All posts by Bethany Frank

Senior Marketing Associate Bethany specializes in content and events as part of Alacriti's marketing team. She's a graduate of Rutgers University and has a background in writing, broadcasting, and digital media. Fascinated by the intersection of technology and human nature, Bethany is out to explore what drives consumers in such a fast-paced, digitally connected world.
Alacriti Blog

AI Steers Auto Finance in a New Direction, and Other Ideas from the Auto Finance Summit

Last month, Alacriti attended the 18th annual Auto Finance Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada. Professionals from across the auto finance world convened at the beautiful Wynn Las Vegas for three days of engaging presentations and idea exchanges about all things auto finance. Here’s what we learned:

Auto loans are on the rise, which means delinquency is, too.

More people are financing new cars than ever before. Average monthly auto payments jumped to an all-time high of $523 in 2017, and total outstanding car loans hit a record $1.1 trillion. There were plenty of sessions at Auto Finance Summit dedicated to exploring this topic and how to help consumers manage their debt.

We had some great conversations with Auto Finance Summit attendees about how an electronic bill payment solution can help auto loan customers accelerate payments, increase customer satisfaction, and reduce the risk of bad debt. As more consumers take out loans to finance their car purchases, more auto lenders will need to provide an end-to-end experience that encourages customers to make payments in full and on-time.

Your customers want new ways to pay.

The technology habits of your customers are changing quickly, and they expect a bill payment experience that can keep up. As they move between laptops, smartphones, and smart speakers, today’s customers want seamless access to their billing accounts and convenient ways to pay from every device.

Many attendees shared their experiences with outdated technology and how it impacts customer experiences, and ultimately their bottom lines. Among the various auto leaders, lenders, and service providers at the event was a mutual understanding of the need for more innovation and smarter technology to help tackle the most prominent issues in auto finance today.

AI is steering the auto industry in a new direction.

There was some buzz around artificial intelligence at last year’s Auto Finance Summit, but it still seemed a bit far out. While it was an intriguing concept, its actual potential applications remained unclear. That changed in 2018 as artificial intelligence made its debut as a ready and viable solution on the exhibit hall floor.

This year, several early market players demonstrated practical ways auto finance companies can utilize artificial intelligence to automate various business operations, enhance the customer experience, and more. From data management to customer engagement, it was clear that AI is set to impact (and improve) nearly every facet of auto finance. With such a great showing this year, we’re expecting to see a larger focus on AI in coming years.

Over at the Alacriti booth, attendees enjoyed interacting with Ella, our AI-powered bot for bill payments and more. Ella utilizes a form of machine learning known as natural language processing (NLP) to converse with customers naturally, much like a live representative. Attendees were excited to see how Ella can help customers quickly retrieve bill details, make payments, and get answers to frequently asked questions through Facebook Messenger, Amazon Echo devices, and Google Home.

The Bottom Line: The auto industry has always been at the forefront of innovation, and auto finance companies are keenly aware of the need for digital transformation as technology continues to impact the market and consumer behavior. We’re excited to see how these trends evolve and shape the auto finance industry over the next year, and we look forward to returning to Auto Finance Summit in October 2019!

Alacriti Blog

EBPP, From Checks to Voice Payments

Serving a diverse group of customers means servicing a diverse set of payments needs. A complete EBPP solution lets your business offer the most options to your customers, delivering a bill payments experience that’s simple, smart, and secure.  

For most businesses, a “one size fits all” approach to payments simply won’t work anymore, especially as younger consumers become influential spenders and decision makers across every industry. These consumers prefer innovative options like mobile and voice payments, while others still prefer to pay their bills through more traditional channels. This means it’s more important than ever for businesses to offer a flexible and complete bill payment experience that meets every customer’s needs.

Personal Checks and Walk-In Payments

  •        Familiar and traditional ways to pay
  •        Walk-in cash payments can serve unbanked and underbanked customers

There are plenty of reasons to go paperless, but some customers still like to mail checks to pay their bills. Some even prefer to go all the way to a retail location and pay in cash. These consumers might find computers and mobile phones to be too “high-tech”, or simply prefer to make a physical payment instead of a digital one. The latter is especially true for unbanked and underbanked consumers who might not have access to traditional checking and savings accounts.

It would help to offer these customers incentives to switch to electronic payments over time as well, but it’s important to keep personal checks and walk-in payment options available for anyone who might find these channels to be the most convenient.

Online Bill Payments

  •        Easy and accessible
  •        Most popular payment channel across all generations

Most people paid bills manually until online bill payments became the most popular way to pay in the early 2000s, and over half of all bills are still paid via biller-direct websites today. Even as usage begins to plateau, online bill payment remains a top-preferred channel among consumers of all ages because it’s convenient, familiar, and accessible.

Emerging channels are likely to overtake online bill pay in coming years, but online payments will always be an integral part of a complete electronic billing and payments solution. When online, consumers are looking for a sleek and seamless bill payment experience, with the right self-service options to help them quickly make and manage payments on their own time.

Mobile Options

  •        Quick and convenient
  •        Preferred by consumers 18 – 55

Pew Research says millennials are expected to outnumber baby boomers by 2019, and the post-millennials right behind them are the first “truly digital” cohort in human history. From checking in with their social networks to booking a cab to get around town, it’s fair to say that these consumers live through their mobile phones. It’s the device they use most often to communicate, shop, and find information whether they’re at home or on the go, so it’s easy to see why they expect to be able to do just about anything from their phones.

Mobile bill payment options appeal to older generations as well, especially as smartphone usage increases. Things like responsive web design, text alerts for bill payments, and the ability to pay by text are integral to a user-friendly mobile bill payment experience that meets the standards of today’s hyper-connected consumers.

Voice Payments

  •        Innovative and intuitive
  •        Preferred by consumers 18-45

Advances in machine learning and natural language processing are driving significant changes in consumer behavior. Voice is quickly becoming a more popular computing interface than typing, and as the technology becomes more sophisticated, it’s changing how consumers transact and interact with businesses [online.]

For businesses that aren’t caught up with the latest in payments, voice technology presents a unique opportunity to adapt to an increasingly digital world. It can help provide an innovative customer experience on emerging digital channels right as they begin to catch on among consumers – nearly half of all Americans already use voice assistants, and over 47 million own at least one smart speaker. These numbers are expected to increase the more consumers use voice to carry out everyday tasks like ordering lunch and scheduling appointments.

The Bottom Line: Every channel is an important part of a complete billing and payments solution. Some channels remain popular among consumers for their familiarity, while adoption of others is increasing as consumers become more comfortable with new technology. The best approach is to offer a comprehensive bill payment experience that makes things easy for customers no matter how they choose to pay.

Alacriti Blog

CS Week 2018 Recap

Alacriti was proud to present and exhibit at CS Week 2018, held April 30 – May 4 in Tampa, Florida. CS Week is the premier annual educational and customer service conference serving electric, gas, and water utility professionals across North America. The conference celebrates excellence in customer service and provides learning and networking opportunities in support of the utility customer experience lifecycle.

This year’s conference was packed with utility, government, finance, and technology professionals eager to share their customer service strategies. Alacriti was honored to take the stage with City of Evanston CIO Luke Stowe to discuss how utility companies can enhance service and better engage customers in a digitally connected world. We had a full house for our breakout session, “Leveraging AI for Bill Payments.”

Luke opened the session with an in-depth look at recent trends shaping consumer behavior. From Facebook Messenger to Amazon Alexa, Luke discussed the impact of these platforms on consumers and how businesses are leveraging them to reach their customers in new, innovative ways. Smartphone and smart device ownership, as well as the growth of the global chatbot market, are some of the trends poised to make the biggest impact on the utility space. Luke shared some social media tactics employed by the City of Evanston, as well as practical steps utility companies can take to deliver the kinds of bill payment experiences their customers now expect. Here are some highlights:

  • Consumers are warming up to AI and chatbot technology
  • The nature of commerce and engagement is changing – consumers are moving away from traditional websites and toward mobile and other digital options, like smart devices
  • Don’t shy away from using new channels like social media to engage customers
  • Despite how your customers might feel about new technology today, don’t ignore the customers of tomorrow

Max Bisschop, Sales and Strategic Partnerships Executive at Alacriti, also joined the conversation. Building on the examples shared by Luke, like booking an Uber through Facebook Messenger, Max walked the audience through specific scenarios in which an AI chatbot can help utility companies deliver better customer service. For example, a customer might want to know when their bill is due, or how to keep their water pipes from freezing in sub-zero temperatures. Rather than tying up customer service agents for these kinds of simple requests, customers can simply “talk” to a chatbot for immediate and effective assistance.  

Customers now expect a bill payment experience that’s always on, in real-time, conversational, and personalized. They also want quick answers to questions and for their issues to be resolved as quickly as possible. Max and Luke had a great time sharing their perspectives on the potential of AI and what it can do for the utility space. Thank you to everyone who attended our session and joined the conversation at CS Week. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Check out all the presentations from CS Week 2018 here!

In the News, newsroom

Alacriti a Finalist in the 2018 NACHA Challenge!

Alacriti is honored to be one of four finalists in the NACHA Challenge at PAYMENTS 2018, the premier industry conference bringing together thousands of industry professionals and business end-users in financial services and technology.

The NACHA Challenge is a team competition designed to foster payments efficiency and innovation. The 2018 Challenge asked participants to provide solution that makes the process of supplying enrollment information for ACH payments easier, faster, and more secure for consumers.

Join Alacriti on Monday, April 30 on the exhibit hall floor at PAYMENTS 2018 as we present our solution for a streamlined and forward-thinking way to enable both consumer and corporate ACH payments. Our solution allows for both credit and debit transactions, making it an ideal solution for several payment scenarios ranging across various industries.

Learn More.

In the News, newsroom

Alacriti a Finalist in the 2018 PYMNTS Voice Challenge with Amazon Alexa

Alacriti is thrilled to participate in the 2018 PYMNTS.com Voice Challenge with Amazon Alexa.

PYMNTS.com, the premier source of news and analysis on innovation in payments and commerce, once again invites participants to demonstrate Amazon Alexa Skills that facilitate faster payments and commerce. For the 2018 PYMNTS Voice Challenge, Alacriti presents a series of Alexa Skills that enable fast and seamless bill payments and customer service. Alacriti’s Alexa Skills are powered by Ella, our AI-powered conversational bot that enables seamless customer interactions through virtual assistants like Alexa.

Amazon’s Alexa is one of the fastest growing voice engines in the world. We’re glad to be a part of a a Challenge that brings together the most innovative companies in payments to explore what’s next in voice technology and help push Alexa forward.

Voting for the PYMNTS Voice Challenge is now open! Cast your vote here.

Watch our video.

In the News, newsroom

Alacriti to Speak at NACHA’s PAYMENTS 2018 Conference

Alacriti is excited take the stage at NACHA’s PAYMENTS 2018 Conference on Monday, April 30 to discuss AI for bill payments.

Spearheaded by NACHA, the electronic payments association that governs the ACH Network, PAYMENTS is the largest payments education conference uniting thousands of financial and technology services stakeholders.

Stuart Bain, SVP of Product at Alacriti, will deliver a one-hour presentation on the impacts and applications of artificial intelligence in bill payments to the PAYMENTS audience. He’ll be joined by Director of Product Solutions at Bank of America, Jeff Pauly. Attendees are invited to come explore key trends reshaping consumer interactions in the age of connected devices and learn how to deliver a compelling payment experience on emerging channels.

PAYMENTS 2018 is set to take place April 30 – May 2 in San Diego, CA.

In the News, newsroom

Alacriti to Discuss AI for Bill Payments at CS Week 2018

Piscataway, NJ – Alacriti is excited to speak at CS Week Conference 42, the premier annual customer service conference serving electric, gas, and water-related utility professionals across North America.

Max Bisschop of Alacriti and Luke Stowe, CIO of the City of Evanston, IL, will deliver a one-hour presentation on AI for bill payments Thursday, May 3 at 10:30am. Through this exclusive session, Alacriti and the City of Evanston hope to provide CS Week attendees with a better understanding of this promising new technology and how it can be leveraged by utility companies to improve the customer experience. You can also find Alacriti at Booth 230 in the exhibit hall throughout the event.

CS Week is one of the largest industry conferences serving the Utility space, bringing together customer service managers, IT executives, billing specialists, finance directors, and others to explore high-quality technology and strategies to achieve customer service success. This year’s conference is set to take place April 30 – May 4 in Tampa, FL.

Learn more.


In the News, newsroom

Embrace the Digital Age: Chatbots for Payments

Chatbots – maybe you’ve heard of them. They’re a new way for customers to connect to your business, but they can go further to help you provide an innovative bill payment experience that makes it easy for your customers to pay. How do you keep up with consumer preferences while keeping an eye on the future?

Join Stuart Bain, SVP of Product Management, and Ken Hertzler, VP of Product Marketing, for a 45-minute webinar Tuesday, October 10th to find out. You’ll hear about the following:

  • Simple ways to use a chatbot in your customer-facing apps

  • How a chatbot can work with your existing bill payment technology

  • Security and privacy best practices

  • A live demo of our chatbot, Ella

  • How to get started today

This webinar is now closed.

In the News, newsroom

Webinar: The Payments Experience in the Age of Connected Devices

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Alacriti will host a webinar on the payments experience in the age of connected devices on Wednesday, July 12 at 1PM ET / 10AM PT.

Advances in AI, chatbots, and personal assistants are reshaping the customer experience and redefining how businesses interact with their customers. The technology available today leads consumers to form expectations that apply to any good or services they use – including payments. Billers need to think outside the box to better connect, engage, and transact with their customers on the platforms where they are spending time.

Attend this webinar for the following key takeaways:

  • Explore key trends and factors reshaping customer experience in a connected world

  • Gain insight into the expectations of today’s digital customer

  • Learn how business interactions are becoming conversational

  • Learn new ways to engage and deliver compelling, personalized experiences to your customers on emerging digital channels

This webinar has ended.

Alacriti Blog

Referral Partnerships: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship

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The payments space is always evolving as new technology emerges. Demand for fast and convenient electronic payment options will continue to increase within the next decade. With so much changing so quickly, businesses with vested interests in helping customers meet payment-related needs often find it particularly challenging to keep up with the latest trends.

Today’s hyper-competitive economic markets require businesses to think creatively and strategically to be successful. Print and mail providers, financial service organizations, and other businesses may find that their clients need a better electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) platform in addition to the services they provide. An EBPP solution can help these companies enhance customer relationships and offer more value, but they might not want to incur the development costs or force major changes onto internal staff. Due to high charges for operations and technology support, a reseller arrangement might not be ideal either.

A referral partnership with a technology provider is a cost-effective option for businesses that want to meet more of their customers’ payment needs without developing an EBPP solution in-house. Such an arrangement can be mutually beneficial – both partners can refer each other for business opportunities that more closely align with their respective areas of expertise. Because the development and related IT costs are absorbed by the technology provider, a referral partnership drastically reduces the cost of entering the payments market. It also ensures access to the partner’s resources and expertise while enabling a business to test the market before making a stronger commitment.

It isn’t necessary to specialize in payment technology in order to offer customers an innovative electronic bill presentment and payment solution. For some companies, the best option is to simply refer clients to a reliable payment technology partner. A referral partnership enables both parties to capitalize on their individual strengths to expand business opportunities. Contact our sales team to find out if a referral partnership is right for your business.

In the News, newsroom

Alacriti Introduces Ella, a Conversational Bot Powered by AI

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Piscataway, NJ – Alacriti, a payments technology company, is pleased to announce the launch of Ella, a conversational bot powered by artificial intelligence. Ella enables seamless interaction between businesses and their customers through various messaging channels and virtual assistants. Customers interact with Ella naturally through a series of conversational prompts, as if talking to a customer service representative.

Currently integrated with Alacriti’s payment solutions, Ella enables businesses to offer an innovative customer experience via Facebook Messenger. With Ella’s chatbot functionality, customers will be able to receive notifications and alerts, ask questions about their bills, and make payments within Messenger.

“AI-driven conversational interfaces are transforming how businesses engage with their customers”, says Manish Gurukula, CEO of Alacriti. “We built Ella because customers expect a personalized and context-aware conversational experience, anywhere and in real-time. We’re excited to continue exploring new ways to help our clients deliver an innovative payment experience to their customers on the digital platforms they use the most.”

Learn more about Ella. 

Alacriti Blog

Banks and the Blockchain

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Blockchain technology is a promising concept that holds exciting potential for the financial services industry and others. The most commonly known example of blockchain technology is Bitcoin, which utilizes a blockchain network for cryptocurrency exchanges. Although Bitcoin has thus far failed to go mainstream among consumers, its underlying technology is particularly useful for banks.

According to Wall Street Journal, “a blockchain is a data structure that makes it possible to create a digital ledger of transactions and share it among a distributed network of computers.” Authorized participants of a private blockchain network would be able to manipulate the structure by adding additional data blocks to the “chain” without the involvement of a central verifying entity. Instead, each participant would compare new information to previously recorded data for verification within minutes, with a majority consensus needed among participants for a new transaction to be approved and subsequently added to the chain. Although a blockchain network is decentralized in nature, banks can apply the concept in restricted environments for various internal purposes.

Financial institutions can improve the processing of cross-border payments, for example, with the proper implementation of blockchain technology. Cross-border payments are currently made possible through a number of correspondent banking arrangements that allow for inter-bank processing, and vast arrangements are necessary in order to provide adequate geographical coverage. Any number of intermediaries may be involved, with additional costs and processing times associated with each of them.

Manual intervention is often necessary to correct and properly execute incorrect transactions, further contributing to delays. Not only are these banking arrangements inefficient, but they also present major traceability issues and hinder banks from providing payment services on par with those offered at a domestic level. A lack of transparency and unexpected posting delays could also affect the financial liquidity of corporate clients and put them at risk.

Blockchain could mitigate these complications by introducing automation at an inter- and intra-bank level. It would eliminate the need for intermediaries who drive up costs and processing times, helping banks save money while improving straight-through-processing (STP) rates. Banks would then be able to pass these increased efficiencies and cost savings onto consumers and businesses by offering them faster service at reduced costs.

By utilizing blockchain technology to improve P2P remittances, for example, banks can appeal to and capture demographics that currently use third-party money transfer services to send money to family members abroad. Blockchain could also solve payment tracking issues as its very nature allows for improved traceability, creating additional value that can again be passed along to consumers.

Compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) requirements is another concern that could be addressed and possibly resolved using a decentralized ledger. Global spending on AML compliance was estimated to total nearly $10 billion in 2014. A blockchain network could enable banks to feed data related to restricted parties and suspicious AML activity and share it with other participating banks. Through this kind of data-sharing model, banks could significantly improve internal processes around AML, fraud, and risk management. With the continued rise in regulatory pressures, investment in technology infrastructure that protects against fraud and mitigates risk may be a far more cost-effective course of action.

Due to the inherently decentralized nature of a blockchain network, financial institutions are often hesitant to explore or simply unaware of the potential internal applications of the technology; however, blockchain may eventually prove to be instrumental in helping banks introduce speed, automation, and integration into processes that are quickly becoming outdated. Furthermore, cooperation between banks to establish a shared network- such as the efforts underway by technology company R3 and some of the largest banks in the industry – could present new opportunities to monetize.

Faster and more efficient processing would enable financial institutions to reduce operational costs, streamline payment processing, and minimize the need for additional checks and balances. Although it is too soon to determine whether or not blockchain will truly transform the financial services landscape as a whole, early adopters and those who are quickest to adjust to any changes it brings are likely to gain a competitive advantage going forward.

In the News, newsroom

Money 20/20 Conference

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Piscataway, NJ – Alacriti looks forward to attending Money 20/20 October 25 to 28 in Las Vegas, Nevada!

Money 20/20 is the largest global event focused on payments and financial services innovation. Over 10,000 attendees from 75 countries make it the premier financial services conference and trade show to raise brand awareness, build partnerships, and learn about the latest industry developments.

Learn more about Money 20/20 here.