Get Automated
Share
CEO Insight’s Henry Martin caught up with Hans Leybaert, CEO of UnifiedPost, a leading Fintech Company in the international spotlight.
UnifiedPost, founded in 2000, started as a platform for document management and over the years acquired several companies to create the company we are today. We have 200 people working across Europe on a BPaaS platform based on the basic components document, payment, identity and APPs to support our customers with upgrading their business processes. UnifiedPost helps both small and large corporates to focus on what they do best – expanding their business.
CEO Insight: How did UnifiedPost become a Fintech company?
Hans Leybaert: UnifiedPost started off as a document management company but soon learned that the growing Fintech industry was important to get involved in. Also, payments are very important to offer total document solutions. And since the acquisition of PowertoPay, Onea and Nomadesk we can officially say we are specialised in financial technologies and that we are one of the key players in the market offering a one-stop-shop, from purchase to payment.
CEO Insight: What can you tell us about UnifiedPost’s daughter company PowertoPay and how does it fit into the overall solutions portfolio?
Hans Leybaert: PowertoPay, one of our first acquisitions, is a crucial complementary business for us that has further supported UnifiedPost’s value proposition. We understood the potential and future of the payments business as game-changing, and PowertoPay was a significant step towards BPAAS, solving the critical needs of our customers. For example, with purchase to pay or order to cash. All solutions are industry proven, customers are using the products daily and the company has a stable financial base.
CEO Insight: What do you think the future holds for the Fintech industry?
Hans Leybaert: In today’s digital world with ever increasing connectivity, Fintech continues to advance with both proven and POC (proof of concept) stage solutions and methodologies. We see this with Blockchain and PSD2 for example. The digital revolution is for most organisations an aspect that cannot be, and must not be, ignored. Therefore, we will endeavour to continue to deliver proven solutions, further develop our skills and knowledge, understand the impact of amarket, vertical and directive or legislative changes to be ready for whatever the future requirements will be.
“PowertoPay, one of our first acquisitions, is a crucial complementary business for us that has further supported UnifiedPost’s value proposition.”
CEO Insight: What do you think the future in relation to Fintech holds for companies?
Hans Leybaert: I see a lot of changes in regulation and local government and the way of working that obligates companies to change their current processes. Changes are a difficulty in a lot of companies, maybe the most difficult thing, and will cost tremendous effort in time and money. That is why it is so important for companies that their business processes are easy to work with, fully automated and updated to the changing developments of the future Fintech world.
CEO Insight: Improving business processes, innovation and customer experience are some examples of the drivers behind Fintech adoption and strategy, what do you consider to be the most prominent driver for your customers?
Hans Leybaert: I think that the prominent driver for our customers is the need to centralise, automate and develop their businesses in a way they can grow along with the Digital Age. The essence of UnifiedPost is to be agile and to demonstrate true understanding of all our stakeholders’ needs, now and in the future, bringing to bear true business process as a service, business value and business enablement solutions at whatever stage of digital adoption or maturity each customer or future customer has achieved. Fintech is enabling and changing businesses across industry sectors by prioritising intelligence for every facet of our customer and prospect requirements. We make it possible, with big data and massive information streams and loads, to gather correct information to make the best decisions. To speed up business processes as optimised and fitting as possible, we offer value added services within document, payment and identity handling. We have proven solutions in different sectors like banking and finance, insurance, HR, utilities and telecom.
CEO Insight: Tell us about some of the key values behind UnifiedPost and how your corporate culture is impacting your growth and customer service?
Hans Leybaert: UnifiedPost has customer centricity at our core and is a fundamental pillar of our corporate ethos. Our ability to communicate effectively and interact with customer stakeholders, sector organisations and our domain specialists build trust and confidence in our customers and ensure we continue to develop long-term partnerships and relationships. We believe that we should always be close to our customers even though we are in a truly digital world that has evolved so that business can be done in an anonymous way all over the world. Whether it be providing ongoing support for our customers, adapting to change or anticipating customer needs of the future, our concept is end-to-end support for all customer requirements of today and tomorrow.
“UnifiedPost began by optimising the document processes for our customers in a SaaS model with our portfolio of solutions for document handling, transmission, archiving and reception.”
CEO Insight: What are some of the corporate and business functions that UnifiedPost services? And which business stakeholders do your teams engage with regularly?
Hans Leybaert: Our customer-centric approach is based on understanding. We often engage regularly with CEOs, CFOs and CCOs. However, the business enablement and cost reduction abilities that UnifiedPost brings to bear for our customers means our projects often impact the entire CXO suite. In many cases, we are driving significant changes in the company. Therefore, by being close to the customer and bringing the stakeholders together, we are often able to help our customers visualise and realise more value as a whole. As organisations search for trusted solution providers for their digitisation needs, whether they are SMEs, multinationals or divisions, UnifiedPost has the proven experience and approach to deliver real business value, today and for the future.
CEO Insight: Can you share some insight on your partner strategy and some of the key partnerships that are currently active?
Hans Leybaert: Partners have always played a key role in both customer service and business growth, but even more in this connected world. We welcome and value partners as part of our business strategy. As an example, part of the value in our end-to-end solutions is the data we collect. We are not only enabling value added partners to benefit from this, but we also further enhance the deliverables and value for our customers. Together with a Dutch Tier One bank, we are operating a platform called Facturis whereby their customers can automatically send and receive invoices, statement information and other customer specific data. Based on that customer data, the bank is offering a set of APPs tailored for the customer. For example, an SME can receive extra working capital after sending an invoice. Or master data can be sent to an account for a real-time picture of the company. That keeps the company in a position to do what it does best, taking care of business and expanding via iPad or mobile device.
CEO Insight: How can your prospective customers better understand whether UnifiedPost solutions are right for them?
Hans Leybaert: UnifiedPost began by optimising the document processes for our customers in a SaaS model with our portfolio of solutions for document handling, transmission, archiving and reception. We have now evolved our mission of becoming a one-stop-shop for digital solutions with the introduction of our payment solutions suite. Whether it be bank connectivity, card payment support or our accredited/certified payment institute offering collection services, securing our customers’ identity enables them to transact securely and efficiently in the digital age. What makes us unique is that our so-called one-stop-shop makes any company able to fully adjust our product to their needs so that their business processes can stay the same and where needed get automated. We always work with partners, stakeholders and community owners to connect easily with their members/customers/end-users.
CEO Insight: Tell us about what growth looks like for UnifiedPost in the short term?
Hans Leybaert: We fully understand that we are not always able to develop all solutions ourselves, so one of our priorities is to engage with companies and targets for our acquisition drive. We aim at markets, sectors and specific countries like Germany, UK and France as primary targets.
CEO Insight: The impact of digital and Fintech is already advancing positive change across a number of industry sectors and also enabling disruption in industries like banking and financial services. Which industries does UnifiedPost currently serve and what scope is there for the future?
Hans Leybaert: We currently serve multiple industries such as banking and finance, insurance, HR, utilities, telecom and media. Our scope for the future is to offer our one-stop-shop services to all industries and companies of all sizes, from SMEs to large corporates. Our scope for the future is to expand the industries that we operate in, since we offer a one-stop-shop that can be personalised and automated for any industry.
CEO Insight: What key activities or events are important to UnifiedPost in the coming years?
Hans Leybaert: Our organisation looks forward to continued and sustainable growth, while we also focus on key European markets like the UK, Germany and France. We understand our expertise and capabilities while we continue to nurture new and existing client relationships. We are still looking at the market to develop strong acquisition partners, which for us is equally important to our success. Not only will our partners assist with new market penetration in the near term, they will also further solidify UnifiedPost’s end-to-end business process and service capabilities. Our quest to anticipate and advise our customers with a future-proof mentality means we are of course prepared and excited to further scale our solutions in line with PSD2 requirements, which will also be a driver for new success stories on an international level.
For more information: www.unifiedpost.com
