When Wells Fargo decided to build a corporate mobile platform, one of the first customers the bank approached to pilot the service was Trisa LaSalle, director of treasury services for Sequoia Insurance Co., based in Monterey, Calif. LaSalle is "that legendary treasury pro on the go," as she puts it, so having mobile access to treasury activity is a huge must-have on her list. "I bounce back and forth among multiple offices, in Monterey, Bakersfield and Las Vegas, where I live," she says. "I'm in transit, and in meetings and often off-site. What happens when we have a wire to complete or bank activity to review? Now, I don't need a desk. I'm effective wherever I am, which is very empowering with my schedule."
The miniature screens of mobile devices definitely "limit what I can see," LaSalle concedes. "We all get spoiled by what you can see and do on a big screen, but CEO Mobile provides me with the really pertinent information I need to take action, and it's all legible. It's flexible and easy to use. Over time it's becoming a powerful tool."
The need for mobile access isn't just about efficiency–or making LaSalle's life easier. "We've been victims of check fraud, so we have to review positive pay exception items in a timely manner," LaSalle notes.
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While bank marketers have picked up on the popularity of mobile electronic devices like cell phones and PDAs and built links to banking services for mobiles, they have concentrated on consumers and small businesses. Wells Fargo is the first major bank to introduce a mobile service for corporate treasury operations, reports Megan Minich, senior vice president over the wholesale mobile technology group. Wells is redoing its popular Commercial Electronic Office (CEO) platform for mobile, which means scaling back available information and graphic displays to suit the miniature screens of mobile devices. That means smaller bits of information so they can display larger and quicker loading times, she explains.
Wells has already rolled out information reporting–intraday balances and some transaction detail about wires. It is currently piloting wire approvals and decisions about positive pay images, Minich reports. "Decision-makers have to make those calls, and they're more likely to be away from their desks," she reports. Still to be built would be transaction capability, which she predicts "will be the killer app."
The service is available to CEO users at no additional cost and no additional registration or authorization procedures. They just have to use the mobile CEO URL to connect, she explains. Security protocols (encryption, passwords, access limits) are no different than connecting to CEO through other channels.
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