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Thats the high performancewe rely on with OutSystems., Low-Code for Digital Financial Services Delivery. (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. Western Union video | re:Invent 2021 | AWS Western Union's digital transformation sprints to mobile 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. 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. 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. Others prefer to prepare a transaction online and then go to a retail location to pay cash. McKinsey's Kausik Rajgopal and Lang Davison recently sat down with Western Union's CEO to talk about its multicultural customer base (and . Becoming digital first meant we needed to deliver fast, frictionless experiences, especially on mobile. Navigating complex land title issues would also leverage Western Unions existing capabilities of dealing with a range of government regulations. They tend to be younger, they live online and they prefer to do everything there, at the touch of a button, Fellahi observes. 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. [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. And the new business model may require a very different RPP (traditional money transfer process vs. transfer via blockchain). Western Union has gained a comprehensive view of the customer while running the Data Cloud on AWS. be to drive digital transformation and . 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. We go where our customers go, says Khalid Fellahi, senior vice president and general manager for Western Union Digital, based in San Francisco. Recently I talked to him about the companys rapid pivot to digital this past year, his biggest learnings, and what the future holds. The development speedand deployment easeprovided by OutSystems accelerates change and feedback cycles, which paves the way for continuous innovation. 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. arrow_forward. Driving Western Union's tech transformation - Digital Bulletin Western Union hiring Global Head, Customer Experience & Design in For example, De Beers is trying to create a diamond blockchain for registration and authentication, to prevent the spread of conflict diamonds. For decades, Western Union has defended its global position by investing in regulatory compliance. . With OutSystems, we deploy twice every week. To accelerate application development, improve agility, and provide great digital experiences, the company chose OutSystems as its high-performance low-code platform. Product Director, United States Money Transfer. 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. 22 Companies Spearheading Digital Innovation in Their Industries in 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. 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 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. Business Unit Represents Approximately 7% of Company Revenue . Key takeaways. How Your Small Business Can Be Managed With The Right Databases, Why Businesses Must Focus on Introducing Technology in the Workplace. Poland followed later in 2022, while plans are at hand to launch Italy by the end of the year. These initiatives will likely change Western Unions operating model, therefore they must be fully supported by CEO Hikmet Ersek and should occupy most of his time. Western Union Partners With MFS Africa to Enable Money Transfers Into [2] Westar 1, Wikipedia, accessed April 2018. Deloitte Collaborates With AWS to Put Enterprise-Class Banking Denver, Colorado. Companies like Venmo(PayPal) and Zelle(joint venture by several large U.S. banks) have deep pockets, but so far are mostly competing in domestic payment markets. Looking ahead, the Sales Cloud will be connected to the Marketing Cloud, which in turn is connected to our Care Cloud, so that whenever something happens across any of those products we are able to react in a way that suits that customer. . Technology powers the data economy. Many CEOs are lured into spending too much time on legacy businesses, which don't need CEO oversight. Over the last two years, Singh has been accelerating Western Union's tech plan. To ensure those approaches were safe and secure, we partnered with governmental organizations to find new and secure ways to verify customers. 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 . Does it offer a more seamless customer experience? 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. 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. Consumers are less aware that we have transformed ourselves into one of the largest digital money transfer firms in the world, with our digital activity generating well over $400 million revenues in 2017. People who knew how a team or a group worked before can come in and see its night-and-day different. This aims to support the transition of the region into a digital economy and bring the benefits of digital transformation, such as faster economic growth, more jobs, and better services. The reason for that is due to the huge increase in demand for our digital services as lockdowns were implemented across many different geographies. 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. 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. Fellahi sees the Messenger bot as a promising tool. Western Union Software Purchases and Digital Transformation Initiatives document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Want to learn more about technology and organizations? 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. 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. We believe in the work we do, why we do it, and who we hire to get it done. 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. Industry experts were also drafted in to create the army that was required for this technology mission. How Western Union accelerated digital during the pandemic Western Union Promo Codes | 30% Off In March 2023 | Forbes InsurTech & Crypto projects as the world embraces CX, Business Transformation and Digital . Imagine what we can do if you let us work with your team as well.. 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. An undisputed leader in the global payments space, Western Union is driving a company-wide technology transformation, underpinned by migrating its infrastructure from on-prem to the cloud. Thats changing. Technology or Operations transformation . 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. To learn more about the data economy, what your organization stands to gain from using data effectively, and how to become a Data Economy Leader, download the report overview, How to Win in Todays Data Economy. Western Union's digital transformation - Think with Google So well go from maybe four pilot teams to a plan to scale out across 400 people and maybe 30 teams next year. 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.. Contributed to establishing Quality Assurance, Training and Documentation strategy and processes for AML Operations functions. Western Union Digital Banking 4+ - App Store Complete your profile for personalized recommendations, Managing Director, U.S. Financial Services at Google. 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. Western Union Customer Journey Transformation Theyve complemented each other really well and been able to almost mentor each other, as well as building great relationships with the product groups. Western Union and Beforepay introduce 'send now, pay later' service Western Union operates in the increasingly competitive, rapidly changing payments sector, where new fintech players are changing how the market operates. Africa's largest payment gateway, MFS Africa, has partnered with Western Union to enable individuals and businesses across the continent to receive money from over 200 countries and territories. We also innovated to make our services more inclusive for customers by creating new ways to send funds digitally and offering real-time digital account payouts. 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. The gap between access and use is growing, with 56% of people in . Jaffin: Our company mission is to enable financial transfers between people anywhere and everywhere; we had a responsibility to continue to deliver on that. Powering Digital Transformation: How Western Union Leverages the Data As such, when Western Union embarked on its technology transformation, it was keen to recruit personnel who could help achieve its vision. 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 . For example, we began offering an option for telephone money transfer. 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). Data safety. ", Looking back to why Western Union chose OutSystems, Tom says, We serve millions of customers in over 200 countries and territories, and we want to give them the best possible customer experience. Western Union: Reimagining a Financial Services Leader Cloud services such as cloud data platforms have become cost-efficient, high performance calling cards for any business that leverages big data. Markets are perpetually shifting and change is unavoidable, but to keep up with those shifting tides companies need to stay focused on digital transformation. In 2011, Western Union opened an office in San Francisco to ramp up its digital operation. With the blockchain environment, there may be value in the technology as it becomes more mature and efficient. 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. Many CEOs are lured into spending too much time on legacy businesses, which dont need CEO oversight. 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.