Technology has transformed our daily lives more completely and more rapidly than anyone could have expected. Access to email and the internet while on the move is now an expectation for consumers when buying a cell phone (and has resulted in the creation of the new tablet market). The way we interact with our friends and colleagues has also changed with many people belonging to social networks.

At the same time, how we use and store precious information is changing as data analysis improves and the adoption of cloud computing, which uses a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to store, manage, and process data, becomes more widespread.

As consumers have become comfortable with accessing data on the move and storing it in remote locations, those that work in corporate treasury have increasingly sought similar accessibility and functionality in the tools they use for their job. Citi has responded by accelerating its own technological development, including the creation of online banking tool CitiDirect BE^SM Mobile.