Ah okay - I tried to find that image but couldn’t find it so was speculating on per customer cost.
So whilst not a “per customer cost” we can agree that there will be costs involved in running a full feature Monzo Web? Costs will still have to incurred.
This is where I feel we may disagree - I think the App does, can and will do better than a web client - for instance i just sent my friend a text to pay him, it took about 5 seconds - if i wanted to make a payment on a web client i’d have to create a new payee, type the details in, ensure the details were correct and then send the payment - it sounds tedious in difference but I do think that developing a web client would be useful but not necessary.
There will be costs involved in running a full feature Monzo Web, but these costs become smaller on a per customer basis as Monzo sign more people up.
I agree that there are some things you can do with a smartphone app that you can’t do with a web client. However, I think the benefits of having a feature-rich web client are enough to make it worthwhile.
Also, there are benefits of having a Monzo app and web client which can’t be gained from having an app-only such as accessibility, ease of use and a fall back if you lose your phone.
Personally, I’d be happy if Monzo Web had the majority of features that the mobile apps do, but lagged behind the apps development-wise due to Monzo prioritising apps over Monzo Web. One or two product squads working on Monzo Web would probably do it.
If i wanted to make a payment on a web client i’d have to create a new payee, type the details in, ensure the details were correct and then send the payment - it sounds tedious in difference but I do think that developing a web client would be useful but not necessary.
Sound like you’re comparing legacy online banking to challenger app. There’s nothing to suggest that if Monzo were to develop a more feature rich web app that it’d be more tedious to do anything.
Sure, and there are only things a web client can do and a mobile app can’t. Not sure what your point is?
But your logic is flawed regardless, just because the only thing you can compare to is bad, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Otherwise you’d compare Monzo to other banking apps, decide they weren’t great and not build Monzo, because you “can’t compare it with an idyllic concept of a Monzo mobile app”.
If that were true though we’d have a Monzo web client. There are things a web client can do better sure I admit that but the App does pretty well without a full feature web client.
Compare Monzo to a bad app… andthen build Monzo?
I didn’t suggest all web clients were bad - I was using a current example to show how an app can do something better that was all?
Yes, and I’m saying that your example is more or less irrelevant; you’re comparing a Monzo app with a non-Monzo online web client. That doesn’t say anything about whether Monzo should or shouldn’t build a web client.
But it is relevant to me? It is my personal opinion on something - if you can text on your laptop great!
Never claimed we shouldn’t have it - my preference is to not have it because I don’t think it adds much more to the current Monzo offering - others, such as yourself, may disagree.
Indeed, my main opposition is that your arguments against having it lies around you not liking it/thinking it’s useful, and not around any sort of objective data, similar to your opposition against others argument being “I think it’s useful”.
I can’t provide objective data over something that doesn’t exist - hence I used a current web client and compared something like for like - which you regard as irrelevant, that unfortunately isn’t something I can change.
Web access doesn’t feel important to me - apart from in cases of emergency, such as when I lose my phone. Monzo have always promoted themselves as a bank for people who live on their phone. If there are people that doesn’t appeal to, there are plenty of other banks with a broader range of channels.
My preference would be that Monzo continue to prioritise the development of a greater range of features and services in the app, rather than a smaller range across more channels. I realise that may limit their appeal to some types of people, but they can’t be all things to all people - or at least not until they’ve grown quite a bit more and have significantly increased revenue.
Where the web is better is for things which benefit from a big screen and easy data transfer to Excel / other desktop applications.
i.e. things such as
Data export (without having to email it to yourself)
A data rich transactions list (preferably with in-place editing, e.g. to update categories)
Summary tab
I would agree that the App should be the main focus, but I think Monzo are missing a trick by not exploiting areas where the web can always do a much better job than the app.
I’m not sure it’s an either/or situation. Since there wouldn’t be any additional features or tests of features on the web client and the backend shouldn’t have to be modified to flesh out the web client, only a small number of developers should be needed (I remember reading that the current iteration of Monzo Web was built by one or two developers?) and therefore development of a greater range of features wouldn’t be significantly impacted.
Sure, one or two devs can put together a small, cut down emergency tool. However, if you want to make the web client a fully featured application, that’s going to require significant dev input.
As for this, everything needs to be retested when you add a new platform. Especially when screen orientation is changing (considering the fact too that the mobile app does not have a landscape option). There is a lot that can go wrong with a port like that.
Then there is continued maintenance of the web client alongside the 2 mobile apps.
It is not a trivial task and would involve significant dev and test investment.
Not even just dev or test involvement. There is A LOT more thought that goes into things like that then most people think (Since it would be a more involved, full project) - Project Managers, Design / UI, Security, customer support, operations and then devs and testers. If it added any more value than it currently does, people would expect more and more features as more people would start using it or even switching over to it completely.
I’m all for a web version, would make it so I can use it while i’m on my laptop and not have to reach for my phone constantly. My point was that it’s a lot more work then just assigning a dev or two to constantly create new features. It has a lot more overhead! This is a bank after all, with security as it’s first priority.
