Cross SACCO information sharing and collaboration environment: ucredit mobile application

Abstract

Savings and Credit Co-operative societies (SACCOs) are the financial arm of the cooperative movement in Kenya. SACCOs have identified with mobile banking applications as a means of cheaply, efficiently accessing SACCOs transaction by their membership. These SACCOs mobile applications are designed to fit individual SACCO policy and Philosophy, locking the membership from access and comparing rival SACCOs service rates and products portfolios on same application. Hence no information sharing or SACCOs collaboration is being supported on these mobile platforms.Nevertheless, modern trends need to be adopted in the cooperative movement that will enable sharing of SACCOs information through mobile technology and inter SACCOs collaboration using mobile phone collaboration tools and thus SACCOs gaining stakeholders’ trust. These factors are important for increasing growth of SACCOs financial base and increase of individual SACCOs potential to grow. Thus, avoid the need for SACCOs to merge, and make SACCOs provide a united front that perpetually creates a large business entity to compete effectively with other large financial institutions such as banks, for customer market share. Entrenching an environment that will make SACCOs able to maintain efficiency and security on financial information access. The mobile application platform will expand delivery of products and services to consumers who are SACCOs members, expand members’ investment options and provide a simplified but high-quality service access to both current and new members.The SACCO collaborative information sharing platform is expected to provide a simplified concept that will enable consumers select services competitively across multiple SACCOs on one platform, consuming less time and reduce options burden to membership and reduce operational burden to individual SACCO.This dissertation is a study into possibility of designing and developing a mobile phone-based SACCO information sharing platform by adopting a collaborative business model. The study will apply theoretical frameworks which have been developed from existing literature on adoption of innovation in the sharing and collaboration application platforms. The factors that could influence SACCOs intention to adopt and use collaborative sharing platforms.