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Sumeet Chabria Joins Genesis as Senior Advisor

GlobeNewswire — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 15:30:12 +0000

Genesis Global announced that Sumeet Chabria, formerly Global Head of Business Services and COO for Technology and Operations at Bank of America and Global CIO for Banking and Markets at HSBC, has joined the firm as a senior advisor.

Chabria will draw on his extensive industry experience to advise Genesis in driving the adoption of the Genesis Application Platform throughout financial markets. His insights will help Genesis showcase how clients create strategic value with the platform in terms of generating new revenue, promoting operational efficiency and ensuring resilience. He will also aid in fostering partnerships and other opportunities to expand industry usage of the platform.

“Sumeet is a tremendous asset for Genesis,” said Stephen Murphy, CEO and cofounder of Genesis Global. “He has dedicated his distinguished career to responsibly modernizing and unifying complex technology and operational landscapes at the world’s major financial institutions. His perspective on how our platform aligns with clients’ revenue, cost and risk strategies helps us engage the industry with maximum effectiveness.”

“Financial companies spend billions on software development looking for an edge over competitors,” said Sumeet Chabria, senior advisor to Genesis Global. “The Genesis platform changes that paradigm with its unique ability to build robust financial markets-grade applications, with embedded compliance and controls, ten times quicker and at a fraction of the cost of traditional builds. I see broad-based demand in the market for Genesis technology and the wide range of benefits it offers clients, including boosting developer productivity, building next-gen market infrastructure, upgrading legacy systems and derisking end-user computing (EUC) and complex vendor environments.”

Chabria’s tenure as a global leader for technology and operations includes over twenty-five years combined at Bank of America and HSBC, in New York and London. He is CEO and founder of ThoughtLinks, a technology strategy consultancy catering to AI adoption needs of financial institutions. He is also on the faculty of the executive education program at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College.

In June, Genesis introduced several incentives streamlining how financial firms test and use the platform to address their most strategic and innovative software opportunities. These initiatives include new technologies to accelerate project builds on Genesis, usage-based pricing and a free trial program.

Banks, asset managers and trading infrastructure providers worldwide use the Genesis Application Platform to develop new software, enhance legacy technology systems and replace end-user computing and manual processes with enterprise-quality solutions. Among these clients, Bank of America, BNY Mellon and Citi are also strategic investors in Genesis.

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FinTech Interview with Nico Simko, Chief Executive Officer of Clair

FTB News Desk — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 13:30:53 +0000

Learn how embedded finance and financial wellness benefits are reshaping the modern workforce.

Nico Simko, Co-founder & CEO of Clair

Nico, we’re delighted to have you at FintecBuzz. Could you start by sharing your professional journey and how it led you to co-found Clair?
I began my professional career after college at J.P. Morgan, where I worked on projects involving hourly rideshare drivers. This helped me gain a deeper understanding of the fintech space and the obstacles that workers face to reach financial stability. Despite already earning their pay, they don’t have immediate access to it, if they need to cover for unexpected expenses. After working an hourly job in college, I experienced firsthand how incredibly frustrating it could be to wait weeks for my paycheck, and sometimes even longer as a result of processing errors. As a student managing my personal budget, in a new country, I could only imagine the level of frustration for individuals providing for their families financially.

This served as my inspiration for creating Clair, a solution to provide a flexible way for employees to get a portion of their pay before payday. Solving the gap between work and pay, and with 78% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck the ability to access their next paycheck ahead of the designated date can make all the difference.

How has payroll technology traditionally operated, and why do these methods no longer meet the needs of today’s employees?
While payroll providers have traditionally issued paychecks on a biweekly cycle, the world is moving toward faster technology and instant money transfers, yet payday remains stuck in an outdated system. Our perspective at Clair is that people should be allowed to get paid as soon as they clock out, especially since they’ve already done the work to earn that money.

Additionally, payroll technology has historically been clunky, which means it’s difficult and time-consuming for employees to use. More employers are recognizing these pain points, as 58% mentioned technology integration as one of the top areas of improvement for their payroll providers, and another 29% said tech modernization is a major concern. In order to meet the needs of the modern workforce, Clair decided to partner with a national bank to provide compliant earned wage access (EWA) to America’s workforce. Our team has worked tirelessly over the past few years to offer a banking infrastructure and compliance framework that makes accessing on-demand pay seamless. We’ve brought this – and our proprietary technology – to industry-leading HR platform partners like Gusto and TriNet, so the companies using their tools can easily offer on-demand pay to their workers.

We just announced in July that Clair grants employees at many of Gusto’s 300K supported businesses access to sign up for On-Demand Pay right in the Gusto Wallet app. This makes Gusto the first partner to announce Clair’s new embedded On-Demand Pay product, which leverages proprietary technology to provide an embedded, compliant EWA solution that integrates directly into workforce management and payroll applications.

We also recently partnered with payroll infrastructure company Check, which selected Clair as its first EWA partner. HR platforms using Check to build and launch their payroll businesses can seamlessly opt into offering Clair’s fully compliant, On-Demand Pay solution, without any impact to payroll and changes to HR.

It’s been a busy year for our team, but we’re happy to be at the forefront of a larger shift toward embedded finance in the HR and payroll industry.

Can you explain how embedded finance is converging with payroll technology and what benefits this convergence brings to both employers and employees?
We’re seeing more embedded finance tools integrated into HCM platforms for seamless use and adoption. APIs, for example, allow for financial experiences to be embedded into existing HR apps to create a “one-stop shop,” providing a more user-friendly design similar to that of consumer apps. About 41% of employees are already overwhelmed by the number of tools and technologies they’re required to use, so streamlining their HR tech stack is key.

By providing employees with one platform where they can access multiple benefits, including financial wellness tools, HR can have a better view of what’s important to employees in the workplace. This can help executives make data-driven choices, reduce the time and resources required to train employees on new benefit tools and help overall employee satisfaction and productivity.

With a top-requested benefit like earned wage access, for example, building an embedded experience is key. It’s typically complicated for HR tech to build, so finding a compliant partner that has the right tech infrastructure in place is critical. Clair’s On-Demand Pay product removes all manual work required to roll out the benefit, and that includes any manual changes to employee counts or payroll.

Why is it important to give employees flexibility when they get paid, and how does this flexibility impact employee satisfaction and retention?
For employers who are still dealing with labor shortages in essential fields like healthcare and manufacturing, offering flexible benefits like on-demand pay can be a game changer in employee satisfaction, which leads to retention. With benefits like on-demand pay, employers can help their workers get better financial footing and stand out in the labor market. Companies that go one step further to ensure embedded finance benefits are available within their existing HR apps can also gain a significant advantage, such as lessening burnout among their HR teams and prioritizing workers’ well-being and user experience, to ultimately differentiate themselves as a top employer.

With 68% of employees using financial wellness services provided by their employers in 2023, up from 51% in 2012, what does this trend indicate about the evolving needs of the workforce?
This indicates a few things about today’s workforce. They’re dealing with stressors – like unexpected expenses, student loan payments, or inflation increasing the cost of living – and they appreciate the help and support of their employers. They also want both long-term and short-term financial wellness benefits. Offering 401(k)s for long-term savings is important but many workers need help now and can benefit from access to their pay outside of the bi-weekly pay cycle, budgeting tools, financial education and more. Simply put: Employees want more flexibility and control over their finances and financial wellness benefits help deliver that.

Why is it crucial for payroll tech providers to partner with financial wellness benefit providers who understand regulatory complexities and ensure long-term compliance?
Service disruptions can be a headache and if a financial wellness benefits partner isn’t compliant, it can turn into a nightmare for employers and their employees. That’s why it’s critical to identify a partner who not only understands regulatory complexities but is also compliant, which gives employers peace of mind while extending support and buy-in from executives. When it comes to EWA in particular, it’s no longer just an advantage but rather a need as the CFPB recently proposed that EWA products should be recognized as loans, and states are also constantly enacting their own laws. This can lead to interrupted service with EWA providers that are not compliant, when laws change.

Additionally, Millennials and Gen Z-ers make up the majority of today’s professionals and have grown up with consumer-friendly apps with embedded finance experiences, like Venmo and Uber. As a result, they now expect the same app and software experiences that prioritize convenience and are designed with sleek and simple interfaces. By embedding financial offerings into HR management apps, users can easily find what they need without the extra step of extensively searching workflow documents or contacting customer support. With the help of innovative HR tech and fintech teams leveraging APIs and building proprietary technology, this experience can be brought to life. By minimizing employee confusion and lessening time-consuming questions for HR teams, workplaces can also see a rise in employee engagement rates.

Based on your experience, what advice would you give to employers looking to update their Workforce Management and Human Capital Management systems to better meet the needs of their employees?
Make it as easy as possible to keep everything integrated! Employees do not have the time or energy to navigate a new app or tool in their workflow management processes. They’re already occupied with their daily job responsibilities, so the additional task of spending time updating payroll information or logging into yet another insurance portal creates productivity obstacles. By making tools simpler and more seamless, workers are more likely to utilize them on a day-to-day basis and it makes it easier to onboard future employees.

In closing, what final thoughts or key messages would you like to share about the future of payroll technology and the importance of integrating financial wellness services for a modern workforce?
Embedded finance is key to reshaping the way employers approach employee benefits and workplace management. It’s been exciting to see the demand for financial wellness benefits increasing recently among employers and professionals. We’re excited about expanding access to On-Demand Pay and to see the noticeable impacts on employees’ lives.

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Coupa Rolls Out AI-Driven Features to Simplify Business Operations

PRNewswire — Mon, 02 Sep 2024 16:00:46 +0000

Coupa, the margin multiplier company, unveiled over a dozen AI-driven innovations – amounting to more than 100 throughout the platform – to help companies optimize process efficiency, improve productivity, and make it easier for employees to do their jobs, freeing them up to work on higher-value initiatives.

“Our goal to be a margin multiplier for every business large and small worldwide requires a relentless focus on co-innovation with our customers. As market dynamics continue to shift and operating capital becomes more limited, companies are searching for more ways to drive profitable, sustainable growth. Coupa’s leading total spend management platform underpinned by our community-generated AI gives customers predictive insights, prescriptive decisions, and automated actions needed to drive smarter and more profitable decisions,” said Fang Chang, Chief Product Officer, Coupa. “By replacing archaic processes with Coupa’s AI-driven solutions, businesses will run more efficiently, grow more effectively, and operate more confidently.”

Increasing Efficiency and Productivity With AI While Reducing Risk
With increasing organizational demands on productivity and efficiency, Coupa continues to invest in embedding AI throughout its leading platform. New AI advancements include:

Coupa Navi, our GenAI-based personal agent, will be generally available in September. Navi supercharges productivity, up-leveling how customers interact with the Coupa platform by finding document status and approvals faster, accelerating requests, and serving as an always-available knowledge base for instant answers to questions.
Contract Intelligence, powered by new AI enhancements, provides customers with risk-informed clause recommendations helping reduce exposure to potential issues. New enhancements also provide GenAI-generated legal agreement summaries, giving users important context whether from third-party contracts or negotiations.

Maximizing Savings with Unified Spending
Coupa’s complete, unified platform provides businesses with one view into all their spend – both direct and indirect. By unifying all spend categories in one place, organizations can maximize savings and efficiency gains. New enhancements helping to maximize category spend include:

The Coupa Advantage Marketplace offers quick access to a wide range of goods from trusted suppliers – including Schäfer Shop, Staples, and Würth – with pre-negotiated rates and financial benefits. Helping finance and procurement leaders identify savings opportunities, improve spend visibility and efficiency, and eliminate maverick spend, especially for tail spend. From fresh flowers to latex gloves, the Advantage Marketplace provides access to millions of goods helping customers maximize savings.
Service Maestro enhancements allow customers to create, view, and manage contingent worker records and assignments, providing full visibility into services spend. This enables businesses to drive efficiencies, optimize costs, and comply with staffing regulations.

Air Methods, an air medical transport provider that operates more than 400 aircraft throughout the US, turned to Coupa to transform their back-office operations. Before Coupa they experienced largely manual processes, lacked standardization, and had poor spend visibility. With one platform, Air Methods has digitized its processes and increased visibility and control while fostering greater accountability and opportunities for savings.

“Coupa’s Advantage program has been instrumental in helping Air Methods increase savings and operational efficiencies across our unique complex supply chain and procurement processes,” said Jake Shearer, Category Manager, Air Methods. “By partnering with Coupa Advantage suppliers, we’ve achieved more than $500K in annualized savings, 100% PO-based spend with Advantage suppliers, and a significant consolidation in tail spend all in the first year. We look forward to using the new Coupa Advantage Marketplace to further optimize our tail spend and increase savings.”

“Our September release, and each of our product releases, drives the Coupa platform forward so our customers can reach their ambitious goals. We continue to invest in new and powerful AI use cases, which gives our customers a disproportionate advantage to achieving top-line growth and bottom-line performance gains,” said Chang.

Learn how you can leverage Coupa’s leading AI-driven total spend management platform here.

Availability
Starting in September, the Coupa Navi AI agent will be available to Core Platform customers, the Coupa Advantage Marketplace will be available to all Procurement customers, and advancements in Contract Intelligence will be available to all Contract Management Lifecycle customers.

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The Four Stages of Card Program Maturity: Card Tech Modernization

Gary Singh — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 12:30:26 +0000

Over the past three years, the team at Zeta has engaged with hundreds of leaders from over 50 card issuers across America. During these conversations, recurring questions emerged about managing portfolios on legacy systems, migrating to modern card programs and understanding the perspectives of other card executives. These themes are addressed in a comprehensive report by Zeta and Datos Insights titled “Card Program Evolution: Escaping the Legacy Card Tech Hamster Wheel,” where they conducted an in-depth study involving a dozen executives managing significant card programs.

Key Takeaways from the Report
The report defines four stages of card tech modernization, highlighting the evolution from legacy-dependent systems to fully modern infrastructures.

In Stage 1: Legacy Dependent, innovation is slow and reliant on processors, with customer experience (CX) limited to banker interactions or basic mobile apps. Data access is poor and slow, and costs are high for both service and maintenance. Transitioning to Stage 2 is achievable through incremental technological changes, but creating a significant impact requires more extensive modernization.

Stage 2: Legacy with APIs or Sidecar Programs sees slightly faster innovation, though control over the roadmap remains limited. CX lags behind leading programs, data access is still limited and costs are reduced but may require parallel systems. Remaining in Stage 2 exposes issuers to significant compliance and regulatory risks.

In Stage 3: Modernized with Some Legacy, innovation occurs mostly in-house, except where legacy-dependent. CX can be personalized with some AI capabilities, real-time data access is available but limited in scope and costs are lower except for legacy maintenance and changes. Moving into this stage is particularly challenging due to the complexity of legacy systems.

Stage 4: Fully Modern represents a state where almost all innovation and changes are handled in-house. CX is highly personalized and predictive, leveraging maximized AI capabilities. Real-time data access is available across internal and external streams, and costs for CX and maintenance are low with simpler billing structures. Access to data is crucial for transformation, which is difficult to achieve without modern technology.

Transitioning through these stages reveals that AI has the potential to be transformative, requiring platforms that support real-time data access and rapid iteration of customer experiences. Breaking down the shift to modernization into stages is recommended for most financial institutions since extensive changes are required across various organizational areas.

Challenges and Risks of Legacy Platforms
Bankers face several challenges and limitations to their card programs when they are stuck in their legacy systems. There are six primary risks associated with maintaining legacy platforms. Consumers today need their demands met with key features that provide transparency, control, immediacy and intuitive interactions from their financial institutions. Another risk of staying in a legacy system is the decline of COBOL programmers, which requires very complex coding and poses significant risks for reacting to regulations and managing portfolios. With the rise of AI, there will be new demands for more flexible platforms. Additionally, real-time processing has already begun replacing batch processing as the default. Branch networks have become less competitive, which means digital incumbents are increasingly challenging traditional institutions. Lastly, regulatory changes add complexity and risk, diverting time from innovation.

Functionalities of Next-Gen Processing Platforms
Next-generation processing platforms offer several key functionalities that address these challenges. Cloud-native solutions provide significant advantages over cloud-based ones. An API-first approach ensures easier implementation and faster development. Real-time data access is ranked as the top benefit by bankers. Low-code/no-code design enables staff to develop solutions without technical expertise, while a microservices architecture increases flexibility, scale, and speed to market. Modern user interfaces reduce training needs with intuitive navigation, and modern programming languages address the shortage of COBOL programmers. Broad card program controls allow issuers to make in-house changes, minimizing change requests and enhancing control over the product roadmap.

Initiate the Modernization Journey
Modernizing card programs is a complex but necessary journey for financial institutions to remain competitive and meet evolving consumer demands. These four stages of modernization serve as a roadmap for issuers to navigate this transformation, leveraging modern technology to enhance customer experiences, improve efficiency and stay ahead in a rapidly changing landscape.

Staying at the initial stages poses significant risks, including the inability to handle diverse payment types and compliance challenges. The frustration of migrating between legacy platforms and the limitations they impose underscore the need for comprehensive modernization. But as financial institutions move through this journey, each stage unlocks significant benefits.

Fintechs are using modern issuance platforms to innovate by reimagining cards as products, business models and data engagement layers. Additionally, banks in the corporate card space are embracing modern technology to stay competitive, allowing fintechs to develop capabilities around their cards.
This decentralized innovation enables rapid iteration and interaction with other systems, providing significant benefits.

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Gary Singh, President, North America at Zeta.

Gary Singh is the President, North America at Zeta. A 20+ year silicon valley industry veteran, Gary has an extensive knowledge about the fintech industry and holds multiple patents in the mobile and wireless industry. At the core, Singh is a business and product guy, who understands how to build and take new and innovative products and services to disrupt status quo markets. Prior to joining Zeta, Singh was the Chief Revenue Officer at Ondot Systems. He has also held executive level positions at Obopay, Nokia Financials Services and Aruba Networks. He comes with over a decade of experience at Zebra (through multiple acquisitions — Motorola Solutions enterprise division and Symbol technologies), where he helped pioneer the WiFi market to automate supply chain operations. At Zeta, Singh is responsible for the company’s go-to-market, operations, growth and overall financial performance in North America.

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Northeast Bank, CorServ Unveil Credit Card Program for Businesses

PRNewswire — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 15:00:24 +0000

CorServ, a company that empowers banks and fintechs with payment programs, has partnered with Minneapolis, MN-based Northeast Bank ($770 million in assets) to launch a comprehensive credit card program for their business and commercial customers.

Northeast Bank is a premier independent community bank committed to providing quality products and exceptional service. With a goal to add a comprehensive credit card solution to their suite of commercial banking services, Northeast Bank transitioned out of their Agent Bank programs to CorServ’s Account Issuer Program. In addition to the many improved features, Northeast Bank’s commercial and business customers will benefit from rewards and rebates realized by using credit cards for payments.

“Northeast Bank is dedicated to delivering tailored banking solutions to meet the diverse needs of our business customers,” said Eva Rasmussen, Chief Strategy Officer at Northeast Bank. “CorServ’s commercial card program equips us with compelling card options, a powerful self-service interface for company administrators to manage their cards, and personalized rebate options for businesses. CorServ’s program empowers Northeast Bank to serve our business customers of all sizes beyond what national card issuers can provide.”

CorServ’s Account Issuer Program provides Northeast Bank’s commercial customers with benefits including better choices of credit card products, insightful customizable reports including Level 2 and 3 transaction data, virtual cards to pay vendors, spend controls, and efficient expense reporting. With more control over credit decisions for their customers, Northeast Bank will leverage CorServ’s innovative solution to offer its business and commercial customers a comprehensive credit card program.

“CorServ’s program has the power to transform payment capabilities for Northeast Bank’s commercial customers,” said Anil Goyal, CEO of CorServ. “Our program offers a modern approach to banking with more capabilities for a convenient and simple experience. We are thrilled to partner with Northeast Bank to contribute to their mission of building strong communities by providing their customers with the best solutions.”

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Numerated, Validis to Expand Footprint in Lending & Financial Analysis

Numerated — Mon, 05 Aug 2024 10:58:32 +0000

Numerated, a leading fintech providing modular commercial lending solutions, is excited to announce a strategic partnership with on-demand accounting data provider Validis. This collaboration will provide lenders with the same intuitive experience now with expanded data sets, stronger financial analysis capabilities and the highest quality credit decisions.

Key Highlights of the Partnership:

Enhanced Risk Mitigation: The partnership will significantly expand Numerated’s data coverage, enabling more comprehensive and accurate financial analysis and risk mitigation.
Advanced Analytics: With more granular data comes opportunities for more complex analytics along with generative AI applications.
Granular Data for Complex Commercial Lending Decisions: Expanded data sets will support asset-based lending as well as improve decisioning for small-dollar scored loans and larger, fully underwritten loans alike.

Michael Turner, CEO of Validis affirms the importance of the partnership, “Together, Numerated and Validis are providing the granular data that financial institutions need to make accurate credit decisions. Having these two best-in-class providers work together makes it easier for lenders to speed up decisions while reducing credit risk.”

“We are constantly looking to innovate and provide our clients with the best experience and data available. As we incorporate the power of GenAI into our financial analysis products, the integration of Validis data marks an incredible leap forward in providing the highest quality credit decisions in the market,” remarked Dan O’Malley, CEO of Numerated.

The integration of Validis’s data sharing technology with Numerated’s platform will be rolled out in phases, with initial implementation in 2024 and full implementation in early 2025.This phased approach ensures a seamless transition for customers and maximizes the benefits of the new capabilities.

About Numerated: Numerated transforms the way financial institutions lend to businesses, making the process faster and easier. Banks and credit unions of all sizes leverage Numerated’s digital business lending solutions to exceed borrower expectations for convenience while driving significant gains in efficiency. The platform uses data to streamline originations and underwriting for business lending, from application to close. More than 500,000 businesses and 30,000 financial institution associates have leveraged the platform to process over $50 billion in lending, making Numerated the fastest-growing fintech SaaS company on the 2022 Inc. 5,000.

About Validis: Validis is a group of passionate data people on a mission to connect financial data. We work with Lenders to help them connect to their customers’ accounting packages. With Validis, Lenders work faster and smarter, benefiting from instant access to detailed financial data including AR/AP subledgers and full GL transaction details. Our customers unlock significant efficiencies, save money, and get accurate insight from live, fully standardized, granular data. This powers faster and better lending.

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Securing Digital Transactions: The Impact of Smart Contracts in Blockchain

FTB News Desk — Thu, 01 Aug 2024 13:00:08 +0000

1. Understanding Smart Contracts
2. Enhancing Security and Trust
3. Efficiency Through Automation
4. Advanced Use Cases and Applications
5. Challenges and Future Directions
6. Concluding Thoughts

The world of digital transactions cannot function without safe and effective processes. Smart contracts are one of the most significant developments in the field of blockchain technology, which is changing the approach to carrying out transactions, checking their authenticity, and guaranteeing them. This blog focuses on the more technical areas of what smart contracts are and how they are revolutionizing the way that business is done online.

1. Understanding Smart Contracts
Smart contracts refer to digital contracts with the legal essentials of the agreement encoded and self-implementing. These are contracts instilled in blockchain systems; this means that once put in place, these contracts will operate on self-execution and openness. Another fundamentally different feature of smart contracts is that, unlike conventional contracts, after they go live on the blockchain, they cannot be changed.

2. Enhancing Security and Trust
Security and trustworthiness are probably the most important benefits that can be derived from using smart contracts. Mainstream contracts require third parties to authenticate and ensure compliance with the agreed-upon conditions, hence threatening the process with failure points. Smart contracts combine enforcement without intermediaries due to the use of block chain technology. This minimizes the risks of blunders and embezzlement since contract provisions are fulfilled strictly under code provisions.

Immutable Execution: One of the significant features of smart contracts is that after they are deployed on a blockchain network, they cannot be changed. This immutability also prevents the change in the contract code and makes sure that the agreed terms in the contract are complied with without modifications.
Decentralization: Smart contracts rely on blockchain technology as data is stored and distributed in nodes. This decentralization approach reduces the chances of having a single point of failure, and therefore it becomes challenging for any anti-social element to control the contract or alter any transaction information.
Transparency and Auditability: All the transactions created with the help of smart contracts are saved in the blockchain. Such an unchangeable record of transaction history enables the parties to authenticate contract performance and check the contract’s status, which enhances reliability and responsibility.

3. Efficiency Through Automation
Smart contracts ease the flow of digital transactions in that tasks that would otherwise have to be handled manually can be done automatically. For instance, in the financial sector, the smart contracts perform trade, payment, or transaction validation as per certain conditions. It also decreases the time taken in processing, cuts the cost of operational expenses, and fastens the speed in the completion of the transactions.

4. Advanced Use Cases and Applications

Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Smart contracts are used in the DeFi industry to enable different financial operations, such as lending, borrowing, and exchange, without involving the help of middlemen. Through the automation and making of these transactions secure, they enforce transparency and trust in these decentralized platforms.
Supply Chain Management: Smart contracts are also starting to disrupt SCM by offering real-time tracking and verification of the manufactured goods. It can also initiate payments on the receipt of goods and verify products’ genuineness and adherence to agreed terms, which in general propels supply chain effectiveness.
Legal Agreements: Smart contracts in the legal sector facilitate and secure all kinds of agreements. They can self-execute the contractual obligations, can initiate the actions in accordance with the written terms of the contract, and can offer a permanently marked and open record of contractual norms.

5. Challenges and Future Directions

Smart contracts do have strengths, though; key areas of weakness in smart contracts include coding bugs, legal tender, as well as compatibility with current systems. Smart contract code has to be correct because mistakes can have severe consequences. Also, the legal systems must adapt to implementing and regulating smart contracts within conventional legal environments.

In the long run, increasing the usage of smart contracts and their connection with AI and IoT are expected to bring new possibilities and develop their functions. Some of the trends that can be seen are: As the advancement in these technologies continues to progress, smart contracts will be more relevant to safeguard and execute digital transactions.

6. Concluding Thoughts
Smart contracts are rigidly defining the movements in the corporate dynamics map of today’s digital transactions, purported to be safer, faster, and more secure. It has enabled them to automate and enforce agreements without involving the middlemen, thus setting new standards for the transactions. Toward the future, it is expected that the role of the hybrid technology in the mentioned sectors will widen and innovation will be at its peak.

In conclusion, one can assert that through integration of smart contracts, companies and people will be able to make their moves in the world of digital transactions more securely and without the verdict of an outsider, which will let the world develop into the world of automation faster.

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FinTech Interview with Chris Li, SVP of Products at Xactly

FTB News Desk — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 13:30:04 +0000

See how integrating agile and innovation frameworks can transform product development and boost market leadership.

Chris Li, SVP of Products at Xactly

Chris, please give us an overview of your role at Xactly, its approach to product development, and how it has evolved in recent years.
As the SVP of Products at Xactly, I manage Xactly’s global Product Strategy, Product Management, Product Marketing, Product Operations and Product Success functions and am responsible for optimizing Xactly’s products to reinforce our position as the only AI-powered platform that combines revenue intelligence and sales performance management to help organizations transform their revenue operations. In my role, I focus on formulating and executing product strategies that drive sustainable competitive differentiation and market leadership, allowing organizations to unlock their full revenue potential.

Our approach to product management has evolved substantially over the years. We’ve complemented our annual roadmapping process with a long-term innovation framework and a short-term agile development process. This allows us to balance our focus on where we need to go over the next few years with what we need to get done in the next quarter or two.

What inspired Xactly to move from a traditional annual product roadmap to a multi-year innovation framework and quarterly agile development process?
Technology is evolving at a pace we’ve never seen before and with the emergence of Generative AI, the pace is only going to accelerate. Xactly has also been on a portfolio management transformation for the past few years; maturing from a multi-product organization to a true platform-first organization. To allow us to exploit the ever-changing technological climate and to effectively execute upon our product strategy transformation, we realized we needed to institute ancillary processes around the traditional annual roadmap planning process.

How do you balance the need for long-term visibility with the flexibility of short-term agile planning?
Although an annual roadmap establishes the key areas of focus for the upcoming year, agile development ensures we’re decomposing our roadmap into manageable bodies of work to allow us to deliver new features and products in a highly predictable way. By incorporating a multi-year innovation framework, we’re able to objectively determine where we should be placing our bigger bets and track the potential impact of those innovations along their journey to market.

What were the biggest challenges Xactly faced when transitioning to this new agile development approach, and how were they overcome?
The risk of change fatigue comes with any process transformation. We’ve discovered significant operational benefits by applying our quarterly agile process, which we’ve leveraged for a few years now. Earlier this year, we determined it would be best if we temporarily pause making additional changes to the process to allow our R&D teams to focus on executing the process, rather than continuing to refine it.

How has the adoption of a multi-year innovation framework impacted Xactly’s ability to innovate and respond to technological changes?
Our multi-year innovation framework has had a profound impact on our ability to innovate and respond to technological changes. We now have the capacity and tools to objectively assess the choices we should make, which could take multiple years to manifest into material benefits for our customers. Innovation is typically one of the most difficult things to get right. However, it’s required if you want to stay ahead of the market. The harsh reality is that most long-term innovation attempts don’t pay off for organizations. We’re using our innovation framework to stay on the right side of that equation.

How has the shift to a quarterly agile development process affected team dynamics and collaboration within Xactly?
Xactly has always been a highly collaborative organization, but the application of our agile development process has unlocked a whole new level of cross-functional collaboration. In most research and development (R&D) organizations, engineering and product are separate functions expected to work closely together. That’s the case at Xactly. But with the agile development process, our teams operate as one. Due to the planning we incorporate into the process, we’ve also seen the collaboration with our peers in go-to-market and customer experience improve as well. The process drives visibility and alignment.

In what ways has customer feedback been integrated into the agile planning process, and how has it influenced product development?
Software companies take risks in various ways to drive innovation and stay competitive, such as adapting new technologies like AI. Since we are constantly taking risks, we need rapid and timely feedback to determine what’s working and what requires a pivot. At Xactly, we leverage a launch strategy which allows us to release new capabilities in phases to solicit feedback early and often before those capabilities go to general availability (GA). For example, we might release a new capability to pilot, where technically the feature is code-complete, but we expose it to select customers, internal stakeholders, and partners to work with it and provide feedback. This allows us to apply improvements to the capability as we progress through the Beta phase; such that when we get to GA we’ve hardened the capability and have a degree of confidence regarding the value it will unlock for our customers.

What metrics or key performance indicators does Xactly use to measure the success of its agile development and multi-year innovation framework?
The KPIs we measure related to our agile development process are primarily focused on velocity and adherence to the committed scope. This ensures we’re building and shipping code quickly. The measurements of success for our innovation framework are different and depend on the innovation we’re contemplating. Those measurements could be related to validating product-market fit, understanding the potential profitability of the capability, or even bringing clarity to the total development timeline.

What advice would you give to other software enterprises looking to implement a similar agile development and innovation framework?
My advice would be not trying to operationalize both of these processes at the same time. First, you should identify what the biggest current challenge is and if it is related to development velocity and alignment or related to driving competitive differentiation. Based on that, choose the most appropriate process that addresses the current challenge. Then when operationalizing one of these processes, ensure you have executive buy-in and acknowledge it will likely take multiple years to get right. With the proper governance model, organizations will know when they’ve optimized enough and can then reap the benefits of the improved process.

How do you foresee the agile development process evolving at Xactly in the next few years, and what future trends do you anticipate in product roadmapping and innovation?
In the next few years, I’m looking forward to continuing to increase our pace of innovation leveraging these processes. We’ve taken the time to build an integrated framework balancing short-term and long-term planning and we can now benefit from that.

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Dynasty Financial Partners Surpasses $100 Bn in Platform Assets

BusinessWire — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 15:00:42 +0000

Dynasty Financial Partners announced that it has surpassed $100 billion in platform assets. This milestone is a testament to the quality and character of the 55 independent firms and over 400 advisors that comprise the Dynasty Network. With average assets under management (AUM) per firm of $1.8 billion and average assets per advisor of approximately $250mm, the Dynasty Network represents some of the highest AUM-per-firm and assets-per-advisor ratios in the industry.

Dynasty Financial Partners Founder and CEO Shirl Penney said: “Dynasty continues to lead the way in positively disrupting the centuries-old wealth management industry. Clearly our belief in the Triangulation of Advice^TM (when financial advice is delivered separately from where assets are custodied and separate again from where financial products are manufactured and sold) resonates in an industry that is ripe for change and we are proud to be the partner of choice for financial advisors and their clients who are in search of an integrated platform that powers their independence.”

“It has been inspiring to see the rapid growth of the independent advisor movement,” added Andrew Marsh, Dynasty Vice Chairman. “We are proud to support those independent advisors that are in search of enhanced Synthetic Scale^SM and superior operating efficiencies for their firms. Dynasty’s Supported Independence^TM Model offers advisors the freedom to do what they believe is best for their clients, while providing the resources and support to grow their firms both organically and inorganically – potentially in partnership with Dynasty Connect and the Dynasty Investment Bank.”

Dynasty was launched in New York, NY, in December 2010 with a singular mission to empower top advisors to experience the benefits of independence for their clients, their teams, and themselves by providing unparalleled client service, an industry-leading platform and the most advanced offerings in the industry. Dynasty’s founding mantra was Objectivity Without Compromise, and as the business flourished, an increasing number of the nation’s most sophisticated advisors turned to Dynasty as a trusted partner to build their independent businesses without the conflicts inherent in the traditional wealth management space. Dynasty believes that many of the top advisors in the industry want to be Independent But Not Alone^TM; they want to benefit from a community that helps them evolve from Advisor to CEO^SM.

Growth in OCIO Offerings

Dynasty Financial Partners’ Outsourced Chief Investment Officer offering has experienced significant growth and has been well-received by advisors that see the benefit of outsourcing investments and investment operations. Dynasty currently maintains $49 billion on its Turnkey Asset Management Program and has been named one of America’s Best TAMPs by The Wealth Advisor.

Additionally, this past year Dynasty launched its managed models program called Dynasty Model Select, which has seen impressive early adoption. The program is expected to surpass $7 billion in assets under management by the end of the year.

The Debut of Dynasty Investment Bank

In May 2023, Dynasty became the only firm of its kind to launch an investment bank dedicated to the RIA space. In just its first year of formally operating as a distinct arm of Dynasty Financial Partners, the investment bank has harnessed the unprecedented M&A activity in the RIA space, advising on 18 M&A and recruiting deals representing $21 billion in target assets under management, including some deals in which Dynasty also invested through one of its capital programs. With this new offering, Dynasty empowers its Network Partners, as well as advisors and firms outside of its Network, to be intentional about achieving their corporate mission, long-term growth objectives and succession plans on their own terms. Dynasty can help advisors raise debt and equity; run recapitalizations; pursue acquisitions; execute sales; and conduct valuations.

Enhanced Technology Platform

Dynasty continues to roll out a purpose-built, secure, and fully integrated platform, providing advisors with a holistic 360-degree view of the essential data, analytics, and insights they need to efficiently manage and grow their businesses while seamlessly connecting with clients. This new experience was developed at the intersection of technology and transformation, harnessing the power of data and automation to help Dynasty’s network of firms serve their clients as never before. This new single pane of glass streamlines the workday starting with an intuitive, feature-rich dashboard, while the Dynasty Hub delivers seamless navigation for one-stop access points across the technology stack. Newly introduced capabilities in the Hub include Dynasty Protect^SM, a tool developed to support customized, secure data gathering from prospects and clients.

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Clair announced a partnership with Check

BusinessWire — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 07:00:20 +0000

Clair, the pioneering fintech company offering free Earned Wage Advances originated by Pathward^®, N.A., announced a new partnership with payroll infrastructure company Check. Clair is Check’s first Earned Wage Access (EWA) partner and represents a milestone in its commitment to offering financial benefits. Through the integration, platforms using Check to build and launch their payroll businesses can seamlessly opt into offering Clair’s fully compliant, on-demand pay solution, without needing to build any software. Check works with dozens of category-leading platforms such as Novo, Homebase and Wave, paying hundreds of thousands of employees each month.

Check’s channel partner Eddy, an all-in-one HR suite for hiring, onboarding, managing, and paying employees, is the first to roll out access to Clair services through the Check API. Eddy will provide Clair’s on-demand pay services to thousands of employees across hundreds of businesses.

Clair and Check are launching this unique solution at a time when WFM systems are trying to modernize their approach to employee management to align with today’s digital workforce.

More than half of employers (58%) say technology integration is one of the top areas of improvement for their payroll providers and another 29% say tech modernization is a top concern.
Meanwhile, 68% of employees said they used financial wellness services provided by their employers in 2023, up from 51% in 2012, illustrating the growing demand and usage of these benefits.

To solve these pain points, Check partnered with Clair to bring its cutting-edge technology to Check partners, making it easy to offer financial benefits for their employees, by giving them access to their pay when they need it, before payday.

“As the needs of the modern workforce evolve, we’re constantly iterating on our products to provide experiences that employers need to future-proof their businesses,” said Kevin Hollingshead, Head of Partnerships at Check. “It’s clear to us that on-demand pay will only continue to grow in popularity. Clair is the innovator in this space, so it was a natural decision to partner to integrate their leading EWA solution into our partner offerings. We believe it will give our platforms a competitive edge in attracting and retaining the essential people who power their businesses.”

“By revolutionizing the way employers and HR platforms approach on-demand pay, we’re ushering in a new era of financial freedom and flexibility for workers,” said Nico Simko, Co-founder and CEO of Clair. “Our pioneering technology streamlines the process of providing compliant wage advances, making us the trusted partner of choice for HR and payroll platforms at the forefront of modern finance. In partnership with Check, we’re ready to unlock new levels of satisfaction and productivity for companies that want to raise the bar on financial wellness benefits for their workforces.”

Clair offers access to its on-demand pay solutions to more than a dozen HR platform partners and has plans to continue its strategic partnerships with leaders in the payroll and benefits space, having already provided millions of dollars in wage advances. Clair’s fully compliant wage advance solution provides peace of mind for Clair partners, powered by its partnership with FDIC-insured national bank Pathward.

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