IMGCAP(1)]
Following its plan to emphasize value-added services over products, ATM maker Diebold Inc. announced yesterday it will make mobile-banking services an integral part of its outsourcing strategy. Diebold has formed a strategic alliance with ClairMail Inc., a Novato, Calif.-based company that enables customers to access their account information with any mobile device using short-messaging-service (SMS) text messaging. This significantly reduces banks' costs, says Nick Holland, senior analyst at Boston-based Aite Group. "When a customer telephones a bank's call center, it costs the bank $14," Holland says. "The bank can send the customer a text message, and it costs the bank nothing," According to the agreement, Diebold will resell Clairmail's services to its bank customers. Diebold is pushing its value-added services to grow its business. "Our competitors are emphasizing products. We are emphasizing value-added services," Thomas Swidarski, Diebold president and CEO, told analysts during a conference in September.
