Jack Henry & Associates Inc. is giving the end users of its online banking software extensive control over how their banks' services appear online.
The vendor's new product, called My NetTeller, is an add-on to Jack Henry's NetTeller online banking system. It allows consumers to drag and drop widgets to a dashboard view, which they see upon logging on.
The new software is designed to meet expectations set by other online service providers, such as Google Inc., that the view of a website can be shaped to suit the needs of an individual user.
"As the population, especially the younger population, gets more in tune with electronic banking they are demanding more of this type of idea and structure," said Darren Crossett, senior vice president of Beacon Federal Bancorp, Inc. of East Syracuse, N.Y.
The customization provided by My NetTeller "will be one more way to tie the customers to their accounts here at Beacon," Crossett said.
The bank has $1 billion of assets, and approximately 45,000 customers. Crossett said about 10,000 of its customers bank online. Crossett said he had no firm number for My NetTeller users, as roll-out began in March.
Jack Henry said 125 banks offer My NetTeller, and that 36,000 bank customers use it. The Monett, Mo., vendor has 1,240 financial institution clients and 6 million end users altogether.
Ron Shevlin, a senior analyst at Aite Group LLC in Boston, said banks realize that the financial crisis has seriously damaged their reputations with consumers. Tools like personal financial management and a customizable dashboard that puts the consumer in control can help rebuild relationships.
"This is not simply a matter of offering checking accounts and debit cards and online banking," Shevlin said. Banks "have to take this to another level and let customers better manage their financial lives with online financial management tools."
Consumers set up My NetTeller by clicking one of two boxes that ask them to configure the software directly or start with a standardized version.
If consumers choose to customize, they are taken to a separate screen that lets them drag and drop up to 40 widgets that will let them personalize the online banking experience. They can add services like bill payment, account balances and cash transfers to their homepage.
"Customer demands now are so great on financial institutions and so varied, and there is no one-size-fits-all," said Pete Hopkins, general manager of Internet solutions for Jack Henry.
"It boils down to the ability of the end user to come into online banking and see everything on one screen, and do everything they want from one screen, and then get out of there," Hopkins said.
Industry observers said customizable dashboards such as My NetTeller are part of the next generation of online banking, which has not changed much in 15 years.
Another example is Yodlee Inc.'s FinApp model, which allows third parties to set up their own widgets for consumers to use. One example is a widget from H&R Block Inc. that helps online banking users prepare their taxes.
"The lines between online banking and PFM tools are blurring," said Madhavi Mantha, head of banking research at Novarica, a division of bank consultancy Novantas LLC, of New York.
"It will put pressure on banks that have traditionally had static websites." Mantha said.
Nicole Sturgill, a research director at TowerGroup in Needham, Mass., agreed. "A lot of institutions are looking at upgrading online banking," she said. "We are starting to see banks make major changes … because it is time for those systems to be replaced."
Not all vendors agree that banks should offer consumers the ability to customize their online banking view.
Erich Litch, president of digital channels at Fiserv Inc. of Brookfield, Wis., said customers often do not know what they want, and it is useful for banks to guide them.
"The notion that an end user wants to invest a lot of time personalizing and moving things around, from our research, is not a valid assumption," Litch said.
He said that within its online banking product, Corillian Online, Fiserv lets banks offer consumers preconfigured dashboards. For example, heavy transactors will get a preconfigured dashboard that will facilitate their needs. Consumers that are more interested in managing their finances would choose a template that gives them more analysis of their financial lives.
