“Digitalization technologies of organizations are rapidly defining the way in which organizations function and evolve” Vijay Oddiraju, Volante Technologies.

Volante Technologies is a global provider of low-code cloud payments solutions to accelerate digital modernization. A trusted partner to over 125 banks, financial institutions, market infrastructures, clearing houses, and treasuries in 35 countries, Volante offers its customers the freedom to evolve past legacy limitations and grow through rapid innovation. The company’s real-time technology and Payments as a Service offerings process millions of transactions and trillions in value daily, powering four of the top five global corporate banks, two of the world’s largest card networks, and 40% of all US commercial bank deposits. Though they are a global company, India is important to them from a talent perspective.  Mr. Vijay Oddiraju, CEO and Co-founder Volante Technologies share more insights on the same

1. What are the major benefits of low code technologies for financial institutions?

Digitalization technologies of organizations are rapidly defining which customers they attract, the quality of the customer experience as well as customer retention. In line with this trend, low code and no code development solutions are now emerging as viable and convenient complements to boost business agility, simplify connectivity and increase efficiency. Some of its major benefits are:

• Legacy infrastructure and systems: Many of the core systems and much of the basic infrastructure used for day-to-day operations in financial businesses are tried and tested as well as legacy-based. Since these systems lay the foundation for an organization’s operations, changing them can be a major risk. Low Code platforms allow financial businesses to put a ‘wrapper’ or an ‘overlay’ on top of those legacy systems. This gives the institutions the ability to offer modern services and gradually replace and upgrade the underlying infrastructure and systems.
• Business and IT alignment: With a low code platform, business resources can work alongside the technical team, and build the high-level components of the application they need. The technical team builds the decision logic, complex workflows, and other components.
• Further, low code platforms empower technical personnel to build applications faster by automatically managing the ‘underlying plumbing’ letting IT focus on value-added activities. Additionally, non-technical users can often build simpler applications and services without requiring development resources.

With a low code platform, financial businesses can react much faster to market needs.

At Volante, our mantra is: ‘We give financial businesses the freedom to evolve and innovate at record speed.’ Our low code platform is a key component of that. With our platform, our clients have the ability to evolve and adapt to market changes as they happen.

2. What are the key challenges CXOs are trying to overcome when it comes to modernizing their digital payment solutions?

The pandemic accelerated digitalization and technology adoption across the entire globe. Recent industry reports suggest that the global digital payment market will touch USD 374.9 billion by 2030 growing at a CAGR of 17.25% from 2022 to 2030. Further, digitalization technologies of organizations are rapidly defining the way in which organizations function and evolve.

With rapid technological innovations and solutions, one of the key challenges that continue to exist in digital payment solutions is ensuring cybersecurity. Maintaining an authentication mechanism does help it to cater to a large extent. Keeping up with the expectations of hyperconnected customers and ensuring the offering of a personalized experience to each is also important.

3. What is Volante’s differentiated value proposition for its customers?

 From a low code perspective, our differentiated value sits within our focus on financial businesses. Our platform was purpose-built to handle the key components for most financial businesses, that is, the transaction. The low code platform facilitates end-to-end steps, from providing up-to-date financial messaging templates to supporting the throughput required to enable near real-time transactions. Other low code solutions are focused broadly across multiple industries and don’t have the built-in DNA to support the unique needs of today’s financial business.

Volante’s success has been driven by a number of factors:

• The quality of its cloud-native technology, delivered in compelling Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) packages
• An alternative approach to the legacy systems weighing down most banks
• A low code, API-enabled approach, empowering customers to rapidly bring new payments products and services to market, at a lower cost than comparable options
• Its trusted-partner approach to customer relationships

Recently, the company has been recognized as a market leader by both IDC and Omdia/Informatech. Volante has also been accoladed the #1 seller of wholesale payment systems by IBS in 2022; having won that award in 2021 also. Volante was the first organization to top the list for two years running.

4. What are the challenges that Volante is helping its customer solve?

 As one of the first low code providers to the financial services industry, Volante’s powerful payments processing services, enable our customers to provide easier and faster bulk payment options.

Volante’s solutions meet client demands by being able to connect them to new markets and services in record time, with up to a 43% improvement in time-to-market. This is a result of the extensive pool of services provided by Volante designed to provide fast, seamless integrations with customers.

Portal services such as digital payroll or bulk transfer are now processed quickly and securely – regardless of the size of the data.

5. Can you tell us about your R&D presence in India?

Our solutions for payments and financial messaging automation are mission-critical. They power some of the world’s largest banks, market infrastructures, exchanges, clearing houses and card networks. Innovation is crucial to our success and our India teams play a huge role in contributing to our success. About 75% of our global R&D workforce is in India. We have 900+ employees across Chennai, Pune and Hyderabad.

Volante believes innovation-driven growth is fundamental to our company’s success. We strive to provide that environment to create opportunities for our employees to work cross-culturally and get global exposure.

6. What are some of the key trends to watch out for this space in 2023?

Undoubtedly, the era of payment modernization has arrived much faster than was previously expected, and payment entities around the world now have an obligation to improve their digital capabilities and cultivate an appetite for continued evolution.

The demand for hyper-personalized seamless customer experience has propelled the adoption of embedded finance in India and according to research this trend is expected to maintain an upward trajectory in the coming months.  As you know, 5G technology has been opening new avenues across sectors. Digital payments are no exceptions. The data for the month of October released by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) revealed that UPI processed 730 crore (7.3 billion) transactions, worth Rs 12.11 lakh crore which is a record high in terms of the value of transactions.

The digital rupee rollout is a big step towards digital transformation in India. It will definitely impact the way of doing business. We will have to wait and watch the opportunities that this will open up.