western union digital transformation

Western Union's investment in India is part of a broader fintech and innovation strategy that is driving the company's digital transformation. Infosys accelerated Western Union's digital transformation by harmonizing agent operations, implementing billing and collection standards, enabling modular growth, accelerating new product launches, enabling digital on-demand procedures, designing global accounting solutions based on one single template, supporting highly complex pricing and multiple business models, and massive management processes as a strategic technology partner. Leadership. - Earn My WU points. Theyve complemented each other really well and been able to almost mentor each other, as well as building great relationships with the product groups. Markets are perpetually shifting and change is unavoidable, but to keep up with those shifting tides companies need to stay focused on digital transformation. [3] Shelly Freierman, Telegram Falls Silent Stop Era Ends Stop, NY Times, Feb. 6, 2006. Last year, the global-payment services giant completed 268 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, for a total of $80 billion. [11] Western Unions footprint of retail locations gives it a worldwide laboratory for experimenting with blockchain applications. The paper analyzes the issues of digital transformation in the European Union in such key dimensions as financing digitalization and implementing public policy to bridge the digital divide in the EU member countries. Similarly, Western Union's ethos is based on empowering the aspiring populations of the world with accessible financial tools to improve the lives of their loved ones and communities. Western Union is doing that. As the figure below shows, five components are needed to execute an organization's digital transformation: 1. People. Industry experts were also drafted in to create the army that was required for this technology mission. 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. ", Tom adds, In fast-moving customer-facing scenarios, development is never build-once-and-doneyoure always iterating to refine the customer experience. Western Union (WU) is a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments. With the blockchain environment, there may be value in the technology as it becomes more mature and efficient. 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. We do that both in-line, so you as a manager go and visit your own organization, but also visit other functions. He shares his views on digital transformation and economic opportunities for all. & Distribution, Media and These are things like rewards and recognition, top-down innovation, and consequence management. & Publishing, Logistics 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. 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. Enterprise Technology Operations Center Manager. In a report on ERP modernization, the global market intelligence firm highlights how Western Digital . Meanwhile, new fintech players like Transferwise are able to offer cash transfer services for a fraction of the price since their operations are 100% online. They essentially sponsor a team and loan the resources that are necessary. Something we could take forward is a digital dollar, which we could make transferable all around the world with our vendors. It is far more stable than that and can be used for near instant settlements across the board, while providing liquidity to Reserve Banks. To explore this content and receive communications from Google, please sign in with an existing Google account. OutSystems High-Performance Low-Code Platform Powers Western Union Digital Banking Solution 2 min. These are seismic factors currently redefining our world, earning their own epochal moniker: The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Contributed to establishing Quality Assurance, Training and Documentation strategy and processes for AML Operations functions. 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. While the pace of change has been considerable, the leadership team at Western Union has been focused on implementing a large-scale technology transformation. Here is Swamy Sivasubramaniyan, Head of Financial Services and Settlement Platform for Western Union, discussing the digital transformation experience with Infosys and Oracle. Many of its 150 million customers worldwide depend on money transfers to pay for food, electricity, medication, and other necessities. Western Union's digital transformation efforts may fail to drive earnings growth, but they may be enough to keep earnings steady going forward. I want to see those same results in my organization. I think thats an indication of how well its really working across the company. The Western Union Foundation is actively supporting NGOs that help refugees and migrants around the globe through education and financial literacy. The organisation was looking for somebody with a fresh perspective who could challenge the norms, bring people together to show them the value of what were doing and basically create an environment thats a little bit different to your usual corporate set-up. Top-down prioritization of digital transformation. Sub-Saharan Africa 3G and 4G mobile broadband coverage stands at 86% and 57% of the population, respectively. 1 (March 1990), pp. 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 Digital Banking is offered by Western Union International Bank GmbH. 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. 2023 Snowflake Inc. All Rights Reserved | If youd rather not receive future emails from Snowflake, unsubscribe here or customize your communication preferences, Snowflake for Advertising, Media, & Entertainment, unsubscribe here or customize your communication preferences. Deloitte Collaborates With AWS to Put Enterprise-Class Banking Data privacy and security practices . Think of Western Union, and its yellow placard advertising an agent location comes to mind. Experts at TCS and Western Union share the trends that are affecting digital transformation in financial services. de 2007 - actualidad16 aos 3 meses. 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. HELIX, Management The development speedand deployment easeprovided by OutSystems accelerates change and feedback cycles, which paves the way for continuous innovation. Deep divides in digital connectivity, internet use, and access remain. Finacle, Infosys Women in Marketing: Executives who are building brand narratives 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. How did you evolve for digital convenience and safety? Need a Lenten fish fry? There's an interactive map for that The Baupost Group is a $31 billion Boston-based investment firm. The map, Barmer and Newman say, is designed to do precisely that turn the western Pennsylvania fish-fry culture into an adventure stamped onto the landscape that fosters community engagement . But theyve been hugely supportive and as weve hit milestones, such as moving significant infrastructure completely to the cloud or achieving significant savings with the Marketing Cloud, we have built that business case. It's a physical branding and marketing component that few money-transfer providers can match - but one that's of diminishing value in a digital world. Jaffin: Digital was critical in a few ways. [2] Westar 1, Wikipedia, accessed April 2018. 2023Western Union Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Western Union Digital Banking - Apps on Google Play This would help Western Union objectively pursue new blockchain opportunities, even if those opportunities eventually cannibalize or destroy its existing C2C business. 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. InsurTech & Crypto projects as the world embraces CX, Business Transformation and Digital . But new innovators are highlighting a problem for Western Union: multi-homing is high with money transfers. Business Application Services, Service Experience Our digital-first crisis response is helping us evolve into the future. . For more than 170 years Western Union has been helping people send money all over the world. In Western and Central Africa, only 36% of the population has access to broadband connectivity. Though its too early for results, the response from consumers has been positive, he says. <br><br>My Leadership Philosophy<br><br>I am an . Western Union Customer Journey Transformation Navigating complex land title issues would also leverage Western Unions existing capabilities of dealing with a range of government regulations. Filipino workers abroad), they need to bring physical money somewhere, and most of the fintech companies in remittance space dont have their own channels (they often partner with local kiosks). [3], Western Union operates in three segments, with most of its revenues (79%) coming from the C2C segment: [4], Western Union became the dominant player in cross-border C2C money transfers through a platform strategyit connected people who wanted to send money across borders. His career span includes working with organizations like FIS, Western Union, HCL Technologies, CGI, Mahindra Satyam and iGate Global Solutions. Almost immediately, it was clear that with retail stores temporarily closed, digital would need to play a larger role in delivering service to customers. 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. The primary reason we decided to go through with this transformation is that we saw an opportunity to positively impact revenue through our daily operations and behaviors. Our research identified 10 attributes of an organizations data infrastructure that enable it to take full advantage of the data economy, the global supply and, Editors note: This is part of a series about the data economy. As a global leader in cross-border, cross-currency money movement and payments, Western Union has to comply with a huge number of financial regulations. Network (IIN), Diversity Equity Created: 05-05-2021 - 17:15. Leading fintech, Mambu, provides the platform and engine that drives the core of Western Union's new digital bank. In the latest step in its digital journey, Western Union recently launched a bot that enables Facebook Messenger users in the United States to send money to more than 200 countries, across 130 currencies, from within the messaging app. With OutSystems, we deploy twice every week. 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. Now Departing: Union Pacific's 40-Year-Old Mainframe | CIO Western Union International Banks CEO Peter Bucher firmly believes you can drive successful, innovative business while creating a better world for the community you live in. Goldfinch Partners is a private equity firm investing in businesses specialising in digital transformation. How Your Small Business Can Be Managed With The Right Databases, Why Businesses Must Focus on Introducing Technology in the Workplace. In 2017 SEED supported 20 projects, impacting 5,000 children and youth; we hope to support event more in 2018.. Western Union is also focused on the global remittance market. Part of this agility drive involved Western Union migrating its legacy on-prem IT infrastructure to the Cloud. Furthermore, a chain of retail outlets is expensive. Assignment: Driving Digital Transformation, AIG & Cyber Insurance Learning to Insure a Digital World, The First Transcontinental Telegram was sent to DC 155 Years Ago, Form 10-K for the year ended December 2017, How Blockchain Could Help Emerging Markets Leap Ahead, Beyond the Hype: What Blockchain could mean for Africa, Western Union is Testing Ripple and XRP for Money Transfers, Western Union Brings Money Transfer and Its Tricky Fees to Chat Apps, Emirates NBD, an almost perfect digital transformation, B2B business solutions (cross-border and cross-currency). It has become one of the leaders in Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) technology and the majority of the data moving across our ecosystem is now powered by Talend. We teach employees, and then they execute. Western Union charges high fees since they need to cover rent and labor overhead. 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. However, Western Union doesnt view its established retail business as totally separate from the digital world. 22 Companies Spearheading Digital Innovation in Their Industries in These agents typically manage retail stores across the world, and offer Western Union money transfer services in exchange for a commission. Western Union could use existing retail outlets as nodes on a land register blockchain, which could bring in new sources of revenue to those retail stores. Western Union International Bank GmbH is regulated by the Financial Markets Authority in Austria, [i] Agent location count valid as of 31 December 2017. As mobile payments and blockchain tech challenge the status quo of cross-border money transfers, Western Union must digitally transform itself at the right pace or risk going the way of the telegraph. . Salesforce has been such an important part of the digital experience journey.. The partnership with Talend has evolved over the last few years and was originally established to provide our business and technology teams a fast and efficient way to build data pipelines. Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. We continue to experiment with the technology and time will tell if it offers a better alternative to traditional rails.. Achieving that is going to give Western Union agility, stability and resilience and allow us to focus on product development, because we know that our technology is going to sit in the cloud and take up a lot less of our time. What we are talking about is not cryptocurrency, it is not something that has to be mined. W ith the outbreak of a crippling global pandemic and a pronounced global economic slowdown, the last few years have been rather tumultuous for the world. The CDO needs to drive digital transformation by enabling data to power product development and the company. [12]These kind of digital initiatives are good pursuits for current operational leaders, since they represent incremental or modular innovations to Western Unions existing product offerings. Engaged in problem resolution of complex . Its more about having the manager understand how the work actually gets done on the floor. The digital transformation is helping Western Union emerge from a challenging two-year era. How Western Union Became a Global Digital Front-Runner for Cross-Border Customers can send and receive money in a fast, reliable and convenient manner., We are proud to offer the same omnichannel choice in Austria. So, constant iteration and rapid delivery are crucial. Alonso Calderon - Enterprise Technology Operations Center Manager 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]. He shares his views on digital transformation and economic opportunities for all. In the past several years, the Englewood, Colo.-based company has made a point to develop and [] 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. If CDIOs dont have the right culture on their teams, how can they help drive a data-first culture throughout their organization? Data quality is so important to us, we need to know who we are marketing to and that means our data has to be of the highest quality.. Deloitte announces multi-year collaboration with AWS to co-innovate and engineer solutions that help institutions expedite the launch of digital banking services and modernize their legacy core banking stacks. Working across many cultures at Western Union | McKinsey Western Union, Chief Data Officer: Digital Transformation Initiatives So we established a set of what we call market-shaper practices that we wanted to focus on. Board of Directors. Nov 2011 - Present11 years 5 months. Some want to go to a retail store and pay cash. What is the Best High-Yield Dividend Stock to Buy Now? Our 7 Top Picks [9]Clayton M. Christensen & Michael E. Raynor,The Innovators Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth (Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2003), Ch. 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 . Revenue from Western Union's digital money transfer services spiked from $600 million in 2019 to over $850 million in 2020. The culture change has to be driven across teams to show how technology has enabled different and better outcomes. Behind those market-shaper practices are the lean tools and behaviors we develop and encourage. Hiring experienced developers was already hard, and the skills drought got even worse with the great resignation. Discover the latest software purchases and digital transformation initiatives being undertaken by Western Union and its business and technology executives. Maybe it started out as more of a push, where we were looking to come in and work with a team. "As a digital enabler and a pioneer in the digital transformation, we aspire to play a vital role in the vision of the Saudi . 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. . A hugely significant piece of the transformation has come from rethinking how Western Union communicates with its vast customer base. Mohua Das Gupta - Head of Marketing, Tata CliQ. 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. The executive team has done a great job of making it really clear across the company that this is something thats expected of you. From the earliest days of the pandemic, innovating the companys services to meet new patterns of consumer demand was an urgent matter. Kong, New Thats changing. Its one of the most widely used platforms from a data perspective and were expanding our relationship with Talend to start using some of its data quality products as well. That helps us refocus on the particular market-shaper practices that we need to double down on in order to continue improving during our transformation journey. People are enthusiastic about the results of the pilot, and they want to see that in their own area. 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. Sydney Mahan, The First Transcontinental Telegram was sent to DC 155 Years Ago, Washingtonian.com, Oct. 25, 2016. Leaders across many industries and companies of all sizes report that one of their biggest challenges is siloed data. 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. You have to recognise that youre taking a massive journey as a company because it has always relied on data centres. Commenting on the advantages of development on OutSystems, Tom says, We estimate that were getting new products to market at least twice as fast as competitors, and were probably using a tenth of the resources they are on front-end development. If you are a new customer: now you can transfer your FIRST money transfer for FREE*. Convera's Next Steps: Western Union Business Solutions - Forbes 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. Western Union's digital transformation sprints to mobile