Banking on the 'Net: Will 'Push' Technology Shove Banks in Right

Just as the banking industry has fully embraced the World Wide Web, along comes a new technology called "push" that threatens to turn the Internet on its digital head.

"Push" technology, most successfully employed by the Internet news service Pointcast, is aimed at solving what many see as a fundamental flaw in the design of the World Wide Web: too much information and no simple way to navigate through the electronic morass.

Instead of relying on software browsers to find and retrieve information, push systems like Pointcast deliver personalized information directly to the user's desktop computer, in a process that works more like cable television than a traditional computer network.

Cyber-pundits are endorsing the push concept as a one that ultimately will bring the Internet to the masses. They also predict it could be applied usefully in the financial industry, where "know thy customer" has become a mantra.

"Personal finance managers like Quicken and Microsoft Money will eventually be replaced by software that is written in components, so banks can push down financial news, quotes, and product offers" to consumers through the Internet, said Karen Epper, an analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass.

And in spite of banks' recent mad rush to build interactive Web sites, at least some bankers now agree that push systems could quickly change the way they communicate with their on-line customers.

"Most people are inherently lazy, and they would prefer have information sent to them instead of searching for it," said Thomas J. Kitrick, vice president for strategic emerging technology at First Union Corp., and one of the architects of the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's award-winning Web site. "Push technology brings interactivity to a manageable level."

A number of financial services-related projects using push technology have already surfaced. Bank-owned Meca Software Inc.-makers of the Managing Your Money personal finance program-is working with one of the leading push innovators, Marimba Inc., to develop an "electronic branch" that will contact consumers suggesting when it may be time to refinance their mortgage or set up an individual retirement account.

Ms. Epper said NationsBank Corp. and Aetna Inc. also have developed push systems to distribute news and company data through their corporate intranets as a way to evaluate the technology for use with customers.

But like any new technology, push systems could be misapplied, particularly if banks use them to "spam" their customers with off-target sales pitches. "You don't want push systems to become the equivalent of direct mail on-line," Ms. Epper said.

"We may not have reached the holy grail of true one-to-one marketing yet, but push will allow for a more focused, segmented approach."

In addition to targeted sales pitches, Mr. Kitrick said he thinks the technology could even be used by banks to push down monthly account statements, and for businesses to electronically present bills to customers.

"This is not about technology, because the technology works," Mr. Kitrick said. "It's a marketing issue: How do you use push to find the right answers for a client's particular financial situation?"

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