Financial Institutions, Mass Collabortion, and Everyware

There are generally three types of organizations that fall under the general classification of “financial institution” - commercial banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions. I am employed by a small community-chartered federal credit union.
When thinking about information technology concepts, processes, and tools, I think about not only a newly-discovered information technology opportunity that I would recommend to my employer, but also about this opportunity benefiting all financial institutions.
As I recall the degree of technological advancement within the banking industry in the last several decades, I firmly believe mass collaboration would be advantageous to both my organization and more broadly, the banking industry. Evidence exists of open communication within the credit union industry, and also within the commercial banking industry, but minimally with one another across identifying lines. Minimal collaboration exists between banks and credit unions because they remain fiercely competitive. Barriers exist with each of them that require softening in order to accomplish true industry collaboration. What if all financial institutions collaborated while they continued to compete with one another? The banking industry has already changed to where all institutions appear and operate very similar to one another, so it seems that collaborating with one another in a spirit of openness would be a natural fit. I believe the knowledge each would gain from one other would be valuable in many ways – competing, improving operations, etc.
So how does one spark this collaboration? I believe that blogging is one way that this open collaboration can transpire. I find the blogging atmosphere within the credit union segment to be very open and wide spread. I further believe the open and national, possibly global reach characteristic are similar in most industries. So if blogging characteristics predominantly include openness and a national and/or world-wide audience, then blogging among all financial institutions would result in a great deal of information generation from all three segments over a wide spectrum. The knowledge gained from the exchange of information would allow for each segment to continue to compete, but in a different way. One might argue that a banker has access to credit union blogs and vice versa. I’m talking about well-known, widespread, intensely posted blogging by all financial institutions. Blog with one another I say!
If the world is preparing for a more ubiquitous world, then open collaboration seems an opportunity to prepare for, discuss, and keep abreast of changes toward an everyware atmosphere. If everyware takes shape as the author describes, an industry that relies heavily on PCs will face dramatic change when PCs as we know them today become obsolete. Again I ask, would it not be beneficial for all within the banking industry (banks, thrifts, credit unions) to be openly communicating with one another prior to transformation to an everyware world? As Greenfield describes, “Largely as a consequence of their complex and densely interwoven nature, in the event of a breakdown in ubiquitous systems, it may not be possible to figure out where something’s gone wrong. Even expert technicians may find themselves unable to determine which component or subsystem is responsible for the default (Greenfield, 2006, P. 152). If all financial institutions were openly mass collaborating, there would be many more sources of information and communication channels for all to utilize to address situations as described above, as well as other accompanying unknowns.
I realistically envision change toward a more ubiquitous environment in the banking industry. I imagine transformation that would allow bank personnel to conduct opening and closing security procedures by the touch of a hand. I also see financial transactions being conducted near instantaneously. In the same respect, what new physical appearance will financial institutions inherit? What is difficult for me to envision in an everyware financial institution is the employee’s role. Will we all become tech specialists that only report to work in order to trouble shoot when technological problems surface? It seems as if the human element might easily be replaced in a ubiquitous banking environment.
The changes I have witnessed in over 30 years that I have been employed in the banking industry lead me to the conclusion that it appears Moore’s law has held true, and may just continue in the future. This means industry wide mass collaboration is simply a smart preparatory move to ubiquitous financial transacting. The big question is, will there be a need for financial institutions as we find them today in a ubiquitous banking environment? It seems very realistic that in-home banking may replace traditional routine financial transacting.