Analyst Profile Detailed
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Luisa Bordoni
Group VP, EMEA Research, Consulting
Team:
Consulting Services
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Luisa Bordoni was recently appointed with the responsibility of driving IDC EMEA's consulting business. Consulting is IDC's most dynamic business area in terms of new client requirements and market complexity, which plays to Bordoni's strengths in terms of ICT industry experience, market knowledge, and ability to support clients across technologies, geographical markets, and vertical industries.
Bordoni joined IDC in 1987 and initially built up market analysis expertise across servers, software, and IT services at the local level.
In 1992 she became manager of the London-based IT Markets Expertise Center and oversaw the European Black Book. She also became IDC's senior consultant for the European ICT Observatory Series.
In 1995 Bordoni published the first European Vertical Markets study made available by a market research firm in Europe, with IT spending data by vertical market in 16 countries. This led on to being appointed worldwide VP of vertical market research in 1999 where Bordoni moved to IDC's headquarters in Framingham to champion the development of IDC's Vertical Market practice.
During the course of the last 15 years, Bordoni has developed a specialty for cross-vertical, cross-industry market opportunity analysis, ICT user best practices, and ICT vendor competitive analysis. This knowledge will be leveraged in her new strategic role at IDC.
Bordoni has a degree in economics from Universita Cattolica in Milan where she lectures on information sciences. She holds management qualifications from the London Business School and INSEAD.
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Analyst Research
Frequently Asked Questions
| You've suggested that online trading is not the same in the U.S. as in Europe. It is not possible to anticipate developments in Europe based on the U.S. market behavior. Can you elaborate? |
With demand for Internet access experiencing stellar growth, European investors and financial institutions in Europe are rapidly embracing online trading and jockeying for position in a market set to become a mass phenomenon by 2003. Yet the European online trading market is highly localized. While national leaders are emerging, there is still no established pan-European broker occupying the sort of position held by E*Trade or Schwab in the U.S. Price, language and cultural barriers also act on keeping localization very high. A smaller addressable user target market with a less developed equity culture also makes Europe more challenging for online traders. Payment and settlement systems as well as different competitive settings complete the differences between U.S. and Europe. Simply it is not possible to believe that what happened in the U.S. could be a reasonable proxy of what will happen in Europe.
| | What makes Europe appealing then? |
Many cultures and WAP. Online financial services are one of the key areas where the multiplicity of European cultures and habits can really grow a uniquely rich market opportunity. High-income, population size, growing equity culture, growing capital markets, alliances between European stock exchanges make the demand curve peak. The challenge is to be able to address localized national barriers all at once. The secret is getting the "melting pot" right, so to combine effectively mass-market economies and diversification capabilities. No one of the key online financial service players has succeeded yet out of its home country. But 2000 is really promising as we see many alliances and acquisitions undergoing aimed at leveraging online financial services capabilities cross border.
On WAP much is being said. The hype is worth the attention though. The WAP infrastructure coverage promised by carriers is widening very rapidly in Europe, and the scene for "online financial services 2.0" is going to be ready sooner than everyone could expect.
| What are the signals of the new types of alliances that are setting the development of a truly European market?
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There are cross-border alliances set up in the area of improving content and interactivity of financial portals that are very interesting. Also, leading brokers offering learning and know-how to emerging online brokers in other countries help to speed up quality improvements. From a general business perspective this is really the first time that an inherently local sector (as financial services are in Europe) and a global industry like IT and communications need to walk the same steps to achieve success. There are many attrition points because of that, and many financial institutions are still rather slow to grow in this new culture. Yet the opportunity to reinvent the financial services business through new technology is such that no one can afford to step back or hesitate. In this sense, technology is contributing to make European local diversities an asset for growth.
| . What are the things you are watching for online financial services?
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Cross-selling of financial products, web branding strategies, and WAP are shaping exciting developments. Pioneers have developed new offering at a very fast pace, but second comers are narrowing the time to market disadvantage at high speed. The next few months will see the European online banking and trade accounts double in Europe thanks to these developments, but growth will be uneven across countries, and our goal is to anticipate where the settings will be more favorable for online brokers competing in Europe.
| Which key aspects of online financial services in Europe will IDC be tracking in the next few months?
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We are going to watch closely the market opportunity for cross selling financial products online. We shall publish a report on online insurance opportunities and one on online lending opportunities. We will also be tracking the impact of ECNs, and key challenges for local or global web branding and web marketing.
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The number of online trading accounts in Europe will grow from 1.85 million at the end of 1999, to 4.4 million by yearend, and to 16.8 million by 2003. Europe is now in the stage of rapid online trading account growth. Companies that are first off the block can gain significant market share at this stage of rapid market growth, and the biggest challenge could well come from start-ups rather than from traditional institutions
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