The 20 Most Innovative FinTech Solution Providers 2018

www.insightssuccess.com May 2018

The Most

Innovative Digi Payments The Age of Disruptive Banking through Digital Payment Solutions

Solution Providers

2018

Secured Vision Traits to Possess the Best Enterprise Security

Andrew Rudd Founder, Chairman & CEO

Empowering Advisors and Wealth Management Companies

Editor’s Note

Fintech: What’s Next?

O

ver the past few years, global fintech industry has witnessed a massive surge in the investment sector. The investors are deployed as much as $16.6 billion across more than 1000 deals to VC backed fintech companies. With an unprecedented amount of funding, 2018 could be the year of fintech. So, here are some of the trends that could eventually shape the financial landscape.

Cryptocurrencies are in rage this days, and it’s not a secret that newly emerging currencies have been a massive business during the last twelve months, especially after the exponential rise of Bitcoin.

Many people are also launching their cryptocurrencies through ICOs, which eventually means that consumers have much more choice than before when it comes to which cryptocurrency to use.

However, few merchants nowadays are launching spurious cryptocurrencies in order to make some quick cash. So, the cryptocurrency market has a lot of maturing to do, but it’s also the one to watch out for.

Historically, the fintech market has been cornered by various small startups that have been able to outmaneuver the global conglomerates to innovate at pace and to capture public’s imagination.

However, times have changed, and those startups are now facing stiff competition from larger and more established firms that are adapting to new technologies. So, the good news is for the industry is

that this competition will eventually help to foster innovation, forcing all the organizations to do their best.

Near Field Communication is already changing lives of people around the world and now it’s changing how people make payments. In various countries around the planet, NFC is being used to enable contactless payments where people can hold their debit/credit cards near a reader.

Nowadays, most of the cellphone manufacturers are also adding this feature in their phones, and the best thing is that the technology can easily be implanted into a person so that they can pay with a wave of their hands.

Still, the trends that I have talked about are sure to be the source of much of that disruption, at least in the next couple of years. What I can say, though, that these trends are going to be a lot of fun to watch, whether you’re a passive observer or whether it’s your company that’s leading the charge.

So, to highlight companies that are working endlessly with their innovative solutions, Insights Success has shortlisted “The 20 Most Innovative FinTech Solution Providers 2018.”

Our Cover Story features Advisor Software, Inc., which simplifies the process by bringing tried and tested functionality to the systems you already use. ASI focuses on advancing the science of wealth planning so financial advisors can focus on the art of advice delivery.

It provides cloud platforms to empower today’s advisor and wealth management companies.

Customized to suit the needs of each client, the software addresses a range of advisor functional needs, including Digital Advice, Planning, Proposal Generation, Portfolio Construction, Rebalancing, and Investment Analytics.

ASI is the first organization to develop an independent, enterprise-level portfolio rebalancing solution, as well as the first goal-driven, end-to-end technology platform designed to evolve with the client as their needs, circumstances, and overall capital market conditions change.

Happy Reading!

Kaustav Roy

CONTENTS 10 Cover Story

24 Auka: Transforming Retail Banking with Mobile Payment Products

30 Empowering Advisors and Wealth Management Companies

Bankable: An Innovative Banking as a Service Provider

40

52

58

BriteCore:

InsureApp:

MyBucks:

Stable, Extensible, and Evolving InsuranceTechnology

A Revolutionary Lifestyle-based Insurance Platform

Providing Financial Services through Technology

60

66

68

SE2:

VIPR:

ZorroSign:

Born Out Of Insurance, Powered By LeadingEdge Technologies

pioneers of sophisticated software solutions for the Insurance Industry

The Pioneer of Electronic Signature Technology

Industry Insight A Stands for Insights

Insider's Insight Using Big Data and AI to Communicate When Seconds Count

Leader's POV RedeďŹ ning the Institutional Desktop within Capital Markets

Industry Insider Fintech: The Next Big Thing

Leader's Desk Being conďŹ dent about your future when your organization is designed for control

Articles Digi Payments

Secured Vision

The Age of Disruptive Banking through Digital Payment Solutions

Traits to Possess the Best Enterprise Security

Changing Industry Fintech and the Changing Market

Expert's Viewpoint Entrepreneurs, Brace yourselves for the Future!

Tech Talk Are we at the end of our ‘Search and Find’ habit?

Leader's Insight Emerging Technologies that will be Drive Financial Sector

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Executive Editors Assistant Editors Contributing Editors Visualiser Art & Design Director Associate Designer Co-designer

Pooja M. Bansal Anish Miller Kaustav Roy Jenny Fernandes Sourav Mukherjee Abhishaj Sajeev Kedar Kulkarni David King Amol Kamble Vijaykumar Dudhbhate Savita Pandav

Art & Picture Editor Paul Belin Jayant Khanna Senior Sales Manager Passi D. Business Development Manager Peter Collins Marketing Manager Steve Smith Business Development Executives Steve, Joe, Alan, Anup Sales Executives David, Kevin, Mark, Pravin Technical Head Jacob Smile Technical Specialist Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza Online Marketing Strategist Alina Sege, Shubham Mahadik, Vaibhav K SME-SMO Executives Prashant Chevale, Uma Dhenge, Gemson, Irfan Research Analyst Chidiebere Moses Circulation Manager Robert, Tanaji Database Management Stella Andrew Technology Consultant David Stokes sales@insightssuccess.com

May, 2018 Corporate Ofces: Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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Empowering Advisors and Wealth Management Companies

Cover Story

Andrew Rudd Founder, Chairman & CEO

I

n today’s digital world, simple things like making a dinner reservation or hailing a cab can be done with the click of a button. Even complicated and complex functions like wealth management are slowly moving towards automation.

The wealth management sector is experiencing disruptive changes as clients now expect to be served digitally, be it via a self-directed tool or with the help of an advisor. Wealth managers who leverage these technologies future-proof themselves and lay the groundwork for success in terms of scale, client services, and business growth.

However, these transitions can be a challenge, even for the most tech-savvy financial advisor. Advisor Software (ASI) simplifies the process by bringing automated functionality to the systems you already use. ASI focuses on advancing the science of wealth planning so financial advisors can focus on the art of advice delivery.

It provides cloud platforms to empower today’s advisor and wealth management companies. Customized to suit the needs of each client, ASI’S products address a range of advisor functional needs, including Digital Advice, Planning, Proposal Generation, Portfolio Construction, Rebalancing, and Investment Analytics.

ASI is the first organization to develop an independent, enterprise-level portfolio rebalancing solution, as well as the first goal-driven, end-to-end financial technology platform designed to evolve with the client as their needs, circumstances, and overall capital market conditions change.

“We develop functionality and user interfaces to your specs, then host and maintain your solutions.”

Advisor Software

The company is powered by a research team that provides in-depth analytics for its products with sophisticated Monte Carlo solutions, risk modeling, stress testing, and holistic financial planning. Complex problems are solved and presented in a simple and easyto-understand user interface.

A Veteran Leader Advisor Software’s Founder, and currently the Chairman and CEO, Andrew Rudd is an expert in asset allocation, modern portfolio theory, risk management, and performance measurement. When founding ASI in 2001, Andrew wanted to create a company that would deliver world class analytics to the retail financial services market.

He is also a co-founder and former chairman of Barra, Inc., where he served as CEO from 1984 to 1999. Dr. Rudd was also Professor of Finance and Operations Research at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

Andrew has co-authored two industry-leading books on institutional investing, Modern Portfolio Theory: The Principles of Investment Management and Option Pricing. Additionally, he has written various journal articles and research papers on a wide range of domestic and international investment practices and theories.

Cover Story

“Our technology addresses a range of an advisor’s functional needs including Digital Advice, Planning, Proposal Generation, Portfolio Construction, Rebalancing, and Investment Analytics.” independent broker-dealers. Its clients enjoy some of the lowest time-to-market rates in the industry.

Dr. Rudd received his Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in Mathematics and Physics from Sussex University in England, and earned a M.Sc. in Operations Research, an M.B.A in Finance and International Business, and a Ph.D. in Finance and Operations Research from the University of California, Berkeley.

“While technology can improve the way advisors manage the financial lives of their clients, the advisorclient relationship is the most important part of the equation. All of our applications have been developed with this in mind, advancing the science of wealth planning so advisors can focus on the art of advice delivery,” asserts Andrew.

Advisor Software’s integrations with popular tools and custodians let advisors move seamlessly between applications and automate routine workflows, saving them time and unlocking new operational efficiencies.

The organization help advisors and leading financial enterprises create operational alpha through technology.

Technological elements like behavioral questionnaire, Behavioral IQ®, are sometimes regarded as an additional expense or a way to cut down on human wealth managers. However, these products actually save financial advisors time by guiding clients toward investments that make sense for them and also keep them comfortable while generating revenue for the firm.

Clients today want personalized experiences and ASI believes that it is every financial advisor’s duty to provide it. Technology is merely a way to scale your business functions.

Addressing Clients’ Needs Advisor Software’s products address advisors’ functional needs. They are aimed at a wide range of financial institutions and professionals, enabling asset management firms, broker-dealers, banks, insurance companies, online brokerages, custodians, and providers of investment services and products to deliver more insightful, actionable investment advice and build stronger, more profitable client relationships.

A Different Organization Making the Industry a Better Place Advisor Software’s unique attributes are the unrivalled depth of its API technology and the independent research it employs. With over 175 unique APIs and patented technology, it is able to build customized solutions for enterprises of any size. ASI can deploy its robo advisor platform in a matter of days, not weeks or months.

The company has already built a loyal client base of RIAs, banks, asset managers, warehouses, and

All of its software applications and APIs are sold strictly as a SaaS model. The organization does not charge based on basis points or Assets Under Management (AUM).

Just because Advisor Software’s tool helps a client add 30% new business does not mean a larger check for ASI. This model helps with budgeting and is the basis of the solid, long-term relationships ASI enjoys with many of its customers.

Advisor Software’s recent growth is fueled partly by its one-of-a-kind Wealth Management Cloud platform – an end-to-end suite of sophisticated analytics, APIs and SaaS applications for the wealth management industry.

Used by thousands of financial professionals, ASI’s portfolio of services and resources encompass: Goal-Based Financial Planning; Risk Tolerance Assessment; Rebalancing; Digital Advice; Proposal Generation; Investment Planning; Portfolio Analysis; Portfolio Management; Reporting, and Alerts.

Helping Advisors Deliver Better Advice ASI’s wealth management cloud is one-of-a-kind platform that helps financial institutions and wealth managers to deliver better advice to their customer in a more flexible, efficient and scalable way. Ÿ

Digital Advisor: This smart, scalable digital application automates onboarding and advice delivery, so advisors can focus on deepening relationships with clients. Digital Advisor is a complete, turnkey automated investing solution from lead generation and model selection, through portfolio monitoring and rebalancing, so clients can efficiently serve accounts of any size.

Ÿ

Behavioral IQ: ASI has built an innovative, research-based digital solution that measures a person’s relevant behaviors and knowledge, uniquely creating a measure of both their ability and propensity for making appropriate financial decisions.

We provide cloud platforms to empower today’s advisor and wealth management companies. Customized to suit the needs of each of our clients, ASI’s products address a range of advisor functional needs, including Digital Advice, Planning, Proposal Generation, Portfolio Construction, Rebalancing, and Investment Analytics

‘

If you have technologists on hand and you want to control the UI/UX experience, our functional APIs will plug right into your existing user interface. Ÿ

Ÿ

Ÿ

Portfolio Rebalancer: Portfolio Rebalancer is a portfolio management application that scales to firms of any size. It includes portfolio construction and model management, investment proposal generation, account monitoring, portfolio rebalancing, diagnostics, and reporting. It helps ASI’s clients to grow their topline and increase operational efficiency with the wealth management industry’s most complete portfolio rebalancing app.

Client Acquisition: ASI Client Acquisition Solution is an institutional-caliber portfolio construction and proposal generation platform that allows advisors to create more personalized investment plans, deliver more consistent advice, and convert more prospects to clients. goalgamiPro: ASI believes that goalgamiPro is the best Financial Planning software solution for

financial advisors with too little time on their hands. With goalgamiPro, one can create goalbased financial plans consisting of a household balance sheet and cash flow plan, then generate professional goal achievement reports for your clients in a matter of minutes. Ÿ

Wealth Management APIs: Wealth Management APIS helps to leverage ASI’s robust library of APIs. The organization has build and deliver end-to-end, extensible APIs that can be used within your existing wealth management applications.

A Research-Driven Company Advisor Software was the first in the industry to develop many of the wealth management applications and APIs that are widely used today.

Driven by independent research, Advisor Software often uncovers needs in the industry before the professionals on the front lines realize they have the need.

Cover Story For example, ASI built the first selfdirect advice application for Sharebuilder long before other organizations saw the benefit of workflow automation with robo advisors. Advisor Software welcomes those challenges and enjoys educating people about new and improved ways to run a wealth management business.

Advisor Software believes that the coming years will be quite exciting for the organization. The company sees behavioral finance becoming more integrated with holistic financial planning and retirement planning. It wants to help advisors use tools like Behavioral IQ to coach their clients about investing while managing not just their tolerance for risk but also their tolerance for loss.

Entering the Ever Competitive Vertical Andrew Rudd’s principal motivation in founding ASI was the realization that financial advisors would benefit from an institutional approach towards portfolio management, and that technology could enrich the advisor-client relationship.

Each new initiative launched by ASI shares the goal of improving the quality of services provided to the end-client. To achieve this, ASI introduced application over investment advice, financial planning, more recently behavioral finance (Behavioral IQ) and Digital Advice platform. This goal-based investment platform allows clients to either be self-directed or advisor assisted enabling a streamlined approach to on boarding and maintaining the new and existing clients.

Omnichannel Agent and Customer Engagement Solutions Simplify and personalize the customer experience, empower agents and achieve business success with one workspace for all channel interactions, application integrations, and CX reporting.

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CORPORATE OFFICE Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone: (614)-602-1754,(302)-319-9947 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

Company Name

Management

Brief

Advisor Software Inc. advisorsoftware.com

Andrew Rudd Founder Chairman & CEO

Advisor Software’s mission is to advance the science of wealth planning so financial advisors can focus on the art of advice delivery.

Agile Financial agile-ft.com

Kalpesh Desai CEO

Agile Financial Technologies is led by captains of the industry who envisioned the creation of an unparalleled enterprise that would be an agile technology partner to leading players in the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sector.

Auka auka.io

Daniel Doderlein Founder

Auka is a technology company that enables retail banks to issue mobile payment products to its private and merchant customers.

Bankable bnkbl.com

Eric Mouilleron Founder & CEO

Bankable offers white-label and API-based payment solutions, including e-wallets, m-wallets, remittance services, P2P transfers and prepaid card programs.

BriteCore britecore.com

Phil Reynolds CEO

BriteCore is an enterprise-level insurance processing suite. Built from the ground up using the latest in modern technology, BriteCore combines core, data, and digital solutions into a single platform.

Capco capco.com

Lance Levy CEO

Capco is actively transforming the future of finance, to create a resilient market of transparency, trust and capital strength.

Equitable Financial Solutions efsol.com.au

Usman Siddiqui Managing director

Equitable Financial Solutions (or EFSOL) was established in May 2011 as a proprietary limited company. Its mission is to be the leading provider in alternative and innovative financial solutions.

Gavin meetgavin.com

Matthijs Nelemans Co-founder & CEO

Gavin is the world’s first risk-sharing service.

Governance.io Governance.io

Bert Boerman CEO

Governance.io turns its client’s data into valuable business intelligence

Insureapp insureapp.com

Jochem Davids CEO

InsureApp is the world’s first lifestyle-based insurance and offers a revolutionary approach to customer engagement. It blends user’s lifestyle-patterns and adapt to their real-time needs by offering individualized and on-demand insurance.

Company Name

Management

Brief

Intelligent Banking Solutions ibshome.com

Cindy Daley Director of Operations

IBS (Intelligent Banking Solutions, Inc.), is exclusively dedicated to collection and recovery software for the banking industry since it’s inception in 1989. IBS’ bank software solutions have been licensed to almost 900 financial institutions.

Jabil jabil.com

Gary Cantrell CIO

Jabil is a product solutions company focused on empowering brands that have their sights set on empowering the world.

Moven moven.com

Brett King Founder & CEO

Moven is a group of technologists, strategists, designers, data scientists, and financial services specialists on a mission to bring banking to the digital and mobile age.

MyBucks mybucks.com

Dave Van Niekerk CEO

MyBucks is a Fintech company that embraces technology as a means to provide financial products and services to the low and middle-income customer segment, predominantly in highgrowth emerging markets.

PayTabs paytabs.com

Abdulaziz Aljouf Founder & CEO

PayTabs, offers its clients one-stop revolutionary solutions for all your requirements to manage their business online.

SE2,LLC. se2.com

Gautam Thakkar CEO

Se2, an Eldridge Industries portfolio company, is a leading technology and third party administration company focused on the North American life and annuity insurance industry.

Souqalmal Souqalmal.com

Ambareen Musa CEO & founder

Souqalmal is known for its core value: Trust. As a team, it thrives to build up transparency in the Financial Services industry and be a champion for consumers.

TransMerit Merchant Services transmerit.com

George Csahiouni Co-founder

TransMerit Merchant Services’ goal is to fully understand each merchant’s business so that it can offer a customized program perfectly suited to the needs of that specific enterprise. By valuing the uniqueness of its clients, it is better able to help them develop new business.

VIPR Solutions viprsolutions.com

BOB BROWN CEO & Co-founder, Richard Brown Director & Co-founder

VIPR is an award-winning provider of sophisticated software solutions for the insurance market. Its unrivalled market insight has secured its reputation as an industry innovator.

Zorrosign,Inc. zorrosign.com

Shamsh Hadi CEO & Co-Founder

ZorroSign’s cutting edge technology authenticates the signatory, the signature and the document by ensuring it has not been revised, revoked, replaced or cancelled, be it online or on paper.

Carol Fitzgerald President & CEO BuzzBack

T

he market research landscape is in disruption – how we capture consumer insights is changing drastically from how it was done years ago. Agile is the new mantra for most marketers these days – it’s about being faster, cheaper AND smarter. Is it possible to have all 3?

Ÿ

Today’s consumers are informed ‘digital spenders,’ according to Harvard Business Review –they integrate mobile devices for information seeking and purchase, both in-store and online. They are informed and connected, making in-context learning more critical for consumer closeness and activation. Further, because of their relationship with mobile devices, there is inherent intimacy, enabling marketers to gain from richer understanding, both via active and passive ‘data capture.’

Ÿ

How consumers use information and communicate is shifting to what Google refers to as micro moments. We live in a world driven by instant sharing, YouTube videos, TED Talks, etc. Marketers need to shift their approaches and focus to how they capture consumer information – both actively and passively. This adds to the disruption.

Ÿ

Healthcare companies are somewhat still focused on older generations (Boomers, Xers), but how this information is delivered is shifting to online sources of health information, and compliance mechanisms go beyond the life-saving pill to apps and other ways to reinforce usage of new treatments and medications. And it’s the same with doctors – tablets and mobile devices

Further, Agile isn’t the only A-word – there’s Artificial Intelligence and Automation as well. These A’s comprise some of the major factors disrupting our landscape. So, what does it all mean and how does it impact you?

I spend a good deal of time visiting clients – in fact; I count the companies I visit year after year, that’s companies, not individuals. Last year 129, the year before 105 – all global and across many sectors.

Here’s what I am hearing (and seeing of course): Ÿ Consumer companies continue to focus on Millennials, and now Gen Z; these are mobile-centric consumers, they balk at traditional research, & more importantly, use visuals & video (SnapChat, Instagram, YouTube) to communicate & curate behavior. How you talk to them needs to change - meaning how you collect and capture what they’re doing.

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May 2018

Industry Insight

A

Stands for

Insights

Ÿ

are used for their daily work, therefore research needs to conform with video interviews, etc.

Ÿ

Navigating this learning also has its set of buzzwords and new requirements. AI and automation are the 2018 buzzwords on top of being Agile. Clients are rearchitecting processes and disciplines. The emergence of Zappistore, Wizer, Audience, and other self-serve platforms also, has gained acceptance offering an automated way for marketers to get fast results using standard approaches. In fact, it’s resulted in a shift to marketers becoming more empowered for research ‘buying’ as insights teams continue to shrink.

Ÿ

Interactive techniques – our proprietary projectives yield greater depth and understanding, using interactive technology to engage – especially younger generations accustomed to living in a digitally-centric environment

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Depth of reporting – combining visual, verbal, emotional and contextual understanding, illustrating consumer closeness in both consumer generated and passive data capture. Your learning needs to conceptually, concisely and quickly deliver a ‘story’ that’s easily digestable and shareable

Ÿ

Faster delivery – automation to give you results in just a few days – even hours – to bring you consumer closeness

At BuzzBack, we’ve been pioneering innovation in insights for more than 17 years. In fact, this month, we turn 18 emerging as a leader in innovation. Sometimes we don’t explicitly use the word agile, because we’ve always been agile. That means providing insights at different stages in your innovation journey – sometimes with stages even conducted in parallel – faster and more affordably, making it easy for your team to move forward.

Ÿ

Holistic view because your journey has multiple steps, and key themes need to fit together when you’ve completed the steps.

You’ll benefit from a unique experience that combines: Ÿ Research guidance – research steering, whether you’re an insights expert or at the early stages of developing a brand. Our seasoned researchers guide at multiple steps along the way

When it comes to determining your next steps in marketing, how do you plan to get all A’s?

How do you live in this world?

May 2018

Over the years, hundreds of brands have relied on our techniques to better connect to consumers, break through marketing challenges, and fast-track their innovation – with proven results bringing new products to market.

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Auka: D

igitized payment methods are gaining worldwide attention for all the right reasons. They enable users to pay bills, purchase products and services, and check their account balances online, no matter where they are.

A digitized method of payment is more secure and convenient than the conventional cash payment gateway.

It is also a very helpful feature for users in remote areas. Wireless payment gateway systems are so easy to use and adaptable that about thirty percent of smartphone users employ them.

Auka started as mCASH, Norway’s first mobile wallet. mCASH was the first fully-licensed financial services company to run completely on the Google cloud platform. In 2015, Norway’s second largest bank, SpareBank 1, acquired the exclusive branding and usage of mCASH in an attempt to keep up with Norway’s largest bank, DNB and its mobile platform, Vipps.

Auka was formed off the back of this acquisition. In 2016, it was launched internationally to help banks in other regions create and launch their own

24

Transforming Retail Banking with Mobile Payment Products

white-label mobile payment solutions.

Creating New Revenue Streams The European PSD2 and GDPR payments and data regulation systems are stimulating bank business. Banks were on the defensive with third parties taking over consumer interface while returns on card payments diminishing.

Auka offers them a new channel for recruiting customers and creating new revenue streams through its proven mobile payments platform.

All this is streamlined through Auka’s white-label consumer and merchant apps, which are owned and branded by the issuing banks on a SaaS model.

Auka has the unique experience of building and launching a mobile payments platform including P2P and P2M payment functionality in a region where a solution like this did not previously exist.

Banks in Scandinavia utilize the same underlying formula that powers Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Alipay.

Scandinavian banks are the only

banks in the world who have monetized and increased their customer share using this model of mobile payments.

Transforming Vision into Reality Auka’s Founder, Daniel Döderlein, believed for many years that sending money to peers should be as easy as sending a text message. The introduction of the smartphone made that idea possible.

True to his vision, Daniel started working on a revolutionary payment platform. In 2010, after three years of studying both the proprietary Norwegian and the international payment networks, Daniel completed his design and launched it as mCASH. He had created the first technology of its kind in Scandinavia.

Daniel is an award-winning serial entrepreneur. He founded one of Norway’s first domain and web hosting companies when he was just 17. Today, he has more than twenty years of experience in the fields of IT, media, marketing and mobile.

Daniel is also on the Google Cloud Customer Advisory Board. He has

May 2018

Additionally, Daniel regularly speaks at various banking and tech conferences on upcoming banking disruption and mobile payments. He is highly sought-after for his remarkable insight and vision, and has given talks at Google Next in Europe, the Paris Fintech forum, Viva Tech and London Fintech Week.

First Company to Launch a D2C Mobile Wallet Auka is one of the first companies to launch a D2C mobile wallet. With an admirable tech experience and ability to create a solution the company has first-hand learning’s of launching a service like this in market.

Daniel Döderlein Founder

“Auka’s platform enables retail banks to provide innovative products and services to consumers and businesses without the overheads from legacy IT.” contributed extensively to several IT and telecom startups. This experience has enabled him to develop a vast network in related fields and build market-leading products.

May 2018

Auka has a string of firsts to its name. It was the first to develop mobile payment technology in the Nordic countries, the first to launch mobile payments in Norway, and the world’s first regulated financial services company to run 100% on public cloud.

Auka is one of the partners of Google Cloud’s Advisory Board. It has given regional banks the ability to create their own white-label mobile payments options. Its innovative solution has helped them to retain and acquire customers, gain a new channel through which to monetize payments, and also to prevent third-party disruption.

A World of Opportunity The regulatory technical standards which guide the implementation of the second payments services directive (PSD2) expire in September 2019.

“Banks in the EU are required to have their open banking systems in place to connect with third-parties by then. They must publish their compliance plans six months prior to this.

“Additionally, they must have solutions to ward off the onslaught of disruption and competition from thirdparties, fintechs and other banks.”

Auka partners with banks in this transition period to help them strengthen their digital payments channels in this period of regulatory-driven and global banking change.

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USING

BIG DATA AND

AI

TO COMMUNICATE WHEN SECONDS COUNT Tara Kelly Founder & CEO SPLICE Software

About the Author A serial innovator, published author, Founder and CEO of SPLICE Software, Tara Kelly is passionate about technology’s potential to change lives for the better. She has consistently channeled that belief into developing technologies that enhance operations, enable better service delivery, and improve the customer experience. This has resulted in creating three customer experience companies and turning an innovative idea into a patented, proprietary technology (US Patent Number 9348812) that harnesses data streams to create personalized, automated messages.

SPLICE solutions were included in Gartner’s “Cool Vendors in Insurance, 2016” report and Forrester’s “IoT and Analytics Startups Can Turn Insurers into the ‘Good Guys’” brief.

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May 2018

Insider's Insight

O

rganizations like property and casualty insurance companies, utilities and other businesses that help people recover from natural disasters are gearing up for the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins on June 1. Everyone is hoping it’s not as active as last year’s hurricane season, which was among the most destructive on record, with six major hurricanes and more than $280 billion in damages.

Recovery is still ongoing in many areas, notably Puerto Rico. But hurricanes aren’t the only danger to lives and property that insurers must address. Wildfires can occur at any time of the year, especially under drought conditions and when winds are high. Floods occur year-round and can cause catastrophic damage, as can tornados, hail, blizzards and a range of other weather-related events.

Organizations that need to urgently communicate with customers or employees before and after a weather event often encounter difficulties because they don’t have the contact information they need. Either the data they have is out of date, or they’re using a channel (work email addresses, landlines, etc.) that the people they’re trying to contact aren’t monitoring during the emergency.

After a disaster, organizations encounter even more difficulties in communicating. Customers may have left the area or are in a location where the infrastructure suffered significant damage.

Organizations that are trying to move crews into place to address the damage often have trouble mobilizing their people because of communication breakdowns and difficulty visualizing conditions on the ground.

Big Data, Small Data and AI to the Rescue

About the Company SPLICE Software creates stronger connections and improves the customer experience by delivering personalized messages to your customers via their channels of choice, at the most critical points along the customer journey. Our cloud-based Dialog Suite™ uses Big Data & Articial Intelligence to deliver Data-Driven Dialogs® that can be leveraged across phone, SMS messaging, and AI-assisted devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home. It’s just part of how SPLICE combines art & science to help you connect with your clients in new ways. Our award-winning Suite enables Retailers, Insurance companies, and Financial Services rms to collect and manage customers’ permissions and preferences so you can personalize, communicate, test, and measure like never before.

Fortunately, it’s possible to plan ahead, gather needed data and deploy technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and data visualization tools, to enable critical communication when seconds count. For businesses like property and casualty insurance companies, using the right technology assets can

May 2018

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enable communication with customers before and after disaster strikes.

It all starts with data. Companies that need to communicate with customers (or staff) during an emergency should prepare by gathering small data, such as complete contact information, making sure to distinguish between cell phone and landline numbers. They’ll also need to get permission to make contact and ask which channels people prefer, e.g., text, email, voicemail, social media, etc.

With the small data taken care of through pre-disaster outreach and data cleanup projects, organizations can put big data and AI to work before and after a disaster to communicate with customers and employees. Insurance companies can reach out to customers who are in an area threatened by a disaster, providing helpful information on making a claim.

Sorting customer information by ZIP code to pinpoint customers in the path of danger, insurers can use big data and AI to send automated messages via the channel customers prefer, reminding them to move to a safe location and including tips on what documentation they’ll need to file claims and instructions on how to contact the insurance company once the danger has passed.

This type of outreach is helpful to both customers and the companies that send the communication. It can help insurers avoid losses by warning customers of impending danger, and instructions help customers receive the prompt service they need after a disaster strikes.

Personalized outreach also helps strengthen the bond between brands and the customers they serve.

Once the immediate danger has passed, organizations like utilities, claims adjusters, emergency response teams, etc., need to deploy field crews. A software solution that can harness AI, advanced data visualization capabilities and mass communications tools can deliver the information decision-makers need with speed and accuracy.

stakeholders. For example, after a hurricane has moved through an area, power restoration and civil engineering crews may be on hand, but without an accurate view of conditions on the ground, it’s impossible to deploy assets effectively.

A weather event that knocks out power and damages infrastructure can delay recovery efforts, leaving customers stranded and crews idled just when the need for help is most acute. However, a data visualization app that takes in big data from multiple sources can provide clarity on conditions on the ground, allowing leaders to make informed decisions.

Picture utility team leaders with several power restoration crews in a disaster zone. Data pouring in from social media, weather services and other sources can help them pinpoint which crews to send to address specific sites with infrastructure damage. But data visualization tools that show conditions in real time, such as road and bridge closures, can help them take decisive action immediately.

The Secret Sauce Is Simplicity Emergency management tools that integrate big and small data and leverage the power of crowd knowledge and AI can provide critical information that can be visualized and understood in seconds. The ability to send mass communications is also important. Automated voice messages can deliver catastrophe warnings, postcatastrophe service updates, office closure notifications and much more.

Speed and accuracy are important, but simplicity is the secret sauce. A software platform that integrates all of these elements and allows the people who are managing critical events to visualize complex, evolving factors in real time can be a game-changer. Whether communicating with customers or employees, when seconds count, big data and AI are indispensable allies.

Big data is essential, but information alone isn’t enough — decision-makers need to be able to visualize it to make the right calls and communicate with affected

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May 2018

Bankable: T

he global market place, insurance companies, FinTechs, and national and international banks need a reliable, secure and agile transactional platform that can eliminate payment inefficiencies. One of the key players of this field is the London based FinTech, Bankable.

Bankable provides a range of payment solutions under a “Banking as a Service” model. Currently deployed solutions include digital banking, virtual account services, card management and processing services and payment processing services.

Bankable’s client base ranges from global corporates, incumbent banks and insurers, to SME’s and FinTechs who leverage the Bankable platform to streamline their payments processes and generate new net revenue opportunities. With Bankable’s products and services, banks are enabled to focus on their brand and products, and to quickly launch products in new territories and easily target new categories of customers.

Large corporates can leverage their services to improve payroll, expense and purchase management with their card programmes. FinTechs can quickly launch innovative payment tools for niche target groups, and large insurance companies obtain streamlined processes including admin & fraud management, with real-time financial support to beneficiaries.

commercially and of course technically. Bankable’s key added value indeed lies in the strong technology they provide, with Bankable’s Virtual Account Management platform as the core feature to the broader payment service Bankable enable. The Bankable platform enables their customers to quickly go to market, with a full turnkey solution depending on their business needs, via a single multichannel platform. Bankable is globally connected to custodian banks, processors, card manufacturers and other suppliers in the payments ecosystem, and they also provide programme management services – enabling Bankable to deliver an endto-end solution for corporate and consumer payment programmes.

Bankable’s unique interoperable platform as a service can be deployed in white-label or via API to provide real-time payment solutions. Bankable targets both B2B and B2B2C clients with several products, including Digital Banking, a Virtual Ledger Manager (VLM) and Payment Cards Programs.

A Unique Interoperable Platform

Virtual Ledger Manager: Bankable’s VLM is a solution that provides a faster, clearer, and more scalable operating model for cash management with its high-level capacity to process standardised and proprietary data in all machine-readable bank formats. It is applicable to any bank account and can be easily integrated to the general banking prism in which corporates evolve.

Bankable’s overall competitive advantage is their capacity to serve global clients on various levels: legally,

The Bankable virtual account structure is a data segregation and security system, which provides large

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An innovative Banking as a service provider corporates with the ability to replicate their operational system. As a result, this allows any client to create an unlimited number of virtual accounts and entities (countries, division, business units etc.) for money in and money out. VLM automatically deals with the reconciliation of inbound and outbound payments that occur from the virtual accounts. It also enables transactions to be initiated from those accounts.

Digital Banking: Bankable’s Digital Banking platform are leveraged by banks, FinTechs, Telco’s and retailers to launch a digital bank from scratch.

Bankable technology can be deployed to generate accounts with IBANs, issue payment cards linked to the accounts, and access payments schemes, including Faster Payments, SEPA transfers and SWIFT payments. The core of the solutions is the Account Management System, which handles all the accounting and reconciliation and provides connectivity to Bankable’s ancillary services.

Corporate and consumer card programmes: Bankable’s platform can be leveraged by corporates to launch card programmes to improve their expense, payroll, and purchase management processes, and can be used by distributors to deploy card programs targeted at consumers. Ÿ

For corporate programmes – Bankable offers a fully whitelabelled self-service platform for SME’s and corporates to issue VISA and Mastercard prepaid cards to employees for expenses, purchasing, payroll, incentives etc.

May 2018

banking solution, which can be deployed featuring both physical and virtual cards.

A Visionary Eric Mouilleron founded Bankable with the vision of eliminating payment inefficiencies. Prior to Bankable, he co-founded Valtech, an IT project-based software consulting company.

In 1999, Valtech had an IPO on Euronext and by 2000, it had grown into a multinational company with 12 offices in 8 countries, with more than 1,200 employees and a market cap of USD 1.5 billion. Before co-founding Valtech, Eric was a marketing strategist for the New York Times and then at Groupe Hersant.

Eric Mouilleron Founder & CEO

As a Founder and CEO of Bankable, Eric builds a culture of diversity and passion in what they do, and he inspires his employees to give their best and help the company grow.

A Remarkable Journey After successfully leading Valtech, Eric moved on to new entrepreneurial endeavors in the FinTech industry. This was after he attended the first Mastercard prepaid conference in Prague in May 2007, an event which provided him with insights into the payment space in Europe.

“Bankable provides a range of payment solutions under a ‘Banking as a Service’ model.”

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It gives clients cost-effective centralisation of their payments as it replaces cash and checks, as well facilitates real-time reporting on employee spending.

Ÿ

For consumer programmes – Bankable’s platform can be used by large corporations, banks, non-bank financial institutions, FinTechs, etc. to launch their own consumer programmes. The platform can be leveraged into a light

May 2018

Bankable was launched in December 2009, in the wake of the game-changing European Payment Services Directive (PSD1). This legislation disrupted the European finance industry as it forced the industry to be more open and competitive - freed from regulatory yokes, non-banking players were finally able to thrive. By then Bankable, the global architect of innovative payment solutions providing “Banking as a Service”, was set-up by design to legally, technically and commercially build long lasting partnership with banks and global corporates.

Since 2012, Bankable stands as “the friendliest FinTech to incumbents”; this was controversial at the time, because in those days, most FinTechs aimed to destroy the banking industry. Despite the general apprehension and competitiveness, Bankable that year signed their first bank partnership with Deutsche Bank, Global Transaction Banking. Today, Bankable is partnering with several European banks, Moneyou (a subsidiary of ABN AMRO) being one of them. This relationship evolved into a successful partnership – resulting in a fully digital challenger bank for consumers within 6 months of the first initial meeting.

Bankable is now in the midst of its exponential growth, planning to extend its range of services to the USA, the Middle-East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

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Redefining the Institutional Desktop within Capital Markets

Dan Schleifer Co-founder ChartIQ

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ntire organizations are driven on technology that no longer meets the expectations of end users.

Particularly in the financial space. Financial institutions have notoriously struggled to keep pace with technology. Many, if not all, desktops that power Wall Street are programmed in what are now referred to as “legacy” languages: Java, .NET, and C++. This becomes increasingly problematic the longer they sit there. The degradation of user experience and functionality creates serious consequences for a product (and the bottom line), especially when compared to their modern counterparts.

The rise of modern UX and UI has fundamentally changed the way business leaders and organizations think about product development. As technology evolved over the years, so did consumer expectations. Engineers improved their methods and craft, better products were delivered, and consumers reaped the benefits of an interactive, intuitive UI that delivered a great UX. However, that same deliverable quickly conditioned and influenced users’ expectations, making it even harder for engineers to keep pace. Users want and expect a beautifully designed, modern, interactive experience on any device, anywhere.

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In today’s world of hyper expectations, user experience must be the leading driver in determining product strategy.

Web technologies—HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript to name a few—are what deliver the modern UX that users have come to expect. These technologies came and conquered.

They’re responsible for the “mobile first” and cloud movements that transformed businesses around the world.

Web technologies have had such a big impact on the bottom line that they are now a cornerstone of any great company or product strategy.

But the financial space is always a little tough. Developing tools for financial professionals isn’t the same as building a taxi service app, a chat platform, or a food delivery app.

The needs of financial professionals—analysts and traders in particular—are far more complex and require technical sophistication and industry-specific intel.

With help from experts in the field, institutions began to deliver the experience modern users demanded. Web technologies played a huge role as devices proliferated and May 2018

Leader's POV cross-platform technology became essential. But through all of this, there was one device and tool that was overlooked: the desktop trading terminal. The last mile of web technologies is bringing their inherent advantages to the institutional desktop trading station.

The desktop is king in the financial industry thanks to its sheer power, performance, and efficiency. Right now a proprietary terminal sits on the desk of 325K of the most influential decision-makers in finance. Close your eyes and imagine the trading floor full of paper tickets and runners.

One of the first industry revolutions moved Wall Street from print to computers. And now, we’re in the midst of another great revolution as HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript are being applied to financial technology.

Power users in finance need access to a lot of data—and quickly. This explains the large investment in the desktop computer and 12+ monitor setup. But what if you could take all the data within those monitors and have each monitor’s contents talk to each other, fit on one screen, or stretch out across many screens depending on your preference? What if you could fill multiple areas on your screen with the data that mattered most to your own organization? And what would happen to your business if you could integrate your legacy and native applications into the same platform as your modern web technologies? AND they could all interoperate? This is the future of the desktop: one experience powered by many apps. Its smarter, better-looking, and more powerful. And it’s finally here.

Financial firms employ thousands of desktop apps for trading, market research, and collaboration. They can be modern or legacy apps. They can be licensed from thirdparty vendors or built in-house.They can be built with different technologies such as Java, .Net, Angular, or Flash.

But no matter the situation, financial institutions are faced with a hodgepodge of disparate, splintered applications across the entire organization, and definitely on the user’s desktop. These apps might provide insight and power and individually be great, but they’re just a single app on a page, unaware of its surroundings.

Within the last five years, software frameworks called containers have given us the ability to have multiple types of applications work together on the desktop, regardless of language. The latest tech development is building advanced functionality on top of the container, because the container isn’t enough. When HTML5 and JavaScript are used on top of a container, they can leverage APIs, a microservice architecture, and modern functionality to bring users a new platform experience—an open terminal experience.

steeped in legacy architecture, a chance to preserve the current apps that power their business while simultaneously building forward in HTML5. The open terminal accomplishes this by making it possible for organizations to embed their own native applications into a modern, interoperating platform that connects and syncs data. The final product is the functionality that end users want. And that’s been a long time coming for Wall Street’s darling: the desktop. Your choice of data and components. All working seamlessly together.

“The move to bring powerful web functionality and integrate disparate systems into a unified user experience is redefining the institutional trading terminal as we know it.”

Individual windows can be easily connected with the touch of a button so that they communicate with one another and synchronize data. This allows for a federated approach, where components are loosely coupled, but integrated into a unified whole. With these new developments, organizations can, for the first time ever, reduce their dependence on the proprietary terminal and choose the data that is relevant to their organization. When data sources are interconnected, synchronized, and organized to best meet the end users’ needs... the entire workflow is made efficient.

At ChartIQ, we’ve been working with HTML5 for years to guide large financial institutions through the inevitable upgrade process. We built our open terminal platform, Finsemble, to help these same institutions deliver a compelling and efficient user experience on the desktop.

Finsemble is a middle road between the powerful-but-rigid legacy environment and the dynamic-but-constrained browser environment. APIs allow window communication and syncing, and client-side integration is fast and easy. You can learn how to start revolutionizing your desktop trading terminal at chartiq.com With Finsemble, customized workspaces and workflows are quick to assemble for developers. And they are flexible, so the unique requirements of each and every organization are individually met. Embedding native applications into an HTML5 environment allows these large, legacy-driven orgs to finally deliver the best possible user experience.

About Dan Schleifer Dan Schleifer is a Co-founder of ChartIQ, a front-end software company that specializes in HTML5 functionality and APIs for capital markets clients. ChartIQ provides tools that make migrating and updating to modern interfaces easy for large financial institutions. Learn more at chartiq.com

An open terminal experience is exactly what financial institutions need to solve the headaches associated with their outdated technology. It allows large organizations, May 2018

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T

he way people make payments are changing faster due to the improved integration of digital technology. This has beneďŹ ted the industry with increased competition and consumer demands.

The changes can be witnessed in Travel, E-commerce, Household Bill payments etc. The recent integration of technology in payment solutions makes transactions fast and seamless and can be done at the comfort of your homes.

Although we are witnessing a considerable change in the payment solution industry, there is still a consistent use of the cash and cards, which solely depends on the geographical setting. In some places, people prefer cash and cards, while in other places, they encourage the more use of digital solutions; for example: The United States and Canada. Analysis has shown that

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May 2018

Digi Payments in these areas, they are likely to switch completely to technology enabled payment solutions.

The payment solution processes will become more innovative because of the following disruptive trends; · Digital Banking and Remote Payment Approval As the younger aged masses are turning up to technology more than the traditional mediums, there is a notion that most payment solutions will be done through digitalenabled mediums rather than cash or cheque. This will result in more engagement of mobile phones and digital software applications.

and digitalized concepts. Various financial organizations that may not be able to handle the process of migrating from the traditional format to the digitalized platform finds ease in doing so by partnering with technology companies.

Organizational growth is measured both in market value, infrastructure and the extent of their networks. The integration of digital technology advances in payment provisions helps especially the finance-oriented establishments to easily expand their reach, even to the most hidden places in the world. This helps to touch the lives of people no matter the class and status and it repays with tremendous customer growth. · Improved Security and Payment by Codes

Various business outlets are accepting more of mobile payment which is helping them to improve customer experience. The addition of instant alerts, appreciation notifications and instant payment delivery is making this innovation more interesting. · Customer-Focused Strategy as a Priority Customer experience post business encounter is what makes a difference in the industry. Digital banking solutions are improving the way customers feel after making their payments. In the past years, one need to stand in a queue in the bank before they can make even the smallest transaction, but the integration of technology innovation has reduced the stress to the lowest level. We can witness improved services and instant expense management which is helping everyone that is using this medium to stay above the crowd · Improved Customer Satisfaction through Rewards A customer tends to check back on the sales-person who gave them a tip or discount after purchase. This is also applicable in payment solution. After people makes a purchase online or even via cards and the seller offers them a certain percentage of discount, they will always want to come back. The good news is that most business enterprises are supporting this idea in collaboration with the finance institutions. · FinTech Collaboration and Expansion of Networks The innovation in payment solution is incorporating feasibility of resource management between the financial and non-financial organizations. Through this development, the result will lead to easy merging of both the traditional medium of resource management concepts with the recent May 2018

Security is huge concern when money is involved. People are so conscious and very inquisitive about how their money will travel from the sender to the receiver. In so many cases, they will even think that such platforms as digitalized mediums are not trustworthy as a single wrong number can direct their money to unknown destination.

The transaction as of the old was true cheques. But today, there will be a limited need for those methods, rather, payment will simply be done by inputting a certain username and password and your dashboard will be opened.

Through this page, you can easily make every payment. The age of digitalization is turning the whole process into codebased and this raises the question of how to stay safe. It is also believed that for security purposes, the instant notification of transaction, linking of secured email and encryption to individual data and disaster-recovery provisions will lead the innovation to better direction. This concern has a big deal with blockchain, augmented reality, IoT and biometrics.

You may be asking how the future will look like with techenabled payment solutions. As the world is growing and globalization is gaining a good ground, people blends in to what they see that is working well. So, as digital payment solution is making even the life of the lay man on street easy, more people in the near future will completely adopt this innovation. It will not harm the financial institutions, but it will be great if they can migrate or better integrate some form of technology strategies in their financial solutions. This change may be slow, but it will be consistent as the technology changes are not giving room for procrastination.

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Francisco Mariscal Co-founder & CEO

Fintech The Next Big Thing

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e are at a time in which technology advances at an incredible pace, unlike other generations, today’s society is accompanying technology, allowing it to develop without fear of looking back. Unfortunately, regulation and laws cannot advance at the same speed, and that is creating dangerous gaps that can destabilize the economy as we know it today.

The crisis we have experienced during the last decade has shown the shame of the economic system, and its fragility in some aspects, such as its banking dependence. The latter has allowed alternative investment to hatch, and with it many ďŹ ntech tools, blockchain systems, tools based on peer to peer, etc ...

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May 2018

Industry Insider The problem we are experiencing is that, with the mentality of breaking the rules so as to write them again (something that in principle should be positive for society), we are forgetting the basic rules on which our society is based; data protection, right to privacy, capital controls, or protection of retailers, are basic rules that should not be forgotten, because if we do so, we are going back in time despite being in the most advanced technological cycle in history. And this can lead to a spiral as much or more dangerous than the crises we have experienced in recent decades.

Do not mistake the passion necessary to advance in a disruptive business, with moving forward at any price, the next decade will be marked by major changes in many sectors: Fintech, Insurtech, Foodtech, Legaltech, etc. As we can see in their names, they all rely on technology, in which in most of the cases there is no regulation or jurisprudence, so we must be cautious with the rules on which we write, because if we do it in the wrong way we will be wasting the opportunity that is being given to us.

A clear example of the above is that the majority of cryptocurrencies, which as we all know are written under Blockchain technology. The blockchain technology is very reliable, but it is not infallible, and unfortunately the states are not prepared for its supervision and control, so even though its survival and development is clear, here the market is not ready to hatch, and unfortunately we are seeing how it advances at a speed of madness, and possibly we will see scary situations, because the vested interests are very high, and possibly some are not entirely licit.

Another example, are the famous ICOs, in 2017 we have seen how the May 2018

About the Author Francisco Mariscal is a Founding Partner of Fellow Funders.

Telecommunications and industrial organization engineer from Universidad Europa, he has a master’s degree in Quantitative Finance from AFI and an Executive MBA from EAE Business School.

volume under management with this type of product has multiplied by 5 in direct investment on the same type of asset, I do not say that that is bad in itself. But when we see that companies that have not been able to finance themselves by normal alternative investments, manage not only to do it by this method, but also obtain three times the capital they needed, it looks like we are facing a bubble, and that if it is not controlled can only bring problems to the system, and possibly the ones that will pay for this will be the usual ones, the retail investors. All this will bring fear into the tools that are being born now, and could end up becoming a mere frustrated attempt, instead of a complement of the future.

Both examples described above are allowing us to generate inflation in value and price, something which we all know what it will bring us ... It is

clear that crises, like wars, generate poverty, although in the long term these allow the pillars upon which the economies are built to be more solid, and with that comes certain economic evolution and improvement, at least to date. Therefore, my insistence on control, at least in what affects citizens, the companies can take risks, but without transferring them to people.

In general, the fintech sector has a huge market for its development potential, disintermediation and the creation of value for the user will mark the next decade. The new generations want products that provide value and that do not generate captivity of anything or anyone. And this is my reflection, to generate value to the user, it is something more than just to provide a friendly and easy to use tool, we must protect the users and explain the risks to be assumed. We are seeing how many investment platforms sell highrisk products to their users through marketing tools. It is clear that we could not live on a banking product eternally. But what can not be allowed is that the rules of protection for retail investors are violated, because in doing so we will be destroying a complement of value to the traditional banking product.

As a conclusion of all the above, almost all the Fintech tools have a long life ahead, the regulation is tracking behind, but if we want it to last over time, we must not forget the basic rules of user protection in all its aspects.

Although there are no rules in most cases we must use common sense, which in many cases we are demonstrating that it is the least common of all the senses. Users are our loudspeaker to change things, and if we mistreat them, all they will say is that we are another failed attempt at evolution.

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BriteCore: B

riteCore is a fully managed, cloud-based insurance software system that combines core, data, and digital solutions into a single, comprehensive suite. Founded by two cousins, Phil Reynolds (CEO) and Chris Reynolds (COO), BriteCore was backed in its early initiatives by a consortium of mutual insurance providers.

Since its launch, BriteCore has rapidly evolved to support different types of insurance. Today, it manages billions of dollars in premium for approximately 50 companies across the US and Canada. BriteCore is fueling innovation for insurance carriers, MGAs, and InsurTech startups through its open source, API-driven platform that is stable, flexible, and adaptable.

Key Products and Services BriteCore offers multi-line, multi-state, and multi-location policies for personal, commercial, auto, and specialty lines of business. Core modules include Policies, Claims, Billing, Reporting, Analytics, CRM, Rules and Rating, Document Management, Agent Quoting and Inquiry, Policyholder Access, and Mobile Applications. The company’s extensible platform can be customized to any brand, product, or workflow, employing a wide-variety of features and functionality.

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The best-of-breed mentality of the 2000s gave rise to heavily fragmented IT systems that do not operate seamlessly together. Today, many carriers spend the majority of their IT budget and time managing system integrations instead of driving innovation. BriteCore helps these struggling insurers overcome inertia by offering a licensing model that supports ongoing innovation, scales relative to premium volumes, replaces periodic and costly upgrades with a simple monthly subscription, and manages daily upgrade paths for clients.

BriteCore’s origin with domestic mutual insurance carriers helped the company build a strong service arm experienced in all areas of insurance operations. Its industry-leading technology make BriteCore the best possible choice for providers seeking to innovate, automate, or disrupt.

Stable, Extensible, and Evolving Insurance Technology Embrace the speed, storage, and security of cloud computing Ÿ Automate business workflows and processes Ÿ Deploy products within a reasonable timeframe and budget Ÿ

BriteCore’s solutions provide many benefits, including the following: Comprehensive Insurance Processing Suite: All modules (listed above) work together seamlessly and reliably.

Automated SaaS with Dedicated Support: The futuristic solution does not require IT or support resources to deploy and maintain solutions.

BriteCore’s approach benefits clients by smoothing the scaling cost with limited management overhead and by performing incremental releases, managed daily upgrades, and perpetually modern software.

BriteCore provides a community to align common interests and tooling to empower customer differentiation. The company’s customer-centric focus mixed with its tech-first mentality enables insurers to:

Dedicated Resources and Community Source: BriteCore offers personalized implementation plans with dedicated migration and education resources. Aligning core objectives with dedicated tech solutions has produced a 100% implementation success rate for the past five years.

Test new products and quickly bring them to market Ÿ Adopt new technologies to improve operation and efficiency

Product and Platform: BriteCore can be used both as a product with a user interface and as an API-driven platform. Insurers can extend

Empowering Factors

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May 2018

Differentiating Factors Realizing the insurance software field is competitive, BriteCore employs key strategies to stand out among its rivals. Below are a few differentiating factors that give BriteCore a competitive edge: Technology Leader: BriteCore claims its tech stack is decades ahead of its competitors’. Built with modern technologies such as Docker, AWS, and Python, the software is nimble and responsive. The platform is also fully accessible via API, opening an endless number of possibilities.

Phil Reynolds

Ongoing Innovation: BriteCore is committed to ongoing innovation, making it the last system clients will ever need to purchase. As part of its upgrade path, offered at no additional cost to customers, the company is replacing its current product with a new suite of microservices, expanding the possibilities for current and future carriers.

CEO

“We seek to fuel innovation for insurance carriers, MGAs, and InsurTech startups through an open source, API-driven platform that is flexible, is adaptable, and increases speed to market”

BriteCore through code contribution or configure the system using user-friendly management tools and interfaces.

Comprehensive Testing and Review: Insurers who participate in BriteCore’s Community Source Code Contribution program follow the same workflow as BriteCore engineers when extending core system functionality. Mature development processes backed by thousands of regression tests ensure the platform remains stable and secure. As more members participate, compounding results are achieved.

May 2018

Dedicated Resources: BriteCore understands every facet of its clients’ operations and invests heavily in the education, resources, and tooling required for producing consistent successful outcomes.

True Monthly SaaS Subscription Model: BriteCore is a web service, funded by a monthly subscription fee, hosting fee, and optional services retainer. The SaaS model replaces large capital expenditures with a smooth monthly operating expense that reduces the barrier to entry and replaces costly upgrades with continuous software releases..

An Instrumental CEO BriteCore CEO Phil Reynolds started life after college as a professional musician. In 2004, he joined his cousin Chris Reynolds to found Intuitive Web Solutions (IWS) and create BriteCore. Phil holds a certificate in “Leading Change in Complex Organizations” from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and speaks frequently on organizational design and technological innovation for property casualty carriers. Phil received the “Governor’s Missouri Entrepreneur of the Year” award from the Governor Jay Nixon and led IWS to the #288 spot on the Inc. 500 list. Under his instrumental leadership, BriteCore has generated about $35m in revenue since its initial launch. BriteCore aims to expand its reach by improving its capabilities. Its new suite of microservices under development is designed to meet the needs of Tier 1 carriers both domestically and globally.

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Tames Rietdijk CEO Business Forensics

Being confident about

your future when your organization is designed for control

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May 2018

Leader's Desk

About the Author Tames Rietdijk (1966) started his career in 1987 at KPMG as accountant (division financial institutions) and has been working mostly for software companies since 1994 in different positions from Product Manager to CTO. Since 2005 Tames has been certified as Anti Money Laundering Specialist by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and he is a tutor at the Radboud Management Academy.

Tames is Chief Executive Officer at BusinessForensics and his area of expertise lies with Product management, Forensic investigations and Data analytics. He is responsible for the design and development of the various BusinessForensics propositions applicable for the banking, investment and insurance industries.

In his vision on Risk management Tames calls for Risk based supervision instead of traditional Rule based supervision. Risk based supervision requires trend analyses with a total view instead of a snapshot of a specific event. For Risk management to be effective, more is needed than just detection of risks and that is the reason why the BusinessForensics platform offers a total solution in data mining, big data processing up until case management and sanctioning.

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ue to several incidents within the financial sector related to their integrity, people and society in general have lost their trust in banks and insurance firms. Most of the banks and insurance firms know this better than anybody else. Regulators and supervisors are almost furiously trying to restore this trust by imposing strict rules upon them that focus on preventing the previous incidents from happening again. Even though this might win them some battles, I will definitely not win them the war, as the issues they are struggling with are far more complex:

Ÿ Trying to manage their data: volume, privacy, complexity, security, availability etc. Especially in a context of finance and risk, additional requirements apply to the confidentiality, origination and audit trail of data; Ÿ Reducing their IT expenses: keeping old aged systems up-and-running is difficult and expensive, resources understanding these systems are growing scarce, and such a situation is definitely stalling IT innovations, where they seem to be required to adopt new technology; Ÿ Responding to findings from regulators and supervisors, which need to be resolved imminently at the risk of large fines, negative career implications or even license consequences; May 2018

Ÿ Replacing current solutions being ‘end-of-life cycle’ for which safeguarding the history as built up in their current system may be a specific issue, in addition to a potential operational risk when solutions cease to function; Ÿ Processing too many operational risk issues, imposing a reputational risk for both the bank and its leaders, is troubled by a large number of false positive alerts, taking up valuable time and resources. These is only an example of reasons for a growing back log.

BusinessForensics also aims for banks and insurance companies to rebuild trust. Yet we realize that to win the war, it takes a different approach. We believe that banks and insurance companies need to reorganize themselves in order to improve their operating models and to safeguard the integrity of their employees and clients. Yes, this involves new rules & regulations. But that is not enough.

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Sustainability requires banks and insurances firms to embrace their future with confidence. This also involves new technologies and new data, which in turn will bring them new risks. It even involves new competition.

We believe that truly good-natured banks and insurance firms can be compliant with new rules and regulations.

Embrace new technologies and new data. Timely identify new risks. Face their new competition with confidence. To create an organization that is in control. By design. Only then will they be able to avoid crime, coincidence and prejudice. And that is where BusinessForensics comes in.

We achieve that level of control for our customers by continuously monitoring their compliance- and integrity risks, from multiple angles. The result: a transparent and truthful view on ‘what is happening, here and now’ in their organization. Our focus on risk allows them to respond effectively to emerging challenges, in order to keep the bad guys out (in terms of clients and employees). By learning from our customer’s experience, our system continuously improves their responsiveness and resilience. Improves their level of control. Control brings confidence, and only with confidence can you build a bright future.

BusinessForensics aims to be the trusted partner of choice for banks and insurance companies aiming to rebuild trust.

To us, partnership means cooperating to reduce all relevant compliance- and integrity risks to levels that are acceptable for banks and insurance firms, for their clients and for society as a whole. Our approach follows 7 standard steps: Ÿ An experienced team that understands and is passionate about (big) data analysis, machine learning and (cyber) security, bringing sustainable fintech innovation to your company, Ÿ We structure your data in such a way that you are prepared for every possible outcome, as it is impossible to predict what you will come across during your analyses. Ÿ We deliver a fine grained, adaptable configuration because every organization is unique and the system must resemble your specific situation as much as possible. Ÿ The results or our joint analysis must result in an increased awareness and understanding of what is happening here and now within your organization, with a focus on (integrity) risk. Ÿ This improved insight in the identified risks will allow you to decide how to best respond to them, in order to reduce potential damages as much and as soon as possible. Ÿ Our collaborative learning approach allows your organization to continuously improve its resilience and pro-actively reduce its risk profile through automated feedback loops,

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Ÿ

As a result, your organization feels as if it is ‘Designed for Control’, having protected both the privacy of individuals and value of your assets.

In this complex financial world, BusinessForensics provides a coherent package of future-proof solutions to the major challenges facing all financial institutions in the coming decades: Ÿ Implementing new laws and regulations, Ÿ Becoming more responsive to new emerging risks, Ÿ The increasing volume, complexity and velocity of (new) data, Ÿ Embracing new technologies, being able to drive business innovation, Ÿ Preparing for the new competition: technology platforms, crypto currencies, fintech etc.

BusinessForensics provides a structured approach to reducing a bank or insurer’s risk profiles while reducing their cost of compliance, and at the same time improving their damage recovery rates.

Trust accelerates performance. Between banks and their clients, man and machine, old and young.

About the Company The team at BusinessForensics consists of consultants, architects and developers with offices in The Hague and Singapore, and has been offering software and know-how for monitoring and managing compliance and integrity risks since 1998, amongst which are financial and economic crime risks. Preferred customers are those banks and insurcance firms that take pride in maintaining or (when necessary) rebuilding the trust of their clients, who do not view compliance as a burden but feel the inherent need to 'do the right thing'. So as partners, we can keep crime, abuse and coincidence away from their clients.

The forensic platform (the HQ products) provides real-time (big) data analysis of network, transactions and signal of evolving risks and threat. These are presented users in an accessible and understandable way, providing context and situational awareness. As a result, companies and institutions can discover these risks early and immediately take measures aimed at limiting possible damage as much as possible and optimizing chances for recovery.

Compliance is also demonstrated by measuring good behavior. Confidence in our system increases by minimizing the number of false positive alerts. In addition, unnecessary (reputational) damage is reduced and corporate agility is greatly improved. Trust improves performance; between man and machine, young and old, customer and supplier.

May 2018

Traits to Posses the Best

Enterprise Security T

he founders occasionally forget about implementing important fundamentals of security and start running after shining technology. The security budgets are limited, so they need to be sure about covering highest breach areas before moving onto other things.

IBM reported that more than a billion personal data was stolen and leaked in 2014 alone, which made it the highest recorded number in the last 18 years. Criminals are always a step ahead of the existing security systems. So companies should have best strategies and practices for enterprise security.

So how do we ensure to have the best security systems? It all has to do with having a solid foundation, which starts with these basic practices.

Strong Firewalls Firewalls are the first line of defense for any enterprise. It basically controls the flow of the data and decides the direction of flow of data. The firewall keeps harmful files from breaching the network and compromising the assets. The traditional process for implementing firewalls is at the external perimeter of the network, but to include internal firewalls is the popular strategy. This is one of the best practices of companies by making it the second line of defense to keep unwanted and suspicious traffic away.

Securing Router Routers are mainly used to control the flow of the network traffic. But routers do have security features too. Modern routers are full of security features like IDS/IPS functionality, quality service and traffic management tools and strong VPN data encryption features. But very few people use IPS features and firewall functions in their routers. To have improved security posture companies need to use all the security features of routers.

Secured Email It is highly common to receive emails from the suspicious sources. The email is the main target for the criminals. An 86 percent of the emails in the world are spam. Even if the latest filters are able to remove most of the spam emails, companies should keep updating the current protocols. If the no, of spam emails are large, then it only means the company is at greater risk of getting malware.

Updating Programs To make sure your computer patched and updated is a necessary step if you are going towards fully protected enterprise. If you can’t maintain it right, then updating already installed applications is an important step in enterprise security. No one

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May 2018

Secured Vision

can create 100 percent perfect applications, but one can make changes accordingly trying to keep it with the pace. Thus, making sure your application is update will let you know the holes programmer has fixed.

Securing Laptops and Mobiles You may wonder that why securing laptops and mobiles is in the list. But it is true that securing laptops and mobile phones that contain sensitive data of enterprises. Unlike desktop computers that are fixed, laptops and mobiles are portable and thus are at higher risk of being stolen. Making sure you have taken some extra steps to secure laptops and mobiles is as important as implementing strong firewalls. Encrypting laptops and mobiles with the help of softwares is a great tactic to be followed for secured enterprises.

Wireless WPA2 This is the most obvious feature of all. If companies aren’t using WPA2 wireless security, then they need to start using it.

Many methods of wireless security are insecure and can be compromised in minutes. If companies have wireless WPA2 installed, then it will be difficult to breach for criminals.

Web Security Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report stated that the attacks against web applications in the recent years have increased at an alarming rate, with over 51 percent of the victims. Simple URL filtering is no longer sufficient, as attacks are becoming more frequent and complex. The features that need to be considered for web security systems are AV Scanning, IP reputation, Malware Scanning, and data leakage prevention function. A web security should have the ability to correctly scan the web traffic.

Educating Employees Making sure that employees are educated about safe and online habits is as crucial as securing enterprise with top class anti virus and firewalls. Educating employees about what they are doing and how to be pre-defensive is more effective than expecting IT security staff to take steps later. Because protecting end users against themselves is the most difficult thing to do. So, employees must understand how important it is to keep company’s data safe and the measures they can take to protect it.

While the world is approaching with more and more cyber theft and crimes, these simple and standard tools based foundation of enterprise security can protect the companies from such attacks.

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FINTECH AND THE CHANGING MARKET T

he fintech landscape is quickly becoming larger and more competitive. Fintech is here to stay. In my view, fintech companies are generally more flexible, have low costs and are more open to new technologies. Fintech companies seem to better understand human behaviour and have a superior value proposition with which they are more able to create real value for customers, for example with a frictionless customer journey. On the other hand: financial institutions ‘have’ the customers and data, but move slowly, miss new digital skills and have a high cost/income ratio. It seems evident that strong partnerships between fintech and financials will bring the most now.

Credit risk has doubled since the 2007 credit crunch.

Banks, credit card providers, e-tailers, telco operators and utility providers have a strong backward focus when it comes to managing their financial risk. Often, they predict capital reservations to be the same as over the past years. Also, they apply super traditional undifferentiated and expensive treatments when customers default or churn.

And they face difficulties onboarding customer segments.

Fast changing consumer behaviour Globally there is a lack of reliable credit information.

According to 2017 World Bank data, only 30.8% of the global population is listed in a private credit registry with information on repayment history, unpaid debts or credit outstanding. This makes it hard for lenders to assess the risk and creditworthiness of a new thin file customer using traditional credit score models. Often this results in rejecting the application for credit whereas many of these people may be creditworthy.

Diederick van Thiel CEO & Co-founder

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Consumers’ and SME’s behaviour and needs are changing fast. Self-directed millennials force new

May 2018

Changing Industry values including a new digital customer experience.

Because of the immense data explosion with structured and unstructured data, only big data driven models, Machine Learning algorithms and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can tackle this to serve the right solutions to the right customer.

Traditional technology is simply not able to deal with these challenges.

About The Author Diederick van Thiel is CEO and Co-founder of AdviceRobo. 20 years of leadership in boards of Vodafone, KPN Mobile, ING and currently Ikano.

The good news: the solutions exist. Behavioural driven risk predictions and treatments on an individual level will increase acceptance rates, reduces defaults, lower costs and improve customer satisfaction.

Responsible lending Together with UK Finextra Research, AdviceRobo conducted a survey of leaders from financial institutions.

For better and responsible lending, 75% value big data applications as beneficial for better risk assessments. 83% of the lenders see machine learning based scoring as a major help in proper risk assessments. This shows that the industry itself sees the opportunity of using new technologies for credit scoring. So, why wait?

Psychology meets technology AdviceRobo uses new digital technologies to extend access to financial services. We are convinced that technology makes the difference to achieve financial inclusion. That is why AdviceRobo brings a new credit score and risk approach.

Based on motivational insights, AdviceRobo developed a psychometric credit test to add non financial data of thin file consumer segments. By applying these big behavioural data and machine learning we are able to reveal additional information so a lender can assess people’s risk better.

Since 2009 FinTech entrepreneur founding and growing robo advice companies like eyeOpen (sold to Aegon TransAmerica), AdviceGames and AdviceRobo. Super passionate about the crossing between technology and psychology, digital strategy, leadership of successful innovations, value creation from innovation and new business modelling and surfing.

earth, equipping men and women to become better borrowers by preventing financial risks. To seriously increase global financial wellbeing, we believe that everyone should have access to capital.

AdviceRobo has a client base comprising (next gen) banks, credit card providers, mortgage IFA’s and crowd funding platforms. Headquartered in Amsterdam & London, the company has operations all over Europe and in Latin America. The company was listed in 2017 KPMG & H2 Ventures global Fintech100 and The 2017 European FinTech50, the 50 hottest fintech firms in Europe.

About Leadership

AdviceRobo offers this solution as a white label plug in to be integrated in the on boarding. Applicants fill out an online interview and within seconds the lender gets the applicants credit score and a profile via an API. Based on this, he instantly can approve or reject the applicant.

Validation and calibration is done with a feedback loop where a lender regularly provides anonymized data. This secure technology has proven to increase acceptance (on average +15%) at same or better risk levels (up to 38% lower than average default rate). That is how we ride the waves, feel free to join.

About The Company Founded in 2013, AdviceRobo is an international credit scoring company applying psychometrics to support lending. Our aim is to financially include every citizen on

May 2018

Being a successful entrepreneur for years now, taught me to ride the waves. Making use of change, e.g. the upcoming changes in regulation or consumer behaviour. Being disruptive at the right moment and dare to pivot the company are crucial for success. Also, I learned the achievements of a company depend on the people around, the balance, the combination and the interaction of different personalities. Motivating people to be an entrepreneur themselves, being inspirational and challenging the team to think and act out of the box makes me go beyond my happy graph. The effect of making a compliment instead of firing someone at a big mistake in a start up phase is of great value. To organise and stimulate feedback from the team as well as customers, intrinsically listen to that and act on that is the key to success.

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InsureApp: T

he insurance industry is a major component of the economy by virtue of the amount of premiums it collects, the scale of its investment and, more fundamentally, the essential social and economic role it plays by covering personal and business risks. However, the current insurance market is more focused on sustaining it’s revenue generation than qualitative insurance offering. Traditional players are looking to sell the insurance policy based on mandatory obligations or to a buyer’s fears which influences him to buy a policy. It is merely tough to find an insurance company that is mainly focused on customer needs rather than the profit gaining. Very few insurance companies offer personalized insurances today, and deliver it just-intime and through the right channel.

InsureApp is the company that has built the world’s first lifestyle-based insurance platform. The company generates a lifestyle profile of the user and automatically engages with personalised insurance products based on real-time needs.

An Incredible Insurance Platform InsureApp is a technology supplier for sectors like Automotive, On-demand insurance and Health & Wellbeing. It’s

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A Revolutionary Lifestyle-based Insurance Platform

for first time that actual lifestyle patterns and profiles are applied to engage with a customer for an insurance product. The InsureApp platform is incredibly versatile and offers three very distinctive value propositions.

The first preposition is Lifestyle-based Telematics, where besides driving-style of a user also the purpose and context of a trip is taken into account. This enables a better, cost effective risk modeling. Additionally the platform engages with users to coach for safer driving.

The second value proposition aims at embedded insurance, where the InsureApp platform is embedded within an existing app in either Financial Services, Telecom Operators, Utilities or Retail. It offers cross- and upselling of insurances to the user, based on a user’s profile and lifestyle patterns. This generates an additional revenue stream for the distributor of the app and a new distribution channel for the insurer.

The third proposition aims to improve Health and Wellbeing. InsureApp utilizes it’s user insights to generate a holistic view on a person’s health.

Besides looking at the physical activity

of a user, the InsureApp platform also accounts the social activities and Work-Life balance. This proposition can be applied by Health and Life (re)insurers or by HR departments of large corporates.

Revolutionary Approach to Customer Engagement InsureApp offers a revolutionary approach to customer engagement.

Through it’s mobile SaaS platform InsureApp blends with it’s user’s lifestyle-patterns and adapts interactions and insurance products to their real-time needs.

By applying the world’s most sophisticated AI technologies InsureApp interprets data gathered from smartphone sensors, IoT devices and or services to contextualize human behavior.

Based on this InsureApp can automatically engage and interct with the user. This includes commercialtriggers, aimed at cross- and up-selling of insurances and coaching-triggers aimed to change behaviour (eg. coach for safer driving). These are personalized, multichannel notifications (mobile, web, email and/or devices) based on real-time events and user patterns.

May 2018

machine learning, direct quotation, comparison and instant policy issuance.

A Visionary Leader on a Mission “Insurance today is rather dull. It is far from personal, based on very limited data and sold because of mandatory obligations or to a buyer’s fears. This makes insurance a below low-interest product, that doesn’t meet the demands of the new generation of consumers. They expect personalized products, delivered just-in-time and paid per use. With InsureApp we make insurance extremely-smart and hyper-personalized”, explains Jochem Davids, CEO of InsureApp.

Jochem Davids CEO

“We blend with our user’s lifestylepatterns and adapt interactions and insurance products to customer’s realtime needs.”

Finally, InsureApp customizes and personalizes the insurance products. The platform can integrate with an existing insurance backend or with it’s partnered cloudbased Insurance-as-a-Service platform including actuarial models (automotive), dynamic pricing or pricing based on May 2018

Davids has a resourceful background in both IT, M&A and Insurance. Prior to InsureApp he successfully launched a in-house developed SaaS platform for automated claims management, within a large European organization focused on outsourcing of insurer’s back-office activities. Before that, Davids has contributed in numerous international M&A activities within Europe for this same organization.

This experience has been the key behind Davids’ professional trails, and his insightful leadership has been a major empowering aspect for InsureApp. Remarkable Emergence InsureApp is a relatively new company. As in the case of other impending start-ups InsureApp has also witnessed a struggle in raising awareness and traction initially. Although it was tough to make a mark in the traditional Insurance sector the company has emerged as the market leader within a year of its inception. It’s emphasize on a clear and concise proposition, a targeted sales process and picking the right stages for conferences has quickly paid off and the company has now partnered with renowned international players of various sector. The company now envisions closing its Series A fundraising in the second half of this year by contracting a few of these international players.

Today InsureApp is dominating the personalized insurance space and many of the industry leaders have admired the platform. After gaining a constructive response in it’s regional market, the company has decided to roll-out the product in international insurance markets. Beginning with the European market InsureApp is also aiming to catalyze in U.S. and Asian market soon.

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Zeid Husban Founder & CEO

POSRocket

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May 2018

Expert's Viewpoint

T

he Fourth Industrial Revolution Is Here

We first started using steam and water to boost production. We then moved on to using electricity, oil and steel to create mass production. After that, we were introduced to information and communication technology (ICT) in the 1980s, around the time the Digital Era started. Finally, we reach a point in time that served (and continually serves…) as a turning point for many people; the Fourth Industrial Revolution a.k.a Industry 4.0.

The technological breakthroughs that have accompanied the Fourth Revolution include artificial intelligence, 3D printing, The Internet of Things, robotics and many other technological developments.

We, more often than not, underestimate the speed and rate of change that is occurring in today’s world and how fast we’re branching out of the Digital Revolution into something bigger and more ambitious. We therefore tend to overlook or rather dismiss how these technological advancements have shaped our daily lives and not to mention the impact they have from a business perspective.

How’s This Important for Businesses?

have to go to China or the USA to get certain products you can’t get locally, all you have to do is order it online and it’ll be there at your threshold without you taking one single step outside the door.

Because of all the services that we can now obtain without much effort on our part, customer expectations have definitely increased over the past few years. Google, YouTube, Uber, Anghami (or Spotify), Amazon and many other online services have raised the bar for customer expectations by a lot. The upcoming generation of consumers are millennials who grew up with technology, so you can’t expect them to do whatever was tolerable for people a few decades ago; like reading instruction manuals, ordering food on the phone or be placed on a waiting list. Why do that when they have Google there to answer their every question whenever they want? Or book a hotel room on phone when you can just use Airbnb to book one in seconds?

Businesses and industries are seeing a rise in new technologies that are being created to enhance existing services.

This is why many startups and freshfaced entrepreneurs today are thriving and growing faster than ever, pushing aside all bigger competitors by providing better quality and faster services for convenient and reasonable prices.

With the approach of the Fourth Revolution, long commutes, physical labor and low pay have long been a distant memory. With the available technology, people can now spend more time with their loved ones while also working full-time jobs and receiving steady incomes. You can now connect with your coworkers and managers from across the globe with a click of a button or communicate with them through a small device.

The reason for the success of these businesses is also because they’re veering away from the traditional methods of providing services and putting emphasis on strengthening their relationships with their consumers (B2C) and businesses (B2B).

Businesses should therefore place more focus on building a deeper connection with clients whether that client is a company or just a regular customer.

Likewise, e-commerce and online shopping have transformed our lives on a whole different scale. You don’t

Adaptation in this age and era is key.

The demands and focus of customers are shifting more towards mobile and

May 2018

online services, like accessing certain data or using platforms that meet their social needs. We’re talking about things like day-to-day activities of ordering food, shopping and traveling that are easily accessible via mobile or computer. Furthermore, this forces companies to start considering providing services and designing them to the costumers’ liking so they can get themselves back on the business market.

The Bottom Line The Fourth Revolution has a major effect on businesses from customer expectations to organizational forms.

It’s fact; economy revolves around the consumers, therefore, how they are served and what kind of services they’re getting should become the most important aspect businesses and entrepreneurs need to take into consideration. Businesses need to be able to turn their physical products into online-based or automated services that enhance customer experiences.

Nowadays, anything online or technological will be automatically viewed by the client as more durable and long-lasting.

The new era has forced companies and start-ups alike to re-examine how they run their businesses or the services or products they provide. Both entrepreneurs and executives need to understand and stop underestimating the evolutionary changes that are constantly happening in the world around us. Customers are becoming more demanding, they want more and expect more from companies. The bottom line is simply this; we need extremely creative business leaders and entrepreneurs to take the rails, because they’re the ones who will truly improve the economy and provide innovative ways to make life for your average Joe easier.

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MyBucks: M

yBucks is a Frankfurt-listed financial technology (fintech) company, embracing technology as a means to provide financial products and services in predominantly high-growth emerging markets. Through its brands, Haraka, GetBucks, GetBanked, GetSure, Oportunity Bank and New Finance Bank, the organization offers consumer loans and banking solutions, including insurance products.

The MyBucks product offering enables its customers to manage their financial affairs easily and conveniently. Its products are simple and trustworthy in comparison to traditional, nontechnological methods – ultimately working towards enhancing efficiency and accessibility for the customer.

The aim of MyBucks is to enable a financial inclusion through technology by connecting the unbanked and financially excluded with finance opportunities, alongside regular consumers searching for fast, efficient financial services. As a virtual bank, the organization strives to continue its upward growth curve, strengthening into a globally recognized brand that is an innovator in the fintech industry.

A Massively Experienced Leader With more than 21 years of experience, Dave Van Niekerk is one of the founding members and Executive Chairman. of MyBucks. He began his financial career in the creation and management of the one time South African financial giant, African Bank.

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An entrepreneur by nature, Dave opted to embark on his own, founding his own micro-finance business, Blue Financial Services, back in 2001. Later in 2006, he went on to list the company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South Africa. As an African microfinance pioneer, Dave has witnessed Africa first-hand and its growth over the last 21 years, fueling his passion for pioneering the promotion of investment in many African countries, particularly in the financial and microfinance sector. He continues to create ground-breaking business models that make financial inclusion for people across the African continent a reality. (add something on establishing GetBucks 2012) Empowering People by Providing Unique Services MyBucks offers clients a number of unique services that eventually help drive financial inclusion. Among an increasing stable of innovative products, Haraka and Whatsapp lending are particularly interesting.

MyBucks Haraka, which means “quickly” in Swahili, is a revolutionary app where borrowers begin with small loans that bridge short-term liquidity gaps, all the while building up a credit history. Haraka is offered in countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Swaziland.

Another unique offering by MyBucks is its Whatsapp lending, which was recently launched in South Africa.

Whatsapp lending is a safe and convenient way to enquire about loans,

Providing Financial Services through Technology apply for loans, sign electronic contracts, and request balances.

Products from MyBucks are built around efficiency, ease, and accessibility.

MyBucks financially empowers those who do not have access to traditional financial services and who have been previously excluded. In Africa, this is of vital importance as far too many people with incredible ideas and vision simply have no access to finance.

MyBucks bridges that financial gap and uses its technology to provide instant access to financial services through both its virtual and physical channel. According to the organization, with the fourth industrial revolution underway across all continents, customers’ lives are becoming more and more driven by technology. This is where MyBucks comes in to enable its customers achieve financial inclusion through virtual technology.

That’s not all, MyBucks always tries to educate its customers in making prudent lending decisions. With an eye on long term growth, MyBucks develops products to address specific needs including educational, agricultural, or SMME loans.

An Organization which is on the Edge of Digitization MyBucks is currently on the leading edge of digitization. It is the first fintech business in Africa to make the use of credit technology that is supported by an in-house artificial intelligence team. In the microfinance

May 2018

To serve best, MyBucks embraces a digital mindset in all aspects of the business. The organization’s holistic digital strategy focuses on engaging its customers with great experiences, radically improving operations for its employees, leveraging technology to deliver, and enabling attractive cost-to-income ratios.

MyBucks applies a transparent and responsible approach to providing funding that adheres to local regulation in the markets where we operate.

In addition, MyBucks aims to make a difference not just socially but economically. Its competitive advantage emanates from the organization’s extensive knowledge of the African financial landscape in particular; the continent’s challenges and opportunities within its regulatory environment; as well as an in-depth understanding of the socio-economic driving forces that motivate behavior within the region.

Dave Van Niekerk

Executive Chairman & Founding Member

“Our vision is to deliver a basket of financial products that meet most of the financial needs of our customers.”

industry, AI plays a great role specially in predicting whether or not someone can pay back a loan. MyBucks’ credit decision and scoring system continuously learns customer behavioral pattern from the loan history and is then able to very accurately predict a customer’s probability of default for a particular product at any given time.

May 2018

Tackling Uneven Roads and Preparing for the Future Founded back in 2012, MyBucks has established itself as a market pioneer when it comes to modern financial services.

The company has shown extraordinary growth since 2012 and has a global footprint of seven MFI operations, five banking operations, with operations in eleven African countries as well as operations in Europe and Australia offering credit, banking, and insurance products.

When it comes to the future, MyBucks has a number of key strategic initiatives in its pipeline. The organization wants to further expand its global fintech offering by collaborating with various local partners; either through the licensing of its technology or through partnering in new markets. The team of MyBucks is also exploring the use of biometric security systems to conveniently verify the identity of its customers without the use of traditional PINs, passwords, and tokens. Biometric security is well-suited for the financial services industry and offers advantages both for the financial services provider as well as consumers.

MyBucks hopes to work more with Peer-2-Peer (P2P) lending marketplace, wherein investors can participate in loans originated by non-bank loan originators. Additionally, traditional balance sheet lenders are able to connect to the P2P marketplace, thereby reaping the advantages of the lending model to fund their loans. It is also worth noting that the company is planning to ameliorate its suite of digital transfer products, which includes both mobile money and online money transfer. MyBuck’s digital transfer products ensure that its customers can transfer money in a fast, secure, convenient, and affordable manner.

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SE2: F

inancial technology, a sector focused on developing new technologies to disrupt traditional financial markets, is growing rapidly. A number of fintech firms have transitioned from being a start-up to being valued at billions of dollars. But start-ups aren’t the only companies disrupting the financial services sector, as competition from established Fintechs continues to put pressure on mainstream financial institutions. One such big firm is SE2, an Eldridge portfolio company that is a leading technology and Third Party Administrator (TPA) focused on the North American life and annuity insurance industry. SE2 has had an unmatched track record in optimizing back-office operations to future-proof insurance companies using their Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) solutions.

The Inception Story SE2 was born out of Security Benefit, a premier retirement company and industry leader with a 125-year history.

Security Benefit invested in developing strong back office and technology capabilities and is steeped in the insurance domain which eventually led to SE2 becoming a separate entity, first taking on an external client in 2005.

The decision to pursue this venture and enter this vertical came after the realization that there was opportunity for significant headroom growth within

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the life and annuity third party administration service market which at that time was penetrated less than 15%.

Headquartered in Topeka, KS, SE2 was established in the year 2005 with a vision to be the service provider of choice for the end-to-end administration of life and annuity policies. Since 2005, SE2 has gone on to become one of the largest annuity TPA providers in the industry; providing dependable, unparalleled customer experience at a low cost.

They are continually investing in their state of the art technology, responding to external demands (customer or industry) and internal drivers (internal stakeholders).

Leading From the Front Gautam Thakkar, CEO of SE2 is a seasoned leader with more than 25 years’ experience in global consulting, technology services, business operations and M&A across various industries. As a leader, Gautam drives business strategy and day-to-day execution for SE2. Gautam is deeply passionate about building and fostering a high performance energizing workplace culture and finding different ways to add value to all of SE2 employees and clients.

Prior to SE2, Gautam was the CEO of Infosys BPO where he led a global team of 30,000 professionals. Having

Born Out Of Insurance, Powered By Leading-Edge Technologies worked for large corporations across the globe, Gautam draws upon his extensive leadership experience of having advised several clients on business transformation and organizational strategies. He is constantly seeking ways to improve the client experience and helping build SE2 into a leading technology and domain business partner to the U.S. Life and Annuity Insurance industry.

Exclusive Services by SE2 By the end of 2017, SE2 released SE2 Digital Direct Life, the first no touch, end-to-end life insurance as a service solution. It automates the entire customer acquisition process, from application to approval, from underwriting to policy issue.

Customers get a streamlined, no touch online application process that takes just minutes to complete and requires just moments to get approved.

Underwriting time is reduced form months to minutes and application costs are reduced by as much as 200%.

SE2 Digital Direct Life is built on the SE2 Aurum Platform. Its open plug and play architecture gives insurers the flexibility to integrate with their systems and other external data sources using industry standard protocols.

Crossing the Hurdles Back in 2000, Security Benefit Life decided to "reinvent the back office" and transformed its operations,

May 2018

streamlined financial and non-financial processes in a paperless environment. In 2004 they examined the insurance service and the technology market and determined it was both underserved and poorly served.

Later in 2005, SE2 was incorporated as a separate company to bring its solutions to the insurance market and later that year signed its first external client. SE2’s growth – and the advancements in insurance technology automation / digitization launched a significant capital program within SE2. The company calls this as its 10 X 10 strategy. They will scale the infrastructure in preparation for 10x growth – and advance the technology 10 years ahead of the industry.

Gautam Thakkar CEO

“We help simplify operations, variabilize costs and bring new products to market fast.”

The Client Base SE2 helps clients increase speed to market, accelerate product innovation, expand into new market segments, variabilize cost of open blocks, and streamline administration cost of closed and acquired blocks. Born out of an insurance company Security Benefit Life, SE2 combines their peerless insurance industry domain knowledge with their leading-edge administration technology platform Aurum to help clients accelerate product innovation, launch products rapidly, expand into new market segments, streamline efficiencies, shift to a variable cost model and maximize profits while simplifying compliance and dramatically improving the customer experience.

Future Outlook At the core of everything that SE2 does and the decisions it makes is a singular focus on delivering a superior customer experience to its carrier partners, its distribution network and the end customer. SE2’s parent company, Eldridge Industries has made considerable capital investments to future proof SE2’s technology platform, Aurum, in areas such as automation, predictive and prescriptive analytics, insights driven cognitive computing, API/Service enablement and Blockchain. SE2’s goal is to stay 10 years ahead of the industry in order to provide their clients with the most innovative and state-of-the art technology platform and eco-system to stay ahead of competition.

customer service and technology platform. This eliminated legacy mainframe systems and replaced them with fullyintegrated, state-of-the-art, distributed enterprise systems;

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Ritesh Srivastava founder & CEO

About the Author

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May 2018

Tech Talk

Are we at the end of our ‘Search & Find Habit? ‘

H

ello Joey, can you turn on the lights please!

Many things we got to see only in Hollywood movies are now becoming reality in our day to day life like talking to a machine and getting things done, who thought we’d be doing what voice-based AI assistants like Amazon Alexa, Google Home and Apple’s Siri allow us to these days!

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data, Cloud technologies with great Computing Power are all helping humanize machines.

for everyone to have access to information at their fingertips at any time. Of course, search engines would not have been possible if we did not have the invention of the internet, the computer and so on. This phenomenon (search engines) has impacted and made life easier for people across all industries and professions by presenting information, all accessible in one place. Subsequently, this led to the rise in importance of page rankings and organizations spend a lot of time and money in SEO(Optimization) and SEM(Marketing) and it’s a very big part of the revenue stream for search engine and social media platform providers.

In the past two decades, search engines like Google have played a very important part in our lives and made it easier

Over time, as more and more organizations brought their presence online, the search started becoming more crowded

Ritesh Srivastava is an Innovator and Industry Strategist, always looking to challenge what many consider is the norm.

He has a knack of foreseeing tech trends with a passion for driving change. He is also the Founder and CEO of Epictenet, an Australian Fintech, and the driving force behind Joey – their Chatbot offering, spearheading change in the Industry.

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and saturated in a way affecting our ability to find the right information quickly because let’s face it – there are only so many results the first page of a search engine can fit!

Combine that with the ever-reducing attention span of people these days (especially the younger generation) and we have a concoction that combines to limit the effectiveness on the industry changing ‘search and find’ way of sourcing information.

Technology is also being used to understand consumer behaviour and predict their needs to present more optimised, personalised search results, advertisement and options pro-actively. These trends raise questions about how private our online activities are but let’s face it, is anything on the internet private these days? Privacy is soon becoming a myth in this world with a ferocious appetite for information on behaviour which makes me wonder – is there a better way to go about this? Is our compromise for privacy and overcrowding of search engines pointing us in the direction of something that is more efficient? Are we at the end of our ‘Search and Find’ habit?

For a majority of the population, mobile phones (smartphones) are an all-pervasive, must-have that have transcended traditional hurdles to technology like age, cost, relevance to name a few. The past two decades have seen a mobility tech revolution of sorts, where we have been successful in harnessing the power of the personal computer and packaging it in devices that would offer a lot more convenience than a laptop would. The mobile phone device has evolved from a humble calling and texting device to essentially being a computer and camera in your pocket and they keep getting smarter every year. Other devices like laptops, tablets and wearables have also matured over that period but the crucial advantage smartphones have is of them being small to carry but still are extremely potent when it comes to presenting power, usefulness and mobility, the perfect package. Yet. Our world is now centred around smartphones to the point that most of us feel incomplete without having them around. Smartphones have reached the technological maturity and IoT (Internet of things) have become a reality - these have led to an era where most of our interactions and transactions start (and in many cases they get completed) over the mobile phone. They are everywhere, and they are here to stay.

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As Google also ranks higher the webpages optimized for mobile and Customer experience over mobile devices is key to the success of any product and services offered and hence we see organizations revamping their websites and digital platforms making it mobile friendly, spending millions of dollars on UI(Design) and UX(Experience).

But despite making the web pages responsive and providing a better experience, smartphones have issues of having a small real estate (screen size) and low attention span of the user as most of the time usage on the mobile is on the go.

Flicking from one webpage to another and you have already lost the customer. To overcome some of these challenges on smartphones, we got Siri on iPhones and subsequently Google Assistant.

Although still in an infancy stage virtual assistants/chatbots are gradually becoming part of our life as more and more use cases are being created across different industries. The advancement in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies are making it possible to provide more personalized services to customers and it is playing a significant role in the adoption of these technologies by organizations as well as customers.

The whole idea of having one channel for all information and interactions opens a whole new world of possibilities with implications to every sphere of customer and user engagement.

Virtual assistants are fast becoming a ‘gateway to all digital interactions’ and they are not only going to change the existing digital channels and platforms but also physical devices like remote controls and other physical buttons on various appliances, instruments, devices and vehicles.

The Virtual assistants are going to change our ‘Search and Find’ habit to ‘Ask and Select’ and will truly provide personalized services while getting better with every interaction. We will see more and more services getting converged in the virtual assistants and in some way they may be our answer to privacy protections. **Disclaimer: Any names of organisations and products mentioned in the article are for reference purposes only. No ill repute intended in any way.

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VIPR: N

early ten years ago, two brothers, Bob and Richard Brown set out to create the most sophisticated and innovative software solutions for the insurance industry. The result was VIPR. The entrepreneurial duo’s vision was to change the insurance business through effective IT systems. This would not only help modernize the market but also make it possible for the industry to understand and interpret huge swathes of data, an issue the industry was finding difficult to solve.

With vast quantities of data flooding the market in a disorganized and nonstandard format, and increasing regulatory pressures on the industry, VIPR saw a massive opportunity. The company developed a portfolio of products that allows insurers to standardize, cleanse and validate incoming data quickly and easily.

These include Active Underwriter, a quote and bind solution; Intrali, a data management product; Intarga, an online workflow tool; and Active Reports, a reporting tool.

Although VIPR’s products are now widely used in the insurance market, the company is always at the forefront of the latest developments. They believe that listening to their clients is what has made them a success, and that this approach is imperative to deliver

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Pioneers of Sophisticated Software Solutions for the Insurance Industry

products and services that meets the needs of the industry and its clients.

Helping Insurers maximize technology VIPR’s products help insurers better understand their data and manage back office processes. However, even with modern systems in place, the insurance industry occasionally needs human

“Technology is revolutionizing how business is transacted. At VIPR, we aim to streamline these transactions by providing efficient and effective software solutions that make life easier and add value to your organization.”

intervention and this can cause a problem, especially in organizations which are under-resourced.

Furthermore, on the client side, staff turnover, inadequate training and time constraints create a knowledge gap and inconsistencies in software usage.

According to VIPR, this has become more apparent within the industry as it embraces new technologies. In response to this they launched VIPR Managed Service (VMS) in conjunction with London consultants, JDX to offer a fully-managed service. This is operated by skilled staff to take the pressure off clients who don’t have the internal resources or expertise to manage their mission-critical systems.

All VMS staff are vigorously trained in VIPR products. As trainees, they receive one-to-one training over an intensive week-long course, where they get hands-on training with VIPR systems. This is followed by both a practical and theory exam for certification. The training provides each with a wide breadth of experience and the skills to allow them to fully understand and address issues raised by clients.

This new service is an attractive option for VIPR’s clients to ease internal pressures and allows them to focus on their day-to-day jobs.

May 2018

Richard Brown

Director & Co-founder

Bob Brown

CEO & Co-founder

The Undisputed Leaders VIPR was founded in 2009 by Bob Brown and Richard Brown. Prior to VIPR, the brothers successfully launched Moneynet.co.uk in 1996, the first personal finance comparison site in the UK. They subsequently sold the company and began a new venture launching VIPR.

capabilities of VIPR’s best-selling Intrali software with ACORD Solutions Group’s DeleGate – a platform that allows the smooth and secure transmission of data. Data can be sent in XML format, conforming to an exact specification that is captured quickly in a defined and consistent layout, and therefore simplifying the exchange of data among MGA’s, MGU’s and brokers with their carriers.

Additionally as XML is far more robust than Excel documents, they are less likely to have typos and errors.

Bob Brown states ‘This is a major step forward for the insurance industry which has been out of reach until now.

We are thrilled to deliver this new solution to the market.”

Differentiating Itself Clients are the driving force behind VIPR’s innovations and as such VIPR’s business model is centered around them. It was the needs of VIPR’s clients that led to their most recent launch with ACORD Solutions Group.

What truly makes VIPR different is the fact that they tailor solutions for each client, providing solutions that deliver what the client needs in order to drive their business forward. . Bob Brown states “Our tailored approach and our flexibility is what we’ve found to really attract new clients - it’s what they want.”

Bob Brown, CEO of VIPR, started his career in the insurance market working as a Lloyd’s broker for more than 20 years, including 15 years with Marsh.

At VIPR, he is responsible for overall strategy and sales, including expanding VIPR on a global scale.

VIPR form strong bonds with its clients from the very first meeting. Even after product implementation, VIPR maintains its relationships and invites clients to regular user group meetings so insights can be shared. It is often these meetings that determine future innovations at the company.

As the Director of VIPR, Richard oversees management of the business and is fully involved in client relations, as well as product strategy and development.

Tackling Tough Days As with most new businesses, the greatest challenge VIPR faced was developing a presence in the industry. Getting traction in a relatively unknown market was a rather difficult affair.

An industry-first Most recently, VIPR has joined forces with ACORD Solutions Group (ASG), who are aiming to assist in the provision of full automation services for the global insurance industry. Together, the two have launched an industry-first solution; an automated data exchange for ‘US to London’ insurance companies, which enables straightthrough processing of bordereaux reports. This new offering will improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency of data exchange globally.

In order to achieve an automated transfer of data exchange, they have created a solution which integrates the

May 2018

Although it took a while to get its first few customers on board, they soon became loyal advocates and have been crucial to the success and development of the VIPR brand.

Today, VIPR has grown into an award-winning business, highly regarded amongst its peers. Last year, it featured within a number of respected publications, including a contribution to the Parliamentary Review commissioned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

When it comes to the future, VIPR’s goal is to continue growing as a business, expanding across the U.S. and Europe. www.viprsolutions.com

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ZorroSign: T

he electronic signature was a digital breakthrough that came in the ‘90s by one of the original co-founders of ZorroSign.

Many government agencies and companies, including the DMV, USPS, UPS, and Federated Department Stores benefited from this revolutionary technology.

In 2015, ZorroSign, Inc. was born. It uses a combination of 3rd and 4th generation of electronic signature technology as one of the key components of its unified platform. It is a complete advanced Digital Transaction Management (DTM) solution. Furthermore, it uses permission-based private distributed ledger to secure electronically signed documents against tamper and fraud.

The idea is to provide a highly secure, flexible, seamless, and robust enterprise-grade solution to support end-to-end flow of document signature ceremonies for any situation, any industry, any department, and for signatories located anywhere and using any device.

When a Serial Entrepreneur Took Charge Shamsh Hadi is the Co-founder and CEO of ZorroSign.

Shamsh is a serial entrepreneur with a deep-rooted love for technology. He has worked, invested in, and started numerous companies in financial services, hospitality, healthcare and education.

Before co-founding ZorroSign, he served as Managing Director at

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The Pioneer of Electronic Signature Technology

Arabian Dreams Deluxe Hotel Apartments, Brown Orange Solutions LLC, Sitara Investment FZC, and enTrust & Title. He also worked at Swift Development Limited as a COO. Minimize or Eliminate Shelf-Ware time ZorroSign’s most unique offering is the 4n6 (Forensics) Token. By using a private blockchain, it captures document DNA and the audit trail as it passes through different levels of approvals.

When the need arises, ZorroSign helps ensure that the document (signed using ZorroSign), is the latest official one. It can also verify that the document was not tampered with, revised, rejected, revoked or the signature forged postexecution. ZorroSign, through its lifetime document escrow, can offer all parties the assurance that the document will never expire, without any added cost to the customer.

ZorroSign offers multiple deployment configurations to meet the needs of its global customers across many industries. It is primarily available as a secure public Cloud SaaS application, also as a fully managed private Cloud POD, and as an on-premise model.

ZorroSign customers can also use its REST API to integrate ZorroSign into their current application infrastructure and business processes.

ZorroSign offers a KickStart service which is designed to get its new customers up and running within hours of signing up. ZorroSign’s goal is to minimize or eliminate shelf-ware time that traditionally has plagued the

enterprise application industry because software implementations take too long and cost too much money.

Providing Peace of Mind with World Class Security According to ZorroSign, the biggest benefit its customers gain is the peace of mind knowing that their electronically signed documents are secure against tampering and fraud, are legally binding, never expire, don’t require third party digital certificates (which cost extra and expire every year or two), and that they can be validated and authenticated when needed.

Another major benefit is the ability to digitally transform manual and partially digital business processes that involve document signatures. Lastly, eliminating paper out of the equation significantly reduces time and cost of doing business.

These benefits are enjoyed by ZorroSign’s customers in the legal, education, government, financial services, healthcare, non-profit, and high-tech industries.

When a Different Organization Decided to Enter the Market It goes back to the vision for ZorroSign. The co-founders did not see a solution in the market that addressed the real problem document digitization had created. They felt that not having a way to secure digital documents would be detriment to the overall digital transformation movement.

What was needed was a highly advanced and cutting edge technical solution that captures the documents

May 2018

small percentage reduction in use of paper, and there was no significant digital transformation taking place.

Today, electronic signatures are very common. Anyone can take a picture of their signature and superimpose it on a document. They can also alter the entire document and signature using free software like Adobe Reader or Mac Preview after it has been signed. ZorroSign’s patented real encrypted eSignature is embedded in the document just like a pen makes a mark on physical paper.

ZorroSign’s patent-pending proprietary Document 4n6 (Forensics) technology protects its customers by highlighting whether their paper and digital versions of ZorroSign’ed documents have been forged, tampered with, cancelled, expired, or rejected. The private blockchain also provides a full HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley-compliant audit trail, biometrics information, and digital attachments.

Shamsh Hadi CEO & Co-founder

“For every business, trust is important, but for us TRUST is everything.”

Fundamentally, ZorroSign puts security and privacy at the forefront of every design and policy decision it makes.

Tackling Turbulent Present and Preparing for a Better Future As a privately held and funded company, ZorroSign faced the initial hurdle of entering a market dominated by a couple of household names customers were already familiar with, and accustomed to the way those solutions worked.

Secondly, educating the market that their eSignature may not be real, that their documents could expire without a current digital certificate and they would not necessarily hold up in court was a very expensive and time-consuming task.

However, once customers realized that there was a better and more secure solution available at a significantly lower price point, it became one of the fastest growing advanced DTM solutions in the market.

There is tremendous opportunity to solidify ZorroSign’s leadership in the areas of Blockchain, mobile, AI and ML. The organization will also continue to solve the most complex and difficult problems related to the security of digital transactions and electronic signatures used around the world.

audit trail which can be upheld in the court of law - while being socially responsible and saving the environment. It had been over 10 years since the eSign Act was passed and yet eSignatures were not mainstream. There was a very May 2018

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CEO & Co-founder Instarem

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n important thing about successful entrepreneurship is an ability to foresee the future and respond – quickly and intelligently – to the rapidlychanging external environment. A number of companies have fallen from heights because they failed to foresee how evolving technologies would render them obsolete if they failed to act in time. The Fortune Magazine published its ďŹ rst list of 500 largest corporations in 1955. Many of these companies, hugely successful at some point, do not appear on the list today. While many succumbed to the changing business dynamics, a few of

May 2018

Leader's Insight

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hose left exist as shadows of their former glory. Hindsight tells us that most of these companies focused too much on the present, failing to anticipate customers’ future needs, which are largely driven by innovations brought about by technologies. While the signs of imminent shift are always there for everyone to see, only those who take cognizance of these signs and act in time succeed.

No other business has been more impacted by the breakthroughs in technology than financial services.

There has been a massive growth in the adoption of mobile and online banking in the last couple of years and newer technology trends in mobile and computing technologies continue to shape the financial services sector like never before. Almost every product or service offered by financial institutions today is enabled by technology. These tech-enabled product/services in the financial sector provide a great customer experience and ensure survival and growth of the companies.

As a stakeholder of a sector so crucial, here are some key trends that we feel will determine in the way the financial sector evolves in the coming years.

Data to Dominate In the digital era, data is one of the most valuable resources for industries.

In fact, some of the world’s largest global corporations such as Google and Amazon are built on the customer insights gained through use of information technology. Access to quality data and ability to extract insights out of that will be key to success in financial services. With more and more data generated almost every passing moment, and new more powerful tools available, data will be increasingly used to expedite operations and technology processes.

Players in the financial services sector May 2018

generate a tremendous amount of customer insight data that has the potential to drive real value for stakeholders, by allowing banks to better understand their needs.

Blockchain to go Mainstream Blockchain - a decentralized, distributed, ledger that started with bitcoin - removes conflicts by being independent of individual participants.

A number of startups in the financial services sector have started applying this temper-proof and transparent technology that records financial transactions between two parties in an efficient and verifiable way, to develop new, decentralized business models that have potential to be the next big thing in business. Not restricted to financial services, the Blockchain has numerous potential applications in government, healthcare, supply chain etc., making it increasingly universal.

With real use cases, we strongly feel that the distributed ledger technology will be the mainstream in the next couple of years.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Become Natural Choice Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (ML) allow computers to learn, without any specific programmed commands “instructing” them how to operate. AI/ML enable computers to alter their programming on their own and respond differently on the basis of newly-available information. Today, almost every company in the financial sector is using AI/ML to reduce costs, save time, add value and enhance customer experience. For businesses, AI powers two key use cases that will make AI/ML technology more mainstream Natural Language Processing (NLP) and the Big Data. Financial firms have begun building interfaces such as NLPpowered Chatbots / RoboAdvisors that analyze and understand how customers

spend, invest, and make financial decisions, so they can offer customized investment advice to their customers.

As voice recognition technology improves, virtual assistants will become increasingly useful. AI/ML also allows software programs to analyze large sets of unstructured data.

In fact, ML-powered mining of data (Big Data) allows users to draw valuable insights from much larger sets of data than were previously accessible. We feel that Big Data could potentially help financial sector is by improving fraud detection and compliance.

Fintech to drive Financial Inclusion With the wider spread of internetenabled devices such as mobile phones/Tablets, consumers are not only moving toward mobile banking, but also toward completely new ways of spending and managing their money.

Technology-driven specialized boutique financial services firms, popularly known as financial technology, or FinTech firms, are outcomes of innovative applications of software and digital platforms that deliver financial services to consumers much more efficiently and costeffectively than traditional banks and they are much easier to use. Today, Fintech firms are offering consumers more choice and freedom, access to investments, refinancing, borrowing or transferring money across borders.

Fintech have huge potential in the context of financial inclusion, a key enabler to reducing poverty and boosting prosperity. Globally, around 2 billion people still don’t have access to formal financial services and more than 50% of adults in the poorest households are still unbanked. With its low entry-barriers and huge impact, Fintech have potential to accelerate the process of Financial Inclusion like never seen in the history.

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Light your Own way