What Do Consumers Expect From Your Bill Pay Solution?

Are you treating consumers how they want to be treated when it comes to billing and payment? To find out, I spoke with David Albertazzi from Aite Group about his new research 'How Americans Pay Their Bills'. Let’s see what David’s data says.

The Path to Faster Payments – A US Perspective

With news that the Faster Payments Task Force released its final findings today and set the deadline for our country’s new payment system to be live by the year 2020, a mere 29 months away, it leaves many in the industry getting ready to roll up our sleeves because it is going to be an all-hands-on-deck 29 months.

The Many Delicious Flavors of P2P

We’re now very much into the height of summer (real feel today outside my door is 98 degrees, not to be confused with that amazing band from the 90s). And following the recent Zelle launch, we’re also very much into the height of P2P hype. As Mark and I are wont to do, we’re mixing up food and payments (a delicious combo)! And in this case, we’re talking about one of our favorite summer (or year-round) treats, ice cream. We’ve waxed poetic about ice cream in prior blogs (i.e., shops at the Cape and in Newport that still abide by old-school cash-only policies, etc.). Specific to this post, if you think about it, the roster of P2P options continues to increase, like the number of amazing flavors that Ben & Jerry’s offers these days. And with spoons in our mouths and napkins in our hands, it’s time to rant!

Connect, Learn, Share – The ACI Exchange 2017 Round UP!

If you’ve never experienced “dry heat” (which is much like actual “heat”)—you haven’t lived! Stepping off the plane in Phoenix last month for ACI’s Annual User Exchange, the mercury was literally jumping out of the thermostat at 116 degrees Fahrenheit…and it was unlike anything this New Englander has ever experienced. I mention the weather here because it’s the important backdrop to talk about Exchange itself; you could say that the heat was required to properly bake this event to perfection over the four-day agenda and fully deliver on this year’s theme of connect, learn, share.

Why ATMs Are a Successful Piece of 'Social Tech' Not Heading for Retirement Anytime Soon

The ATM turned 50 last week (on June 27, to be exact) and despite the spectacular growth of alternative payment methods and predictions that we are heading toward a cashless society, birthday celebrations around the world were upbeat. Most industry commentators seem to agree that the ATM is alive and kicking. As ACI’s Lu Zurawski, EMEA consumer payments lead, says in an interview with Forbes: “The ATM is a successful piece of social technology and won’t be heading for retirement any time soon.”  

Challenges and Opportunities for Girls and Women in STEM

ACI is planning to host its third Coding for Girls camp in Omaha on July 15th—a free day-long event to teach middle school girls about coding and programs like HTML, CSS and Java, hosted by the Peter Kiewit Institute at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). As we gear up for our next camp, we sat down with Deepak Khazanchi, Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at UNO College of Information Science & Technology (IS&T) along with Shelley Ahlers, ACI’s SVP of Software Engineering, to get a deeper picture around the challenges and opportunities for women and girls in Coding and STEM fields.

The ATM Turns 50: Why Evolution Is Key For Its Survival

The ATM turns 50 this year and half a century on ATMs remain popular with consumers worldwide. Banks and building societies more than ever see ATMs as a key channel of communication and interaction with their customers and many are now offering ATM services that go beyond simple cash withdrawal. We spoke with Paul Horlock, Director for Payments at Nationwide, one of the biggest high street financial providers in the UK.  Nationwide has been working with ACI Worldwide for over 30 years and currently uses ACI’s BASE24 eps solution to power an estate of around 700 ATMs across the UK. 

Amazon & Whole Foods: A Game-Changer for Customer Experience

The estimated $700-billion-dollar grocery business recently got a jolt when Amazon announced its intended purchase of Whole Foods Market. With more than 450 stores in the U.S. and UK, Amazon will be plunging head first into the physical world of commerce.  

Why Now Is the Time to Accept Debit Cards in Mortgage

Are you part of the mortgage servicing transformation? While letting customers make payments with a pair of sleek sunglasses is a novelty, there are still plenty of sensible mortgage servicing options your customers want.

SleepAtNightability – Why We Must Not Forget The Fundamentals of Payments

“Boring in payments isn’t a bug; it’s a feature.”

When I saw this quote on Twitter, I literally LOL-ed, mainly because it’s so true (thanks to James Wester & Sam Maule). Indeed the ’boring’ in payments exists for good reason; when it comes to peoples’ money, you can innovate, but you cannot forget the fundamentals. The basics may be boring, but the lesson there is that they are vital.