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The Check Is in the Mail



The New Technology is helping to make obsolete one of the most misused clichés in business -- "the check is in the mail." Recently, the Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) echeck project, which was three years in the making, processed its first electronic check. Java based technology was key to this achievement on both the client and server ends of the transaction.

The 12-month market trial began with a $32,000 echeck payment authorized by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), issued by the U.S. Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS) and received by GTE Internetworking in payment of a Department of Defense (DoD) contract.

Another telling indication of the receptivity of U.S. consumers to online banking is the recent survey of AARP members -- American Association of Retired Persons. Art Schoeller, an analyst at Gartner Group (www.gartner.com), says 35 percent of those polled would like to bank via the Internet. AARP members are older Americans generally thought to be skittish about technology and computers, so this is a significant finding.

OCCIS Finding: Older Americans are now embracing computers and the Internet now that they are ``user friendly". Seniors have the time and the interest to learn, teach each other, and have fun. They like e-mailing their friends and relatives and can even talk via their computers without long distance charges. Getting  e-mail pictures and notes from the grand kids, across town or across continents, makes their day.  The computer coupled with the Internet  ``is"  the ``Picture-Phone" they saw demonstrated at the 1960's ``Worlds Fair"  in New York,  except with a lot more power and features. The comparison was pointed out by a senior citizen who responded to some of our  OCCIS ``techno-bragging" by saying `` That's nice sonny, but we saw this stuff 30 years ago...So,what took you so long..."

What's new locally? ....stay tuned.....

Illustration by IBM

The Future is Now!