More Spice Girl moments

I'm
sure you can see there's a theme to this week's blogging kicked off by
Posh and Becks in my first posting.  Yes, it's got to be a Spice Girls
week.  Not sure how I'll get through Ginger, Sporty, Baby and Scarey
... although there's a few folks around here that remind me of those
... but it's more to do with Give me what I want, what I really, really
want.  And no, it's not a zig-a-zig-ah.  It's give the corporate
customers what they really, really want.

Everything today has been about corporates. 

SWIFT has moved to be a customer-centric community (read give the corporate customers what they really, really want)

We
have integrated our value-added services into our customer's supply
chain (give the corporate customers what they really, really want)

Vocalink, Eiger and Identrust announce infrastructures for SEPA (give the corporate customers what they really, really want)

Hey,
I'm no slacker, but I get the message.  Give the corporate customers
what they really, really want.  So where are these corporates?

Now,
SWIFT tell me there are at least 260 here which, considering they only
expected and targeted 150, they're thrilled about.  Some cynical soul
then said "yes, and how many of those are IT exhibitors" - c'mon, be
nice m'friend.  SWIFT are doing their best to build a corporate
customer focus for their banking community.  And that's exactly how
SWIFT put it: enabling our banks to be more relevant to their customers
by providing them with the services their customers really, really want.

The
theme that then emerged is: OK, so you bring the corporates into the
community, how much of a slice of the action do they get?  Do they get
to vote on the strategy?  Do they get a shareholding in the community?
Can their CFO join the board of SWIFT?

My response is: why the hell should they?

Why
should a corporate have any ownership or stake in SWIFT?  It's not
their network or their core business.  Corporates are important but
payments, clearing and settlement, and all the things that go through
the financial supply chain are enablers of their business - not their
core business.

That's why we have banks.  Banks are there to
provide services to enable, support and automate the financial supply
chain in such a way as to make it as fast, efficient and effective as
it can be so that corporates can be more productive, more commercial
and more profitable.

So give the corporate customers what they really, really want. 

Excellent
corporate information services that show the CEO, CFO, Treasurer
and anyone else who needs to know the total financial position of the
business globally in real-time.

That's what the corporate customers really, really want.

A-zig-a-zig-aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.