the Saïd Business School in Oxford, Judge Business School in Cambridge, Rotterdam School of Management, and the Bocconi University School of Management in Italy.
There also lots of ancillary costs involved in travelling abroad to study, as well as potential difficulties involving family or social life.
Porkovich said MBA programmes differed from country to country. He said the US style is focused on intensive learning and is very practically oriented, while the European model tends to be less intensive and more academic.
Students can compare MBA programmes by using one of the four major international MBA rankings systems, published annually by the Financial Times, Business Week magazine, the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Wall Street Journal.
Some business schools in particular locations concentrate on particular areas. For example the International University of Monaco focuses on wealth and asset management, entrepreneurship and luxury services.
Longboy said some students opted for an international programme to smooth their transition to work in a new country.
“Our campus is right in the heart of the financial district, and some people take this programme because they may eventually want to have a career here in London, especially in finance,” he said.
Irish institutions are introducing programmes in areas in which they have specific advantages or competencies.
“We are probably going to see more niche MBAs coming onto the market,” said Barniville. “UCD have introduced an MBA in Health Services Management and we are looking at developing an MBA together with the Institute of Bankers in Financial Services and Regulatory Compliance.”
Microsoft Drives Interest
Sunday Business Post - Computers in Business Magazine - Jan 07 2007
Two new Microsoft software releases will form the basis for many training courses this year, but there is also much more on offer for those willing to expand their IT knowledge, writes Dermot Corrigan
Probably the most important development in Irish IT departments in 2007 will be the next wave of Microsoft product releases. The Windows Vista operating system was launched in December 2006, while Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 boxes will be hitting shelves and arriving on IT teams’ desks in the coming months.
There is generally a certain time lag between the product going on sale and its full introduction across an organisation. This time is usually filled with training and development courses for staff, so that the IT department can implement these products succesfully and troubleshoot them immediately. Irish training providers are gearing up to meet this demand, with the official Microsoft training programmes and curriculum set to be rolled out by Irish training providers on a gradual basis throughout 2007.
“In 2007 we are going to see a lot of interest in Microsoft Vista, obviously the product was just launched recently. We are going to get a lot of demand for training of both engineers and developers alike. We will also get a lot of call for the user community of Office 2007,” said Etain Delaney, Corporate Account Manager with Sureskills.
“To date we have already offered a few tailored workshops on Microsoft Vista and Microsoft Exchange 2007, but as the official curriculum is launched by Microsoft in 2007 we will start running those as well.”
Calyx are another certified Microsoft training partner who are putting in place a number of introductory training courses to meet the release of the new Microsoft products.
“We do not expect to see Vista courses for a number of months while people get to grips with it and plan their own deployments, but we are offering a number of previews and half day and one day courses looking at the planning of Vista deployment,” said Richard Glavin, Managing Director of Calyx Training.
“There is also the release of Microsoft Exchange 2007 – the new email platform from Microsoft – and we have run some courses on that already, sort of first look courses where people can come in and have a play around etc. Again we are seeing that people will be deploying the latest Exchange in the first half of the year and we would expect to see significant training business as a result,” said Glavin.
Microsoft products already established in the market will also be the focus of much attention from Irish IT training managers in 2007.
“Microsoft SQL 2005 – we have been getting a lot of demand for this now. We would have traditionally provided a lot of training on Microsoft SQL 2000, and a lot of the curriculum has been recently updated so we are providing a lot of those courses as well,” said Delaney.
The concept of VMware is another of the major developments to have exploded on the IT scene in recent times. VMware is such an innovative technology that even technical staff are having to learn the ropes almost from scratch. As more and more organisations incorporate VMware into their server infrastructure and processes in 2007 the demand for relevant training courses is set to increase.
“Virtualisation as a technology is completely new and end users would attend the course pre-implementation just to understand the technology itself, because it is a complete change in their infrastructure and also to give them hands on experience in managing the new virtualised infrastructure,” said Enda Fitzpatrick, Sales Manager with Commtech Distribution.
Sureskills are also putting in place VMware courses.
“We offer a four day course entitled ‘VMware Infrastructure Version 3 Install and Configure’ and this course also prepares for the VMware certified professional exam as well. Students who take the course can also take the exam at our centre. We also offer training upgrade sessions as well from older versions of the product,” said Delaney.
Security is going to be a huge issue in 2007 across all aspects of IT in business. While threats continue to multiply and become increasingly sophisticated, training providers are simultaneously updating their course offerings.
“We do security solutions courses in three name products - SonicWALL, McAfee and Blue Coat,” said Fitzpatrick. “These are very very high end enterprise security courses. We are running them both for partners and for end users. We ran our first McAfee course last month and it was very successful because they have made a number of changes and also come out with a number of new products”.
The area of security is of course not just about dealing with external threats. Companies have to protect themselves from issues and scandals around inappropriate staff behaviour. Merely installing anti-virus software or sending circulars to staff members is not sufficient. Management have a legal and moral responsibility to develop in-depth security policies, and one important aspect of this is to have a highly trained member of staff who can make sure their network is safe and clean.
One new and novel course which is being introduced in 2007, is the postgraduate certificate in Information Security and Penetration Testing from Ashfield Computer Training. This is the very first FAS approved postgraduate course in Ireland. It was designed by the University of Glamorgan and Ashfield are the sole Irish college offering the programme.
“It is the first course in the world that offers a university qualification for people who are doing ethical hacking and cyber forensics,” said Eileen McGinn, MD with Ashfield. “Ethical hacking is where you get permission from an organisation to look at the vulnerabilities that exist in their system so that you can mitigate against a dangerous or black hat hacker breaking into the system. We get there first so people are aware of the possibilities.”
McGinn said that the course will teach techniques and develop skills in industry which would previously only have been used in police departments or military situations.
“This is a rather niche market in terms of people who have exposure to this level of knowledge, but because it has been turned into a mainstream university academic qualification, we now have the facility and the ability to be able to teach this to network engineers, or network administrators, who want to strive to get up the corporate ladder and also look at the level of IT security in high end businesses,” she said.
The 2007 entry course is already booked up, and Ashfield are considering adding extra places. They are also looking at introducing a similar qualification in Mobile Forensics towards the end of 2007.
Internet communications and multimedia are another area where course providers are expecting significant interest in the coming year. McGinn said that the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) qualification is becoming increasingly popular with IT professionals who are looking to add a recognised qualification to their CV and work on the latest web-related skills such as XHTML design, as well as security and administration aspects of web development.
Maybe the biggest factor in the strong growth of the technical IT training sector in Ireland over the last few years has been the implementation of the FAS Competency Development Programme, which helps businesses meet the costs of training their staff. This typically means that FAS will refund 60 to 70% of the course fees of any recognised course.
2007 will see course providers such as Calyx working proactively with FAS to develop technical IT training programmes which are pre-approved for funding.
“At the moment people have to claim a rebate from FAS after completion of the course, whereas we will be offering the discount up front and they will just have to pay the balance, which makes it even easier for companies to send staff on FAS approved courses this year,” said Glavin.
The availability of funding means that courses which were offered by providers in the last few years are now more popular as the costs have come down so much.
“One area that continues to be very popular is the Microsoft Certified System Administrator and the Microsoft Certified System Engineer tracks – the MCSA and MCSE Certification tracks,” said Delaney. “We have actually seen, even though we have always run these courses over the last few years, that courses are now filling up and we are putting on additional dates to cope with the demand. We would envisage running quite a lot of those in 2007.”
Another trend that course providers are seeing in the market, and expecting to continue in 2007, is that individuals are constantly upskilling and diversifying their skillsbase as their careers progress.
“Employees are very aware of the need to be trained,” said McGinn. “We have a lot of individuals coming to us wanting to become certified, starting out with the A+ technicians course, and then progress on to do the networking, which would be the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and then on to Cisco router courses. So they are going out with that mix of qualifications that allows them to troubleshoot hardware issues, and also to troubleshoot network issues. You need multiple certifications to be taken seriously, the diversity of technology is so vast that is important you have cross platform knowledge and experience.”
Another certification that is in demand is the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).
“This is a set of best practice standards for IT service management, which has been popular over the last few years but we are seeing an increasing demand for public courses tied into the certification,” said Delaney. “This has been very popular as it is a public domain framework and it is very scalable, so it can be put into practice across a number of organisations and they can also be adapted according to each individual organisation’s needs.”
2007 is unlikely to be the year when e-learning really takes off. While many course providers offer e-learning options and incorporate e-learning aspects into their programmes through blended solutions, we will have to wait for most of the more adventurous predictions about the emergence of the virtual classroom to be realised.
Where we will see a certain amount of e-learning in 2007 is as a complimentary add-on to existing classroom based or on-site training programmes.
“We offer customers e-learning as part of the overall package. As soon as somebody books a course we give them access to the online portal and they can go and have a look at the course content, do some pre-course assessment etc, so that when he comes into the course he is well prepared and gets more out of it and similarly then for three months after the course they have access to extra resources as well, for instance allowing revision for an exam. Definitely e-learning is complimentary to the training, but it doesn’t replace it,” said Glavin.
Looking on down the line to 2008 and further, it is safe to predict many more advances and developments in technical IT training courses and solutions. Irish course providers are keen to keep abreast of international trends and are constantly looking to ensure their programes stay bang up to date.
“New technology is really what we are looking at. We are looking to find leading edge technology which is close to the market and might be emerging in the UK or American market, but maybe a year away, and we adopt it into the Irish market and provide training.,” said Fitzpatrick.
IT is never going to stand still, and professionals working in the sector have to make sure they keep up with the latest developments in today´s knowledge economy. Irish IT training providers are working hard to put in place programmes for 2007 to meet this demand and ensure that Ireland continues to play a leading role in the global IT industry. Observers of the sector expect continued support from government and industry leaders.
“The government recognise the importance of training of high skill workers and ensuring that productivity remains high to keep the Irish IT sector competitive, because otherwise Ireland will become less attractive as a location for investment,” said Glavin.
Sales may break 180,000 barrier
Sunday Business Post - Winter Motoring Supplement - December 10 2006
New car sales in Ireland are expected to total 180,000 by the year's end, according to Eddie Murphy, chairman of Ford Ireland.
“Car sales in
With late sales projections down on the projections forecast for the start of 2006, the mood in motoring circles is one of caution.
“The market slowed down quite a bit towards the end of this year, which was a bit contrary to what we all expected,” said Frank Kennedy, General Manager with Honda Ireland.
“Interest rate hikes and so forth, and the general economic conditions would have cast that frustration or annoyance on people. They have less disposable income and are keeping their money in their pockets and we see that going forward into next year as well."
According to statistics compiled by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) , new car sales in
Last year the corresponding figure grew significantly by 11 per cent to 171.732. This year's growth rate is expected to finish up just half of that.
SSIA spending on new car registrations had been lower than expected. However, with the majority of accounts set to mature next May, the true impact of the SSIA scheme on the motor industry's coffers has yet to be felt.
"There wouldn’t be an awful lot of reliance from our side on the SSIAs delivering a great result next year,” said Kennedy. "You could argue that our market is gone at that stage as over 75% of registrations will have taken place."
Murphy said that sales of second hand British imports in the Irish market stood at about 70,000.
“From an industry point of view and from a consumer point of view that may have a damaging effect on new vehicle sales,” he said. “The more used cars that come into
SIMI has been very vocal in their condemnation of this practice, pointing to the unregulated ‘black economy’ of individuals selling used imports from makeshift premises and with no industry regulation.
“There are guys with cars on display on the side of the road and how they are getting away with it I don’t know," said Murphy. "If it was any other business the local council or some government department would be down on them.”
The recent drop in the price of car insurance has, in contrast, helped to boost sales in the Irish motor industry.
“There was a time four or five years ago when insurance costs were the bugbear of an awful lot of people, especially young people coming into the market,” said Murphy. "Certainly the premiums have fallen and personally I think there is scope for them to fall even more."
Green Motoring
The well publicised volatility in petrol prices, combined with government controls on CO2 emissions, means that customers are increasingly looking for ‘greener’ products.
“The environment would be definitely one of the biggest issues going forward in the motor industry over the next number of years," said Kennedy. "It will certainly have a large bearing on they type of cars that are being sold. People will be looking for cars which are more fuel efficient and certainly more environmentally friendly."
In 2005 Ford introduced the Focus FFV model, which runs on a mixture of unleaded petrol and bioethanol. There are now 13 Maxol filling stations nationwide which distribute the Maxol Bioethanol 85 fuel, a dairy byproduct manufactured by the Carbery Group in
“The fuel itself is about 15c a litre cheaper than unleaded,” said Murphy. "The CO2 emissions from the car and the whole process of how the fuel is sourced in the first place is far more beneficial to the environment."
Kennedy said that green-conscious consumers are also turning towards diesel models as a cleaner option.
“We are also growing our diesel sales with Honda’s ‘Whispering Diesel’ engine," he said. "This year diesel has allowed us to grow Accord sales and that is encouraging.
From a CO2 emission point of view they are more environmentally friendly than petrol engines at this moment in time."
Luxury Models
Another trend in the Irish new car sales market which looks set to continue in 2007 is the move towards more expensive luxury models.
“Like everything else in
Kennedy said that younger customers, in particular, are especially drawn towards luxury or premium models, and that they are prepared to borrow to get the car that they want.
“The type of people with the disposable income tend to be the younger people," he said. "They say 'we want our car now, we are prepared to finance it, and we want the latest and greatest'. The higher the specification in the model the more it seems to be in demand."
However Murphy added that, in line with the growing environmental consciousness, consumer demand for larger models is shrinking.
“Personally, I think the days of the big four wheel drive vehicle are drizzling," he said. "They are too big to be perfectly honest. There is a bit of a society backlash which is beginning to gather momentum against them."
Saturday 13 January 2007
E-Banking's New Era
Sunday Business Post - Computers in Business Magazine - Dec 03 2006
More and more businesses are moving the majority of their banking functions online for three reasons: cost savings, convenience and real-time information and reporting. The primary motivation, as with most investments in information technology, is to save money.
“When you add in stamp costs and administration time we reckon the typical cheque would cost €1.20 and the typical online transaction would cost 29c,” said Dermot Nolan, head of business marketing with Bank of Ireland. “If you are writing 150 cheques a quarter, which for most businesses would not be excessive, you would pay your monthly online banking charge immediately.”
The second advantage associated with online e-banking services is convenience. The internet doesn't go home at 5pm, never takes holidays and is always open for business.
“You could be sitting in your kitchen on a Saturday night doing staff payments or making transfers, and obviously the bank isn't open then,” said Nolan.
The third issue where online banking facilities can make a real impact on the efficiency of business processes is in providing businesses with quality information and reliable data, such as account balances, outstanding creditors and overdue debtors, which is right up to date.
“If you only monitor your accounts by monthly statements, 30 days is a long time in the life of a business. The luxury of being able to look up a balance once a week, once a day or ten times a day is seen by a lot of businesses to be cost effective in terms of managing their cash flow better,” said Nolan.
All businesses, ranging from the sole trader to the large multinational, have good reasons to look to e-banking solutions. This includes everyone from self employed individuals logging on a few times a week to check their balances or pay their phone bill, to SMEs using the internet to pay suppliers and staff on a regular basis, to huge organisations trading overseas who have foreign exchange and treasury requirements.
All the major Irish banks and building societies now offer online banking to their business and personal customers.
The names given to the different bank's services are very similar, and there is not a great deal of difference between the different services and facilities either. All the e-banking services have evolved quickly in recent years from basic online account management to more complex services, with features such as international currency dealing and payroll applications.
Real time banking is standard in the e-banking market.
The basic facilities that all the packages available offer the ability to view balances and histories of different accounts (including those in other banks), transfer funds between your accounts, order statements, credit cards or chequebooks, conduct cheque searches and transaction searches, set up standing orders and direct debits and make domestic and international payments.
Most packages also now include more advanced functions. These include exporting information to other applications on the user's PC such as Microsoft Excel, or different more specialised accounts packages and the ability to create payment templates for regular payments which can be put in place once and then react automatically and schedule forward payments up to 90 days in advance.
Another basic level of functionality in the bank's online business offerings is the ability to give different levels of access and authority to employees at different levels.
“You can have as many users as you want, with various levels of access to what they can do'‘, said Barry Manning, senior cash manager with National Irish Bank.
“You can have users who can just view accounts only, other users can go in and create payments, and then other users who can go in and authorise those payments.”
The ability to integrate a business’ e-banking function with various internal accounting and financial packages within a company is also widespread.
This means that as you use the online application to pay bills and receive payments, your internal accounts can be notified and updated in real time, which helps businesses keep track of their cash flow as and when it happens.
“You can generate invoices or files in your accounting system, and directly upload those to the bank from your own desk without having to generate files or fill out any paperwork etc,” said Sean Jevons, head of e-channel development at AIB.
Irish businesses commonly use the internet to pay staff salaries. Most of the payroll software packages on the market at present can be made compatible with the online banking mechanisms.
“A lot of our customers from small, medium and large-scale enterprises would upload payroll files from their own systems directly onto the system,” said Jevons.
“There is no need to re-key them or anything like that. I will upload the file and maybe someone else will check that it is fine, and then it is released to AIB and we will action it for the customer.”
This can have a definite advantage in that the banks can view this salary function as one transaction, with a single cost, but there are maybe 100 credits to accounts, either held by your bank or wherever your staff have their account.
There are a number of individual features which provide a certain amount of differentiation within the Irish e-banking for business market.
The different packages available from the different banks each have their particular extra add-on facilities.
National Irish Bank's ‘Business eBanking' service allows online trading in securities and currencies, get live updates on your currency positions and market value of currencies in your account and see real time news and analysis which may impact on your trading decisions.
“We give every user access to market and currency information. So they look at share prices online and see the current exchange rates. They can also access Reuters online information for free,” said NIB's Manning.
NIB's online offering is also more individually designed.
The facility is divided into different modules that the customer can pick and choose from depending on their particular requirements. NIB uses the same e-banking system as its parent Danske Bank, which is in use
“It is more of a consultation process that takes into consideration what their specific requirements are, we go out and sit down with the customer and design a specific solution for their needs. Then we only charge customers for the modules which they use,” said Manning.
There is also a level of differentiation between the bank's individual packages in relation to cost. Each bank offers a certain basic service for free.
The next NIB package starts at €10 a month and works up depending on requirements. The BOI offerings range €15 up to €70 a month.
AIB charge a flat fee of €200 to all online business customers.
Transaction costs across the banks are generally cheaper if you do it online, however for full breakdown of exact differences you should contact the bank directly.
Signing up and training
All of the banks are eager to get their customers online, as there are also efficiencies and cost savings from their point of view. It is relatively easy to sign up through your own business manager, by visiting a branch, or via the bank's website.
Anyone with an up to date version of their internet Browser (eg Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari) should have no problems accessing the online banking webpages. Some websites will require particular software patches - for example an updated version of Java - which will be downloadable for free. Windows 98 or later versions is also generally required.
Broadband connections are also a good idea, as waiting for a page to load via dial-up is not an option when you are making important financial transactions. The e-banking packages on offer are not overly complex, and anyone with competency using the internet or basic IT applications should not have too much difficulty banking online. The banks all provide initial training services to customers free of charge and have dedicated support staff contactable by email or phone who can provide assistance if things do go askew.
Security issues are stalling internet banking. A survey of the Irish market, carried out earlier this year by Behaviour & Attitudes for international IT consultancy CA, found that of the 1.4 million Irish adults who use the internet, almost 10 per cent (125,000 people) claim that they do not carry out transactions online due to worries over identity theft.
All banks take e-banking security issues seriously. There is a detailed set-up process, which generally involves both online and offline elements.
Each user will have a set of personal authorisations (ie username IDs and passwords) which will allow only the level of access which the individual is permitted.
With this login users can typically access some parts of the facility, but will not be able to move large amounts of money around. Further, stricter, measures are put in place such as extra software installed on your individual PC.
“To go and make a transaction you need a digital certificate, which sits on your PC, so if a customer was foolish enough to give their username and password to somebody else that person would be able to view the account online, but unless they were actually using the PC that has been allocated to make transactions they actually can't do any damage in terms of withdrawing any money,” said BoI's Nolan.
AIB have recently introduced an extra measure to heighten the security of their iBusiness Banking (iBB) package. Each user gets a new piece of hardware, which looks like a calculator, which sits on their desk and produces a unique code or token which is traceable to them each time they carry out a transaction.
A lot of the negative publicity around internet banking has focused on phishing. This is a scam used to gather information from unsuspecting customers, usually in the form of an e-mail redirecting recipients to a fake website where they are asked to enter bank details.
Users should never confirm account details in an unsolicited email. They should also ensure that all transactions take place on a secure server where the web address is https://, and a padlock icon is visible in the corner of the browser frame.
All the banks are well aware of the perils of phishing.
“We have our own security software called E-safe Key which is built into the system.
“We recently upgraded it specifically around the phishing issue which has become more prevalent recently,” said Manning.
None of the banks can see any huge advances in e-banking options, as almost everything you can do in a branch you can now do online.
The innovation is going to come in informing and explaining to businesses how they can extract most value from the existing e-banking solutions.
“We have a module in our system called Collection Service which is used at present mainly for direct debit collection, but it also has the ability to be able to outsource invoicing to the bank so that customers, rather than printing off reams of invoices, enveloping them, putting stamps on them and posting them out, can avail of that functionality into NIB,” said Manning.
Using your e-banking solution to gather and collate data is another possibility for businesses. Full integration with your internal accounting systems can reap many potential benefits.
