SOTI, the world's most trusted provider of mobile and IoT device management solutions, announced today the launch of the SOTI ONE platform, a suite of tightly integrated solutions. The SOTI ONE platform provides unmatched capabilities to address the core problems that organizations face when trying to leverage mobility and IoT for operations and business processes that are critical to the success of their business. The first components of SOTI ONE are available today including MobiControl, SOTI’s industry leading enterprise mobile management solution, which delivers advanced features for securely managing smartphones, tablets, desktops and laptops that run on today’s popular operating systems (iOS, Android and Windows – both mobile and desktop).

In addition to MobiControl, today, SOTI is also launching two new elements of the platform. The general availability of SOTI Assist, its help desk solution, is built specifically for the unique needs of mobile computing – which differentiates it from other solutions designed to support PCs and laptops. SOTI Assist offers integrated remote control, diagnostic and ticketing to meet the support needs of today’s mobile workers. Additionally, SOTI is launching its beta version of SOTI Snap, a rapid app development solution, enabling employees across an organization – from non-technical business professionals to IT – to build and deploy applications in minutes. According to VDC Research, on average, organizations require more than six months to develop and deploy a single app and spend around $140K. SOTI Snap will help organizations overcome these substantial hurdles.

This launch comes as the future becomes increasingly mobile and connected; a seemingly infinite number of other devices are being embedded with software, sensors and connectivity at breakneck speed.

According to Gartner, by 2020, over 65 per cent of enterprises (up from 30 per cent in April 2017) will adopt IoT products[1]. With this revolution growing each day, enterprises must realize this is not a matter of user preference but a fundamental element of bottom-line productivity.

SOTI ONE – POWERFUL AND INTEGRATED

SOTI MobiControl, SOTI Assist and SOTI Snap are powerful individually, but even more so together because of their tight integration with one another. This integration will deliver capabilities that go above-and-beyond what’s possible from purchasing components from different vendors. One of the key highlights of this integration is the out-of-the-box capability for a help desk technician to remotely view a SOTI Snap app on an Apple iOS device from within SOTI Assist. Other remote support solutions require you to code an app with their SDK, which can slow down app development. Alongside SOTI MobiControl, SOTI Assist and SOTI Snap, SOTI plans to launch additional solutions to help companies derive greater insight and leverage IoT to transform their operations.

SOTI ONE is an essential solution for enterprises struggling to manage the chaos of connected devices, especially where mobility is critical to their business. The new platform will enable enterprises to maintainworker productivity, build applications faster, and manage mobile devices and IoT endpoints. SOTI ONE will use business intelligence to improve and automate business in the mobile-first era.

Carl Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of SOTI, said, “The launch of SOTI ONE marks the next wave of our company’s focus on connected experiences that give our customers the freedom to innovate anywhere, anytime, and anyplace by harnessing the power of mobility. SOTI’s journey from 2004 to now has seen the business transition from one enterprise solution, to an enterprise portfolio of solutions. This reflects what the market needs, both today and tomorrow. It will not only future-proof the SOTI business, but also the businesses of our customers.”

According to Rodrigues, the industry is changing and companies no longer require just one piece of mobility. “While businesses know that integration is critical, they continue to build their mobile strategy using disparate solutions and, just like a house of cards, if one element fails the entire system crashes,” he added. “This next phase of our vision focuses on the mobility challenges our customers across all sectors, including healthcare, retail, field services, transportation and logistics, are currently struggling with and will continue to face in the future. This change is part of SOTI’s continued commitment to delivering solutions to ensure our customers meet their business critical mobility needs – more efficiently and cost effectively.”

To experience the SOTI ONE platform, and to hear more about SOTI’s journey, visit www.soti.net for details.

Thanks to a new partnership with Raisin, N26 clients can now open fixed term deposits at very attractive rates at several European banks with only a few clicks. With almost 400.000 customers between them across Europe, mobile banking platform N26 and deposit marketplace Raisin are among the leading FinTech companies in Germany. Currently, the offering is only available for clients in Germany, but will be launched in other European countries later this year.

All over Europe, interest rates on savings accounts are low and steadily decreasing. N26 account holders will now have access to several of Raisin’s European partner banks, which offer significantly higher interest rates. Depending on the amount the customer wishes to deposit and the chosen term, the customer gets an overview of the best available interest rates at the selected partner banks. As with all N26 offers the savings accounts can be opened in a few clicks and customers instantly receive a summary of the interest gains they will receive at the end of the term.

All deposits are 100 percent guaranteed up to 100,000 euros ($109,000; £84,444) per saver and bank by the National Deposit Guarantee Scheme in accordance with EU directives.

“With N26 Savings we offer our clients a new, innovative savings product at very attractive conditions. Thanks to our partnership with Raisin, our clients can benefit from the highest interest rates available, with only a few clicks and directly on their smartphones“, says Valentin Stalf, founder and CEO at N26.

“This solution is not only very comfortable for the clients, but it is a real innovation“, says Tamaz Georgadze, founder and CEO at Raisin: Thus, it is the first time that a savings service is processed within another provider. The data is exchanged through a modern API interface and can be integrated within only a few weeks into an app, an online banking or an online portal. „We are delighted to have N26 as a first partner for this new product“, says Georgadze.

With N26 Savings, N26 now also digitizes term deposit offers. As with checking account, credit, investment and international transfers, N26 combines attractive conditions with a very easy user experience. Instead of developing all products themselves, N26 collaborates with selected innovative FinTech companies as well as with traditional providers. Later this year, overnight savings will be added to the savings offering. N26 is also currently developing new initiatives to enable customers to manage their insurance policies online.

Two of the UK’s leading accountancy sector software providers have joined forces in anticipation of the digital tax changes sweeping the nation.

IRIS Software is today announcing a partnership with Xero to streamline the bookkeeping process for UK accountants in preparation for HMRC’s ‘Making Tax Digital’ (MTD) initiative.

As the software used by an accountant’s client base will vary from business to business, firms have previously struggled to take data from one system into another. However, this issue may soon be a thing of the past.

The collaboration, which enables accountants to pull client information directly from Xero’s bookkeeping solution into IRIS Accountancy Suite, will streamline the digital tax process for firms across the UK. This partnership, provides accountants with a fully integrated tax and accounting solution that automates manual processes, allowing them to modernise existing working practices to support their clients more efficiently.

Sion Lewis, CEO Accountancy Division at IRIS Software says, “The modern accountancy firm may have preferred software systems, however the software used by their clients will differ presenting a significant challenge for the practice. With the need to digitise tax and record keeping becoming increasingly important, the sheer amount of data will increase exponentially as businesses begin to comply, and it’s vital accountants are supported through this challenging time.

“Our mission at IRIS is to make the accountants working life more productive and this is another step on that journey. To ensure what could be a very complex process for UK accountants is made as simple as possible, IRIS is partnering with third party software vendors allowing connectivity and data sharing to extend efficiencies to the entire market. Time-consuming admin processes will be cut considerably and accountants will be able to focus on what is most important– adding true value to their client base in the post-Brexit digital economy.”

Gary Turner, UK co-founder and managing director of Xero, says, “Thousands of accounting professionals are looking to Xero and IRIS to help them manage the impact of the new HMRC tax rules next year and so it makes perfect sense for us to collaborate to offer them as much support as we can.”

Sopra Banking Software, a trusted partner for banks, and Axway, a catalyst for digital transformation, are preparing a digital platform that aims to create new customer experiences while enabling financial players to comply with PSD2.

Full-throttle change in the world of banking: the emergence of Open Banking

For several years, new comers (retailers, FinTechs, and Gafas etc), who increase customer expectations, and regulatory pressure have been radically changing the banking landscape. New regulations are stimulating this transformation: they aim to promote innovation and competitiveness but also to protect citizens. By 2018, with PSD2 banks will be legally obliged to share information linked to their customers’ accounts with authorised third parties. These third parties will also be able to directly initiate transfer transactions from these accounts.However, banks will remain responsible for their customers’ data and transactions. So, banks have less than a year to prepare for this radical change, which is tantamount to an in-depth overhaul of their industry.

Innovation supporting customers and banks

Sopra Banking Software’s and Axway’s strategic partnership aims to create an open and connected services platform that will enable banks to address requirements linked to new customer experiences, but also to meet the challenges posed by Open Banking. Its first objective is to support PSD2 implementation.

Based on open standards, this digital platform capitalises on Sopra Banking Software’s solutions and business expertise especially in the Customer Engagement domain as well as Axway’s technological know-how particularly, in Digital Transformation leveraging API Management, Analytics and Mobile technology.

This new platform will make it possible to leverage customer data and monetize innovative services. This initiative draws on the capacity to combine services, using an agile and seamless approach, with any possible partner, including FinTechs. Access to the resulting added-value services will be secured and standardised, in omnichannel mode. The platform will be fully unveiled in the coming weeks.

According to Eric Pasquier, CEO of Sopra Banking Software and Sopra Steria Board Member, ‘Open Banking is a major challenge for banks. Our platform represents a unique combination on the market with Sopra Banking Software’s powerful business and banking system expertise, allied with Axway’s recognised technological know-how. We are thrilled to offer our customers a unique opportunity to get ahead and position themselves as an innovative leader with regards to their customers.’

Jean-Marc Lazzari, CEO of Axway, added: ‘This platform takes full advantage of Axway’s innovative offer AMPLIFY™, to provide the agility required to interact and collaborate with any type of partner and deliver innovative, secured, and easily accessible digital services. Sopra Banking Software’s and Axway’s combined solutions guarantee a seamless and consistent customer experience, regardless of the channel or media used.’

Duco, the global fintech provider of data control services, today announced a new engagement with World First, the international payments company. World First will use Duco Cube, the award-winning self-service data control platform, to automate a variety of tasks across treasury and middle office functions.

By using Duco Cube, World First staff are able to streamline reconciliation processes across a number of banks and currencies, reducing the time spent on daily reconciliations by over 80%. Control has also increased, with Duco Cube’s unique ‘natural language’ system providing enhanced granularity and transparency over matching rules. 

‘We are delighted to announce this agreement with World First, another dynamic fintech firm,’ said Christian Nentwich, CEO of Duco. ‘In this case, we are helping a company that is already using intelligent technology to streamline payments processes to become even more efficient. As we continue to build our footprint in the payments space, it is clear we can provide great value to this industry.’

Faye Marshall, Group Treasurer of World First, added: ‘We have been particularly impressed with the flexibility of Duco Cube and the speed with which we were up and running. The platform was able to handle complex data straight out of the box, enabling our operations teams to start setting up controls themselves with minimal training. Duco Cube also ensures all our processes are automated and scalable, which is essential for an expanding business like World First.’

‘At Duco we provide our customers with the tools to deal with a wide range of complex data problems’, said Jeffrey Gangl, Duco’s Chief Revenue Officer. ‘Duco Cube is data agnostic, meaning our customers can use it for control functions across the business, while adapting quickly to changing market requirements. It also enables us to provide solutions across multiple industry verticals, and the payments industry is an important and growing part of our vision. Our alignment with World First enables us to build on the foundations we have established in this industry, and deliver an innovative solution to the market.’

SmartStream Technologies, the Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM^®) specialist, today announced the release of Corona Retail Payments Control, its reconciliations and exceptions management product, capable of supporting a wide-range of retail payments to significantly improve operational efficiency for customers.

Managing retail payments remains challenging as many financial institutions are hampered by a lack of automation, relying on a mixture of spreadsheets, databases and paper processes. Corona Retail Payments Control automates reconciliations processing and exceptions handling, which will help clients reduce cost, mitigate risks, improve client value and deliver operational control across the entire retail payments transaction lifecycle.

The retail payments ecosystem has gone through a dramatic change in recent years, with wide-ranging payment methods that range from bank transfers, credit, debit and charge cards, as well as innovations such as e- and m-wallets, P2P payment, alternative payments, and digital currencies. As new technologies emerge, further disruption seems likely, whilst retail payment participants are striving to differentiate their offerings and to retain clients.

Christian Schiebl, Head of the Corona Business Unit at SmartStream, states: “The climate in which players are competing is exceptional while revenue per transaction is declining. Pressure from financial regulators is increasing all while card schemes, consumer protection bodies and fraud prevention agencies are all adding to the complexity and expense of doing business. Our solution provides full monitoring of the entire transaction lifecycle during the settlement of funds, charges incurred for services delivered, as well as inter and intrabank transactions – a total end-to-end solution, something the market truly needs at this crucial time”.

Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is partnering with Veridos, a German company specializing in Identity Solutions, to supply contactless electronic ​identity cards (eIDs) to the Macao Special Administrative Region Government (Macao SAR Government). Under the collaboration, Gemalto is the subcontractor responsible for providing the physical cards, enhanced with security features and seamlessly inc​orporating Veridos' operating system software solution. The partnership will ensure a steady and consistent supply of smart eID cards to the government. 

The new Macao eID cards are effective at mitigating fraud and counterfeiting activities. They are made from tamper-proof polycarbonate material, and incorporate two innovative security ID featur​​es from Gemalto: Window Lock and True Vision. These allow the authorities to verify the cards' authenticity with the naked eye and under a UV light – significantly enhancing regional security for the Identification Services Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, while offering Macao citizens' unparalleled convenience when accessing e-government services. 

Macao is one of the world's top 20[1] tourist destinations. In addition to its own population of 600,000[​2], Macao attracts an average of 2.5 million[3] international visitors on a monthly basis. This places a greater emphasis on identity management and enforcement, which has become a major challenge for all governments. With the widespread proliferation of internet connectivity and mobile devices globally, identity fraud and theft have been on the rise and need addressing urgently. 

"We originally started a strong partnership with Veridos and Trüb back in 2013. Since Gemalto incorporated Trüb, this cooperation has been extended accordingly," said Elsie U Ao Ieong, Director of the Identification Services Bureau of the Macao SAR Government. "We are confident that our concerted expertise and efforts will give Macao the technological edge in identity card security." 

"Using the contactless eID cards, Macao citizens can now enjoy a secure and hassle-free "tap and go" experience, thanks to the high security features, tamper-proof ID design, and contactless capability," said Fernando Dal Zotto, Senior Vice President of Government Programs at Gemalto.