western union digital transformation

And the new business model may require a very different RPP (traditional money transfer process vs. transfer via blockchain). Network (IIN), Diversity Equity Start Time: 16:30 January 1, 0000 5:32 PM ETThe Western Union Company (NYSE:NYSE:WU)Q3 2022 Earnings Conference CallNovember 01, 2022, 16:30 PM ETCompany ParticipantsDevin McGranahan -. Think of Western Union, and its yellow placard advertising an agent location comes to mind. Deep divides in digital connectivity, internet use, and access remain. & Publishing, Logistics A doctor in London taps an app on her phone to transfer 500 pounds. We see ourselves as becoming a FinTech that can move quickly while being sure that our infrastructure and processes allow us to work at scale. Salesforce has been such an important part of the digital experience journey.. Wingspan, Infosys Services, Data Cortex, Infosys Consumers can 'Send Now, Pay Later' by borrowing up to AUD 2000 through Beforepay's wage-advance product on Western Union's digital channels. The center of excellence keeps things on track and makes sure we follow a framework and are tracking the results, so that we can measure the impact of the transformation across the whole organization. One of its most high-profile hires was Harveer Singh, who was appointed as Chief Data Architect & Global Head of Engineering and previously co-led EYs Next Generation architecture & solutions for Financial Services. Western Union. Faced with numerous applications to deliver, the need to rapidly iterate customer experiences, and the steep learning curve for new Cloud DevOps toolchains, Western Union decided to evaluate low-code platforms. The service, which is set to launch in Madagascar, will see funds from around the world move through payment rails operated by MFS Africa, the continent's largest payment gateway.. MFS Africa's digital payments network connects more than 400 million mobile money wallets, more than 200 million bank accounts across Africa, and more than 200,000 agents in Nigeria, to enable cross-platform and . "As a digital enabler and a pioneer in the digital transformation, we aspire to play a vital role in the vision of the Saudi . Please enable Javascript to see this feature. Customers can send and receive money in a fast, reliable and convenient manner., We are proud to offer the same omnichannel choice in Austria. Its an ecosystem of complementary platforms that enable a seamless, single customer experience I think thats such a powerful proposition.. How did you navigate those early moments? Reliable for over 170 years. . We are also launching new products into the market, including a pilot for digital banking services in select markets in Europe and a revamped loyalty programme, which require us to capture data from our central warehouses to drive decision making, marketing and customer acquisition. Cloud services such as cloud data platforms have become cost-efficient, high performance calling cards for any business that leverages big data. Others see blockchain as an opportunity to help emerging governments become efficient and transparent, for example, by serving as the official land title registration. Using OutSystems for customer-facing digital experiences, back office, and workflow solutions, Western Union launched new digital banking services in two countries in just 11 months. Singh describes the team he assembled as being super-powerful, and says he often refers to it as his three-in-box strategy, owing to the various areas for which he recruited. Three things were front-of-mind as we evaluated OutSystems, explains Tom Mazzaferro, Chief Data and Innovation Officer at Western Union. Industry experts were also drafted in to create the army that was required for this technology mission. The pandemic really accelerated the digital transformation journey; the plan was for it to be rolled out in three years but that timeframe became 18 months. Procurement & Construction, Financial As the transformation gets embedded into the organization, the businesses start to run their own agile deployments. Experts at TCS and Western Union share the trends that are affecting digital transformation in financial services. Created: 05-05-2021 - 17:15. Security, Infosys [2] Westar 1, Wikipedia, accessed April 2018. Imagine what we can do if you let us work with your team as well.. In order to fund the investments, we decided that it was really important to do a transformation exercise, look for ways to gain efficiencies and effectiveness across our processes and procedures, and then use those efficiencies to fund the growth investments. McKinsey's Kausik Rajgopal and Lang Davison recently sat down with Western Union's CEO to talk about its multicultural customer base (and . In 2016, Western Union completed 268 million consumer-to-consumer transactions and 523 million business payments world-wide, moving more than $150 billion of principal for consumers and businesses. Board of Directors. These are seismic factors currently redefining our world, earning their own epochal moniker: The Fourth Industrial Revolution. This seems to be a typical BSSE case in which it is hard for the incumbent to disrupt its business, since the innovation may threaten the current profitable business. Specifically,. For more than 170 years Western Union has been helping people send money all over the world. Unless they can feasibly use technology to improve their cost structure, Im super bearish on Western Union. We serve all customer segments: from digital natives who are never without their smartphones to the 4 billion people on earth the World Bank estimates arent online yet., Western Union is strongly committed to migrants and to refugees: migration is at the heart of our business. As an iconic brand for over 150 years, Western Union is constantly striving to innovate for their customers. In 2017, Western Union invested $200 million and 20% of its workforce on compliance functions. Product Director, United States Money Transfer. [7]While cryptocurrencies are an obvious threat to Western Unions cross-border money transfers, Blockchain also can be used in a range of imaginative ways. They tend to be younger, they live online and they prefer to do everything there, at the touch of a button, Fellahi observes. Western Union (WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. The Western Union Foundation is a separate charitable corporation that is tax-exempt under 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, contributions to which are tax-deductible for US income tax purposes. Sources for images:Western Union vs. Bitcoin, Bitland,MyWU,Ripple Union. Engaged in problem resolution of complex . Singh also sees huge potential in the use of blockchain for specific use cases within financial services and payments, for example, helping with the Know Your Customer (KYC) process that is important to stopping money laundering and fraud and eliminating many of the checks that currently hold up cross-border payments. Second, Western Unions employees may not have the knowledge or training to effectively lead Western Unions digital transformation, and may resist digital initiatives or operational changes. <br><br>My Leadership Philosophy<br><br>I am an . [5]. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Low-Code Application Platforms, 2023. COVID-19 has brought countless challenges, but its also caused us to focus all of our efforts around customers and reground ourselves in our mission. Talends technology was used to bring various sources of data from different locations into a single place in rapid fashion, helping make decisions such as waiving fees for those sending funds to people caught up in the explosion. Services, High Western Union has had a compound annual growth rate above 25 percent over the past five years, since the launch of the digital division. After the catastrophic explosion in Lebanon in 2020, the two companies worked together to build data pipelines to help those affected by the incident and provide support to agents in the area. My role was to bring all of these different teams together and instil a culture that recognised it wasnt just about how fast we were going, but also about the quality of the product were delivering.. Meridian, Infosys WU's platform provides seamless cross-border flows, and its leading global financial network bridges more than 200 countries and territories and over 130 currencies. For example, De Beers is trying to create a diamond blockchain for registration and authentication, to prevent the spread of conflict diamonds. Learn about JSON storage. Youre expected to come up with new ways of innovation to drive revenue growth across the organization. So we had to figure out how to continue to show up for customers while also ensuring everyones health and safely. Entertainment, Professional Governments pay close attention to cross-border money transfers, and heavily regulate these services to prevent fraud, tax evasion, and other criminal activities. Western Union Uses AWS to Create Company-Wide Digital Transformation. Before OutSystems, we typically released every six weeks. If you are a new customer: now you can transfer your FIRST money transfer for FREE*. Digital transformation in the EU. Western Union has gained a comprehensive view of the customer while running the Data Cloud on AWS. What are the biggest lessons you learned? Commenting on the advantages of development on OutSystems, Tom says, "We estimate that we're getting new products . Leaders across many industries and companies of all sizes report that one of their biggest challenges is siloed data. Western Union is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. The development speedand deployment easeprovided by OutSystems accelerates change and feedback cycles, which paves the way for continuous innovation. When fully realised, he says, it will give Western Union the agility it is seeking, while also having a positive impact on its bottom line. The gap between access and use is growing, with 56% of people in . Talends technology has been used similarly in response to people impacted by floods in Haiti and to Indian citizens at the height of the countrys COVID-19 crisis. If CDIOs dont have the right culture on their teams, how can they help drive a data-first culture throughout their organization? Western Union is to shed its Business Solutions unit, with investment firms Goldfinch and Baupost set to acquire the business for $910 million in cash. Nov 2011 - Present11 years 5 months. After exceeding expectations in 2020 despite the outbreak of COVID-19, the world's largest currency exchange service Western Union looks set to exceed US$1 billion in total annual revenues for its digital business segment in 2021 a major milestone for the company and a first in the world of digital cross-border payments.. Western Union's shift toward digital shows little sign of relenting. My mission is to empower people to become economically self-reliant. Our digital-first crisis response is helping us evolve into the future. The international roll-out continues to other countries at pace. Weve been able to increase the amount and frequency of relevant data we can share with our agents, and they have started to build new processes based on that. People who knew how a team or a group worked before can come in and see its night-and-day different. Swanback said a . Beyond the public health crisis, COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on personal finances, causing poverty levels and inequality to rise globally. ; Offering combines Deloitte's ConvergePROSPERITY BankingSuite solution and multiple AWS services. . He shares his views on digital transformation and economic opportunities for all. This is a powerful tool for our business and one of the key capabilities of our new infrastructure.. Jaffin: Its important for us to continue trying new technology that gets us closer to customers and their changing needs, like advanced analytics and other tools. From the CEO down through his executive team, you see a real commitment to this transformation exercise and a real commitment to finding ways to optimize our processes, to get efficiencies, and to fund those investments that will drive topline revenue growth. Over the last two years, Singh has been accelerating Western Union's tech plan. Poland followed later in 2022, while plans are at hand to launch Italy by the end of the year. When people from different departments do these floor walks together, theyre realizing that they actually have a lot more in common with each other or notice areas where they can collaborate that they didnt realize before. Professors from HEC, ESCP business school, and leading carriers shared insights on . My Career Summary Anil Santhapuri is a values-based and results-oriented Talent professional, with 20 years of professional experience in the areas of talent management, learning & leadership development. Hiring experienced developers was already hard, and the skills drought got even worse with the great resignation. Today customers can commence their journey on our mobile App, pay for their transaction digitally or opt to pay cash from any of our participating Western Union retail locations, use wu.com or go directly to any of the 1,200 agent locations or Western Union-owned locations in Austria[i]. To that end, Singh has built on an existing relationship to forge a highly valuable partnership with Salesforce and oversee the roll-out of its industry-leading Marketing Cloud. To ensure those approaches were safe and secure, we partnered with governmental organizations to find new and secure ways to verify customers. Board Committees. As such, when Western Union embarked on its technology transformation, it was keen to recruit personnel who could help achieve its vision. We believe in the work we do, why we do it, and who we hire to get it done. From apps that save lives to those that process loans in a Western Union offers digital transactions in 70 countries to move money around the world. Western Union Digital Banking is offered by Western Union International Bank GmbH. As a company, Western Union is in the middle of a transformational moment. Discover the latest data, insights, and inspiration from Think with Google. In Austria our employees have put in place numerous initiatives such as German courses and mentoring programs, and we celebrated in March the first anniversary of SEED, a project supported by the Western Union Foundation in collaboration with the Austrian Ministry of Education and Teach for Austria Alumni Association. de 2007 - actualidad16 aos 3 meses. The Foundation is supported by the Western Union Company, its employees, Agents, and business partners, working to support education and disaster relief efforts as pathways toward a better future. Becoming digital first meant we needed to deliver fast, frictionless experiences, especially on mobile. The pandemic really accelerated the digital transformation journey; the plan was for it to be rolled out in three years but that timeframe became 18 months, Singh tells Digital Bulletin. Manufacturing, Communication Commenting on the speed comparison of OutSystems compared to previous traditional development, Tom said, "On an earlier project, we had ten people working on a pricing and UX project. In the past, JSON storage and analysis required specific JSON databases. Divestiture Will Support Western Union's Strategic Focus on its Global Cross-Border Payments Platform and Digital Capabilities We caught up with Mazzaferro to dive deeper into how the Data Cloud enables ongoing digital transformation at Western Union: Snowflake: Tom, as CDIO you lead the charge on keeping Western Union at the forefront of data economy leadership. few clicks, you can use OutSystems to bring your visions to life. Its not done from the perspective of correction or a negative consequence. Mazzaferro: Technology is a critical part of the equation, of course, but technology can never drive culture change. 35, No. [7]For a helpful overview of how Blockchain is being used in emerging markets, see Vinay Gupta & Rob Knight, How Blockchain Could Help Emerging Markets Leap Ahead, Harvard Business Review, May 17, 2017. Navigate Data privacy and security practices . [8]. We saw that our revenue and customer base didnt reflect the opportunity and size of the market.. [4] Form 10-K for the year ended December 2017, p.7. The scale of change this represents for a business like Western Union is not to be underestimated; the company employs around 11,000 people and has more than 550,000 retail agents locations within its global financial network, as well as a global online presence. Its important to understand that business stakeholders are customers of our data. Western Union built its platform by assembling a global network of third party agents. Key takeaways. By John Manning, International Banker. Western Unions typical customers are migrants seeking a better life not just for themselves, but for their families back home who rely on fund transfers to meet basic needs. They can include creating strategy placemats (one-page strategy overviews that are easily shared), frequent team huddles, one-on-one coaching, and process confirmation. Management, Digital Workplace While the pace of change has been considerable, the leadership team at Western Union has been focused on implementing a large-scale technology transformation. Prior to implementing Snowflake in 2021, Western Unions data spanned 34 on-premises data warehouses, resulting in latency and operational burdens. This is just one example of how blockchain could be an opportunity for Western Union. So we established a set of what we call market-shaper practices that we wanted to focus on. January 25, 2019 | Video. . First, Western Unions third party agents may try to thwart any concerted moves to digital platforms, seeing such a move as a threat to existing commission revenues. In [] According to the terms of the transaction . As weve done that, everyone has started to speak the same language, whether its talking about going to huddles, doing process confirmations, conducting one-on-one coaching, or maybe doing floor walks. These agents typically manage retail stores across the world, and offer Western Union money transfer services in exchange for a commission. Rapid iteration is a crucial capability for Western Union, especially when designing customer experiencesin over 200 countries with local customer and regulatory requirements. Data and insights gave us the ability to make important strategic decisions in the throes of what could have been a panic. While WU is considered a global leader in their space, competitive insights and . Talend is our backbone for that work and have really evolved their product to meet our needs.. Top retailers use AI-powered campaigns to engage their most valuable customers. Navigating complex land title issues would also leverage Western Unions existing capabilities of dealing with a range of government regulations. ; With the solution, Western Union launched a state-of-the-art digital . The transition from legacy systems to Oracle Solutions was critical to the strategy's success. The OutSystems platforms capabilities were immediately put to the test through 2021, as Western Union and its system integrator started development of its new digital banking app that includes a multicurrency bank account combined with money transfers, and other added benefits such as a Visa Platinum debit card. We developed the whole front-end for the app in less than four months., Western Union uses OutSystems for customer-facing apps, back office, and workflow solutions. Team members were drawn from different continents and operating on different time zones. Increasingly, digital technology and mobile devices play a key role in these transactions. Heres how, Customers want control over their data and wont hesitate to switch brands to get it, Global Insights Briefing: Holiday takeaways for marketers, From solar panels to spa days, see how 2022s top searches set the stage for 2023. As consumer expectations continue to evolve, digital will play an ongoing role in helping financial services brands deliver value to their customers and drive business growth. Theyve complemented each other really well and been able to almost mentor each other, as well as building great relationships with the product groups. Leadership. Western Union must adapt to an increasingly mobile world: if Western Union doesnt develop low-cost mobile money transfers, Western Union wont be able to compete with new competitors like Ant Financial and Zelle. 9-30 (describing four types of innovations incremental, modular, architectural and radical classified by their impact on a business core components and the relationships between those core components). For example, we began offering an option for telephone money transfer. The relationship with Talend has enabled Western Union to help its global customer base in times of real need. The Data Cloud is increasingly becoming a facilitator for digital transformation initiatives, and while there are many facets to that story, our customers often tell us how three critical elements play a central role: being able to access and share live data; being able to share data without having to move it; and the ability to securely access third-party data. Western Union's stock price continued to climb the week of April 12 reaching $25.89, compared to a low of $21.66 in January. Poland followed later in 2022, while plans are at hand to launch Italy by the end of the year. The way we approached it was to use the central WU Way team for capability building. Instead, Western Union should fund and fully staff a separate unit that has preferential access to Western Unions resources, but is not restricted by legacy operators within Western Union.