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5 Ways to Improve the Shipping and Receiving Process Workflow

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Carolyn Hedley
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The shipping and receiving process is crucial for any business dealing with physical goods. Managing this process efficiently is essential to ensure timely delivery, minimize costs, and maintain customer satisfaction. 

Unfortunately, many companies still rely on outdated methods, which can lead to delays, increased costs, and poor employee and customer experience. Leveraging advanced shipping technology and shipping and receiving software and solutions can greatly streamline this workflow. 

In this article, we will discuss five ways to optimize the shipping and receiving process using advanced shipping technology and how Exela’s Shipping and Receiving solutions can help you streamline your operations.

 

Improving the Process through Exela’s Shipping and Receiving Software Solution

The warehouse is one of the most crucial aspects of many companies, from e-commerce to manufacturing and wholesale distribution. It serves as the central hub for storing products, managing inventory, and fulfilling orders, all of which are essential for maintaining operational efficiency and ensuring customer satisfaction.

 

However, while the cost of labor constitutes about 65% of a warehouse facilities’ operating budget, almost 20% of warehouse workers described themselves as “actively disengaged” from their work. Shipments fluctuate with some months or seasons being slower or busier than others, creating a workload balancing issue within the warehouse. Either workers don’t have enough work or they have too much. This is where smart technology steps in to smooth out the discrepancies in warehouse logistics. 

 

Person walking through warehouse inventory while checking their tablet that shows charts

 

  1. Implement Advanced Automation

Automation is key to enhancing the shipping and receiving process, but more than 80% of warehouses don’t use automation. Manual processes are prone to errors and can be time-consuming. Implementing advanced shipping technology can help reduce manual errors, lower costs, and improve accuracy. These technology solutions automate various aspects of the shipping process, such as selecting the most cost-effective carrier, printing shipping labels, and generating tracking numbers.

Exela’s Shipping and Receiving solutions provide advanced automation using our ExelaTrack and ExelaShip platforms to streamline and optimize workflows. Exela’s logistics experts oversee all aspects of your shipping and receiving process using technology enhancements that lower costs, increase accuracy and improve the employee experience.

 

  1. Use Real-Time Tracking

Real-time tracking ensures packages reach their destination on time and in good condition. Exela’s Shipping and Receiving solutions offer tracking with SMS text alerts, emails, and AI-enabled virtual assistance, which permit employees to monitor shipments in real-time and make necessary adjustments for unforeseen issues.  

 

  1. Compare Rates between Carriers

Shipping costs vary significantly between carriers. Exela’s Shipping and Receiving solutions offer a rate comparison feature that allows you to compare rates between carriers to determine the best shipping choice. This can help you save money and ensure that your packages are shipped in the most cost-effective manner.

 

  1. Implement Accurate Delivery Tracking

Ensuring that your packages are delivered to the correct location is crucial for maintaining a good relationship with your customers. Exela’s ExelaTrack platform provides a complete chain of custody with accountable delivery tracking to confirm your package is where it needs to be. This ensures that every item is delivered to the correct location, improving accuracy and accountability.

 

  1. Use Web-based Applications

Using web-based shipping and receiving software can help you manage your shipping and receiving process from anywhere. Exela’s ExelaShip and ExelaTrack web-based applications deliver cost-effective, efficient, and versatile carrier-agnostic solutions. From dock scanning and receiving to package shipments and rate shopping, ExelaShip and ExelaTrack operate on both mobile and desktop devices, enabling you to make decisions from anywhere.

 

In a warehouse with boxes on the shelves, a person works on their laptop

 

How Technology Will Advance the Shipping and Receiving Process

Technology is constantly evolving, and the shipping and receiving industry is no exception. New technologies are being developed all the time that promise to make the shipping and receiving process more efficient, accurate, and cost-effective.

Some of the most promising technologies for advancing the shipping and receiving process include:

  • Artificial intelligence (AI): AI can be used to automate many of the tasks involved in shipping and receiving, such as scanning barcodes, tracking shipments, and resolving problems.
  • Robotics: Robots can be used to handle heavy lifting and repetitive tasks in the shipping and receiving process, freeing up human workers to focus on more complex tasks.
  • Augmented reality (AR): AR can be used to provide real-time information to shipping and receiving workers, such as the location of items in a warehouse or the status of a shipment.
  • Blockchain: Blockchain can be used to track shipments in real time and to ensure the security of shipping data.

These are just a few of the many technologies that are being developed to advance the shipping and receiving process. As these technologies continue to develop, they will have a major impact on the way goods are shipped and received around the world.

 

Key Takeaways 

Improving the shipping and receiving process workflow is crucial for any business dealing with physical goods. You can streamline and optimize your operations by implementing advanced shipping technology, using real-time tracking, comparing rates between carriers, implementing accurate delivery tracking, and using web-based shipping and receiving software. 

 

Exela’s Shipping and Receiving solutions, including ExelaShip and ExelaTrack, offer a range of features that can help you achieve these goals, ultimately saving you time and money and improving the employee experience. Embrace the future of shipping and receiving by leveraging the power of Exela’s advanced shipping technology.

 

What Prevents Companies from Adopting Technology?

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Niharika Sharma

Technology is pivotal in determining a company's success or failure in today's fast-paced business environment. Embracing technological advancements can boost productivity, streamline operations, and enhance competitiveness, yet it's rare to find organizations with plans in place to upgrade to new technology! 

A report by PwC states that 60% of business leaders believe digital transformation will be a critical growth driver for their organization’s success, underscoring its strategic importance. Businesses that do not have the right strategy and expertise, though, run into a roadblock that hinders technology and digital adoption. 

 

Roadblocks that Hinder Technology Adoption

A significant number of organizations face substantial barriers to adoption that can lead to initiatives falling short of expectations or even outright failure. This often results in the project being abandoned altogether, with a return to previously employed solutions. Let's explore some of the common factors that hinder companies from embracing the digital revolution:

  1. Cost Concerns: One of the most apparent barriers to technology adoption is the perceived high cost. Implementing new systems and upgrading existing ones can require a significant financial investment. Smaller companies, in particular, may worry that they need more resources to transition. And we often see big companies cutting corners and trying to often postpone technology upgrades. 

 

  1. Lack of Expertise: Some companies may hesitate to adopt new technology because they need more in-house expertise to manage and integrate these tools. The fear of being unable to utilize the technology effectively can be a significant deterrent.

 

  1. Resistance to Change: Resistance to change is a fundamental human trait and can be a significant roadblock to technology adoption. Employees may be comfortable with existing processes and resist changes to their workflows.

 

Man rubs his head in frustration while holding his phone and looking at his laptop

 

  1. Legacy Systems: Companies operating for a long time often rely on legacy systems and software. Replacing these systems can be daunting, as it may require a complete overhaul of the existing infrastructure, data migration, and staff retraining.

 

  1. Security Concerns: With the increasing frequency of cyberattacks and data breaches, security concerns are a valid reason for hesitation. Companies are often cautious about adopting new technology due to worries about potential vulnerabilities.

 

  1. Lack of Clear ROI: Some businesses need help to see a clear return on investment (ROI) when adopting new technology. They may question whether the benefits of implementing a new system will outweigh the initial costs. While technology has many added benefits, trying to tie it with direct ROI can be a challenge. 

 

  1. Regulatory Compliance: In heavily regulated industries like finance and healthcare, adopting new technology can be complicated due to strict compliance requirements. Companies must ensure that any technology they adopt meets these regulatory standards.

 

  1. Limited IT Resources: Small and mid-sized businesses, in particular, may need more IT resources. This shortage of IT staff and expertise can make it challenging to implement and maintain new technology effectively.

 

Two people are looking at a screen with one of them pointing toward it


 

Devise Your Technology Adoption Strategy Carefully 

Planning a strategy for adopting technology within an organization is a multifaceted process that requires careful consideration and foresight. Firstly, the organization should thoroughly assess its current technological infrastructure and identify areas that need improvement or modernization. Next, defining clear objectives and goals for technology adoption is crucial, aligning them with the organization's overall mission and vision. Understand all the roadblocks and consider the above-mentioned challenges. Engaging key stakeholders and fostering a culture of technological readiness are essential steps to ensure buy-in and support throughout the process. 

Additionally, conducting a cost-benefit analysis, evaluating potential risks, and establishing a realistic timeline are vital components of the strategy. You can consult industry experts like Exela and tailor solutions that can benefit your business greatly. Lastly, continuous monitoring and adaptation of the technology adoption plan ensures it will remain aligned with evolving business needs and technological advancements. 

Technology adoption may involve investing in employee training, conducting cost-benefit analyses, seeking expert guidance, and creating a clear technology adoption roadmap. Ultimately, embracing technology is essential for staying competitive in today's rapidly evolving business landscape, and companies that can successfully navigate these obstacles will be better positioned for future success.

 

Overcoming the numerous barriers to technology adoption requires a proactive, forward-thinking strategy. Companies should carefully assess their specific challenges and develop clear objectives to address each one of them. Get in touch with us so our experts can help you understand your business requirements and cater specifically to your technology adoption needs. 

 

Uniting Technology and Sustainability

Uniting Technology and Sustainability
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Niharika Sharma

Sustainability has moved swiftly up the executive agenda in recent years. Now, becoming a truly sustainable and responsible business is a top priority for every business leader.

We as a society are looking for environmentally sustainable solutions and replacements in just about every aspect of our lives. With consumers being informed and thoughtful, businesses must cover the surging demand for zero-carbon technologies, materials, and services.

Beyond protecting the environment and planet, companies with a higher sustainability tend to perform better financially in the longer run, whether it comes to renewable energy resulting in skipping the price of coal or expanding audience reach by producing more sustainable product packaging, resulting in increased sales. Leaders that will move quickly to adopt and build sustainable business strategies could see exponential growth.

So today, every business needs to become sustainable—and technology is again taking center stage.

technology and sustainability - light shining through a tree

Technology and Sustainability to Redline Business Strategy

It's important for businesses to align their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, with their sustainability and technology strategies. Here are the three imperatives for a sustainable technology strategy:

01- Using the power of technology to accelerate sustainability efforts across the organization. An example of this would be Exela’s Document Digitization solutions that result in less paper, more secure storage, and decreased spend on paper. Turning physical paper into digital assets is a great first step toward a more sustainable business.

02- Protecting the environment by making technology itself progressively more sustainable.

03- Pursuing breakthrough innovation with ecosystem partners to develop radically different and more sustainable ways of doing business.

With these three aspects, business leaders can decide how best to develop a sustainability strategy moving forward. Technology and sustainability go hand-in-hand, allowing companies to progress using more digital solutions while promoting and implementing sustainable practices.

technology and sustainability - windmills

Sustainability Drives Progress and Growth

While it took many years and significant governmental support to scale up renewable-electricity generation, broadening support for the net-zero agenda could enable the next wave of green businesses to grow more quickly.

Companies worldwide are set to commit to emissions reduction. Additionally, regulations, investor activism, and rising consumer interest, among other factors, are pushing companies to benchmark and improve the sustainability performance of their offerings. For example, B2B value chain suppliers face increasingly stringent emissions-reduction requirements as more customers pursue net-zero strategies. This is likely to accelerate the adoption of cleaner materials—such as low-emissions steel in the automotive industry or the electrification of thermal-energy processes.

A report for McKinsey shows that growing demand for net-zero offerings could generate more than $12 trillion of annual sales by 2030. Such a transformation of the global economy will create significant growth potential for climate technologies and opportunities.

Other examples include sustainable products, like low-emissions steel and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the plastic most commonly used for beverage bottles, which are already seeing a price premium due to a shortage of supply versus demand.

technology and sustainability - two hands holding a sprout

Conclusion

Building a green business is no small feat. It often requires setting ambitious growth targets and planning. As a business process automation leader, Exela carries a mindset and technologies that could assist businesses looking to transform their processes while being sustainable digitally. Get in touch today or visit our Corporate Social Responsibilities page to learn more.

Do You Need the Latest Business Technology?

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Carolyn Hedley

We're constantly seeing new technologies and upgrades to technology entering the market. Major phone providers upgrade their phones every couple of years, new desktops and laptops are coming out with faster processing, more storage, and more battery life, AI is becoming a daily part of our lives whether through a voice assistant, text predictions, and more. It can be difficult to keep up with such rapid changes to technology.

It may seem like only a few years go by before your technology is considered outdated. Upgrading technology is an important component of digital transformation. As new technology emerges, leaders need to reevaluate their current operations and determine if the technology is beneficial.

The Considerations of New Business Technology 

As business technology advances so too can your expectations of what it can accomplish. This means that as you upgrade technology or implement new technology, you want to be able to customize it to your business needs.

When it comes to business technology, it should help operations become more efficient, productive, and profitable. Because there’s so much technology out there and so many digital solutions that promise to help businesses, it may be difficult for leaders to determine what digital solutions would be best for their business. Here are a few considerations to help make that decision.

Business Technology | Close up of person working on laptop while writing on a tablet with icons floating in the air

Improving Communication

Without communication, business simply wouldn’t be done. Finding a business technology that enables employees to collaborate more easily is an essential investment. This communication technology such as various messaging systems, collaborative project management workflow tools, etc., can lead to more effective communication, faster decision-making, and improved customer service.

Increasing Customer Satisfaction

One of the first priorities in business is confirming your customers are happy and technology is a great way to do this. Any business technology that may improve your relationship with your customers should be a central consideration for your digital transformation. Some of these technologies could include an AI chatbot that can help customers find information 24/7 or an automated returns system.

Improving Employee Retention

With many businesses experiencing worker shortages and with the so-called “great resignation” still happening, it's more important than ever to verify that your employees have everything they need to feel satisfied and succeed. Business automation tools can help employees by minimizing tedious manual tasks, thereby freeing up their time to work on more fulfilling projects. Technology can also allow employees to have an increased sense of flexibility, thereby improving employee retention.

Increasing Profits

Consider whether new business technology may help improve your profits. Automating or using AI can speed up workflows, improve turnaround, and increase accuracy. An example of this is Exela’s remittance processing services, which reduce or eliminate the need for manual processing, minimize exceptions, provide early fraud detection, and improve cash flow.

The Challenges of Incorporating New Technologies

Another consideration of implementing new technology is the challenges behind it. By understanding these challenges, leaders can face them head-on and even implement practices to ease into the transition.

Business Technology: Person appears frustrated with their head resting against their fingertips as they stare at their laptop

Selecting Technology That Doesn’t Work Out

Without having a proper digital transformation strategy in place and without serious consideration, you may select new technology that doesn’t quite match your business needs. This can lead to several challenges, including employees disliking what's put in place, which may hinder their workflows and slow operations. To prevent this, leaders need to carefully consider any new business technology and see where it fits within their digital transformation strategy.

Employees May Resist Change

Change can be difficult for some employees who may not wish to alter how they've been working. Some employees may be hesitant to try new technologies or some may be afraid that their jobs will be replaced. With concerns circulating among employees, it can cause difficulties in implementing new technology. Businesses need to help employees with the transition by being transparent, letting employees know what to expect, and even holding meetings or seminars that show the employees what technology will look like and how it will benefit them.

Providing Inadequate Training

One of the worst things businesses can do when incorporating new business technology is to let employees navigate it by themselves. Not every employee is technologically knowledgeable and some may use it incorrectly or less efficiently. This can cause significant delays in seeing the benefits of the technology and possibly upset employees. As the technology is put into place, training sessions should be set up to teach employees how to use the technology. This way, the technology will be implemented as seamlessly as possible, employees will know how to use the technology in the best way possible, and the company will begin seeing benefits much sooner.

Business Technology: Person with headphones on smiles as they work on their laptop while also taking notes in a notebook

 

Adopting a Digital Transformation Strategy with New Business Technology in Mind

Just because new technology exists doesn't mean that your company needs to have it. Just as continuing to use outdated systems can result in falling behind competitors, stocking up on new technologies, constantly updating, and not having a strategy in place can also lead to lagging behind the competition.

With this in mind, business leaders need to consider the technology they're currently using. If it's a few years old and hasn't had any updates, consider if it's worth your time to update it or find a new add-on technology component to make it more advanced. It's possible that your technology doesn't need to be updated, but it's always wise to have a digital transformation strategy in place that considers what technology you have on hand and if it would benefit from an update.

Use Technology to Your Advantage 

Technology is there to improve productivity, efficiency, and profits. Remembering those three benefits of business technology should help in determining what technology business leaders need to implement. You may find it useful to consult with a digital transformation specialist to determine the next step you should take. Contact us at Exela and we’ll help you make the most of your digital transformation. 

The Future of Remote Working

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Niharika Sharma

We continue to feel the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. While many of us are at different stages in the journey and trying to navigate the road to recovery efficiently, companies are trying to figure out the future of the working world. 

One thing that's clear: remote working has to be flexible and virtual for both employees and employers. 

Remote working has already become an integral part of the new working world. For employees, finding a balance between their professional and personal aspirations is non-negotiable. As for employers, they benefit from a bigger talent pool, controlled costs, carbon savings, global expansion, and a lot more. 

Yet there are still some questions that remain unanswered:

What should be the extent of this flexibility? 

How do businesses ensure productivity is unhampered? 

What should the new policies and protocols include?

 

Why Remote Work is the Future

As we are moving out of the pandemic, some changes are here to stay, like remote working! For both employees and employers, remote working seems much more favorable than onsite working. This is mainly because of its positive effect on productivity, reduced costs, and positive environmental impact. 

There are mixed opinions on the subject – some businesses do not wish to continue their remote work policy after the pandemic, while others want to continue working remotely and flexibly. 

The shift to remote working was not at all planned, but over time, remote working practices evolved. Remote workers adapted to new tools and technologies to collaborate, learned new ways to communicate, and balanced working in personal spaces. 

However, building a functional remote working infrastructure across your company is a significant undertaking. Therefore, companies must invest more in understanding the robust corporate culture to establish a well-structured work-from-home approach.

 

Future of remote working | woman in yellow shirt talking in a virtual meeting with multiple people

 

Remote Working Trends and Policies 

The big question on productivity 

Under normal circumstances, most workers would commute to their offices. Not only was this time-consuming, but factors like transportation costs, safety, and weather would also play a role.  

Now, having the freedom to work from home gave employees more time. Also, having a gradual start to the day and not having to deal with the morning rush kept their moods brighter. Businesses noticed there was no adverse effect on productivity; instead, they experienced an improvement in deliverables. A win-win for all! 
 

Freedom and responsibilities 

A growing number of employees have developed a preference for remote working. This preference included not only working from home but from other locations as well, giving them increased freedom. In a recent survey, Flexjobs found that 65 percent of respondents wanted to become full-time remote employees post-pandemic, while 31 percent preferred hybrid arrangements.

Studies suggest that employees working from home are 47% more productive. Hence the employees proved remote and hybrid working did not affect their productivity and that their commitment to work and deliverables remained strong. Now, we are seeing a boost in remote working jobs and infrastructure expansion to facilitate opportunities for making remote working accessible to a broader pool of employees who see value in relocating and working remotely from one or more different locations. 

 

future of remote working | close up of person in a virtual meeting on their laptop while checking information on their phone

 

New Work-from-home Policies & Practices 

Business leaders need to set clear and defined business goals in order to establish effective remote and hybrid working conditions for their employees. 

Companies must also reflect on their remote work practices, HR policies, and hiring practices. Short-term remote working will not help attract or retain employees. Instead, companies need to plan for the long term and reset their business plans, corporate culture, and strategies accordingly.

 

What are your thoughts on remote working? If you are looking for smart solutions to assist you and your employees, Exela can make a difference. With solutions such as DrySign, which can help speed-up the approvals and sign-off process, Digital Mailroom, which allows quick access to physical mail from anywhere, and more.

Contact us, and one of our experts can guide you through our remote working solutions.   

 

How Information Management Can Heal Healthcare’s Inefficiencies

How Information Management Can Heal Healthcare’s Inefficiencies
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Lauren Cahn
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U.S. healthcare is a model of inefficiency, with input (i.e., money spent) exceeding output (i.e, effectiveness of care). Experts cite administrative complexity as the number one reason. To wit, a staggering 60% of the health industry is employed in administering paperwork rather than in providing patient care. Even those employed in patient care can spend up to half their workday on administrative tasks. But improving health information management could make a significant impact by more effectively leveraging the vast and rapidly growing abundance of patient health data.

The federal government has already invested considerable time and money into encouraging health information management (HIM) reform to facilitate the seamless but secure transfer of patient information across discrete systems. Many acknowledge the need therefor. Nevertheless, inefficiency continues to be pervasive.

The Everest Group has made a study of identifying those industry players who have successfully prioritized addressing information management and other issues affecting efficiency. Among them is Exela, whom Everest recognized in its 2019 Healthcare Business Process Automation Solutions PEAK Matrix Assessment for displaying strength in automation product development and AI-enabled solutions. In particular, Everest notes that “Exela’s solutions help drive better connectivity between the payer and provider systems.”

Those solutions address the full gamut of challenges specific to the industry, including:

 They also address challenges common throughout all industries, including:

Perhaps most importantly, of course, they address the fundamental first “mile” along any organization’s journey into the process of becoming digitally-enabled: taking control of the data deluge and transforming it into productive assets for entry into automated. That requires both a macro-level of information governance and implementation of a process for enterprise information management. Exela offers comprehensive health information management solutions, tailored to the industry’s specific challenges and goals.

For more information on how health information management can address healthcare’s inefficiencies, you’ll want to read our Q4 Edition of PluggedIN:Tell Us Where It Hurts: How Tech Can Heal Healthcare.

___________

Sources:

https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2019/us-health-care-spending-highest-among-developed-countries.html

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2752664

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/reports/2019/04/08/468302/excess-administrative-costs-burden-u-s-health-care-system/

https://med.stanford.edu/content/dam/sm/ehr/documents/EHR-Poll-Presentation.pdf

How to Keep the Bad Guys OUT: Cyber Security Best Practices

How to Keep the Bad Guys OUT: Cyber Security Best Practices
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Lauren Cahn
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Innovation benefits not only businesses but also bad actors. As digital transformation becomes increasingly ubiquitous, more data becomes vulnerable to attack from more points of vulnerability and from more potential attack vectors. In the last year alone1:

  • Web attacks are up by 56% (e.g., breaches introduced from a third party website)
  • Supply chain attacks are up by 78% (e.g., breaches introduced through/by vendors and third party service providers)
  • Attacks that come from email attachments that are actually office files are up 43%

To minimize the risk of a data breach, businesses need to be as innovative in their approach to security as they are in their approach to digital transformation. Just as digital transformation requires an overarching enterprise-wide strategy, so too does security transformation, including securing the right digital transformation team, the right security team, and ensuring appropriate checks and balances between them. All of that requires much of what an effective digital transformation requires, not the least of which involves embedding the “culture” into the enterprise through:

  • stakeholder buy-in
  • necessary capital investment
  • some level of organizational fluidity

Based on our own experience as a digital transformation partner to over 4,000 businesses across the globe, as well as our constant monitoring of the digital and security transformation landscape, we’ve come up with the following best practices for getting security right in your digital transformation:

Assemble the proper team

Before you can even begin to assess the potential risks involved in digital transformation you need to be able to assess the inherent risks as well as the laws with which you’ll have to be compliant. That means assembling the right team, including the following (some of whom may overlap, depending on organizational structure):

  • A senior level information security officer
  • Legal counsel or other experts capable of outlining compliance requirements
  • A team (or teams) reporting to the top information security officer to:
    • monitor compliance, including staying abreast of changes to laws, rules, and regulations
    • respond to security breach incidents
    • respond to the consequences of breach-incidents (including interacting with end-users)

All of these team members should be embedded into your enterprise’s overarching business strategy, looping them in at every level of decision-making and execution.

Taking inventory and assessing the risks

With the proper team assembled, it’s crucial to take an inventory of:

  • All key processes
  • All systems that deliver key processes
  • All data delivered to, delivered by, stored in, and processed via those systems
  • All such data that is sensitive, proprietary, or otherwise subject to regulation
  • The laws, rules, and regulations applicable to that data
  • Existing vulnerabilities
  • Potential vulnerabilities
  • Industry-specific vulnerabilities

Creating policies and plans to address the vulnerabilities

This may include coming up with new ways of authenticating system-user credentials, policies regarding enterprise- as well as personal-devices, policies regarding security clearance for employees and others on the premises, and policies regarding use of networks and social media. Despite that one of the aims of digital transformation is a breaking down of information silos, it’s also critical to put protocols into effect that ensure any information made “accessible” as a result will be accessible only by those with a need, or permission, to know it.

Training and educating…everyone from employees to the chief executive

Some experts estimate that as many as 95% of all data breaches2 are the result of human error. But that percentage includes error at the coding level at all levels of supply chain. Others place the percentage at closer to somewhere between 40%3 and 50%4, where the error is limited to user-interaction with the system in question. Whatever the percentage, the reality is that if you were to ask 10 employees what they might be doing that puts enterprise data at risk, at least half might not have any idea—that is, unless you provide them with training/education on system and data security. This includes general training/education about security, why it’s required, and what’s at stake when it’s compromised, as well as specific topics that address of-the-moment security risks. At this moment, that might include:

  • How to identify phishing schemes
  • How to identify unsafe websites and links
  • How to recognize malicious email attachments
  • Proper password management (including requiring strong passwords and periodic password updates)
  • Proper device and workstation security
  • Social media awareness

Laying down and enforcing security-focused protocols

Where training and education fail, protocols—especially those that are consistently enforced and periodically reiterated—can pick up the slack. For example, protocols regarding:

  • Using public networks
  • What to do if a device is lost or stolen
  • What can and can’t be shared on social media
  • What to do when sensitive information is requested by email or otherwise
  • Multi-step authentication processes disclosing sensitive data or access to databases containing the same
  • The use or ban from use of non-enterprise devices while on enterprise premises
  • The taking of photographs and screenshots on enterprise premises
  • The tracking and return of enterprise-issued devices and badges and other credentials upon termination of employment

Create a strong response plan

System and data security requires a response plan in the event of a breach. An effective response plan can significantly mitigate the damages of a breach. Such a plan would include:

  • A means for identifying new risks and vulnerabilities and a protocol for conveying them throughout the enterprise and to third parties who need to know
  • A means for detecting breaches long before the average detection time of 100 days
  • A protocol for responding to detected breaches, including:
    • isolating affected system segments
    • shutting down access to those segments and the data accessible within
    • notification of whomever needs to be notified under applicable law (from end user to law-enforcement to forensics experts to attorneys)
    • A protocol for post-incident procedures, including documenting the incident and collecting data to improve future responses and update security protocols to meet current risks
    • A post-incident public relations/marketing response
    • Embedding the response plan into the related business processes
    • “Fire-drills” that reinforce the plan essentials in the minds of the key players

Keeping the “bad guys” out involves a combination of prevention, detection, action, and agility. Make sure your enterprise has all of these covered.

In the weeks ahead, we’ll be diving in to explore how system and data security dovetail with data privacy and all the laws and regulations with which your digital transformation provider should be compliant. We’ll also explore those security matters you’ll want to consider when choosing your digital transformation partner. If you missed the earlier posts in this series on cyber security, you can catch up here on:

Gotta read it all now? You can download the entire series as a flipping-book here.

In the future, be sure to subscribe to Exela’s quarterly thought leadership publication, PluggedIN for up-to-the-minute news and views on topics that matter to you.


  1. https://www.symantec.com/content/dam/symantec/docs/reports/istr-24-executive-summary-en.pdf
  2. https://fraudwatchinternational.com/security-awareness/what-is-cyber-security-awareness-training/
  3. https://enterprise.verizon.com/resources/reports/2019-data-breach-investigations-report.pdf
  4. https://atlasps.com/2019/02/data-breaches-caused-by-human-error-major-cybersecurity-threat-2019/

How Request-to-Pay Will Transform Digital Payments

How Request-to-Pay Will Transform Digital Payments
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Lauren Cahn
Hashtag(s)

Around 90% of everyone either shops or banks online, or both. Unfortunately, this has spawned a virtual cottage industry for payment fraudsters. In fact, approximately 63% of businesses have experienced fraud losses in the past 12 months, with $1.2 billion having been stolen during 2018 in the U.K. alone. Enter Exela’s new Request to Pay solution, on which it has partnered with Mastercard Vocalink in the U.K. Under the venture, Exela is developing the Request to Pay Solution, which Mastercard will host and run and Exela will act as distribution partner.

What is Request to Pay?

Request to Pay is a secure messaging service for overlay on top of existing payments infrastructure as a new flexible way to settle bills between businesses, businesses and individuals, and individuals and social contacts. Request to Pay allows end-user solutions to interconnect, and at the same time, provides the basis for the development of new pan-European payment solutions. 

For each “request to pay” transaction, the payer and biller will have the opportunity to communicate in real-time. Supporting and expanding e-commerce and opening up opportunities for value-added services to existing repertoires (such as transaction-financing, liquidity financing, and cash management). Overall, Request to Pay should reduce reconciliation costs and reduce fraud for all parties.

Let’s walk through a Request to Pay use case

For example, let’s envision a consumer traveling for business. Through Request to Pay, the consumer purchases train tickets, and in return, receives a payment confirmation through the communication platform. That’s nothing new, of course, but there’s plenty of opportunity for adding on for the benefit of all parties, as we’ll see. For example:

  • The transportation company can use the communication platform to upsell (for example, ticket upgrades) and cross-sell (for example, amenities for the train ride), in all cases, allowing pre-payment with electronic confirmation, and as an add-on, payment and financing options.
  • Through partnerships with hotels, restaurants, shops, and attractions at the destination, the platform can be used to cross-sell additional goods and services to the consumer, for which the consumer can utilize the same variety of payment options.
  • Billers can use the platform to apply for invoice financing, while the bank can use the platform to analyze investment risk, initiate credit checking, and manage payments.

Request to Pay at the European Digital Banking Summit

Exela recently had an opportunity to present Request to Pay at the European Digital Banking Summit (EDBS) in Berlin, Germany in late November 2019. The EDBS is a private invitation-only gathering that plays host to a community of senior digital banking and FinTech leaders from across the European Banking sector who come together to address key challenges and opportunities within the industry.

There were approximately 50 banks and financial institutions in attendance, although the setting was refreshingly personal, according to Ralf Kastner, Christ Vincent, and Huib Gerrits, who represented Exela at the event.  We also gave a series of 30-minute one-on-one presentations to a select group of banks and other financial institutions. We look forward to rolling out our brand new Request to Pay product demonstration in the months to come.

Stay tuned for 2020 updates to our Events calendar, and don’t miss Exela at the 2020 Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida. We’re a proud premium sponsor and are hosting two pro-am teams of four golfers.

How Technology Can Turn Invoices into Cash

How Technology Can Turn Invoices into Cash
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Lauren Cahn
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Whoever said, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” must never have heard of invoice financing (a strategy to turn invoices into cash). Sure, it’s reasonable to recognize the value in something small that you believe to be in your grasp over something bigger that’s even more speculative. In some scenarios, however, the potential inherent in reaching for those two birds right now is simply too compelling to ignore. Those scenarios include:

- Small and medium-sized businesses

- Start-ups in need of up-front capital to stay afloat while waiting for invoice payment

- Businesses who payment cycles are long or volatile as a matter of course

- Businesses experiencing temporary “adjustments” of one kind or another

Borrowing money against your accounts receivable

“Invoice financing” refers to the borrowing of money by a business that has amounts due from customers under outstanding invoices (i.e., accounts receivables). The lender loans a percentage of those accounts receivables, and the borrower pays back the loan, plus interest, once its invoices are paid. Invoice financing helps businesses improve cash flow, pay employees and suppliers, and reinvest in operations and growth earlier than they could if they had to wait until their customers paid their balances in full, notes Cisco Liquido, Exela’s Senior Vice President of Business and Strategy. Because assessing the appropriateness and desirability of obtaining invoice financing is a complex and data-driven process, it can be helpful to utilize data analytics to maximize returns and optimize cash flows. Our P2P (Procure to Pay) platform can help automate all of your accounts payable functions, as well as help match you with potential invoice finance lenders and manage the relationship between borrower and lender.

Loaning money against your borrower’s accounts receivables

On the other side of invoice borrowing is invoice lending. There are distinct advantages associated with the lending side of invoiced financing, the most obvious of which is that the borrower’s invoices act as collateral. In other words, you’re lending on a secured basis, and most cases, risk is limited by the percentage of accounts receivable advanced to the borrower (i.e., the lender advances, say, 85% of the amount of accounts receivable, but the borrower’s obligation is secured by 100% of those accounts receivable).

Of course, it’s impossible to eliminate all risk because of the possibility the borrower’s customer(s) will fail to pay the invoiced amount(s), resulting in a complicated collections process in order to recover the collateral. However, as Liquido notes, that’s where effective risk management comes in. “Being the best in class at invoice processing isn’t going to give you a competitive advantage — but being the best in class at risk might.”

Automating invoice assessment is a crucial step in risk assessment and management, and Exela’s Liquidity solutions can help. To learn more about Exela’s rapidly deployable business process automation solutions, check out our Solutions page.

3 Ways Leveraging a Tech-Based Partnership Streamlines Internal Processes to Reduce Costs & Increase Efficiency

3 Ways Leveraging a Tech-Based Partnership Streamlines Internal Processes to Reduce Costs & Increase Efficiency
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Peter Bohjalian
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Businesses must attain a balance between maximizing productivity, reducing risk, and fulfilling customer requirements. This balance is crucial because while every business has a specialty, few excel at every single aspect of running a successful enterprise – nor should they. An enterprise should focus on its core, revenue generating work, and related customer service efforts.

But effective business management requires a broader focus. Efficient transaction processing is a prerequisite for success. Turning massive amounts of business-critical information generated not only through said transactions but also by active account management into effective outcomes, is another.

The numerous, intricate daily transaction and information management processes undertaken by any modern enterprise can lead to errors in payment processing, missed communications deadlines, or a variety of workflow-based issues - which can all lead to delayed or lost revenue, and even worse - aggravated customers.

By leveraging specialized knowledge platforms through an external partner, enterprises can gain access to innovative end-to-end solutions, integrating data aggregation, workflow, analytics, payment processing, exception management and outcome resolutions. Technology and knowledge platforms help automate and streamline high-volume, mission-critical processes for business across industries.

Here are three specific ways leveraging a specialized partner who leverages key technology can help organizations streamline operations and focus on their core, strategic goals:

  1. Inject Automation into Transaction & Info Management Processes Can Reduce Errors

    Organizations today are confronted with enormous amounts of data to process. It’s not uncommon for a given enterprise to be processing an average of 15,000 invoices per day – or tens of thousands of documents per week. This already-daunting task is further complicated by issues like the use of multiple, disparate legacy computer systems. Or, a lack of an effective business-continuity plan ensuring operations can continue in the event of a power outage, extreme weather, or any other type of major disruption to a business. Confronting these issues effectively from a strictly internal perspective might be difficult. These types of issues however can be mitigated by partnering with a specialized technology provider who focuses on managing such complex processes. For example, some providers can implement a single, integrated system which manages the capture, processing, research and archival of payments, invoices, and other related documents. These systems can support both electronic and paper transactions, and offer a number of benefits, including: cost savings on payments processing, streamlined processes which improve productivity, automated ‘match rates’ to preemptively reduce errors, and on-site support from the end-user company’s own IT team – creating a highly integrated, independent, and effectively efficient system.

  2. Leverage Specialized, Tech-Based Partnerships is a Proven Way to Maintain Focus on Customer Service, Sales, and Core Strengths

    When a business grows, so can document volume. At a certain point, the growth may overwhelm manual, or paper-based systems to process said documents. Over time, this will begin to impede customer service delivery, which can impact that growth itself. While confronting the issues that accompany rapid growth is a problem every business stakeholder would like to have – it is also one that must be addressed. Even without substantial growth, processes can simply age out of effectiveness.

    When a company needs to improve processes, and put in place superior workflow technology, it can be less costly, more time efficient, and ultimately, more effective to partner with a reliable, proven supplier. This way, the client enterprise gains a true partner, one who can commit to developing, deploying, and monitoring new processes and systems that are scalable over time. Attempting to develop everything internally would be complex and costly.

  3. Link BPO & Transaction Processing Services (TPS) to the Same Provider to Provide Maximum Governance, Cost Savings, & Efficiency

    BPO has been established as an effective way for enterprises to streamline and update internal processes to refocus on core, revenue-generating work. Yet, many of the benefits can be negated by complicated vendor management scenarios, where one outsourcer is handling payment processing for instance, and another is managing the print and mail work for statements, invoices, and other communications. By bringing all the areas of your enterprise under the same supplier, organizations gain a single point of contact to control and monitor these actions, leverage synergies across the business and often time reduce costs – creating the simplified management structure needed to maximize the value of these efforts.

    Outsourcing to a single vendor who can handle your needs holistically has other benefits, too. When handled in-house, line items like statement generation, call centers, lockbox services and payment processing really add up. But full-service, end-to-end BPOs absorb these costs or provide them at a much lower rate than a single enterprise could negotiate with providers on their own.

    As noted, every business has a specialty. Joining forces with one whose focus is different and mutually beneficial can provide better results at lower costs than handling everything in-house. Particularly if that partner has a robust service and solution offering to handle the entirety of your periphery.

As the business world becomes increasingly competitive, a need to refocus on customer service and core operational goals has emerged. One effective strategy that’s surfaced is BPO – a strategy which becomes even more effective when all areas that are outsourced can be handled by a single, holistic outsourcing partner.