Among households in general, the female head of household is usually the monthly bill-payer. If banks are to widen the appeal of online services and migrate them into more mainstream households, they must demystify the entire online process while allaying fears of paying bills online. Consumer behavior is difficult to change, but banks are beginning to get help in this effort from other quarters, most notably from organizations such as credit card companies, stores, telephone companies, and utilities that require regular monthly payments. Many of these are offering account viewing capabilities for their customers. The process will be further demystified as digital TV and digital cell phone banking applications become available.
Some banks offer the service free, and others waive the fee for preferred customers.
The number of banks with a formal fee schedule is declining. Only about 20 percent of banks have a fee schedule, and only about 10 percent of account viewing households actually pay. This program provides strategic analysis of changes in consumer technology use and the impact these changes have on the financial services industries, including retail banking, brokerage, insurance, and loans. GartnerGroup's Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software, and services sectors of the global information technology industry. As the world's leading authority on IT, GartnerGroup provides clients with a wide range of products and services in the areas of IT advisory services, measurement, research, decision support, analysis, and consulting.