UNTETHERED ENTERPRISE: NO PAIN, NO GAIN in Visual C#

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The IT staff at Fidelity created and executed the software for this wireless network an ability augmented in part by a large IT staff, the availability of wireless experts in-house, and corporate experience with a successful wireless enterprise messaging application Fidelity s only partners on the initial project were BellSouth Wireless Data and Certicom We had a lot of discussions with RIM, which actually built the handheld device," Ferra said "But one of the things that was really important something we observed and learned was the element called over-the-air programming (OTAP) We were asking ourselves how we could make continuous upgrades to the wireless data application After the initial installation, this got tricky, especially with folks continuously getting on networks and adding new devices But RIM was very helpful in allowing us to do OTAP" Ferra s staff realized it wasn t practical to ask customers to bring their devices into one of Fidelity s investor centers every time new wireless trading software was released So upgrades were accomplished using OTAP; Fidelity customers automatically received a wireless notification of an impending upgrade (eg, new features that permit the customer to establish stop loss limits or access net benefits from a 401K retirement account) By spring 2001, Fidelity counted 92,000 subscribers to its wireless service We now have it on every major wireless device and network," Ferra explained When we launched the service in January 1999 with BellSouth, it was nationwide and available to anyone in the continental US Palm originally marketed its Palm VII on May 24, 1999 in the New York metro area However, if someone bought a device in New York, and brought it home to, for example, Illinois or Massachusetts, he or she still could use the device because it operated over the BellSouth network Palm made the device available nationwide on October 4, 1999" Every Palm VII device manufactured today has the Fidelity wireless application built in, and Fidelity has also made it available on Sprint phones through the Sprint CDMA network, the CDPD Omnisky wireless portal, the Verizon CDMA network, Nextel, and OnStar s virtual advisor service in automobiles Fidelity customers can get a full array of services and transactions: trading and personal account balances, quotes, market information, percentage gainers, losers, most active, order status, and net benefits Net Benefits refers to the Fidelity service that allows employer-sponsored retirement plan participants online access to their retirement accounts from 401K," Ferra said Even those with Fidelity retirement

accounts who don t have retail brokerage accounts can now subscribe to the wireless service Expanding the venue has significantly increased customer satisfaction, Ferra says

If we look at our wireless customers in comparison with the average retail brokerage customer, the wireless customer is a desired customer, even though that s a small percentage overall," Ferra says The asset base is higher, the wireless customers number of transactions is higher, and their use of various (and multiple) channels is much greater (eg, web, phone, speech recognition, wireless service, visiting various Fidelity branches) So we re looking at someone very affluent, relatively active, and multichannel" Why is this important Fidelity believes the strategy is essential not just for customer retention, but for new acquisitions We are averaging 400 new account openings per month through the Fidelity Anywhere channel alone," he reports Although it s difficult to capture exact ROI at this early stage, we are identifying quality customers and adding new ones" Wireless is tracking in a similar pattern to voice response in the 80s At first, customers didn t use it much Now voice response has become not only a standard service feature, but has improved customer service, Ferra says The new tools create spiraling expectations With financial competitors also offering wireless, Fidelity must evolve newer, more robust services Wireless customers now have the ability to gain real-time access to personal data and retirement account information that is not location dependent," Ferra says So we ve changed our business model for the wireless service not just to retain but to acquire entirely new customers, and we ve had good success" Bottom line: Fidelity s Anywhere wireless data is a perfect example of how a company can woo customers and gain competitive edge by offering 24 X 7 transactional power the ability to access and move on personalized financial information While it took some work to get there, Fidelity established a first mover s advantage, which is hard to displace The company will continue to lead the financial services market with disruptive technologies and applications