If reports of rumours in this morning`s Business Day are to be believed, the days of Absa`s free Internet access could be numbered. I would not be at all surprised if Absa re-evaluates its free Internet offering and deems it unsustainable.
M-Web is perfectly positioned to adopt users in the case of Absa exiting its commitment.
Jason Norwood-Young, Technology editor, ITWeb
The biggest surprise of the year was the initial offering - the no-strings-attached approach to offering free Internet was a curious move from the bank. As a customer reward programme or as a reasonable method to force users to use Internet banking, it could have been understandable. But how do you justify offering something for free to people who aren`t even your customers? The bank wasn`t giving away pens - it was committing to an ongoing cost of around R90 a month per user, Absa customer or no.
When Affinity left the alliance, Absa had to dig into its e-business budget to pay for the service, which must have caused concern in the bank. The majority of the e-business budget was earmarked for internal development, and with Absa accelerating its e-business roll-out, the divisions must have had to juggle numbers with great dexterity to keep the roll-outs rolling. Even after sourcing that budget, the bank had only enough to pay for about three months of connectivity, according to my estimates.
M-Web to the rescue?
One fact supporting Business Day`s report is an e-mail that appeared in Absa e-mail boxes yesterday, asking users to "take a few minutes to check, verify and update your details on the online page which will be presented to you when you access the Internet using this service, with effect from Wednesday, 14 November 2001." This is probably an effort to clean up the database by dropping users that aren`t using the service, and also verify if they are Absa account holders.
The chance of M-Web taking up the service provision is not really "ironic", as stated in Business Day. M-Web is perfectly positioned to adopt users in the case of Absa exiting its commitment. Both companies are mature enough to realise that good business does not have a memory or a conscience.
I believe that Roux`s strong statements regarding free Internet and the sustainability of the Absa offering will be put aside by both parties, and the two could become good bedfellows. Roux would be quite justified in feeling vindicated, if his prophecy that free Internet is unsustainable comes true - and if he is the beneficiary of the prophecy. Absa, which seems hard-pressed to come up with a good, money-making e-commerce portal strategy, could definitely leverage M-Web`s skills in this arena.
The trick now for Absa will be severing its free Internet offering with the minimum of bad publicity.
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