Amber Nectar

This year Australians have the chance to vote on who they think offers the best online services in Australia as part of the AMBER Awards.

AMBER, in this case, does not stand for the petrified sap of trees but for the less organic… Applications for the Broadband Economy Recognition Awards, and is looking to understand and then develop a clear picture of the services Australian consumers believe to be the best across a variety of categories.

Covering seven core categories the awards will break down as follows.

1. Best Online Banking Service

Transactional banking services that facilitate account management and payments for retail banking customers.

2. Best Online Insurance Service

Online insurance offerings for retail customers, including general insurance (home, motor etc) and health insurance.

3. Best Online Travel Service

Online travel services that facilitate travel bookings for retail customers. Includes air and other forms of travel and hotel booking services.

4. Best Online Retail Service

Online commerce offerings from retail businesses selling directly to consumers.

5. Best Online Trading Service

Online securities trading services for retail customers choosing to invest direct.

6. Best Mobile Commerce Service

Transactional services made available to customers using a mobile device. Includes mobile phone banking and mobile payments offerings.

7. Best Online Application Process

An award designed to recognise the delivery of streamlined online applications for travel/retail/banking/insurance/Govt. Assesses the consumer-facing end of the process for ease of use. The provider must receive a minimum of 20,000 unique visitors to its website per month to qualify.

To collect pure data on this – instead of simply asking for industry opinion or a panel of so-called experts as to which groups are best – a type of peer rating system – the AMBER committee has decided to actually ask the users.

As a consumer feel free to have your say too – click here.