As mobile banking has matured over the last year or so, newfeatures such as P2P and apps make this feature a must-have forcredit unions looking to attract new members of any age.

Mobile banking has been a hot commodity for nearly two yearsnow, increasing in fervor with each passing year – and, there's noend in sight. New smart phones, loaded with the latest features andcapabilities, seem to be released on a daily basis, which now makesmanaging your account from the palm of your hand virtually expectedin today's financial services world.

Many experts say if your financial institution doesn't offermobile, your more contemporary peers will leave you behind. So ifyou're looking to add or enhance your mobile capabilities, what'sthe latest?

First, 2011 was simply about getting to the table in terms ofoffering mobile banking.  If you haven't gotten there yetit's fair to say that you're behind the competition.  Nowthat 2012 has arrived, credit unions are starting to step back andreally consider what features their members want to have inmobile.

Initial research indicates that members aren't looking for theentire kitchen sink but rather those high profile items you need totackle on the go, such as balances, transaction history, transfers,and bill payments. The fact is these transactions make up about 98%of the transaction volume. Most other features are little used sokeeping it simple is important. Steve Jobs proved the “keep itsimple” concept with the iPhone.

That said, the adoption of smart phone technology has obviouslyexploded and the concept of downloadable apps has also moved frontand center. Earlier versions of mobile banking werefocused around Web-based versions, whereas the new trend is to havedownloadable apps available in the respective appstore. Of course, the Web-based version will continue tobe an important channel, but credit unions want to have a presencein the app stores. Many folks see the app stores as a who's-wholist of successful companies.

With the expansion of apps for both the internetworkingoperating platform and Android, however, the nature of devicemanagement is something of which to be aware. By devicemanagement, this means making sure the app works on all of thepossible iterations of devices supporting the respective operatingsystem. While the Apple side is isolated to just a fewdevices (iPhone, iPad, etc.) – and those are distinctly similar infunction – the Android side has literally hundreds of potentialconfigurations between the various device types and the individualcarrier software.

So, whereas a particular device may work perfectly fine on onecarrier's software configuration, it may fail onanother. Keeping track of all of the different devicetypes and configurations and making sure that any apps work equallywell in all instances is an ongoing challenge.

Like apps, person to person transfers are also growing indemand, as it gives your mobile member user an immediate way tosend money or pay for things wherever theyare. Incorporating this feature into your mobile offeringshould be a hot item for groups wanting to stay ahead of the mobilewave.

Although, P2P has been a hot topic for credit unions for awhile, the concept is still taking hold with members. Somecredit unions remain leery of it because they aren't hearing thedemand from members in mass. However, this is one of thosecases where members don't know what they're missing until they tryit. Just look at today's tablet trend. P2P should continueto gain traction as more people get their hands on it and wordspreads. The opportunity here for credit unions is tomaintain that progressive stance as they attempt to cater towardtech savvy members.

Conversely, high-end smart phones are becoming more commonamongst all age groups, even though the lion's share of the marketis still dominated by Gen Y. Of course, credit unions dosee the mobile channel as a voice to attract the younger members,but they're also getting some very positive reinforcement witholder members who've adopted these features as well, making it aneven more proven market. The iPhone has done especially well witholder members because of its simplicity and its intuitiveinterface.

If you want to know what technologies to step away from thesedays, short message service or text banking seems to be losing abit of steam. Historically, a data plan for phones was anexpensive add-on enjoyed only by a select group, while texting hadbecome an inexpensive commodity. Now, the data plan is astandard part of most phone packages with users running on 3G oreven 4G networks for speedy data exchange. So with robust versionsof mobile banking, either Web-based or within apps becoming moreavailable to members, the nature of having to remember text codesto obtain data or initiate transactions is taking a backseat.

The last point worth noting revolves around the potentialintegration of third-party features with mobilebanking. The advice here would be to have a clearunderstanding of what you are buying and expect to get from theprovider.  Are you buying a true defined app or only aseries of Web service calls where the actual user interface stillneeds to be created by someone else? The road to app land islittered with misunderstandings. Having multiple parties involvedrequires coordination and a lot of additional deployment time.

If you are still unsure how to approach mobile for yourmembership, the best advice would be to talk to them directly aboutwhat it is they want available in mobile banking. Ageneral survey with members will help your credit union have aclear picture of what items are must-haves versus rarely usedextras. Start with those major transaction types.

Remember, simply having the ability to display balances, displaytransaction history, do transfers, and pay bills covers 98% of whatmembers will want to do daily. You can expand the product later toprovide members with new features – such as fee generators likeP2P.