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Technology Stocks : CheckFree Holdings Corp. (CKFR), the next Dell, Intel? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jjs_ynot who wrote (8619)	7/31/1999 8:55:00 PM
From: Erik T	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20297

IMO the mixed delivery channel/mode is a problem, esp. if the banks keep a close hold on proprietary information on customer relationship. Without this information, it is very difficult to sort out transactions. I agree this is a potentially big problem. I see this happening with The Exchange (what is the new name? eConnect?). Likely, they will eventually want to make the payments to billers they present for. This peeling off of some payments is a set-up for a nightmare. When you call your billpay customer service, now you talk to a Checkfree employee who can handle all your questions. In the future a single customer may have to talk to multiple agencies to get problems with a bill cleared-up. Can you imagine if you had problems with several billers on a single billing cycle? Call your bank and get routed to Checkfree first, then to the bank itself, then to Transpoint. And thats if the bank can sort out who paid what. It is going to be difficult to deliver "dial tone quality" under this scenario. Perhaps going forward, those banks that stay with a single processor (Checkfree if they are smart ;-)) will reap the rewards of a functional system. Either way, history has taught us that Checkfree will often get the bad press from any problems. Erik (IMO)

To: jjs_ynot who wrote (8619)	7/31/1999 9:39:00 PM
From: D Mueller	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 20297

Dave: I have had my problems with Bank One as I have posted here in the past couple of weeks, but while your scenario is possible I can't believe Bank One would be deliberately socking it to their customers in the form of poor service as you have suggested (it may be ineptitude, but I can't believe it is a business strategy). Granted, it sounds like they have some serious problems to work out, but in the end despite who they may try blame (eg Checkfree) they are going to loose a customer. In the case of Mr Mo Bank One will have lost a customer twice, once as Bank1 and then as Wingspan. The real interesting thing to me is how Bank1 is responding to Wingspan. No doubt thay have a potential problem in Wingspan canibalizing their traditional customers. I for one believe that if you are going over to Wingspan you were a high prospect customer for Net Bank or on of the other internet banks and you would likely have moved your accounts sooner rather than later whether Wingspan had sprung up or not. So, if you're going to leave I would make the transition as painfree and satisfying as possible. My own experience is that this is not the case and there is a serious cultural battle going on within the two organizations. A case in point is that when I told my Bank1 banker that I was going over to Hibernia for on-line services they did not even ask if I had considered Wingspan. In fact, when I asked my banker what she thought of the new start-up she said she really didn't know anything about it. GM learned this game along time ago and I think that it will apply to banks as they role out different flavors of banking. If I'm no longer interested in buying a Chevy they're at least going to try to get me to go over and look at a Buick!! One of the top guys at Bank One said it the other day as I recall, they could role out any number of niche internet banks to appeal to different customer segments. Yep, I can see it now, a bank for singles a bank for retirees, a bank for gays (I think there's already one targeting gays)etc... etc... They better start beefing up there marketing departments and get rid of their attitude. Don (IMHO)