Celent Banking Newsletter, October 2013

30 October 2013

New York, NY, USA

From the Senior Vice President

Celent analysts attend a lot of conferences -- trade shows; vendor days; trade association events; and, of course, our own events -- so clients often ask for informal evaluations and recommendations. We've seen an uptick in these inquiries lately, implying that banks and vendors are becoming more judicious in allocating their time and dollars.

Because we invest a significant amount of time in these activities, we carefully consider which ones are worthwhile and who's going to cover what. In planning travel, we think about shows as being valuable on one of two dimensions: for content, or for networking opportunities.

Some of the more established shows have begun to see declines in attendance, but Money2020, in only its second year, sold out with 4,400 or so attendees. We think Money2020 hit a home run by tapping into the entire mobile commerce ecosystem - banks, merchants, and payments providers of all stripes. More narrowly focused shows, by constraining themselves to particular topics, or types of firms, or subjects perceived to be more stale, are struggling to capture scarce investment resources.

That said, there's still no substitute for face-to-face interactions. We'll continue to value our in-person interactions with you at shows and at client visits. All of us will be at BAI Retail Delivery in Denver, and look forward to seeing you there.

All the best,

Dan Latimore
Senior Vice President, Banking Group

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