Judging from the media inquiries and attention, today's announcement by Bank of America that they would shutter over 600 branches because of shifting consumer demand to online and mobile banking is a watershed moment. It signals the arrival of the next gold rush - enabling the mobile enterprise.
There is an alternative explanation supplied by analysts for B of A's decision but I think the mobile story is just too compelling. Now that there's a credible source saying that consumers trust the mobile Web with their own money no CEO is going to sit back and not get his or her company moving in the direction of creating more mobile applications and touch points for its customers - especially consumers.
I dare say that this is the moment that the mobile ecosystem has been waiting for - when the sleeping giant that is U.S. business awakens. Mobile projects will move from nice-to-have initiatives handled by the cool digital group to the front burner.
For IT in general and online operations teams in specific, this move will shine a spotlight on the performance and usability of mobile Web sites and native applications. For those that have already been engaged with monitoring and testing mobile content, apps and services, this will be a validation for why. For the rest, the time is now to start thinking about performance before the rush comes.
And if you're wondering how your own bank is doing, the most basic yet revealing of tests is to access the bank's home page from your mobile phone; smart phone is of course best. If you do that with www.bankofamerica.com you get a welcome screen that acknowledges you are accessing the page from a mobile phone. You'll find, as I did, there are a lot of financial institutions just not thinking about mobile yet.
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