Alliance Sends 20% of Monitise Workforce to IBM (Sept. 2, 2014)
U.K.-based Monitise and technology and consulting giant IBM have announced an alliance they say will improve IBM’s ability to deliver existing and future Monitise-based Mobile Money solutions to clients. The deal also will significantly increase Monitise’s ability to handle larger custom projects worldwide by combining the companies’ mobile banking, payments and e-commerce technology.
Monitise’s technology will be enabled, hosted and sold as an IBM cloud-delivered solution in the B2B space. Commercial opportunities initially will be targeted to financial institutions; however, the companies also will market to mobile network operators, retailers and other verticals requiring API connectivity to bank-grade, interoperable and scalable mobile payment and e-commerce functionality and content, according to the announcement.
Employees from Monitise’s U.K. development and integration business, approximately 20 percent of its global employee base, will be transferred to IBM, and the employees will be available for Monitise and IBM customer projects. All Monitise contracts and client relationships, intellectual property, commitments and delivery remain unchanged, according to the company.
It’s been an eventful year for Monitise, which has included an overhaul in its business model, moving away from charging licensing fees to its financial institution clients in favor of a subscription model; a deal with MasterCard to develop and deploy mobile wallets; and changes to its executive leadership team and board of directors, including the appointment of Elizabeth Buse to co-CEO of Monitise Group.
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