2021. That system is fine in a cash based economy, but is becoming increasingly cumbersome as digital payments take hold in emerging markets. Now its more pull. And, Fellahi points out, When you look at customer acquisition on our digital channel, 80 percent of the customers we acquired in the past 12 months are new to usnot migrated from our traditional customer base., He expects digital money transfer and mobile technology to be the major driver of overall growth in coming years, adding, In the U.S., over 65 percent of WU.com transactions are initiated on a mobile device, and globally it is nearly 60 percent.. Leading fintech, Mambu, provides the platform and engine that drives the core of Western Union's new digital bank. Updated on. With OutSystems, we deploy twice every week. There was a need to accelerate the process we wanted to undertake, I have that experience of transformation projects happening on a massive scale. Now we are on track to achieve those gains and benefits that come with being more agile and being able to grow at scale, we can really begin to look forward and reap the rewards of the transformation.. Our goal was to build a new Cloud-based IT architecture based on microservicesthat would allow us to integratemany different systems quicklyboth internal and external vendors, explains Tom. New-found agility delivers growth and improved Customer Experience for partners and customers. This entails a leader or a manager being on the floor with people doing their day-to-day jobs, just observing the way they work. We offer consumers the choices they want, both for sending and receiving money, he stresses. Singh estimates that the project has reduced how much it spends on talking to its customers by a quarter, while markedly improving this critical function. Accelerating Digital Transformation in Western and Central Africa 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 . The transformation of Western Digital to a Live Enterprise Modernization of legacy enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications provides an opportunity for a technical upgrade as well as a transformation of the core business, according to IDC. His career span includes working with organizations like FIS, Western Union, HCL Technologies, CGI, Mahindra Satyam and iGate Global Solutions. Divestiture Will Support Western Union's Strategic Focus on its Global Cross-Border Payments Platform and Digital Capabilities [8]David Thomas, Beyond the Hype: What Blockchain could mean for Africa, African Business Magazine, Feb. 26, 2018. Now that these pilots are winding down, its been easy to get the support across the organization to find the resources necessary to establish teams that can scale it out in different areas across the company. The Western Union Company - Western Union Fintech Expansion: Opens New On May 17, 2018, at the Digital Assembly in Sofia, Bulgaria, the European Commission launched the Digital Agenda for the Western Balkans. The idea is to orient the company around improving these market-shaper practices, really getting the health of our organization strong, and becoming confident that if we can improve the health of the organization, the financial results will follow. Jaffin: We engaged with tech partners like Google almost immediately to refine our go-to-market strategy. Western Union Google Pay Integration: Interview With Vice - Monito Manager of a Team responsible for First Level Support, Event monitoring and Major Incident Management to internal and external clients that affects core processes and clients. DENVER-(BUSINESS WIRE)-The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU), a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, today announced that the Company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a minority stake in fast growing Saudi Digital Payments Company, or stc pay, a fully owned subsidiary of Saudi Telecom Company. How Western Union Became a Global Digital Front-Runner for Cross-Border Payments Money By Jay Jaffin, Head of Global Digital, Western Union May 24, 2021. Snowflake worked with Longitude to assess what it takes to lead in the data economy. Maybe it started out as more of a push, where we were looking to come in and work with a team. One of the benefits that weve really seen as weve gone through these first two years of our journey is what happens when we get everyone speaking the same language. Harveer Singh leads Western Union's digital transformation with data 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. [2] Westar 1, Wikipedia, accessed April 2018. SEED aims to improve education and employability of students from low socio-economic backgrounds, especially children of refugees, migrants, and local families. Western Union Announces Agreement to Sell Western Union Business Media, Madison Square Convera's Next Steps: Western Union Business Solutions - Forbes McKinsey's Kausik Rajgopal and Lang Davison recently sat down with Western Union's CEO to talk about its multicultural customer base (and . BWIRE: Support youths to enhance their digital skills 2023Western Union Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Provide value consistently every month and deliver new value and capabilities. MFS Africa partners Western Union to broaden financial inclusion Dan Nordlander, senior vice president of Western Union Way Operations at Western Union, discusses his companys unique transformation journey with McKinseys Barr Seitz. Western Union International Bank is licensed by the Austrian Financial Market Authority. The Western Union Way of digital transformation. The strategy is also to reduce costs; on-prem infrastructure and people running it is expensive and you need back-ups of everything, especially in financial services. We will expand our Messenger bot to other countries and add other languages, he adds. They have also triggered profound changes within global banking, demanding that lenders remain flexible, nimble, and innovative in their digital-banking strategies to meet customers' rapidly . We're making content recommendations better for thousands of readers. [3] Shelly Freierman, Telegram Falls Silent Stop Era Ends Stop, NY Times, Feb. 6, 2006. Automation reduces development toil, were more productive, so we dont need so many developers, and we dont end up with orphaned code when developers leave. Western Union is a partner of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and is a leading voice in the conversation of how to build a global payments ecosystem, which is stable and where remittances can be made much faster. Western Union Embraces Digital Transformation - BaselineMag.com In [] And on our website, we added new support and wayfinding tools to ensure customers could quickly and easily access information. 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. Poland followed later in 2022, while plans are at hand to launch Italy by the end of the year. InsurTech & Crypto projects as the world embraces CX, Business Transformation and Digital . 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. Many CEOs are lured into spending too much time on legacy businesses, which don't need CEO oversight. But its really all about allowing the manager to observe the way their employee works, whats easy about that job and whats hard about that job. Jaffin: Evolution meant expanding the ways in which customers experience the brand digitally. Western Union Digital Banking 4+ - App Store How Your Small Business Can Be Managed With The Right Databases, Why Businesses Must Focus on Introducing Technology in the Workplace. One trend that has emerged as a result is the growing role of digital money transfers among people who may not otherwise use those services. Now data is the driver and applications are being developed to handle that data and represent it to business stakeholders to make it consumable. 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. Tom Mazzaferro, Chief Data Officer at Western Union together with Nick Halsey, CEO at Okera talk about the technology that Western Union has adopted to help build new products and Western Union, Chief Data Officer: Digital Transformation Initiatives (Part 3) | Cloud | cdomagazine.tech From the earliest days of the pandemic, innovating the companys services to meet new patterns of consumer demand was an urgent matter. (PDF-165 KB) The transformation of a legacy company whose roots lie in the era of the telegraph involves more than just lean deployments and agile methodologies. . And still others want to do it all online.. He reveals that Western Union was using multiple companies for each of its email, in-app and SMS communication channels. Its not done from the perspective of correction or a negative consequence. Over the last two years, Singh has been accelerating Western Union's tech plan. If any of these should fit what you're looking for, consider exploring a career with Western Union. Were talking 30 percent, 40 percent, and, in some cases, deployments with a 70 percent return on capacity. de 2007 - actualidad16 aos 3 meses. Having to maintain two sets of procedures on-prem and cloud for 18 months to ensure business continuity is chief among them, while teams have had to escalate a company-wide transformation during a pandemic. Singh is a proponent for a Central Bank Digital Currency, which he says is significantly different to the digital assets such as BitCoin and Ethereum, which can fluctuate wildly in value over short periods of time. Western Union is one of the largest digital money firms, uniquely positioned to connect the cash and digital worlds across platforms, devices, borders, and currencies. Procurement & Construction, Financial The Western Union Way of digital transformation. of Use, Payment Stephanie Pankau - Product Director, United States Money Transfer Hospitality, Waste Leadership. Western Union's Customer Journey Digital Transformation Fueled by NICE - Innovative NICE Nexidia Customer Journey Optimisation provides powerful analytics to enhance customer experience. So we had to figure out how to continue to show up for customers while also ensuring everyones health and safely. & Distribution, Media and We scored ourselves as an organization on these market-shaper practices when we started the transformation in 2016. A lot of our big data environment is still on-prem and the mission is to move that completely to the cloud by the end of the year. Its important to understand that business stakeholders are customers of our data. That means we can onboard new developers and have them productive much faster, and weve got fewer knowledge silos in the development team., Moreover, low-code development on OutSystems helps Tom fight back in the war for digital talent. Western Union's digital transformation - Think with Google Services, Public Mohua Das Gupta - Head of Marketing, Tata CliQ. [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. Harveer Singh, Chief Data Architect & Global Head of Engineering, reveals how the initiative will give the organisation the speed and agility it needs to . Policy . As a company, Western Union is in the middle of a transformational moment. The culture change has to be driven across teams to show how technology has enabled different and better outcomes. Management, Digital Workplace The partnership will enable funds to be sent from countries around the world to mobile wallets across Africa through the organization's licensed payment rails. Western Union's digital transformation efforts may fail to drive earnings growth, but they may be enough to keep earnings steady going forward. Services, High Does it offer a more seamless customer experience? That support has made it a lot easier to have the influence we need to make the transformation successful. "As users turn to our services in bigger numbers and as many new digital players come to the market, we know we have to change," he says. So, constant iteration and rapid delivery are crucial. 8 (Managing the Strategy Development Process). Western Union Launches Two Digital Banking apps in 11 Months Youre expected to find ways to optimize your processes and drive value. 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. And when that happens, they start to see further opportunities for continuous improvement, leading them to new ideas about things they can do to improve efficiency or effectiveness. Manufacturing, Information Services As the transformation gets embedded into the organization, the businesses start to run their own agile deployments. 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. It requires a change in process and culture, the adoption of a common lingo, executive buy-in, and a center of excellence to ensure enterprise-wide success. For example, in 2016 Western Union integrated money transfer options with messanging apps WeChat and Viber, allowing users to send small amounts of money through the apps. s full anLearn more about the data lake, a repository for structured, unstructured, and semi-structured data that provided direct access to raw organizational data. [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. Having found great success with its Marketing Cloud, Singh outlines his longer-term vision to connect a number of Western Unions central products. 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. [8]. . Really understand the business stakeholders problem and how you can fix or enable it. They essentially sponsor a team and loan the resources that are necessary. Denver, Colorado. What Ive tried to do is look at each of the groups and find out who the strong players in each of them are, the leaders that are vocal and very straightforward in conversation. Business Application Services, Service Experience Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. UnionBank: Blazing Digital Trails in the Philippines and Beyond Western Union (WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. Dr. Hosam AbouElDahab on LinkedIn: Western Union and Beforepay Offer Migrants, who typically are the link between cash economies underserved by financial institutions, and highly bancarized, digital economies, benefit from Western Unions unique ability to combine the physical and the digital. A lot of our big data environment is still on-prem and the mission is to move that completely to the cloud by the end of the year. Western Union began a mission to transform the settlement platform with streamlined retail and digital cross-border money transfer operations to overcome the challenges and constraints of their legacy settlement systems. Western Union is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. Need a Lenten fish fry? There's an interactive map for that It requires a change in process and culture, the adoption of a common lingo, executive buy-in, and a center . We wanted plug-and-play convenience to integrate any technology.. 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]. Its been a great combination. Discover the latest software purchases and digital transformation initiatives being undertaken by Western Union and its business and technology executives. Last year, the global-payment services giant completed 268 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, for a total of $80 billion. . In 2011, Western Union opened an office in San Francisco to ramp up its digital operation. Transformation, Cyber Dan Nordlander is senior vice president of Western Union Way Operations at Western Union, and Barr Seitz is senior manager of editorial and digital communications in McKinseys New York office. Their bread and butter business is charging hefty fees on remittances and their core advantage was a network of retail outlets and agents across the US and partners around the world to get cash from one family member to another. Reliable for over 170 years. Once a customer notarises their documents, they can be stored in a safe location and distributed across the blockchain network, so any regulatory authority or government can access that information. In the same way that they say it takes a whole village to raise a child, it takes an army of people with the right skillsets and approaches to undertake a challenge like this. Open a free Western Union Digital Banking bank account to manage your international finances and make instant, transfer fee-free* money transfers to other Western Union Digital Banking account holders. Women in Marketing: Executives who are building brand narratives The pilots help get buy-in across the organization, and then once we have that buy-in, it provides the resources necessary to scale. We continue to experiment with the technology and time will tell if it offers a better alternative to traditional rails.. In 1861 it sent the first transcontinental telegraph. As we get the pilots completed, the idea is to turn the WU Way team into more of a center of excellence. Deloitte Collaborates With AWS to Put Enterprise-Class Banking Funds can be picked up in cash at half a million Western Union agent locations worldwide or transferred electronically to the recipients bank account or to a debit card linked to a digital wallet. HELIX, Management 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. Not just front-end, but back office and our contact center. So well go from maybe four pilot teams to a plan to scale out across 400 people and maybe 30 teams next year. Digital Summit WB6 - Prishtina 2022 Digital transformation & economic opportunities - Blog - Western Union I want to see those same results in my organization. I think thats an indication of how well its really working across the company. Log in to help. [11]See generally Rebecca M. Henderson & Kim B. Clark, Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms, Administrative Science Quarterly Vol. UnionDigital Bank is the trusted bridge between innovation and regulation. And the new business model may require a very different RPP (traditional money transfer process vs. transfer via blockchain). Manufacturing, Communication To accelerate application development, improve agility, and provide great digital experiences, the company chose OutSystems as its high-performance low-code platform. And when you have that, it becomes easier to have a stronger level of influence than you might otherwise expect with a small team, because everyone in the organization is clear that, whether youre working directly with the WU Way team or not, your job is to find ways for continuous improvement. Contributed to establishing Quality Assurance, Training and Documentation strategy and processes for AML Operations functions. Part of this agility drive involved Western Union migrating its legacy on-prem IT infrastructure to the Cloud. Customers can send and receive money in a fast, reliable and convenient manner., We are proud to offer the same omnichannel choice in Austria. Some want to go to a retail store and pay cash. Recipients can choose to pick up the sent money at a Western Union location, or send the money to a digital wallet or bank account. This will enable the company to maintain its high . One of our most important tools is the floor walk. The transformation of a legacy company whose roots lie in the era of the telegraph involves more than just lean deployments and agile methodologies. Sub-Saharan Africa 3G and 4G mobile broadband coverage stands at 86% and 57% of the population, respectively. Western Union and Beforepay introduce 'send now, pay later' service In just 11 months, we delivered a full-service digital banking experience that expands our relationship with customers.. Reflecting on the transformation to-date, Singh is clear that it hasnt come without its challenges. Western Union offers digital transactions in 70 countries to move money around the world. Snowflake enables us to centralize our data and enable application and business processes to leverage it across the organization. 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. Over the last two years, Singh has been accelerating Western Union's tech plan. Snowflake: What do you see changing now that your organization is better able to share data? Western Union Promo Codes | 30% Off In March 2023 | Forbes Western Union operates in the increasingly competitive, rapidly changing payments sector, where new fintech players are changing how the market operates. Sector, Travel and Improvements that we made to our apps digital customer experience, for example, helped it become one of the most downloaded apps among our peer set in 2020. What are the biggest lessons you learned? Lean deployments are a big piece of our overall transformation program. We go where our customers go, says Khalid Fellahi, senior vice president and general manager for Western Union Digital, based in San Francisco. Transfers can be delivered in cash or into a digital wallet or a bank account via electronic funds transfer. We use OutSystems in multiple layers of our tech stack, says Tom. Youre expected to come up with new ways of innovation to drive revenue growth across the organization. Cloud services such as cloud data platforms have become cost-efficient, high performance calling cards for any business that leverages big data. According to the terms of the transaction . Enterprise Technology Operations Center Manager. This does have privacy implications and hence needs to be vetted out with regulatory authorities around the world. Build customized, secure, and scalable mobile banking apps. . Western Union has gained a comprehensive view of the customer while running the Data Cloud on AWS. For example, helping African countries develop official land registers could eliminate a huge barrier to investment and capital inflows (e.g., by resolving uncertain and disputed land titles). The new generation of customers, especially Millennials, want to find us in the ecosystem of messaging apps.. Feb 7, 2023. Governments pay close attention to cross-border money transfers, and heavily regulate these services to prevent fraud, tax evasion, and other criminal activities. We teach employees, and then they execute. 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. Rapid growth in technology was making it easy for international money transfers to take place online, Fellahi recalls. Thats not to say cloud is always cheap, it can be expensive but we have a very stringent Review Board to keep our costs in check, so cost reduction is something about which we are confident.. 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. Western Union charges high fees since they need to cover rent and labor overhead. 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. Cash And Trade Magazine - For Cash and Trade professionals in the With the blockchain environment, there may be value in the technology as it becomes more mature and efficient. Gartner Magic Quadrant for Low-Code Application Platforms, 2023. Unless they can feasibly use technology to improve their cost structure, Im super bearish on Western Union. . Entertainment, Professional It is far more stable than that and can be used for near instant settlements across the board, while providing liquidity to Reserve Banks. Huawei believes digital talent is a key driver in achieving digital transformation, solid economic growth, and better quality of life. The EU is helping to boost Europe's digital capacities and create new opportunities for businesses and consumers while safeguarding basic rights. Western Union and Zain Cash Collaborate to Facilitate Digital Cross You stepped in as CMO just as COVID-19 was emerging, and I cant imagine that a global health crisis was what youd envisioned for your first 100 days.