Digital Interactif

One small yawn for Yanks; One giant leap for Froggies

Monabanq, a subsidiary of 3 Suisses International Group and Groupe Cetelem, is a French bank that exists completely online and allows customers to manage all of their affairs through the Monabanq website.  Though this is a huge "yawn" for an American, this type of service is practically unheard of in France.  An interesting feature of this online bank is that they utilize Skype so that communications with the banking agents is free, essentially creating a cost-free operation.   

Whereas the typical French bank closes at 5pm on weekdays, Monabanq is geared towards the typical Internet user/full-time worker and offers live support until 10pm at night.   

The website itself offers a great interactive video that serves as a tutorial for new users.  If you want to test out your french skills, check it out.

Monabanq's main benefits include:

• No more paperwork : Digital copies of all your paper work
• No more mail : Interface for scanning and sending your documents to Monabanq via the Internet.
• No more pens : Electronic signature allows you to fill out bank requests without leaving your home.
• No more transfer delays (sort of...) : Transfer large sums of money in only 2-24 hours
• No more trips to the bank : Cash checks online (check must be sent to bank by mail though.  Once received, the account is credited to the date when the online form was initially filled out

Many of these features already exist in the American banking world but they are truly unheard of in France.  I lived in France for a year and learned to deal with a Bank (Banque Populaire) that closed it's doors for 2 hours during lunch time and closed at 12pm on Saturdays...I guess they never realized the beauty of running "lunch time" errands.  To see this type of change occurring within the French banking services industry is encouraging.  Hopefully, this level of consideration for customer service will spread like wild fire over there as the Internet forces the hand of traditional operating hours.   

In VoIP We Trust

Today Avaya's stock price went hog-wild, at one point dropping nearly 11% before regaining some of it's strength and ending only 1.73% down.   Currently in the midst of a private equity buyout, Avaya is worrying investors because of continued turmoil in the credit market and the recent collapse of stereo-maker Harman International's own buyout deal.  Fortunately, the Avaya's underlying business is solid as a rock. 

As the economy moves forward over the next couple of quarters, skeptics and investors aplenty will cry wolf, but companies that provide VoIP equipment/software for businesses will remain on solid footing.  VoIP is spreading throughout the business world and this will benefit makers of VoIP equipment and software, especially one's with respected names in the industry. The underlying logic is that even if our economy does enter into a recession,  VoIP communications provides a means to simultanously reduce costs and enhance productivity.  Therefore, the equipment makers for VoIP products stand to make considerable profits as businesses inevitably invest in this cost saving technology. 

Two companies to keep an eye on are Level 3 and Shoretel.  These stocks are a win-win situation in the long-run for two reasons.  Firstly, as described above, high rates of adoption and considerable profit margins will allow these companies to grow over time.  Secondly, this sector of the telecommunications industry will see much consolidation in the next few years in order to take advantage of VoIP's global spread. 

Also, keep an eye on the equipment giants Nortel Networks and Alcatel-Lucent.   Nortel is currently priced at a four-year low and it may still have a few bad quarters ahead of it, thus it's price may still go lower.  Likewise, Alcatel-Lucent is nearing a four year low and is currently having difficulty realizing gains from it's recent merger.  But for all their problems, Nortel and Alcatel-Lucent should not be trivialized.  Their international presence and market size could see them reemerge as an increasingly important players in the next two year. 

FYI: I do hold small stake in AVAYA.  I don't (at least not yet) hold any stock in Level 3, Shoretel, Alcatel-Lucent or Nortel.