Private-branded browser extensions
can make online services easier to use and more prominent on users’ PCs

In late 1997, I spoke at a tech-company user conference in Santa Clara,
CA. Immediately preceding me was MECA founder and CEO Paul Harrison.
He was introducing a new online banking program MoneyScape, an
extension of the company’s pioneering, and now defunct, personal finance
software Managing Your Money (MYM). MoneyScape was an online banking
application that used so-called “push technology” to deliver banking
information directly to the user’s desktop. The innovative program died as
MECA changed ownership three times during the next three years.¹

Push technology was one of the first Internet ideas to experience a
consumer and media backlash. The streaming of unfocused news and advertising
content grew old quickly once the novelty wore off and the whole concept
fell to earth rather quickly.

Were Mr. Harrison to make the same presentation today, however, he would
have a much better chance of selling the idea.² Several of the
most successful Internet companies, including eBay, Google,
and WeatherBug, now push content via browser extensions and plug-ins
. The difference this time: a focus on delivering small, highly important
bits of information to users.

WeatherBug¾the sixth most-visited Web site with 13 million registered users³¾owes its success to a remarkable program that pushes weather information directly to the desktop. The current temperature, sourced from the closest of more than 5,000+ weather stations in its network, is displayed next to the time in the Windows’ system tray. Clicking on the temperature triggers a quick download of the complete weather picture. The resulting mid-sized window loads on top of whatever application you are working in.

Table 1

Companies Offering Custom Toolbars

Source: Online Banking Report, 8/02;        *For Internet Explorer only; Netscape version of Google’s toolbar available from third parties

Financial institutions should consider similar programs to position their brands directly on the browser, desktop, and/or system tray. The simpler concepts, such as providing a shortcut button that sits on the Internet Explorer toolbar, can be deployed for a few thousand dollars or less
Or, for those with larger budgets, ride the coattails of WeatherBug with a private-branded weather service. For those with even more resources, forget about the weather, create a “bank bug” that rides in the system tray alerting users to any changes in account status

¹MECA was purchased by Bank of America and NationsBank in 1995. NationsBank (now Bank of America) distributed Managing Your Money software extensively in 1996 and 1997 as its primary online banking platform prior to the launch of Web banking. The MECA unit was sold to Concentrix (formerly CFI ProServices) in 1999. John Harland subsequently purchased Concentrix in Aug. 2000, which quickly sold the Concentrix online banking assets to NetZee in Nov. 2000. Bank of America discontinued Managing Your Money support in early 2002.

²Microsoft Money and Intuit’s Quicken use many of these push features today.

³Unique users at WeatherBug and WeatherBug’s parent, AWS Technologies, for the week ending July 21, 2002 per ComScore Media Metrix.