I usually comment on technical aspects of the mobile banking industry, but the recent acquisition of paybox by Sybase necessitate some comments. While it seems to be a very good match (Established company with a good brand and distribution network acquiring company with good product and management), the new mCommerce player will be faced with significant integration challenges:
- The culture of an entrepreneurial, Euro-based company will have to merge with an East Coast, listed entity
- The relatively small paybox will have to provide guidance, training and support for a massive organisation, running the risk of diluting scarce resources to a point where it looses it effect
- The new organisation has the ability to create a big demand for product that will be difficult to deliver. Mobile banking is a complex solution to deploy. It takes a long time to train engineers to do this effectively. It would be difficult to scale the delivery capacity quickly enough.