Corporate Customers Usage of Internet Banking in East Africa Nelson Jagero and Silvance O Abeka Abstract The purpose of this paper was to identify the factors that influence corporate customers’ adoption of Internet banking services in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. The hypotheses are empirically evaluated by using Trade Finance customers of an East African bank as the target sample. The study involved 137 respondents from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. Due to the quantitative nature of the study, the results are analysed with statistical measures. The analysis reveals that corporate users are not motivated by the same factors as private users. In order to become Internet banking customers, it is extremely important for corporate users to have a system that is easy to use and operate with full support from the bank. Keywords: Internet Banking, East Africa, Cooperate customers, Quantitative methodology 1. Introduction Originally information technology was utilized in back offices for batch data processing, which was something not that obvious to the customers. Consumer oriented innovations became more important during 1980-1995. This time period is called the “diffusion period of the information revolution in commercial banking” (Bátiz-Lazo and Wood, 2002). Mainly this was possible due to Personal Computers (PC’s), which enabled new contacts between banks and customers. But as expected, it didn’t end there. After PC’s invaded homes and workplaces, customers themselves could start communicating with the bank electronically from their own PC’s. The information between customers’ PC’s and bank’s systems did not transfer on-line at that time. Only after emergence of the Internet, banks have been able to provide real-time banking services electronically to a larger audience without a need to install anything on the customer’s PC. (Bátiz- Lazo and Wood, 2002) Historically branches and physical distribution channels have been the very cornerstones to most banks’ market success. However, the emerging electronic channels have forced banks to change their entire management approach. Much of this is thanks to the fact that geographical and time restrictions do not limit the use of banking services anymore (Karjaluoto et al. 2002). As long as customers are connected to the Internet, they should be able to use the services when and where ever. The whole banking strategy has changed as a result of this; people are not dependent on the bank having branch closest to them physically, as it used to be. They can choose whichever bank offering its services online - or even several banks to serve different banking needs. This kind of development has shifted banks’ attention more from marketing and selling of services and products towards building and managing customer relations. IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol. 8, Issue 5, No 1, September 2011 ISSN (Online): 1694-0814 www.IJCSI.org 394