Aptys_VizoFinancial.mp4 from CUbroadcast on Vimeo.
Transcript
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson (Host)
On the show today, we have Aptys very own Eric Dotson and Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Unions, Jamie Augustino, talking about Vizo Financial converting, not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but seven payment systems to the Apti paid Logics platform. So there’s plenty of good news to go around here. Really great conversation with Eric and Jamie. So check it out. Welcome to our show, and boy do we have an episode for you today. We have Eric Dotson from, is it Aptys?
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
Aptys Solutions. Yep.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Alright, Eric, right below us there. Eric, how are you, sir?
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
Doing great, thanks, Michael.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Good, good. That’s okay. Then right next to me is Jamie. Jamie Aino from Vizo Financial Corporate Credit Union. Jamie, how are you today? I’m doing great. How about yourself? I’m doing really well. I like your background. I like the branding and the fresh look in the background. So you did a good job on your Zoom background. Well done. Thank you. You’re welcome. I’m always curious to see all the creativity and the things that people are doing on their Zoom background, so good job there. Hey, today, speaking of a good job, we are talking about zos. You guys have converted seven, not five, not six, but seven payment systems to Aptys, PayLOGICS platform. Really cool stuff here. But before we get into that, hang on, Jamie, hang on. I’ll come right back to you. Eric, can you just tell us briefly about Aptys, their multi-channel payments platform, PayLOGICS, and then we’ll come back to you, Jamie. Okay.
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
Yes, thank you and thanks for letting us talk with your listeners a little bit today, really, PayLOGICS was born out of the need to modernize the payments infrastructure and financial institutions. When you think about kind of rolling it back in the day when I first came up in payments, we would send out if somebody needed an A C H system, we’d send out a stack of three and a quarter inch or three and a half inch floppy discs.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
We came it to our customer, then they would sit at their computer and drop those floppy discs in. That was the way things were done. Well, things have changed a little bit, but unfortunately, a lot of financial institutions are still kind of stuck in that older mode where they have an a c H system, they have a wire system, and a lot of times it’s multiple systems to be able to process those transactions. And so Pay Logix was designed really to be highly scalable, an enterprise-based solution that could be either cloud-based SaaS or an onsite deployment that would allow for a convergence of those payment platforms onto a single solution. So we can do a c h wire check, faster payments, all through this single solution. So it’s design really with the real-time payments engine provides for that straight through processing of a payment type. And one of the best features is also putting all of the payments into a single archive one place to find all of your transactions so they’re not spread out all over your organization and you’re trying to protect all these different systems. It’s one system and you access it and query it using a standard web browser. So we simplify and modernize the financial institution payment technology so that they can more easily adapt to the evolving faster payments landscape.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Eric, you guys have put the logic into pay.
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
That’s correct.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
I had to say it. I’m sorry. It was right there on the TV for me. Okay. Now, Jamie, what was going on at VIS O for you guys that prompted you guys to look at a technology like this? What was going on that made you like, maybe we should check that out.
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
Yeah. Well, here at Vizo Financial and our payment CUSO, MY CU services, we were using several different systems from multiple vendors to serve the payment needs of our member credit unions. Many of these systems were inherited from company acquisitions, and then we had the corporate merger back in 2016. So these systems, they were costly. They were inefficient for us to maintain and we’re operating all these different solutions. A lot of work.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Yeah,
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
Exactly. And so we had planned to consolidate these systems, and Aptys was able to help us do just that with our ACH, our domestic wires and our check processing needs. Gotcha. And then in addition, they also offered a P2P payment solution or P2P called PayMoli. So now we’ve got an added benefit to our membership as well.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Oh, I bet your members are loving that.
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
Yes, it’s a great means to have a payment person to person system that’s competing with the Zelles and the Venmo’s, but it’s credit Union operated.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Exactly. That’s a really, really good move. And Eric, I’m going to come to you on this one. So how did you all come in and help Visio Financial with your stuff? Because obviously shifting seven payment systems into a single one of a kind payments platform is no easy task, I would think, right? That’s right. But now you guys have done it and you’re moving onward and upward.
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
Yeah, absolutely. So when we came in, I think there was this mutual recognition that immediately there were benefits to the financial institution and how we could impact what they were doing with their payments offering. So when you consider the amount of compliance and cross training and vendor maintenance and system integrations and data retention and data duplication that they had in their back office, really was clear that there was an opportunity to simplify their operations. So at the time, then we took a look at how we could best move this forward and really created an iterative approach. So it wasn’t something where we ripped everything out day one and put our system PayLOGICS in. It was, all right, what makes the most sense? Where can we start and let’s grow this over time. And so it’s taken us about three years to go through this project plan that we put together, but started with wires, and then we moved into ACH and then later the check area. And through that, we were then able to go through and systematically take one payment channel at a time and move everybody over onto our PayLOGICS system. And really because of this great enterprise-based solution for them, took everything and made things so much easier. So now they have one vendor they work with, they have one system that they do compliance on, they have one archive with all of their data in it, and it just made everything so much easier for both them and their member credit unions.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Right on. Good to hear. Good to hear. And Jamie, I’m going to get your perspective on how this has benefited your credit union and ultimately your member credit unions and then trickling down to their members even. So what’s the benefit message from you guys?
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
I mean, as you can hear from what Eric said, first and foremost, we are much more efficient.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
I could imagine, yeah,
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
It might be a few quarters until we know the exact figure since we just completed this conversion back in July. But we know we have both hard and soft dollar savings. I mean, we’re estimating that savings to be hundreds of thousands of dollars with this conversion to Aptys.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Wow. Well done.
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
And then more importantly, I mean, our members are enjoying the new platform. It includes new and enhanced features to them. So it’s been a great transition all around.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
So happy employees, equal happy members. So that’s what it all trickles down to there for sure. And I think you answered my second question. I was going to say, Hey, can you share some results or maybe some anecdotes of any of your usage so far?
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
Yeah. Well, I mean, obviously we consolidated several payment applications into just one. So it’s streamlined our reconciliation across multiple payment channels. There are now several methods for payment creation, which means true customization for our member credit unions. You add in the ease to do research, the reduced retention burdens, the continued compliance for the payments, rules and regulations, reliable service. We also added an anomaly feature. We’ve got processing automatization. I mean, it’s easy to, I mean, we are truly delighted with this new system as well as our members.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
It sounds like the list goes on and on and on of all the benefits. So really cool stuff. Hey, Eric. So what’s next for your two organizations working together and how do you see this technology evolving to help them even further?
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
And that’s a great question, and really part of the original conversation. As we started seeing the benefits of what we could do with simplifying their back office, we immediately started talking about, all right, well, where are things going with payments? Where are you going Aptys with payments, and how do we really take advantage of the opportunities that are ahead, especially as the payments landscape? Boy, it’s just evolving so rapidly. So the PayLOGICS system gave them the freedom and the capabilities to really adapt more quickly to this evolving landscape and really looking at, alright, what’s happening with faster payments? How do we then enable that faster payments down to the member credit unions more quickly? Because we now have a single channel. So one of the things that we’re working on together, Jamie mentioned our PLI application, which is a mobile convergence platform where we put everything together on that single solution that allows them to roll out a mobile solution.
Right now it’s P2P, but it’ll continue to evolve it as we bring more onto it, but also with faster payments. So rather than having to go out and find a new faster payment system, now we just add on a new module into this existing infrastructure to be able to enable it because the structure of Pay Logix is designed around a real-time payments engine. So now we create that module for real-time payments and everything’s flowing through that same system again right there. And they’re not creating a whole new set of platforms they have to go manage.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Right, right. Yeah, that’s a good move. I mean, consolidation, simplifying efficiency. You guys got all the buzzwords going on in this one. So you guys have gotten it all. And Jamie, I know you’re still early on in this process, but what goals did you guys want to achieve here? I know you’re probably still looking to achieve those goals, but it sounds like you’re well on your way to achieving any goals that you guys set with this. Right?
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
Yeah, I mean, our initial goals were to better serve our member credit unions by providing a full featured seamless payment processing experience for them. Then we wanted to create efficiencies within our own payment processing areas, and we wanted to save money. And through this partnership with Aptys, we’ve been able to achieve all three.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Right on. Yeah, I mean, that’s the message right there. I think we just got the headline right there for sure. Hey, anything else? I mean, this is something we could talk about for quite a while, I’m sure, but hey, anything else to add here? Jamie, I’m going to stick with you on this one. Any final words of wisdom on this one? Sounds like you guys are, it’s a success already, it sounds like.
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
Yeah, a huge success. I mean, through all of the transitions, we’ve developed a great relationship with Aptys, and we’re working with them now to be prepared for FedNow and working with them with real-time payments. They’ve just been wonderful to work with and we’ve enjoyed them so much that back in June of 2020, we partnered with Catalyst Corporate and Alloya to purchase Aptys. So Vizo Financial and Aptys, we’re going to be longtime partners.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Okay, then.
Speaker 3: Jaime Agostino
So it just seemed like the natural next step for us.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Wow. Okay. There’s a little bit of news. I like that. Thank you for that. Appreciate it. Eric, what say you on that?
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
Yeah, so remember back in the day, that commercial, the Razor commercial, I liked it so much. I bought the company. Yes. Yeah. That’s what we’re talking about here. And truly what it is, is we will continue to operate as an independent LLC, be able to offer services to both credit unions and to banks and vis O and the other owner credit unions actually want to invite in the banker’s side, and they want to have them part and form a consortium of financial institutions so that we can really work together to address the issues that are most important to the community financial institutions, really, that they serve. And so when you’re looking at RTP and FedNow and some of the other things that are happening right now, the big banks are moving fast, right? They’re getting this implemented. We think that by partnering together and working together on this solution, we can help our community financial institutions be more nimble, to be able to adapt to these different payment opportunities that are coming along and work to collaborate with how we can strategize a solution forward in this landscape with a common voice amongst everybody.
So with the partnership we’ve established together, it really opens the door for strengthening payments and not just for a single customer, but for the industry as a whole. So we’re really excited to be working with Vizo and with the other corporate credit unions and looking forward to how we can move this forward and really take advantage of the opportunities that we have
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Together. Indeed. Yeah, a lot of good news for sure. And you guys are so smart. So no wonder, I mean, just making this whole thing logical, it sounds like the logical move. So you guys did good. So, alright, well I look forward to actually talking to you guys again. Maybe down the road when you guys have some more results, maybe six months or so we can check back in and see how it’s going. So I’d be excited to see.
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
That’d be great. Indeed.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Sounds good. Well, I’ll let you guys get back to work. Appreciate the time as always, and yeah, and again, keep up the good work. Sounds like you guys are well on your way to bigger and better things.
Speaker 2: Eric Dotson
Thanks Mike, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Mike Lawson
Thank you.