Free Essay

Mobility

In:

Submitted By vivekbhagbole
Words 3587
Pages 15
Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011

In some industries, companies can pick and choose how they want to respond to new mobile opportunities. In banking, it is not a matter of choice. Not only do consumers expect a steady increase in the number of banking services they can access from mobile devices (not to mention a complementary rise in the quality of their mobile experiences), merchants are moving just as quickly to keep up. That means they’re looking for new ways for customers to buy and pay. With phones? Tablets? Using Debit? Credit? All of the above? As a result, financial institutions should “think outside the bank” when it comes to mobility. Regardless of industry, the march toward mobility is staggering in sheer scale (5 billion subscribers by December 20101) and in its breadth of adoption — crossing age groups, economic classes, and geographies. Consumer interest in smartphones, tablets, and untraditional connected devices such as set-top boxes, telematics, video games, and embedded appliances is growing faster than with any other product segment, with a projected growth of 36% in the coming year2. Connectivity is nearly ubiquitous with today’s mobile computing infrastructure and will only improve with the widespread rollout of 4G, LTE, and WiMAX in primary markets, and the launch of 3G in India3. Just as important, the mobile application (app) movement is fully underway, as traditional telephone service takes a back seat to messaging, e-mail, media, social sites, games, and productivity tools. As new devices find their way into the hands of business stakeholders, most banks are realizing how powerful a mobile presence at the edge of their enterprise can be. The underlying network, form factor, user interface (UI), and raw device computing power are necessary enablers, but what really matters is harnessing these features into rich yet simple, intuitive apps to solve real business problems and reconnect with their customer base in the wake of the great recession.

Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 1

These solutions can be as simple as placing a mobile veneer over existing offerings and business processes — that is, conducting business as usual, but through channels untethered from physical locations. Think of tellers accessing customer information while roaming in their branches, helping customers perform basic transactions without having to wait to reach the front of the line at the counter. Or consider the growing ability of banks to allow customers to deposit checks anywhere by using their mobile phone cameras, resulting in customer convenience with the added benefit of offloading processing tasks to the customer. These new mobile solutions endeavor to serve the full spectrum of transactional, analytical, and social computing capabilities. Accordingly, they may depart from traditional app design and deployment concepts. Focused in scope and simple in execution, if only from the user’s perspective, these apps have more in common with “applets” than with conventional multipurpose feature-rich enterprise applications. This is precisely what makes them so powerful — they are elegant solutions to well-defined problems and designed for operations on the go. The enterprise arms race has begun in these spaces and more — with big disruptions ahead for banks that trail their competition. The changes may be even more dramatic. For example, many banks are already rethinking business processes and facilitating new business models that would not have been possible without mobile technology. Evolutions in location-based services, social networks, mobile payment processing, low-cost device add-ons, and integration with enterprise systems has led to the potential for employees, customers, and partners to consume and produce sophisticated information, goods and services from anywhere. And with the extension of mobile solutions to sensors and actuators in physical goods and equipment, otherwise known as asset intelligence or “the internet of things,” there is the potential for almost anything to become part of the mobile solution footprint. In these new business models, banks will have the ability to provide a more complete shopping experience to consumers, including mobile payment options, integration with rewards programs, and even realtime, in-store coupon delivery. The trend is toward a future where everything will be digital and available anywhere at any time and mobile devices will be the medium of consumption. Tapping into this trend could present the opportunity for banks to define real and lasting value in applied mobility solutions.

History repeating itself?
Deloitte’s Depth Perception research featured Wireless and Mobility as an Emerging Enabler in 2010. But in 2011, the explosion of customer and employee demand and advances in foundational capabilities, such as carriers, devices, and app ecosystems can allow for true business disruption.
What were the challenges?
Channel strategy Mobility was previously viewed within many banks as just another costly channel that had to be set up and maintained — all for questionable benefits. In lieu of a clear business model, many banks just stayed on the sidelines.

What’s different in 2011?
Mobility is not only viewed as a viable channel strategy, it is an enabler for other channels. For instance, some banks are experimenting with arming branch employees with tablets, allowing them to provide services to clients who are waiting in line. Interactions between ATMs and mobile devices may not be far off. Mobility as a channel? That’s just the start.

As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte Consulting LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.

Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 2

What were the challenges?
Single-purpose industrialized devices Often seen in manufacturing, health care, public sector, and the military, the durability and advanced communication features of devices came at a high cost, leading to selective rollout. Specialized capabilities typically required workers to have additional devices in the field, creating complexities and burdens in performing jobs. Limitations of compute, storage and UI allowed only rudimentary data entry and scanning functions.

What’s different in 2011?
Protective shells and hardware extensions are available from various third parties, integrating through open ports/protocols (USB, Apple 32-pin connector etc.), allowing simple consumer devices to undertake highly specialized activities, while also enabling communication and multipurpose functionality. The ability to use commercially-available devices tends to create a fundamentally lower price point. Powerful processors, memory, capacity, screen size, resolution, and UI schemes remove hardware-based restrictions on potential mobile business scenarios.

Mobile payments

Thinking that the market for mobile payments was years away, most banks were content simply to let peripheral players dabble in this space.

Nontraditional banking entities such as PayPal, Square, Google, and ATT have challenged banks out of their traditional roles as the primary provider of banking services to customers. Today, many banks are typically struggling to reassess their business models as this trend evolves quickly in real time. A critical mass of developers leads to a critical mass of apps, which leads to innovation and broader adoption. This is facilitated by well-designed and governed sales and distribution channels, such as Apple’s App Store — whose catalog grew an estimated 111% 4 in 2010 , with 94% of applications reviewed within seven days of 5 submission . In response to the growing threat by Android, Apple recently revealed its App Store approval guidelines to developers and relaxed its rules on the use of Adobe’s Flash. Application adoption can easily reach critical mass to generate “buzz” and continue to drive incremental uptake. The rising tide of spend on mobility apps has moved the needle forward on the availability and sophistication of crossplatform development, deployment, and management tools. This improves the opportunity for a rich catalog of apps available even to narrowly-focused business domains.

App stores, cross-platform deployment tools, and developer ecosystems

Applications were classically hard to find, license, and install — with limited (if any) options on the device. Discovering and deploying via the desktop proved complex. For vertical app providers, differences in development platforms, deployment environments, and management tools created limitations on marketplace size and availability.

Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 3

Technology implications
While many banks have some form of wireless infrastructure and supporting policies in place, these were generally established before the explosion of potential usages and devices. Embracing the disruptive potential of mobility requires a new set of technical and organizational capabilities to govern security, development, deployment, and management — as well as the supporting policies to control costs and manage compliance.
Topic
Device management

Discussion
Ability to monitor, manage and maintain devices connected to the organization’s network — including enterprise-procured, as well as employee- and customer-owned devices. Allows tracking of assets, usage reporting, provisioning, and over-the-air updates for software or profile revisions, backup/restore and remote locks or wipes for lost, stolen, or compromised devices. Since several mobile device management tools exist, selection should align with the overall operating environment and IT maintenance strategy. Password protection, encryption, controlling device administrative rights (system settings, permissions to directly install applications) and managing entitlements to back-end services should be implemented — ideally extended from the organization’s overall identity, control, and access management solution. Decision to adopt native device/OS SDKs, multiplatform mobile development platforms (e.g., SAP Sybase SUP, Adobe AIR/Flex, Pyxis) or use of standards-based channels (HTML5 for web-based; SMS or legacy WAP 2.0 for feature phones) is a strategic concern — informed by the target personas, applicable device standards and the desired capabilities of the intended mobile applications. Beyond versatility vs. native feature support, middleware implications should be considered. Dedicated focus to manage the life cycle of mobile applications, including marketing product management (understanding market wants/needs, competitor movement, solution wishlist), technical product management (managing bug/fix, feature, version road map), solution engineering (multiplatform support, end-to-end experience management), solutions delivery (distribution and channel support), and solutions management (on-going support Mobile transaction management (dealing with interrupted sessions during transaction processing), integration with back-end systems, handling off-line data access and requisite synching, device-specific data management (pagination, “lazy loading” — retrieving only packets for data to be displayed instead of the full object) and managing translation, correlation, and extension of data to the front-end. Contractual considerations to manage the explosion of wireless coverage and usages. Policies should be retooled to consider device and plan eligibility, reimbursement, upgrades, refresh eligibility, types of pricing plans, employee profiles, categories of distinction within policies, security, expense management and control, vendor choice and considerations around international usage. While telecommunications providers are looking to combat predatory pricing and market saturation with moves up-stream with content and added services, there are opportunities for aggressive negotiations for many enterprise customers. While public storefronts like GetJar, Apple’s app store, the various Android marketplaces (e.g., Google, Verizon, Sprint) and RIM’s BlackBerry App World allow for broad distribution of applications, a controlled enterprise distribution strategy is required for sensitive, internal-facing applications. These can be as simple as a repurposed Web server or platform allowing search, reviews, and brokering of partner, vendor and recommended third-party applications.

Security

Development platform

Product management

Mobile middleware

Wireless policies

Application distribution

Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 4

Lessons from the frontlines The rupee goes mobile
A significant joint effort has been launched in India to allow transfers of small amounts of money between bank accounts9. Backed by the National Payments Corporation of India (which includes the support of 10 major banks), customers can enable their existing accounts to allow mobile transactions via SMS or mobile apps, with the former featuring a lower daily limit over SMS (1,000 Rupees per day), but offering compatibility with the majority of the 600 million mobile devices in service. It’s not happening only in India. In Kenya, fully one quarter of gross domestic product (GDP) passes through the M-PESA mobile payment platform. And in the United States, Square, Paypal, Google Wallet, and other ventures between financial institutions and telecommunications providers, as well as the announced (or rumored) inclusion of near-field communications in the next version of certain smartphones code-bases will make mobile payments soon.

Remote check deposits? Yawn.
Starting as a fringe service offering for USA in 2009, remote check deposit is becoming ubiquitous among major banks. By the end of 2011, it will be table stakes — a boon not only for customers, but for banks that benefit from more efficient operations. After all, they are essentially outsourcing the check scanning function to clients. The next frontier? Fraud. It’s been a big (and expensive) concern for banks, and mobility is helping open up new opportunities in fraud management. Some banks have already implemented sophisticated, mobile-based fraud alert systems to detect malicious activity and interact in near realtime with customers. These banks are using mobile phones as a satellite accessory to credit and debit cards — a tool for verifying location and identity as well as communicating with customers via text manage when questionable transactions take place. Expect to see more mobility-enabled fraud management capabilities spring into place over the next year.

Coffee, your handheld and the future of your “third place”
Starbucks has been on the forefront of mobile strategies, launching two initiatives poised for convenience and customer engagement. The first is the Starbucks Card mobile app, allowing customers to pay for purchases using their smart phone, where a 2-D scanner at the POS reads a barcode linked to their Starbucks prepaid loyalty card6. Rollout is underway to retail stores in 2011, along with support for additional mobile platforms (currently iOS and BlackBerry; an Android version is imminent). The second is the Starbucks Digital Network7, where customers are offered free WiFi (provided by AT&T) and free access to subscription editions of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today — as well as content from Apple, Zagat, and home-grown Starbucks entertainment (including movies, short films, and literature). Customers are encouraged to enjoy content while in the store — tactically promoting longer stays and repeat visits. Perhaps even more importantly, Starbucks is establishing a beachhead of mobile relevance for the ever-connected consumer.

Where do you Start?
For many banks, the first step to applying mobility technology is to create a vision for its full business potential, beyond simply offering customers the ability to monitor and manage their accounts in a mobile environment. That could mean either transforming how tasks get done or opening net new avenues to interact with customers, employees, or partners. As technical and cost limitations are overcome, banks should consider challenging themselves in the art of the possible — looking across industries and geographies for new ideas. However, a practical mobile strategy should start with the

Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 5

consideration of putting a mobile veneer on existing capabilities as a prelude to pursuing more innovative, substantial mobile initiatives. • Business first. Mobile efforts should begin by understanding user personas and business impacts. That means determining the targeted-use cases by identifying stakeholders that could benefit, the business scenarios that should be targeted, and the specific business process improvements and new capabilities that could be enabled. Just as important, mobility should be a part of an overall banking channel strategy — an enabler of other interactions with clients. • Adopt a product mentality. As banks introduce consumer-focused apps, product management disciplines become a necessity. Managing feature and version road maps, providing end-user support, and implementing frequent updates are implied expectations from consumers, and so is the quality of the end-to-end user experience. Regardless of the number of moving parts required to fulfill the service, the user will likely hold the brand accountable for the quality and readiness of the service. The more critical the experience, the greater the potential impact if disrupted. • Keep scope simple. Many effective mobile applications are specialized, intuitive, and transient. Apps that target a focused business need and solve it simply are preferred to complicated multipurpose solutions. Designing navigation and controls for single-hand or voice operation, minimizing interaction points and taking advantage of location-based services to filter and prepopulate information can simplify the user experience. • Choose favorites. With more than 35 variants of wireless operating systems in the marketplace, universal compatibility could be an overwhelming goal. Many organizations will have a clustering of operating systems around a handful of platforms, with some indication for trends and evolving preferences. A phased roll-out approach can expedite progress. Unsupported users will have something to covet (and be no worse off than they were before), while early adopters can inform improvements and offer new ideas. Although foresight on eventual platform vision is required upfront to guide infrastructure and development decisions, a phased rollout can prevent diluted, overambitious initial efforts. • Cloud and social. Many of the boldest plays in mobility will likely be combined with cloud and social computing technologies — tapping into information, services, and relationships based on physical location and desired action. While some organizations have launched separate mobility, cloud and social planning areas of focus, their convergence — termed CloMoSo — can have particularly powerful implications. • Mobile infrastructure. There are many moving parts required to ready a bank to implement its mobile strategy. Planning should consider upgrades to infrastructure and operations, as well as telecommunication provider contracts and internal compliance and legal policies. The time it takes to reach operational readiness can take as long as the time required to scope and build pilot applications, so planning efforts should be launched upfront.

Bottom line
With the volume of smartphone shipments poised to overtake PC shipments by 201210 — and with connected, intelligent assets becoming prevalent, leading banks have begun to aggressively establish their brands and services in the mobile world. Today, the majority of the top 20 U.S. banks have a publicly available, customer-facing application or mobile-enabled Web page. This growth will continue — notably as location-based services converge with cloud and social computing technologies and as new consumer behaviors and expectations are established. Even more significant is the potential for business enablement, specifically in how employees and partners interact. One mobility guru12 describes a not-so-distant future of continuous services and connected devices that fundamentally change the way we interact with each other — and with our corporate entities. As we begin to separate from static, immobile computers and envision a world where business is increasingly conducted outside of cubicles and call centers, different business opportunities are born. Applied mobility is about rethinking business with an untethered mindset, innovating how the enterprise operates at the edge.
Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 6

For additional information please contact:
Brian Johnston Principal Banking Consulting National Leader Deloitte Consulting LLP mailto:Bjohnston@deloitte.com Eric Piscini Senior Manager Deloitte Consulting LLP mailto:episcini@deloitte.com Max Bercum Senior Manager Deloitte Consulting LLP mailto:mbercum@deloitte.com

References
1

"Worldwide Mobile Subscriptions Forecast to Exceed Five Billion by 4Q-2010," ABI Research press release, June 30, 2010, on the FierceMobileContent Web site, http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/press-releases/ worldwide-mobile-subscriptions-forecast-exceed-five-billion-4q-2010

2

Carl Weinschenk, M2M Growth Impressive, Even by Telecom Standards, http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/weinschenk/ m2m-growth-impressive-even-by-telecom-standards/?cs=44909 (December 31, 2010). Kenan Machado and Romit Guha, Vodafone Essar to launch India 3G services in Q1 2011, http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=459586 (October 21, 2010).

3

Emil Protalinski, Google, RIM and Nokia beat Apple's App Store growth, http://www.techspot.com/news/41914-google-rim-and-nokia-beat-apples-app-storegrowth.html (January 10, 2011).
5

4

JF Martin, App Store approval time still improving!, http://www.buildingiphoneapps.com/2011/01/ breaking-app-store-approval-time-still.html (January 19, 2011).

6

Credit Card Processing Blog. Starbucks Widens Mobile Payments Test. Retrieved February 3, 2011, from http://blog.unibulmerchantservices.com/starbucks-widens-mobile-payments-test/ Visit http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/wireless-internet/starbucks-digital-network

7

8

Additional information is available in Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu (2010), "Case Study: Department of Health and Human Services Tasmania", http://online.deloitte.com.au/state-governmentdepartment.html Cian O'Sullivan, Mobile payments: Indian banks show how it’s done, http://www.gomonews.com/mobile-payments-indian-banks-show-how-its-done/ (November 23, 2010).

9

Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 7

10

Patrick Thibodeau, In historic shift, smartphones, tablets to overtake PCs, http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9199918/In_historic_shift_smartphones_tablets_to_o vertake_PCs (December 6, 2010). Deloitte Consulting LLP proprietary research, August 2010.

11

Ozzie, Ray. Dawn of a New Day. Retrieved February 3, 2011, from http://ozzie.net/docs/dawn-of-a-new-day/

12

This publication contains general information only and is based on the experiences and research of Deloitte practitioners. Deloitte is not, by means of this publication, rendering business, financial, investment, or other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should it be used as a basis for any decision or action that may affect your business. Before making any decision or taking any action that may affect your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. Deloitte, its affiliates, and related entities shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by any person who relies on this publication.

Copyright © 2011 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved. Member of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Applied mobility for the banking industry Tech trends 2011 8

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Social Mobility

...SOCIAL MOBILITY Since the ancient times, humans have been living in a society were in a social stratification is observed. Moreover, in a social stratification an equal opportunity for social mobility is given in each individual. Social Mobility pertains to the movement of a person from a social status to another social status. This movement can be either upward or downward, depending on whether people rise to higher status or fall to lower ones. Intergenerational mobility is one of the focuses of the study of sociologist. Intergenerational mobility is the upward or downward movement of the hierarchy by the family members from one generation to another. The amount of this movement – which occurs, for example, when a janitor’s son becomes a doctor, or a doctor’s child becomes a janitor- tells how rigidly inequality is structured into society. In other words, social mobility refers to the relative movement of an individual, family, or group, up or down the stratification system of the society. There are two types of social mobility; vertical mobility and horizontal mobility. Types of Social Mobility I. Vertical Mobility refers to downward or upward movement in social rank, which occurs when there is a major change in wealth, prestige or power. When a person is said to move upward, this means that there is an increase in level of wealth through job promotion, small-scale businesses that have prospered. This change is symbolized by setting up residence in an affluent neighborhood...

Words: 445 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Economic Mobility

...Yallander Ford Eng 101-113 Prof. Susan Horowitz April 4, 2012 This idea of economic mobility, which is defined, as one’s ability to move up the economic ladder by means of hard work and a good education, is an idea deeply entrenched in the Psyche of the American society. It is taken for granted that once you obtain a college education and have a good work ethic, you will move through the economic rank. However, this premise is being severely challenged and by all accounts, not holding up. This is a point reverberated by both Holly Sklar in her piece “The Growing Gulf Between the Rich and the Rest of Us” and the publication “The Economist through their piece “Inequality and the American dream.” Holly dismisses this idea by pointing out the fact that we have become a downward rather than an upward mobile society. This is quite evident when you examine the growing gap between the rich and the rest of us. She points out that median household income has fallen for the fifth year running, while at the other end of the spectrum the opposite holds true. She argues that to make it in the Forbes 400, one would have to amass $900 million, an increase of $150 million from four years ago. Sklar states they are bringing windfall profits to companies like Bechtel while they suspend regulations that shore up wages for workers. This is based on the no-bid contract given to father and son team Bechtel, although they had budget overruns and performed a shoddy job on a prior government project...

Words: 831 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Social Mobility

...The New World Encyclopedia defines social mobility as “the movement of the members of a particular society in terms of their social status, usually defined in terms of occupation and income (vertical mobility), or from one social group to another, not necessarily with concomitant change in social position(horizontal mobility)”. Generally social mobility looks at the level in which a person family or a group social status can change within the timeframe of a person life Social mobility can also relate the level to which an person family member move up and down the social group. A person or their family can move up or down the social groups based on their accomplishments and sometimes other reasons that may be out of their power. Some factors that may changes a person social mobility could a person educational background, a person income level, a person occupation or a person status within the society. An upward mobility indicates a person moving from one social class to a higher social class. A downward mobility indicates a person have lowered his or her living standards. As I begin to look over my family past, I can see a noticeable change that has occurred over the generations. I begin to realize my family’s journey overtime and how far we have come. My parents are now retired from their jobs that they have worked for many of years. My brother and I are still working; however we of us have realized that things have changed with time. The changes that we have experienced...

Words: 573 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Social Mobility Paper

...Social Mobility Paper Lori Bair University of Phoenix Soc/100 Dr. Audrey Morrissette, PhD. July 27, 2010 Workshop #5 Social Mobility Social mobility refers to the degree to which an individual's family or group's social status can change throughout the course of their lives through a system of social hierarchy or stratification. Social mobility refers to the likelihood that a child will grow up into adulthood and attain a higher level of economic and social wellbeing than his/her family of origin (Little, D. 2009). The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the similarities and differences between myself, my parents and my grandparents in regard to various stratification variables such as: education, religion, income, occupation, area of residence, consumption patterns, and political participation. What caused the differences, have they changed or influenced my attitudes and behaviors. Last I will explain how these differences change my life from how it was when I was young. Similarities and Differences The similarities between my parents and me are obtaining our high school diploma, attended college, stable job, and always had income. The similarities between my grandparents and me are getting our high school diploma, attend church service, Republican Party and always had income. The differences between my parent and I are we don’t believe in the same religion...

Words: 796 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

American Dream And Social Mobility

...The American Dream can be defined as every citizen having an equal opportunity to obtain success or security through hard work, determination, climbing the social ladder, and undergoing social mobility. I disagree with the idea of social mobility being achievable for most Americans and The American Dream being attainable. There are different types of social mobility. Intergenerational mobility is the change that family members make in social class from one generation to the next. Upward and downward social mobility which is the movement up the social class ladder or down the social class ladder. Structural mobility, movement up or down the social class ladder that is due to changes in structure of society. Finally exchange mobility, the large number of people moving up the social class ladder, while a large number of people move down. Social class is a large group of people who rank closely to one another in property, power and prestige. People tend to believe that there is the rich, the poor and people who are in the middle. Carl Marx argues that there are two classes, capitalists and workers, while sociologists have denounced this view by arguing that these...

Words: 601 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Investigating a Social Issue - Social Mobility

...Describe how society defines the social issue. So, what is Social Mobility? First, let’s go to its technical or dictionary definition. Social mobility is the movement of people from one social class or economic level to another (“Social Mobility”, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd Edition). This term is widely used both in Sociology and Economics. It usually refers to vertical movement or moving up or down in rank. For example, if a soldier becomes a sergeant from a corporal, that would be vertical movement. However, it may also refer to horizontal movement or moving from one rank to another of the same social level. Example of this would be a principal who resigns from one school to become the principal of another school. With this definition in mind, we can see that Social Mobility is “movement”. The technical definition doesn’t restrict about the direction – whether you move up or down or just within what’s mentioned before as horizontal movement. Social Mobility is a term used in the objective comparison of economic or social states. Looking at the events around us, we can see that people care more about upward movement. When people talk about Social Mobility, they are likely referring to progress or development. Everyone wants to move up. Like what we commonly see in families. Almost everyone gives importance to good education. Parents keep reminding their children to be good in their studies so they can have good jobs. People want the opportunity to move up. People...

Words: 1311 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Income Mobility: Up & Down the Economic Ladder

...Income Mobility: Up & Down the Economic Ladder by Tom Thompson Dr.Walker Senior Seminar 7/29/2009 Thomas L. Thompson Dr. Christopher Walker Senior Seminar July 29, 2009 Income Mobility: Up & Down the Economic Ladder People always say they do what they do to make life better not only for themselves, but for the future well-being of their children and hopefully those actions will get passed on to their children. This is my way of thinking of the paying it forward theory; giving all I have, to make the lives of my children better than the one I grew up with and the one I currently live. One of my most favorite quotes about getting ahead in life came from a philosopher and pastor Russell Conwell that is hand-written by my grandmother in a Bible that was given to me some years ago. It goes like this, “For a man to say, I do not want money, is to say, I do not wish to do any good to my fellow men" (Conwell). Everyone wants money, only if it is to do good for your family’s future. From the rich business professional perched high in their penthouse to the lowly street peddler on the corner, everyone has a story on how and why they ended up in that position. The United States is seen as the place where everyone has the opportunity of the “American Dream”. That includes the opportunity for one's children to grow up and attain to their fullest potential in which they are capable of, and seen for what they are and not what they are born with. It is the opportunity...

Words: 4631 - Pages: 19

Free Essay

Women’s Social Mobility in the United States of America

...Women’s Social Mobility in the United States of America We live in a world full of obstacles where it’s said that the one who is born poor will remain poor. Like many other country in the world the United States of America is also struggling with the difficulties regarding social mobility. The American dream is that the poorest suburban person can be a rich person too and America is the home and land of unlimited possibilities. The main idea is that if you work hard enough you can make it to the top. Is it true for everyone? Can women make it to the top? But before I start my essay on Women’s Social Mobility in the United States of America let me clarity certain definitions. The concept of social mobility has two main meanings: a) in the narrow sense, represents the moving in a stratification system, b) broadly refers to the space movement (territorial mobility) and / or change of employment (or mobility fluctuation labor). Studies (theoretical and empirical) say that social mobility can be placed in three categories: - those using a hierarchy criteria, tracking movements between strictly hierarchical layers. It’s the American tradition, which uses the social status as a hierarchical criteria. - those who use as a classification criteria exclusively the individual’s occupation, this leading to the establishment of a social space consisting some number of socio-professional categories: tradition - those using as a criteria social classes and social strata. Here fall particularly...

Words: 2541 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Mobility

...Mobility Case Study NU 1326 Christopher Vang April 7 2015 Dealing with immobile patients is a big part of a registered nurse’s daily tasks. Mrs. Simmons a 78 year old patient who fell and broke her hip must be carefully monitored so that she does not develop further health problems. It is important to monitor and act accordingly with immobile patients, because failure to do so can result in health risks and complications. Not only do immobile patients require a different level of care, their rehabilitation is also different based on the reason as to why they are immobile. Besides keeping the patient safe and secure it is also important to keep the attending nurse safe by using the proper lifting and moving techniques, as well as the proper devices to assist in moving patients. Therefore to provide the best care for the patient, the nurse must be knowledgeable about the consequences on immobility and the steps to counter them. Being on bed rest has its benefits as well as its drawbacks for the patients. Prolonged bed rest can have negative impacts on the body, which if not taken care of can cause life-threatening situations. One of the biggest difficulties of prolonged bed rest is a pressure ulcer. Pressure ulcers are sores that develop from extended pressure on a bony part of the body most commonly found on the backside. Nurses can help to prevent such sores by rotating the patient on a regulated schedule, making sure the patient is clean and dry, as well as changing the sheets...

Words: 1022 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Social Mobility

...Are rich people smarter than lower class people? This is a question that really does not have precise answer to it. You can answer this question with tons of different opinions from different people all around the world. In my eyes, I do not think rich people are smarter than lower class people. I think it’s completely out of the question to say rich people are smarter. Just because people are rich doesn’t make them intelligent, and just because people are poor doesn’t make them less smarter either. I now will be talking about why I think rich people aren’t smarter than lower class people. To begin with I personally do believe that there is such thing called “general intelligence”. But this general intelligence isn’t just served to you on a plate. I believe that society has a huge impact on this. For example, growing up as a lower class person isn’t as easy as you think. Especially if you’re growing up in a poor area, you’re going to be hearing gunshots, seeing homeless people, hearing about robberies and many more. All this violence and crime has a huge impact on a young kid or teenager’s academic life. On the other hand, kids that inherit money from their parents or that are just born rich are living the “Ideal Culture” as we would say in chapter 2. They live in a perfect world where you don’t hear gunshots, where you don’t see homeless people when you go outside. The next thing I want to say is that just because you have tons of money, it doesn’t make you smart. There are...

Words: 482 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Sociology

...and then they continued every seven years. The final interview takes place when they are all 56 years old. 56 Up contains many sociological terms, such as the various types of social mobility. To begin, one sociological term used in this documentary is social mobility. 56 Up represents many of the types of mobility with the subjects. First, Sue shows intragenerational mobility. Sue is a woman who at 56 works in the administration department of a big university in London, despite never going to college. Typically, women with no education are in a lower class; however, Sue moved up within her lifetime, which demonstrates intragenerational mobility. Along with this, Sue experienced vertical mobility. Sue experienced vertical mobility within her job changes. Her part time jobs were viewed as lower than her administrative job now. Paul, on the other hand, started in a lower class. He lived in a children’s home and never went to college. His daughter, Katie, was the first in the family to ever attend a university. This shows intergenerational mobility because going to college and getting a good education could lead to a higher social class. Since this is experienced through more than one generation, it is intergenerational mobility rather than intragenerational. Paul also experienced horizontal mobility with his job changes. He never went to school and had factory, building, and maintenance jobs. All these jobs are in the same social class, so he didn’t necessarily move up or down....

Words: 386 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Joe Bao

...hierarchical arragngement of a large social groups based on their control over basic resources “Life changes” the extent to which individuals have access to important societal resources such as food, clothing, shelter, education and health (102) Stratification systems are described as being closed or open closed: the boundaries between levels in the hierarchies of social stratification are rigid and peoples position are set by ascribed status Open: the boundaries between levels in the hierarchies of social stratification are flexible and may be influenced (positively and negatively) by people’s achieved status Social mobility the movement of individuals or groups from one level in a stratification system to another Intergenerational mobility: the social movement experienced by family members from one generation to the next intragenerational mobility: the social movement of individuals within their own lifetime (203) Slavery: until the 19th century in quebec, ontario, new Brunswick, nova scotia in N.a it consisted of : for life and it was...

Words: 1160 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Comparison Between 'From Ragged Dick And' Horatio Alger

...In America we have something called the American dream. To us the American dream is for everyone to be able to be financially stable and be able to maintain a good stature. The dream is for everyone to be able to maintain a social rank that can make you respectable. If you want to be well respected in America you have to have a good job if you aren’t you’re portrayed as a failure. When you’re a failure you are not apart of the American dream and are placed in the category of the ones who disappoint. After Analyzing “From Ragged Dick” by Horatio Alger and “Horatio Alger” by Harlon Dalton as they argued against each other on social mobility and economic prosperity as they express different views . After analyzing both readings and considering...

Words: 823 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

International and Mobility

...Student Mobility & the International Table of Content 1. Introduction……………………………………………………..…………….……….3 2. History and Development……………………………………………………...…...…4 2.1 The First Stage …………………………………………………..….…………….…..4 2.2 The Second Stage……………………………………………….…………….….........5 2.3 The Third Stage…………………………………………….………………….….…...5 2.4 The Fourth Stage………………………………………………………………………5 3. Signing of the Bologna Declaration……………………….………………………….6 3.1 Bologna Reform……………………………………………………………………….7 3.2 Credit Point System………………………………………………………...…………7 4. Statistics……..…………………………………………………………………………9 5. Funding…………………………………………………………………………...…..10 6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………11 7. Literature and Sources………………………………………………………………13 1. Introduction The Bologna process has made positive contributions to the higher education system in Europe by enabling better quality in education, opportunities for mobility, and by challenging national borders[1]. Teichler, the author of International Student Mobility in Europe in the Context of the Bologna Process, states in his article that ministers in various European countries have adopted similar study programs in hopes of increasing the attractiveness for students from other parts of the world to study in Europe and to promote intra-European mobility[2]. These study programs would offer the student...

Words: 3396 - Pages: 14

Free Essay

Support for Mobility

...Unit 46: Provide Support for Mobility 1.1 Define mobility According to Oxford Dictionary, mobility is the ability to move or be moved freely and easily. It can be also described as the quality of moveing freely. 1.2 Explain how different health conditions may affect and be affected by mobility The mobility of a client depends on many factors. One of them is health condition. For example stroke can paralise and affect one side of the body (arm, leg) and make that side weak. People who had stroke very often have to learn how to walk again, very often they drag one leg because they lost control over it. Also dexterity is affected at the same time one arm is paralised so they can’t hold cutlery properly, do buttons or zip ups. On the other hand mobility and exercises contibute to recovering and person’s wellbeing. Another condition that can affect mobility is Urinary Tract Infection. Often people are unsteady on their feet or even stop walking at all. Also constipation can affect people’s mobility, experiencing pain can stop them from mobilising and make them reluctant to move or participate In social life. On the other hand decreased mobility affects constipation by making it worse. Also other conditions like loss of sight or hearing affect mobility quite profoundly and make people more vulnerable. 1.3 Outline the effects that reduced mobility may have on an individual’s wellbeing Physical effects like being prone to pressure sores or constipation...

Words: 345 - Pages: 2