Category Archives: Alacriti Blog

Alacriti Blog

Hyper-Customization: What Does it Mean for EBPP?

When it comes to shopping, consumers have more power and choices than ever before. Advanced technologies and an avalanche of data powering hyper-customized buying experiences have empowered consumers so that they now can buy anything they want, from anywhere, at any time, and at the lowest possible price. To top it off, consumers now expect seamless, multichannel experiences, simple payment processes, fast delivery, easy returns, and intelligence around buying and payment preferences for future purchasing.

What does this mean for electronic bill presentment and payment? 

Increased availability of technology and data, as well as increasing consumer choices, are at play in the EBPP arena too. Consumers want secure payments that are easy-to-make, with personalized user experiences that offer a wide variety of payment options and choices.  

Most companies do a pretty good job of providing their customers with EBPP basics. But to position your organization at the forefront of the hyper-customization craze and enhance the customer experience, here are some things you should be thinking about relative to your EBPP offering:

  • Besides traditional cash, check, ACH, and card payments, consider a broad palette of payment options, such as eWallets like Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle; Real-Time Payments (RTP®), direct bank debit, and push-payments like Visa Direct and Mastercard® Bill Pay Exchange.

  • Contemplate taking advantage of technology innovation to increase the payment channels your customers can use, including online portals, email, chat, text and mobile apps, as well as click & collect where consumers initiate payments online and actually make their payments at physical brick-and-mortar locations or self-service kiosks.

  • Look at offering account updater services to automatically receive cardholder data updates from issuers when cards are expired or replaced, removing your customers from an irritatingly needless interaction.

  • Consider adding personalized data into the payments process to deliver more relevant and secure payment information such as loan amount, current loan balance, current payment amount, number of remaining payments, installment payment plans, and more.

The Bottom Line: Hyper-customization is the next wave in EBPP customer engagement, providing organizations who embrace it the opportunity to soar. By offering feature-rich, frictionless, and hyper-customized experiences to facilitate payments using any acceptance option, through any channel, at any time, you will boost customer loyalty and retention, streamline operations, and accelerate cash flow. 

Alacriti Blog

Benefits of Cloud Computing with AWS

With technological change happening at a faster pace than at any time before, digital transformation leveraging cloud computing is key to maintaining a competitive edge.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) can help your business thrive. AWS is the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. Offering over 175 fully-featured cloud services from data centers around the globe, organizations from large enterprises and governmental agencies to fast-growing startups, have easy access to IT services like processing, networking, storage, security and more. AWS helps them lower costs, become more agile and innovate faster to scale and grow. 

AWS is commonly used for:

  • Storing large amounts of data
  • Processing large datasets 
  • Handling peak loads for e-commerce websites
  • Hosting static websites
  • Hosting dynamic applications or websites with web, application and database tiers
  • And so much more

A 2018 IDC white paper titled, “Fostering Business and Organizational Transformation to Generate Business Value with Amazon Web Services” reveals AWS not only lowers the cost of providing IT services but changes how IT services are delivered and helps transform business operations so companies can better compete and address market needs and demands.

IDC survey participants indicated that their AWS migration created substantial business benefits, including: 

  • 51% lower cost of operations 
  • 62% more efficient IT infrastructure staff 
  • 94% less unplanned downtime 
  • 25% higher developer productivity 
  • Three times more new features delivered annually
  • $36.5 million per year of additional revenue 
  • Six months to payback 
  • 637% five-year ROI

These benefits were achieved by: 

Freeing Up Financial and IT Resources – AWS creates more cost-effective IT environments by optimizing computing, storage and database costs, scaling to meet business demand without overprovisioning. Cost and human capital efficiencies were also achieved by moving away from dedicated, in-house infrastructure operations. Participants were able to shift the focus of their IT staffs to more higher-level activities and strategic business initiatives, rather than day-to-day routine support. They also realized substantial gains in application developer productivity with AWS.

Increasing Speed and Agility – Offering reliable and high-performing AWS applications leads to operational efficiencies via increased user productivity and fewer business disruptions. Gaining the agility to deliver cost-effective IT resources on an on-demand basis enabled participants to address business opportunities quickly to win more business and increase revenues.

Reducing Business Risk – AWS increases confidence in the security and resiliency of IT operations, with measurable positive impacts on business risk related to availability, security and regulatory compliance:

  • Ease of deploying clusters ensures performance with additional resources 
  • Reliable failover services maximize availability while diminishing outage impacts
  • Automated scaling prevents performance issues 
  • Multizone workload balancing capabilities distributes traffic more efficiently while increasing resiliency and reducing latency
  • Compliance with industry-specific regulations and mandates avoids noncompliance fines, penalties, and reputational damage

Some additional benefits of AWS, beyond what’s listed above, include: 

  • Better security options 
  • Increased productivity through automation 
  • New revenue streams through differentiated solutions 
  • Higher availability leading to improved user satisfaction 
  • Rapid experimentation and transformation in response to business changes and needs 
  • Faster innovation and time to market 
  • Reduced costs with better performance 
  • Open standards eliminate getting locked into one vendor 

The Bottom Line: Organizations adopting AWS can be more competitive, increase customer satisfaction, innovate faster, achieve greater productivity, enhance security, improve reliability and optimize costs.

Alacriti Blog

A Look Back at 2019 and What’s Ahead: Orbipay EBPP

Alacriti Senior Vice President of Product, Stuart Bain, reviewed 2019 accomplishments, improvements, and upgrades related to our flagship electronic bill presentment and payment solution Orbipay® EBPP during a recent webinar hosted for our client and partner communities. He also gave an overview of Orbipay EBPP’s product roadmap for 2020.

Here are 10 key webinar highlights:

  1. The number of Orbipay EBPP payment transactions, payment volume, and processing entities increased at double-digit rates.

In 2019, 23.6 million payments were processed through Orbipay EBPP, up 11 percent over the previous year with payment volume skyrocketing to $75.9 billion, up 20 percent over 2018. The number of processing entities grew 19 percent to 816.

  1. Orbipay EBPP flawlessly executed throughout the entire year. 

Impeccable system reliability was achieved in 2019. Orbipay EBPP clocked in at 100 percent uptime with no unscheduled outages. Complementing perfect uptime was an average system response time of 117 milliseconds on the busiest days of each month, which is comfortably inside the five-second target response time.  

  1. Rigorous disaster recovery testing proved seamless for customers.

Disaster recovery (DR) testing validating our business continuity plan guarantees operations can be quickly restored following an outage. In 2019, we raised the stakes by conducting a DR exercise over the course of seven full days as opposed to 24-hours in previous years. The DR environment behaved precisely the same as Orbipay EBPP’s primary environment with no material issues. Magically, most Orbipay EBPP customers didn’t even notice the move to the DR environment for the testing process.

  1. New Card Account Updater capabilities were rolled out.

Keeping payment information up to date is complex, costly, and time-consuming. Orbipay EBPP’s new Card Account Updater functionality automatically submits expiring cards to merchant processors to automatically obtain new payment card information. This prevents interruption of the payment relationship while increasing authorization approvals. Because Card Account Updater gets new card information automatically, individual cardholders no longer need to be contacted, reducing client costs substantially.  

  1. Guest Web, Simple Web, and Donations Web user interfaces were redesigned. 

Guest Web, Simple Web, and Donations Web are used to make one-time payments. User interfaces for all three channels were redesigned in 2019 using the AngularJS framework. Enhancements include:

  • Page layout changes to improve mobile usability
  • New step tracker technology that makes users aware of where they are in the process of making a payment
  • The use of modal windows to keep user activity on a single pane, rather than endless scrolling when users are adding funding sources 

  1. Payment Center user interface was completely refreshed.

The Payment Center user interface was refreshed, making the look and feel more consistent following Orbipay EBPP’s  2018 rollout of new Online Reporting and User Management capabilities. Main changes include moving primary navigation to the left side of the screen to free up real estate, increasing page width for more visibility on modern screens and monitors, and increasing font size for easier readability.

  1. New Simple Single Sign-On enables seamless customer access. 

Simple Single Sign-On (SSO) enables customers to have seamless access to Guest Web and Enrolled Web channels for both online activity and fixed communications while bypassing the authentication step. A customer’s account number, zip code, and signature key are appended to an email URL link or statement QR code. When they arrive at a hosted page, we recognized enrollment and authentication, so username and password entry are not required to make a payment. Seamless Simple SSO is a very powerful tool that is especially helpful in reaching out to customers and encouraging them to make payments. 

  1. Enrolled Web user interface will be completely redesigned in 2020.

Key changes to Enrolled Web’s user interface in 2020 will encompass:

  • Modern, responsive design with single page common function modal windows for mobile optimization
  • Easier navigation and functions
  • Simpler enrollment process 
  • Dedicated client-specific advertising space
  • Client-brandable look and feel

  1. Ella Artificial Intelligence Direct Chatbot capabilities coming in 2020.

Ella is Orbipay EBPP’s conversational bot powered by artificial intelligence. In 2020, you will be able to launch Ella from your own home page 24/7, as well as from Facebook and Alexa. Ella will be able to answer general informational queries and customer account specific questions requiring authentication, plus accept payments. Ella’s user interface will have a client-brandable look and feel.  

  1. Reseller Client Onboarding and Maintenance available in 2020. 

New bank reseller Client Onboarding and Maintenance capabilities being rolled out in 2020 will enable resellers to onboard new Orbipay EBPP clients, test, and then promote them into production. Resellers will have direct access to user-friendly functionality, including brandable look and feel customer site editing and dual control for promoting changes. Initially, Orbipay EBPP Starter versions will be supported with these new bank reseller capabilities, with Orbipay EBPP Professional and Enterprise version support to follow. 

The Bottom Line: Orbipay EBPP is a robust, flexible, cloud-based solution that is constantly evolving.  A lot of new features and functionality were rolled out in 2019, with more planned for 2020. Stay tuned… 

Alacriti Blog

Adopting a Loan Payments Solution: Lessons Learned from Tech CU (Webinar Recap)

Making payment options easier for members is the goal of every credit union, especially the small, perhaps single-branch operations that might not have the research and development budgets of megabanks to remain at the forefront of the newest technology in the payments space. 

There are fintech vendors that specialize in providing cutting-edge payment technology to credit unions, among them Alacriti with its cloud-based software platform. Orbipay® EBPP is an electronic bill presentment and payment solution that gives credit union members the flexibility and convenience of making payments anywhere, any way and at any time of day or night. Members have the option to pay using their preferred payment method (credit, debit, check, ACH and more), giving them complete control over the payments process. Features such as autopay and a frictionless user interface help improve credit union cash flow and reduce loan delinquency.

San Jose, California-based Technology Credit Union (Tech CU) found Orbipay EBPP to be the perfect loan payments solution. 

WesPay featured Alacriti and Tech CU in their ongoing fintech webinar series held on December 16th. The companies discussed Tech CU’s selection process for their new loan payments solution, as well as the advantages of Orbipay EBPP, steps and time requirements in its implementation, and the results.

Here’s some background on Tech CU and key webinar takeaways. 

Tech CU supports the high-tech industry and its employee base in Silicon Valley, boasting more than $3 billion in assets with more than 120,000 members. True to its mission to deliver education and empower members to succeed financially, it chooses to partner with companies like Alacriti to provide innovative solutions.

Nathan Carman, Tech CU’s Assistant Vice President and Central Operations Manager for Payments, said a key to selecting Orbipay EBPP was that its platform is intuitive. Keeping the payment experience simple and straightforward is what Tech CU strives for. He likes that members are now able to pay their bills up to 6 p.m. on the due date with no fee charged for the service. He’s always on the lookout to partner with a fintech like Alacriti to keep Tech CU on the leading edge and to drive superior user experiences.

Both Carman and Ivy Widman, Senior Business Systems Analyst at Tech CU, lauded Alacriti for being agile, willing to collaborate to customize a solution to their needs, plus offer responsive, knowledgeable and pleasant customer support.

Eric Ngan, Tech CU’s Vice President of Enterprise Applications and Integrations, pointed out that the Orbipay EBPP’s user interface provides a wealth of information about the member and their loan, including minimum payment due, payment due date, late charges, and payoff information. He was impressed that the interface is customizable, allowing features and functions to be easily added, changed or removed, and that Alacriti set up a test environment for Tech CU before it went live with Orbipay EBPP in February 2019.

Once live, Carman said Tech CU was able to process more loan payments digitally and faster while improving delinquency rates. Members were happy – especially those making payments with debit cards, and that the number of checks arriving in envelopes and phone payments diminished significantly enabling existing staff to be redeployed to other business activities. 

The Bottom Line: With Orbipay EBPP, Tech CU has been able to rapidly increase the number of digital payments they process while enhancing the borrower experience, improving cash flow, reducing delinquencies and streamlining operations. They are thrilled Orbipay EBPP supports the credit union’s mission of delivering experiences that wow their technology-based members. 

Alacriti Blog

Six Payments Trends to Watch in 2020

1. Payments Change is in Unbridled Overdrive

From digital disruption and pushing the envelope with rampant innovation to new regulatory compliance requirements and ongoing customer demands, businesses are being squeezed from all sides. Companies accepting and processing payments must anticipate what’s next and act boldly as the market rewards agility and punishes inaction.

2. The Rise of Cloud Computing and Amazon Web Services (AWS) 

Cloud computing using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process payments data, rather than a local server or a personal computer can be a real game-changer. AWS is the most successful cloud infrastructure company on the planet today. Key to AWS and cloud computing success in payments is innovation agility, on-demand scalability, and variable pay-as-you-go cost-effectiveness.  

3. Multichannel and Omnichannel are Evolving into Unified Commerce 

First came multichannel, then omnichannel and now unified commerce. No matter where payments happen (brick-and-mortar, mobile, online or unattended) or payment form used (check, ACH, debit, credit and more), the new business reality is to provide consistent, integrated customer experiences across the board. By aligning products and services, systems and customer interactions, deploying unified commerce provides superior payments experiences that satisfy today’s growing consumer expectations, while enabling companies to leverage data analytics to drive valuable customer behavior insights. 

4. Frictionless, Data-Rich Payment Experiences are Becoming a Consumer Expectation

Consumers want payments experiences that align not just with how they pay, but with moments of influence in their lives that revolve around real needs. They want Uber-like scenarios which make the process of paying almost completely disappear. And, as Accenture notes, Millennials and GenZers are especially interested in digital payments advisory and expense management services that provide better understanding and control of personal spending. Next-level customer experiences infused with rich and meaningful data, like delivering amount due and due date, previous amounts and dates paid, account balances and more while transacting, matter more than ever before. 

5. Real-Time Payments (RTP®) Finally Arrive

The advent of faster payments promises to transform commerce for both consumers and businesses. RTP serves as an alternative to batch or delayed payment options such as checks, credit card, debit card, and ACH transactions, with instant, 24/7 business-to-business (B2B), peer-to-peer (P2P), business-to-consumer (B2C) and consumer-to-business (C2B) transfers. Besides moving money swiftly and expediently, RTP makes ordinary financial tasks such as paying bills, issuing invoices, making payroll or settling claims to be easier, faster, safer and more satisfying. RTP enables businesses to manage cash flow on a second-to-second basis which frees up working capital, plus with access to extensive, tightly integrated data delivery capabilities, back-office processes can be streamlined saving time and money. RTP also helps make life less stressful for consumers on tight budgets.

6. Data Security & Privacy Regulation on the Rise

With the accelerating digital revolution, business use of personal information has exploded. And with the continuous onslaught of major data security breaches, consumers no longer fully trust companies to protect their personal data. Both consumers and governments are demanding greater transparency, accountability, protection, and control. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Europe’s tough new data privacy and security law came online mid-2018. Companies serving consumers in the European Union must now comply or face hefty fines. January 1, 2020 marks a significant milestone in the U.S. data privacy and security landscape. It’s the date in which the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect. All companies serving California residents with at least $25 million in annual revenue must comply with CCPA requirements or face substantial fines. And if that isn’t enough, other states are lining up quickly with their own privacy legislation as so far, the federal government has failed to enact a nationwide data privacy law. 

Alacriti Blog

2019 Year in Review: Faster Payments, Digital Disbursements, and CAU

The billing and payments ecosystem is constantly evolving. Our blog is a place where we provide context about changes in this ecosystem that can impact both our business and our clients. This year, we reported on significant developments in areas including faster payments, digital disbursements, and card account updater. Here’s a look back at three major themes we explored in 2019.

  1. Faster Payments Expand

In August, The Federal Reserve announced that a new real-time payment and settlement service, called the FedNow℠ Service, will be developed by Federal Reserve Banks. Available 24/7, the FedNow Service will support faster payments in the US by facilitating the near-instant transfer of funds. As a result, both individuals and businesses can benefit from faster payouts and quicker settlement of debts, including bill payments. The availability of FedNow as a public utility can help participants better manage their finances and avoid unnecessary fees, charges, and penalties.

In addition to FedNow, two other faster payment rails – The Clearing House’s RTP® network and NACHA’s Same Day ACH – also achieved significant milestones. Click here to learn more about existing faster payments systems in the US and around the world.

  1. Digital Disbursements Emerge

If there’s one lesson that can be learned from the rapid evolution of faster payments, it’s that people want their money as quickly as possible. The world we live in is increasingly on-demand and consumers’ expectations are rising accordingly. Digital disbursements are emerging as a consumer-friendly alternative to paper checks for business that owe money to their customers.

What are digital disbursements? Get a primer by visiting our blog that discusses how digital disbursements leverage existing payment rails to deliver funds to consumers quickly and easily, without paper checks. And don’t forget to explore five different use cases for digital disbursements in industries including healthcare, insurance, and real estate. Finally, our March webinar gave a holistic view of digital disbursements with perspectives from Bank of America and Zelle® on how the technology can be a game-changer for both businesses and consumers.

  1. Card Account Updater for Bill Payments

Card Account Updater (CAU) can be a useful tool for merchants across all industries. While it’s probably best known for extending card-on-file recurring e-commerce charges like monthly subscriptions, it can also be invaluable for billers that provide their customers the option to save card account information for one-time, autopay, or recurring bill payments. CAU can help prevent payments breakage by replacing stale card information with the latest updates. Learn more about the benefits of CAU for billers in our blog, including how it can improve operational efficiency and deliver a better customer experience.

Alacriti Blog

The 6 Critical Components of Effective Healthcare Billing

When a patient receives a bill from their healthcare provider, it can be filled with terminology they might not understand. Co-payments, co-insurance, and deductibles may create more confusion than clarity about what they owe, why they owe it, and when their balance needs to be paid. 

Deductibles, premiums, and out-of-pocket expenses continue to rise, making it critical for patients to understand their financial responsibility and the extent to which their insurance plans may (or may not) contribute. As patients increasingly bear more personal financial responsibility for their healthcare costs, it’s imperative that healthcare providers make their billing process as clear and actionable as possible. 

What are the critical components of effective healthcare billing?

So how can healthcare providers help clarify patient responsibility and improve their chances of collecting balances owed? Here are six critical components for healthcare providers to consider. 

Component #1: Eliminate any confusion that it is, indeed, a bill. 

Insured patients typically receive two communications about the related service – an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from the insurance company and a bill issued by the healthcare provider. The EOB typically includes the date of service, what was performed, who the provider was, the amounts allowed under the insurance plan, adjustments, deductibles, and patient responsibility. Although EOB statements are typically labeled NOT A BILL, sometimes they can be confused for bills. And conversely, provider bills can be confused for statements that don’t require further action. 

Ensure that bills are clearly labeled with Amount Due, Due Date, and direct language like “You Owe” or “Patient Responsibility”. Work with a billing provider that can customize bills in a manner that increases the likelihood of being paid on time and in full. In particular, electronic billing solutions can offer the flexibility to send alerts and e-bills to patients directly, communicating with them in a manner that may increase their likelihood of taking action.    

Component #2: Make sure patients know what the bill is for. 

For repeat patients, there may be confusion about which service or appointment the bill is related to. Clearly indicate the date of service, healthcare provider, and services performed so the patient has visibility into what they’re paying for. 

Component #3: Provide clear line items indicating patient payments already made (co-payments) and the insurance company’s contributions.

Make it clear to patients which credits have already been applied to their bills. This can help them understand what their insurance company has already contributed, make it easier to comprehend their personal liability, and encourage on-time payments. 

Component #4: Present bills in the manner that patients want to receive them. 

For some patients, paper bills might be their preferred method of corresponding with healthcare providers. For others, electronic bills may be more convenient. Paper bills can give patients the option to pay via check, write in their payment card information, or provide access to an online portal that supports one-time guest payments. E-bills can cut down the costs of printing and sending paper bills, eliminate the time lag associated with paper bills, and give patients direct access to an online portal where they can customize and manage their bill payment experience. 

Component #5: Give patients the widest variety of options to pay their bills. 

Just as patients have preferences for paper bills vs electronic bills, they also have preferences for how they want to pay. Some like the convenience of paying on a credit card while others might choose cash, check, or debit card transactions. Providing a billing solution that supports a wide variety of payment methods and payment channels – from walk-ins with cash to credit card transactions via mobile devices – can increase the likelihood of on-time payments.  

Component #6: Provide a helping hand for patients along the way.

No matter how much healthcare providers try to anticipate their patients’ needs, patients will still have questions regarding their billing statements. Providing easy access to helpful support specialists (both online and over the phone) can help patients better understand their bills and encourage them to make timely payments. Introducing a chatbot to your digital experience can be an easy and cost-effective way of answering general billing inquiries from patients. 

The Bottom Line: Healthcare bills can be confusing and patient payments are an important revenue stream for healthcare providers. Help increase the likelihood of on-time payments by offering a bill payment experience that’s clear, easy, and focused on patients.

*This is an update on an original post published February 2018

Alacriti Blog

3 Payments Stories That Caught Our Eye

The payments industry moves at the speed of light. At Alacriti, we keep a close eye on newsmakers that impact the electronic billing and payments ecosystem. Here are three recent headlines that captured our attention.

  1. The holiday season is upon us

The National Retail Federation® released its forecast for the 2019 holiday season. Some key takeaways include:

  • November and December holiday retail sales are expected to rise between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent over last year
  • Holiday retail spending is predicted to total approximately $730 billion
  • Consumers say they will spend an average of $1,047.83 this holiday season, up 4 percent from 2018

Holiday spending can throw a wrench into consumers’ budgets. This might be the perfect time for billers to offer customers the ability to skip a bill payment during the holiday season. How does it work? Learn more here. 

  1. Uber expands into financial services with Uber Money

Uber recently announced a new financial services division called Uber Money. Through its Uber Debit account, drivers and couriers will be able to access their earnings in real-time and without incurring additional fees. They can get paid after each ride rather than having to wait for weekly paychecks or cashing out with Instant Pay. 

Uber Money is also relaunching its Uber Debit Card and Uber Credit Card products, both of which feature new and improved cash back programs. This announcement is one in a series of tech companies making inroads in the financial services sector (other examples include Apple Card and Amazon Lending). However, the future of big tech in financial services may be in jeopardy. Stay tuned for updates on this blog. 

  1. Apple Pay claims the top spot in mobile payments platform users

The Starbucks app has long been able to claim the most users of any mobile payments platform. Not anymore. In October, eMarketer released new numbers showing that Apple Pay finally claimed the top spot in 2018 with 27.7 million users. This growth is expected to continue into 2019, with an estimated 30.3 million users followed by Starbucks at 25.2 million.

same day ach
Alacriti Blog

The Road to Same Day ACH

Money movement in the United States is powered by payment rails, and one of the core networks is the Automated Clearing House (ACH). From settling bills with service providers to direct deposit of paychecks, ACH payments streamline credits and debits in often unseen ways. In 2018, more than 23 billion payments were made via ACH, accounting for $51 trillion in value. ACH payments can provide convenience and peace of mind to consumers while automating business processes and reducing the costs of payments acceptance.

The Move to Same Day ACH

In 2015, the Electronic Payments Association® announced Same Day ACH, an amendment to the National Automated Clearing House Association’s (NACHA) Operating Rules, designed to move payments faster. Historically, most ACH payments were settled within one to two business days. Same Day ACH was introduced to enable the same-day movement of money for almost any ACH transaction.

Who Benefits from Same Day ACH?

Same Day ACH is designed to make payments faster, more efficient, less risky, and more cost-effective. In addition, NACHA identified specific use cases for Same Day ACH including the following:

  • Same-day payrolls – to pay hourly workers, make late or emergency payrolls, and allow employees faster access to their pay
  • Faster bill payments – to let customers make on-time payments the day their bills are due, helping to avoid late fees and penalties
  • Business-to-business payments – to facilitate the settlement of invoice payments made between trading partners
  • Disbursements – to make payouts (such as insurance claims) on the same day, eliminating the time lag associated with paper checks

Same Day ACH Implementation: Initial Three-Phase Approach

Same Day ACH was initially implemented in three phases, with the third and final phase executed on Friday, March 16, 2018. Here is a synopsis of the three original implementation phases.

Phase 1: Effective September 23, 2016

Phase 1 of Same Day ACH applied to credits only (up to $25,000). The introduction of Phase 1 created two file submission windows at 10:30 am ET and 2:45 pm ET, with settlement times of 1:00 pm ET and 5:00 pm ET, respectively. Funds were made available to the receiver at the end of the business day when the file was submitted.

Phase 2: Effective September 15, 2017

Phase 2 allowed the same day settlement of debits in addition to credits. The file submission windows and settlement times reflected what was introduced in Phase 1.

Phase 3: Effective March 16, 2018

Phase 3 accelerated the availability of funds to the receiver. Phases 1 and 2 required that funds be available at the end of the day when the file was submitted. Phase 3 required that funds be available to the receiver by 5:00 pm (local time) on the day that the file was submitted.

Expansion of Same Day ACH

After completing its third implementation phase in 2018, NACHA voted to expand Same Day ACH’s capabilities even further by announcing three key changes. The first change (effective September 20, 2019) made funds available more quickly for certain Same Day and next day ACH credits, expediting deposits and disbursements for businesses and consumers.

The second change (effective March 20, 2020) will increase the maximum dollar limit for Same Day ACH transactions to $100,000. The final change (effective March 19, 2021) will expand the time window for submission of Same Day ACH transactions to the ACH network by adding an additional two hours to the existing timeframe.

The Bottom Line: Same Day ACH is just one part of a broader movement toward faster, more efficient transactions. Read our take on faster payments here.

*This is an update on an original post published February 2018

Alacriti Blog

What We Learned at AFP 2019

At AFP 2019, held October 20-23 in Boston, we had the opportunity to connect with attendees in the exhibit hall and attend sessions dedicated to the latest developments in payments. Here’s a quick recap of lessons learned at the event.

  1. It’s more important than ever to embrace payments innovation.

Payments are changing at the speed of light. The majority of sessions discussed new and evolving innovation in payments and how this innovation can positively impact organizations across all industries.

Embracing payments innovation begins with fully understanding the payments needs, preferences, and requirements of an organization’s constituents. Once this profile is developed, it becomes clear where innovation can be applied to support these constituents in their payments journey. Solutions like FedNowSM, RTP®, and Zelle® were discussed across multiple sessions to illustrate how organizations currently use these solutions or plan to use them in the future.

A key takeaway is not to delay adopting these solutions in hopes of better technology in the future. The future is now, and consumer expectations are only continuing to rise. It’s imperative that organizations position themselves to meet these expectations by adopting new payments technology or working with a partner who can help them adapt quickly.

  1. Paper checks are remarkably persistent.

A decade or two ago, it would have been easy to predict that paper checks would be a thing of the past by 2019. Although check payments continue to decrease, the rate of that decline has been decelerating as it becomes more difficult for organizations to eliminate ingrained paper processes. However, several of the sessions were dedicated to organizations that are thinking outside of the box to replace legacy processes built around paper checks.

  1. Organizations are rethinking how they issue refunds.

Paper check-based refunds can be expensive, difficult to manage, and open organizations to the risk of fraud. And when unclaimed or undeposited refunds go into the escheatment process, the headaches only worsen.

One session discussed how a hospital changed this dynamic by switching their refund issuance from paper checks to debit cards. Doing so helped eliminate barriers for patients not familiar with paper checks or those who don’t have a relationship with a bank. Moving refunds to debit cards allows patients to spend their money with the merchants of their choosing, withdraw cash at ATMs, or request paper checks instead.

In addition to creating a more seamless experience for patients, the hospital benefits as well. The shift to debit cards has resulted in less manual intervention, lower costs, and more efficient accounts payable and treasury processes.

Alacriti Blog

What’s Driving Consumer Adoption of Digital Payments?

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Physical currency is as old as history itself, but modern technology is shifting every aspect of commerce including the use of traditional payment methods like cash.

Cash still has its place in the economy and it’s unlikely that paper money will disappear anytime soon. But it’s also worth noting that paying with cash involves a certain level of imperfect calculation. Consumers don’t always have the exact amount of money required to complete a transaction. In fact, they typically overestimate how much they need to avoid falling short. The leftover money often goes unaccounted for, ending up at the bottoms of purses or beneath couch cushions.

Alternatively, digital payments allow consumers to “keep the change” every time. Precise transactions in lieu of rounded cash payments can create savings faster than one might think. Digital payment options like in-app purchases, digital wallets, and P2P payment solutions can facilitate accurate budgeting and reduce wasted money. In addition to pure savings, consumers can also take advantage of associated perks like personalized discounts and linked rewards programs.

But what about security?

Some consumers still perceive digital payments as less secure than cash. The biggest safety risk with cash is that it can’t be replaced if lost or stolen. However, cash also provides anonymity in payment transactions whereas there is always a data trail associated with digital payments.

While it’s too soon to determine definitively whether digital payments are safer than paper-based payments, there are safety features built into digital payment transactions that aren’t possible with cash or paper checks. Techniques like multi-factor authentication, biometric scanning of fingerprints or faces, and encryption can provide extra layers of security in digital payment transactions.

More speed, more convenience

Technology is fueling faster everything, and consumers need products and services that can keep up with their busy lives. Perhaps the biggest drawback of traditional payment methods is their incompatibility with the expanding digital universe. As technology becomes more embedded into everyday life, traditional payment methods like cash may feel increasingly cumbersome to consumers.

The internet of things (IoT) is poised to speed the pace of change even further with device-driven payments powered by intelligent personal assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, for example. Wearable payments via devices like smart watches and fitness trackers are likely to have an impact as well. Payment methods that slow consumers down may create additional friction and frustration as the world continues to modernize.

Are physical wallets becoming a thing of the past?

Despite the proliferation of digital payments, consumers often find themselves in need of a physical wallet to carry essential items such as a driver’s license. Also, there remains a need to carry backup payment methods in case a merchant doesn’t accept digital payments or is having issues with their point of sale technology. Until everything from receipts to personal identification documents can be stored and accessed digitally, it’s likely that physical wallets will continue to occupy space with their owners.

The Bottom Line: Cash isn’t going anywhere, but the continued proliferation of digital payment products and services suggests that consumers are interested in alternatives to traditional payment methods. For businesses that want to keep up with rising consumer expectations, it’s imperative to accept a variety of digital payment options in addition to traditional payment methods to deliver a comprehensive customer experience.

*This is an update on an original post published May 2016

Alacriti Blog

How to Streamline Auto Finance Payments in 4 Easy Steps

Rideshare apps, booming urban populations, and investments in public transportation have all helped lessen people’s dependence on owning personal automobiles. Despite these forces, car ownership is back on the rise after the setbacks it experienced during the Great Recession of 2008. As car ownership continues its rebound, so do the auto finance loans used to make these purchases. As of March 2019, outstanding car loans in the US reached a new record total of $1.16 trillion, with 27 million new auto loans originated in 2018. 

With the upswing in car ownership and auto loans also comes a surge in payment delinquency. Late payments and loan defaults can lead to costly auto repossessions that disrupt auto lenders and car owners alike. The delinquency rate on auto loans has been rising steadily for several years. And at the end of 2018, it was estimated that 7 million Americans were 90+ days delinquent on their car loans.

The ripple effect of auto loan delinquencies

On-time auto loan payments are crucial not only for an individual’s financial well-being but also for the economy as a whole. Having dependable access to personal transportation means that citizens can get to and from work, shop at local businesses, and take road trips with friends and family. For people that rely on personal automobiles for these activities, being late or delinquent on car loan payments can have disruptive effects on their lives and financial health.

Making auto loan payments simple

For many people, on-time car payments are as crucial to their overall well-being as paying their mortgage, utility, and grocery bills. And as such, people are looking for simple, safe payment solutions that can help ensure they never miss a payment. The right electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) solution can provide flexible, customizable options for your auto finance customers. Here are some key features and functionality to look for in an EBPP solution for auto finance payments.

  1. Offer auto loan customers the most ways to pay – whether in person, online, over the phone, or through chatbot technology.

Servicing auto loans means serving a diverse group of customers. Auto finance companies are tasked with accepting payments through a variety of different channels to support the individual needs of their customers.

For example, some customers might want to make walk-in payments at physical locations. This can be especially helpful for customers who don’t have traditional banking relationships or access to checking accounts. Others might like the convenience of calling an IVR system, so they can make payments right up until their due date.

Increasingly, customers are looking for digital channels to make their payments. This might mean logging in to a client portal on a desktop computer or making a one-time payment via a mobile device. Some EBPP solutions can even facilitate payments by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and chatbot technology in messaging apps like Facebook Messenger and smart home speakers like Amazon Alexa. Make sure to adopt an EBPP solution that can serve the needs of today and adapt easily to the payment trends of the future.

  1. Let your customers know when their auto loan payments are due. And allow them to sign up for reminders so they don’t forget.

Just as customers have different preferences for how they choose to pay, they also have different preferences for how they want to be alerted when a payment is due. Some might like receiving a physical bill in the mail while others might prefer the convenience of an eco-friendly e-bill. Make sure your EBPP solution can empower customers to choose the billing method of their choice.

Of course, sending bills either in the mail or electronically doesn’t mean that customers are going to pay right away. This is where providing the option of signing up for billing reminders can create extra peace of mind. Email or text notifications can be an effective way to prompt your customers to take action and avoid the penalties associated with late payments.

  1. Provide billing options like AutoPay that streamline payments for your auto loan customers.

Car loan payments are simply too important to miss. Be sure to provide an EBPP solution that gives your auto finance customers the ability to make automatic payments. This allows them the freedom of knowing that they won’t miss a payment and suffer the consequences of a delinquent account. Recurring payments can also be a valuable option for customers that want to align their car payments with their paycheck cycles.

  1. Give customers the flexibility to skip an auto loan payment if they need to.

Providing a skip-a-payment option might be a unique selling point for your auto loans. For a fee, customers can have the option to skip-a-payment and make it later, which may come in handy during times of unexpected financial hardship.

The Bottom Line: Access to automobiles is critical not only for individuals but also for the economy as a whole. Providing your auto loan customers with a full service EBPP solution can help streamline the billing process and empower them with the tools they need to never miss a payment.

Alacriti Blog

A Better Member Journey Is Just a Chat(bot) Away (Webinar Recap)

Chatbots are a hot topic for organizations across all industries, including credit unions. They can enrich member experiences, provide 24×7 support, connect with members on their preferred digital platforms, and streamline internal operations.

On September 25, Alacriti co-hosted a webinar with NACUSO to discuss the ins and outs of chatbots for credit unions. If you’re curious about the basics of chatbots and how they can benefit your members, here are key takeaways from the webinar. 

  1. Chatbots can automate common member inquiries without human intervention.

Where is the closest ATM or branch location? What is my account balance? Can I order more personal checks?

These are just some of the routine questions that members might pick up the phone and call credit unions to have answered. These calls cost time and money, and can easily be resolved with the help of chatbots. Credit unions can enlist chatbots as primary responders for these types of straightforward inquiries to help speed up response times and reduce call volume for member service representatives.

  1. But chatbots can also transfer complex inquiries to human counterparts when the time is right.

Chatbots can’t exist in a vacuum – they must be able to call on their human counterparts to assist with more complicated inquiries. Credit unions can develop strategies to gracefully hand off member service requests from chatbots to humans when the technology is unable to resolve an inquiry. One way of doing this is to limit the number of attempts a chatbot has to handle the question before transferring it to a member service representative. This is typically controlled via a setting in the chatbot itself or the channel where the chatbot is being accessed.

  1. Chatbot data can help credit unions deliver more personalized member experiences.

 A benefit of chatbot conversations is that they are all logged digitally, meaning they can be analyzed for patterns. For example, if a member tends to request their account balance two days before their bill is due, a credit union can use this information to deliver the balance information proactively. Chatbot data gives credit unions sharper insight into their members’ behavior and the ability to deliver more personalized experiences.

Click here to access the webinar recording.

Alacriti Blog

P&C Insurance: Consumer Bill Payment Preferences & What’s Ahead (Webinar Recap)

Looking back at the P&C Insurance sector in 2018, all signs point to it being a year of strong growth. A report published by Deloitte shares that overall economic growth and rising interest rates were just two of the prevailing market conditions that bolstered P&C Insurance carriers throughout the year. In addition, US premiums were written at an unprecedented rate and the insurable bases for both personal and commercial accounts expanded.

What we here at Alacriti find interesting and exciting in this growth is the impact that it had on bill payments. A strong and growing sector meant that more policyholders were making bill payments. And how policyholders chose to make their payments, from the funding sources they selected to the payment channels they used most often, are of particular interest to us.

On June 25, we hosted a webinar, “P&C Insurance: Consumer Bill Payment Preferences & What’s Ahead”, that featured speakers from Aite Group and Alacriti. In it, we reviewed historic bill payment preferences for P&C Insurance published by Aite Group in 2017 and shared our findings from 2018. In addition, our speakers looked ahead to future trends impacting the P&C Insurance sector including cloud computing, blockchain, and digital disbursements.

Here are some key takeaways from the webinar:

  • In 2018, web-based payment channels handled more than three-quarters of all P&C Insurance payments value on Orbipay EBPP.
  • Debit cards were used most frequently by P&C Insurance policyholders, but ACH accounted for highest percentage value of transactions.
  • An opportunity remains for P&C Insurance companies to encourage policyholders toward less expensive funding methods to help reduce their overall cost of accepting bill payments.
  • There was a significant preference for One Time payments and therefore an opportunity to encourage more policyholders toward AutoPay.
  • Moving to cloud computing can create dynamic scale for P&C Insurance carriers to seamlessly accommodate surge periods of premium payments (beginning and end of the month, for example).
  • Blockchain can be a powerful tool to combine insurance data from various sources and distribute it securely to stakeholders.
  • In addition, blockchain can address some of the highly manual processes associated with P&C Insurance and allow new types of highly targeted insurance (flight delay insurance, for example) to be developed.
  • Digital disbursements can help P&C Insurance carriers deliver a more modern claims payout experience to their policyholders than traditional paper checks.

Watch the recording to learn more.

Alacriti Blog

5 Takeaways from NACHA PAYMENTS 2019

Alacriti was honored to attend and speak at NACHA’s PAYMENTS 2019 annual conference. The event, hosted May 5-8 in Orlando, featured thought-provoking speakers and topics reflecting the latest trends in payments. Here are five takeaways we learned at the show.

  1. Artificial intelligence (AI) has powerful applications in payments.

There are many applications of AI in payments that can increase security and streamline operations throughout the industry. They include risk management, cash flow forecasting, digital assistant chatbots, fraud prevention, and AML screening, just to name a few. Most importantly, AI enhances their human counterparts rather than replacing them. The technology empowers staff to approach their jobs more quickly, accurately, and efficiently than possible without the help of AI.

  1. Chatbots provide unprecedented opportunities for businesses…and some threats.

Our head of product, Stuart Bain, co-presented with Jeff Pauly from Bank of America in a session titled, “What’s Next for Chatbots?” The speakers defined chatbots, presented current use cases, and speculated on what the future might hold. There are opportunities for chatbots to detect emotion using advanced natural language processing (NLP), leverage predictive behavior analysis, and mine data to streamline operations. But these opportunities come with threats like harvesting consumer data, injecting malicious code or commands, and/or chatbot impersonation. Businesses using chatbot technology will need to identify and thwart these security threats to keep their chatbot environments safe and secure.

  1. Facial recognition is gaining momentum as a payment channel.

Faces are the new fingerprints. Alipay’s “Smile-to-Pay” system continues to expand in China and NAB ATMs in Australia are leveraging the technology to authenticate users making withdrawals. This biometric data adds another layer of security in the fight against fraud.

  1. Paper check usage is going up for small businesses.

It might sound counterintuitive, but paper check usage is going up for small businesses. The slower process of writing, sending, and waiting for paper checks to clear can create a financial advantage for small businesses. During this time, they can slow down the payables process and retain those funds for a few extra days to reap the benefits of their higher balances.

  1. Payments fraud continues to rise.

A session dedicated to the 2019 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey shared some alarming statistics related to payments fraud. A record-high 82% of organizations reported being subject to actual or attempted fraud in 2018. While almost 70% of fraud was discovered within two weeks, a delay of even one day can have significant negative consequences for an organization.

Alacriti Blog

4 Takeaways from CS Week 2019

At CS Week 2019, we connected with a diverse group of utility companies all interested in delivering the best electronic billing and payments experience possible. In addition to the insightful conversations at our booth, we also attended sessions dedicated to the latest customer service trends in the utilities space. Here are four key themes we heard throughout the show.

  1. Emerging bill payment channels are front-of-mind.

Several sessions discussed emerging bill payment channels like smart speakers (Amazon Alexa, Google Home, etc.), Facebook Messenger, and text messaging. As customer demographics shift to include more Millennials and members of Generation Z, utility companies are acutely aware of the need to facilitate billing and payments in the channels their customers use most. They are actively seeking solutions that facilitate a payment experience commensurate with what their customers receive from other service providers and retailers.

  1. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are transformational forces in the utilities space.

AI and ML have many powerful applications for utilities. A recurring theme was leveraging the technology to predict whether customers would pay their bills on time or miss their due dates. These predictions can help customer support teams devise proactive approaches to help prevent missed payments.

Another application is the ability to analyze usage patterns. In doing so, utilities can identify ways for customers to adjust their consumption habits and save money on their utility costs. Finally, AI and ML can help identify utility theft, giving utilities the potential to save on costly operational expenses incurred for lost services.

  1. Bill payments are still frequently called in over the phone.

In several of the sessions, utilities spoke of the continued reliance on phone-based payments. In fact, one presenter conveyed that 45% of their utility’s card payments were called in over the phone. While phone interactions are an important part of the customer experience, they also present an opportunity to move customers toward digital channels to deliver on-demand payment experiences that can save utilities time and money.

  1. Customer self-service is more important than ever.

One speaker put it simply – most customers don’t want to interact with their utility providers. Another cited that the average customer only thinks about their utility 11 minutes per year. While many customers may be averse to direct communication with their utility, they may also be missing out on important account information and ways to save on their utility bills.

Utilities are tackling this problem by incorporating self-service chatbot technology into their websites to help answer common billing and payments inquiries, report outages, and more. One utility is also delivering videos that are personalized for each customer and include high-level account/billing information, usage patterns, and ways to save on their utility usage. These videos help answer questions proactively while also delivering a highly customized experience built with each customer in mind.

Alacriti Blog

The Building Blocks of Production Support: ITIL and COBIT

As an electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) solution provider, Production Support is one of the most critical services that we offer to our clients. This allows them to focus on the results of their electronic bill payments program rather than the people, technology, and processes that help keep it running. In doing so, we can deliver the most seamless experience to our community.

Our Production Support capability is guided by two core approaches that help set appropriate expectations with our clients while allowing us to deliver the best service possible. They include the Information Technology Infrastructure Library and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies. Here’s an overview of these two approaches, and their related disciplines, that form our foundation of Production Support.

ITIL – Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL)

The ITIL is a library that provides a framework of best practices for delivering information technology (IT) services. The ITIL Service Lifecycle has five phases including Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operation, and Continual Service Improvement. Here’s a brief overview of each phase of the lifecycle:

  • Service Strategy – provides guidance on how to design, develop, and implement IT Service Management
  • Service Design – provides guidance on how to design/develop services and IT Service Management processes that support existing strategies
  • Service Transition – teaches IT professionals and their colleagues to manage changes efficiently with limited disruption
  • Service Operation – offers guidance on practical aspects of daily business operations; helps ensure smooth delivery of services to customers with minimal interruptions
  • Continual Service Improvement – helps professionals identify areas for improvement

While an individual can receive ITIL certifications, it’s important to note that organizations cannot. Rather, individuals that achieve ITIL certifications can help implement these practices within their organizations.

Related: Information Technology Service Management (ITSM)

ITSM is a holistic approach that shapes how organizations manage IT services for their customers. It ensures that processes, people, and technology are properly aligned to help a business meet its goals while constantly evolving to meet changing needs. Software solutions that support ITSM are typically designed to align with ITIL best practice recommendations.

Related: ISO 20000

Published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electoral Commission (IEC), ISO 20000 is a global set of service delivery standards that outlines requirements for an ITSM system. Businesses can gain certification by proving that they’re following best practices. This is different from ITIL, which provides certification for individuals rather than businesses.

While ISO 20000 and ITIL complement one another, they also have some key differentiators. The major difference is that there are “must do” guidelines applicable to ISO 20000 that work with ITIL’s best practice framework.

Related: Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI and CMMI-SVC)

CMMI is a framework for software industries that includes regular evaluation by the CMMI Institute. Companies are rated on their maturity level, with the goal of achieving a high level (Level 5 is the top). CMMI can be used to guide process improvement for a specific project, division, or organization.

CMMI defines the following maturity levels:

  1. Initial – unpredictable, reactive processes that are poorly controlled
  2. Managed – processes (often reactive) that are characterized for projects
  3. Defined – proactive processes characterized for the organization; projects tailor their processes from an organization’s standards
  4. Quantitatively Managed – measured and controlled processes
  5. Optimizing – process improvement

For service providers, a variation called the CMMI-SVC model is used to apply CMMI best practices. These best practices are designed to help deliver quality services both to customers and end users.

Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies (COBIT)

COBIT is a framework created by ISACA for IT management and IT governance. COBIT provides, “an implementable set of controls over information technology and organizes them around a logical framework of IT-related processes and enablers.”

COBIT components include:

  • Framework – organizes IT governance objectives and good practices by IT domains and processes; links them to business requirements
  • Process Descriptions – provides a common language for the organization
  • Control Objectives – creates a complete set of high-level requirements for management
  • Management Guidelines – helps assign responsibility, agree on objectives, measure performance, and illustrate interrelationships with other processes
  • Maturity Models – assesses maturity/capability per process; aids in addressing gaps

In my next blog, I’ll take a closer look at the five phases of the ITIL Service Lifecycle.

Alacriti Blog

Consumer Bill Payment Trends in 2018: 5 Takeaways

Consumers have many choices when it comes to paying their bills. Do they want to pay directly from a bank account, use a Debit Card, or pay their balance on a Credit Card? Do they want to be alerted when a new bill is due and make a One Time payment, or do they prefer the convenience and ease of AutoPay? Are they most likely to login to a user account, contact an Agent, or use a simplified online experience to pay a bill? And what is the most popular time for them to initiate their bill payment transactions?

Alacriti has a unique view into consumers’ bill payment habits thanks to our electronic bill presentment and payment (EBPP) solution, Orbipay® EBPP. The transactions that flow through Orbipay EBPP give us exclusive insight into the bill payment habits of our clients’ customers. At the conclusion of 2018, we performed an extensive analysis of our transaction data to gain a better understanding of our users’ bill payment preferences. Here are five takeaways from our research that can help provide a better understanding of today’s bill payers.

Please Note: Our analysis of consumer bill payments excludes transactions of $5,000.00 and above.

Takeaway 1: Billers were most likely to offer ACH as a Payment Method

Among ACH, Debit Cards, and Credit Cards, ACH is the payment method that’s most likely to be offered by billers, with 93% of our clients doing so. Debit Cards are the next most commonly offered Payment Method at 61%, followed by Credit Cards at 57%.

Takeaway 2: When ACH wasn’t offered, Debit Cards were chosen by bill payers more often than Credit Cards

For billers that didn’t offer ACH as a Payment Method, Debit Cards were the preferred way to fund bill payments with 71% of users choosing them. Credit Cards were selected for 29% of transactions in this scenario.

Takeaway 3: Debit Cards were the Payment Method of choice for Payment Plans

Orbipay EBPP allows billers to offer a Payment Plan option to their customers, in which the biller establishes the amount and frequency with which users can pay an outstanding balance over a specific time period. Users on Payment Plans gravitated toward Debit Cards as their Payment Method of choice, with 59% of users doing so. ACH funded 27% of these transactions in 2018, and Credit Cards funded 14%.

Takeaway 4: The majority of Utilities payments were made automatically

Almost two-thirds (65%) of users chose to make their Utilities payments via AutoPay.

Takeaway 5: Users preferred to make their payments at the beginning or the end of the work week

Mondays and Fridays led the pack for the most popular days to pay bills, but what about the other five days of the week? Download our white paper to learn more.

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Alacriti Blog

Webinar Recap: Why businesses need to embrace Digital Disbursements. Now.

On March 5, Alacriti hosted a webinar, “Why businesses need to embrace Digital Disbursements. Now.” The presentation featured speakers from Bank of America, Early Warning Services (Zelle®), and Alacriti.

The webinar discussed reasons why businesses that issue paper checks for customer payouts should consider adopting a solution that digitizes those transactions. With so much innovation in the payments space – from digital wallets to in-app purchases – B2C payouts remain largely tied to paper checks. Why is that the case?

The reality is that there are genuine obstacles that businesses might face when it comes to digitizing the payout process. First is that many businesses have legacy financial and accounting systems that are deeply tied to paper check issuance. If an organization’s payout operations are completely constructed around paper checks, it might require a significant amount of time, labor, and money to change those legacy systems. Some business may simply not see the value in making these investments in digital payouts and upending the tried and true processes they’ve come to rely on.

Another reason might be customer readiness. While some customers don’t think twice about receiving a paper check in the mail, Digital Natives are used to doing everything on their mobile devices, including financial transactions. The thought of having a financial transaction that isn’t fully digitized, like receiving a paper check, is only going to become more foreign of an idea as the population of Digital Natives continues to expand.

Finally, there’s the added element of security concerns. Accepting customer payments comes with a host of security and compliance considerations for handling sensitive customer payment information, the most notable being PCI DSS compliance. Some businesses might resist the idea of collecting, maintaining, and securing customer payout information on top of what they’re already doing for payments. This can add a new dynamic to security and compliance considerations that businesses might simply not want to deal with. But solutions like Zelle can help overcome some of these concerns.

Despite these obstacles, there are significant benefits that can be created for businesses that choose to make the transition to Digital Disbursements, the most important being the ability to meet rising customer expectations. As the generations continue to shift, there is going to be less of an appetite for manual, traditional payouts like paper checks. Businesses need to start thinking now about how to position themselves for the future and meet the changing needs and expectations of their customers for payouts. Because it’s likely going to be a key differentiator going forward.

Listen to the full recording to learn:

  • The size of the disbursements market
  • The types of payouts that consumers receive most often
  • A typical Digital Disbursements workflow
  • Alternatives to paper checks such as ACH, push-to-debit card, and Zelle
  • Benefits and use cases of Digital Disbursements

Access Recording

Alacriti Blog

3 Takeaways from HIMSS19

Alacriti was privileged to attend the HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition hosted February 11-15, 2019 in Orlando, FL. In addition to our insightful conversations with attendees and exhibitors, we also sat in on educational sessions to gain a deeper understanding of the latest topics in health information and technology. Here are three takeaways.

1. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) aren’t new concepts in healthcare, but their time has finally arrived.

AI and ML are no longer hypothetical ideas in healthcare. Rather, they are actively being applied to create valuable benefits for both healthcare providers and their patients. In the session, “Using Machine Learning to Drive Innovation-Driven Healthcare”, the panelists shared real-life applications of how AI and ML are coming to life. One example is finding the right clinical trials for the right patients at the right time. AI and ML allow providers to scan approximately 11,000 documents per hour to find the right match, potentially expediting access to effective treatments and even cures. In addition, AI and ML can help structure text in medical records, make billing/reimbursement more efficient, and reduce administrative waste.

2. Voice assistants have the potential to completely transform interactions between healthcare providers and electronic health record (EHR) systems.

EHR systems offer many perks to healthcare providers but navigating the trove of information they contain can be cumbersome. Macros were developed to help providers locate specific data quickly, but they require pre-scripted, exact phrases to work. Voice assistants are emerging as a tool that can help streamline these interactions and locate information quickly using natural language processing (NLP).

A team from Vanderbilt University Medical Center shared their experiences developing a voice assistant for EHR in their session, “Transforming EHR Interactions Using Voice Assistants.” They explored the benefits of using natural voice commands to quickly retrieve pertinent information from patients’ records. They also discussed some of the challenges they encountered in developing their voice assistant including context, intent, latency, and the right balance between brevity and clarity. While some providers might balk at the amount of work required on the back end to make them work, voice assistants can make the valuable information contained in EHR more accessible than ever.

3. PCI DSS compliance isn’t just the IT department’s responsibility.

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance is a complex, multi-faceted endeavor for organizations of all sizes. However, that complexity only grows as organizations get bigger. In the session, “Streamline PCI Compliance in a Diverse Hospital Environment”, the speakers took a deeper dive into approaching PCI DSS compliance in a large hospital environment.

A key topic of discussion was the question of who owns responsibility for PCI DSS compliance in a large organization. While the task tends to get assigned to the IT department, the Treasury department should have a stake in the process too. The ideal approach is for IT and Treasury to partner together and consult with merchant processors and acquiring banks for additional guidance.

Hospitals are a prime example of many small merchants making up a larger organization. For example, one of the panelists cited that, in his experience, approximately 80% of all payment transactions in a hospital are generated from the cafeteria. Hospital parking and gift shops are other key drivers of payment transactions. Interviewing people throughout the organization to learn how they accept payments and identifying any non-compliant workarounds are keys to improving security and compliance throughout the entire organization.