Tag Archives: Economy

News

Supercharging EV revolution to help achieve ambitious goals (Authored by Mr. Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Media)

In the ongoing process to revolutionise the large-scale adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), the government of the United Kingdom has been continuously taking measures that are highly likely to expedite the transformation, supplementing the ultimate objective of achieving the definitive target of net zero by 2050.

While purchasing a new vehicle, people are increasingly shifting towards EVs as their choice for a primary vehicle due to wide-range of benefits including cost savings and higher efficiency. Such decisions are collectively helping the nation to reduce the carbon footprint, as far as the proportion of carbon emissions associated with passenger vehicles are concerned.

As the masses shift their focus to EVs, hybrid vehicles and other low-emission vehicles, the government has been keenly working to ease the owning experience for the consumers. This includes the capabilities of rechargeable batteries that can provide a hassle-free run on longer routes, availability of charge points across the country, semi-urbanised locaties and remote locations, and readily-accessible service stations in case of a breakdown.

The Downing Street administration approach to revolutionise the EV uptake has been exemplary among the leading economies as the government periodically rewards a number of innovative companies and enterprises that have managed to achieve state-of-the-art breakthroughs in the technologies supporting the production of EVs and key components.

In the upcoming years, hundreds of thousands of extra charge points are set to be inducted across the widespread geography of the UK. Higher the number of recharging stations productively decreases the dependability on a handful of charge points, ultimately resulting in large runs and increased adaptability of EVs in the forthcoming years.

The government is ready with new laws to supercharge the EV revolution under which world-leading regulations will be instituted for new homes and buildings in England.

From 2022 onwards, all the new homes, residential buildings, commercial setups, workplaces and supermarkets will be obligated to install EV charge points under the new legislation drafted by the government. Alongside this, the buildings undergoing major renovations will also be required to set up EV charge points.

The move is expected to increase the presence of charge points, while paving the way for fresh employment opportunities in the green energy sector with thousands of EV charge points easing the owning experience of an EV.

According to the initial estimates, as many as 145,000 extra charge points will be installed in England following the new mandate of setting up a charge point at aforementioned facilities. Having an adequate number of charge points has been one of the major challenges as countries gear up for the mass adoption of EVs.

The government of the UK has been gradually levelling up the charging infrastructure, alongside assisting the new-age technology enterprises that can help make new EVs more efficient and easy-to-own. This could be one of the biggest opportunities to level up the UK economy with the government and businesses collaborating on various initiatives to improve the comprehensive outcome.

This will further help in achieving the predefined short-term objectives of terminating the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles by 2030 and hybrid by 2035. So far, the government has already supported 250,000 charge points in various localities including homes and workplaces.

Following the mass induction of charge points at new residential properties, the consumers would be able to select the best residential units that are equipped with a charge point as majority of charging happens at home. This can potentially alleviate the worries of visiting a refuelling station or taking the vehicle to an urbanised locality with an abundant number of charge points. People can also make sure of the availability of charge points in the nearby shopping complexes and workplaces before choosing the residential space and new employment opportunity.

All the properties that are undergoing major renovation and improvements with more than 10 parking spaces will be mandatorily required to install EV charge points, the decision that can provide a direction to the building owners looking forward to revamping the residential, as well as non-residential spaces in the upcoming years.

Along with bolstering the recharging infrastructure in the country, the government has also decided to simplify the payments at charge points to further encourage the people as they plan to buy their next vehicle. All the commercial charge points will be required to offer contactless payments for the users to make the process more efficient, while modernising the charge points.

With the collective approach of the government and a number of commercial setups to strengthen the charging infrastructure in the UK, the country can surely meet the upcoming objectives that can lead to the possibility of reaching a net zero status by 2050. The large-scale production of clean power and country-wide adoption of EVs, alongside the commitments by businesses to turn carbon neutral in the upcoming years are the most pivotal steps that can downsize the carbon emissions in the country.

Climate, News

Increasing zero emission vehicles to firmly expedite path to net zero

Written by by Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Media

In the race to achieve net zero status, the largest economies are putting their best foot forward by incorporating a slew of measures that can bring a comprehensive change, through which the transformation to clean energy solutions can be done in a seamless manner.

The abrupt hardships of climate change have reached a critical phase as nations surrounded by snowy islands and huge glaciers are fearing the possible event of massive floods, while the plains and other geographical regions already experiencing a record-breaking rise in the annual temperatures during the peak summers are severely anxious over a fractional upsurge in the temperatures as it is increasingly developing the areas into hard-to-survive locations due to extreme habitual conditions.

Taking a couple of measures at a time is actually required now as it will only help in achieving the objective within the anticipated time, as the potential repercussions of climate change are mushrooming at a rapid pace, as we speak and discuss various strategies to contain the consequences.

Further ameliorating the road to net zero, the government of the UK has recently reiterated its commitment to eliminate the fossil fuel-powered commercial vehicles, including the heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) by the end of 2040. With this objective, the Downing Street administration is aiming to roll-out zero emission commercial vehicles at a large scale in the next two decades, enough to meet the cumulative supply chain and logistics demand in the domestic, as well as connected roads to cross-border regions.

In order to effectuate the predefined goal of selling 100% zero emission new cars and vans, the government has instituted a group of ministers and industry leaders that will remain responsible for working towards fulfilling the target by 2040. Bolstering the initiative, six major automakers including General Motors, Mercedes, Ford, BYD, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover, 13 investors, 28 fleets and 34 countries have collectively pledged for all new car and van sales to be zero emission by 2035 in the leading markets and by 2040 on a global level.

Countries including New Zealand and El Salvador and corporations such as Sainsbury’s are among the group that have committed to integrate 100% zero emission vehicles following the proposals made by the European Union, a number of states under the control of the US, Canada and Chile. All these have committed to ensure that all the new cars and vans are emission free by 2035.

A number of emerging markets and developing economies including India, Turkey, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Paraguay have pledged to expedite the adoption and country-wide usage of zero emission vehicles, the move that can help achieve the global target of carbon emissions.

Alongside this, a new design for electric vehicle chargepoints is underway with the UK government set to unveil it as Britain charges up the green energy revolution by scaling up the power generation through renewable resources of energy and extensively working out to augment the potential of present EVs.

The new design concept for the EV chargepoints can certainly help in raising the awareness, generating the excitement around the EVs, increasing the adoption of EVs amidst the middle-income earners as a large section of people look forward to changing the primary vehicle with some of them exploring options to buy their first vehicle.

Not only this, the concept for EV chargepoints will provide a greater choice for local governments and industries as the primary objective is to ensure that everyone benefits from the transition to zero emission transport.

As countries and corporations build one of the most reliable, affordable and convenient charging networks for EVs in the world, the major area of focus will remain on diminishing the pain points in buying and owning an EV over the traditional vehicles fuelled by petrol and diesel.

At the moment, the zero emission vehicles are already affordable to run in the UK as compared to the petrol and diesel variants of similar configuration. In the upcoming years, with the scheduled technological advancements in the rechargeable battery segment, and other significant parts, the zero emission vehicles will become cheaper to buy.

As many as 30 countries have agreed to work collectively to make zero emission vehicles a new normal by making them sustainable, accessible and affordable in all regions by the end of 2030 or earlier.

The Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council (ZEVTC) is set to unveil its first annual action plan, while it discusses how international collaboration can strengthen global transition towards green technologies with the experts and representatives on transition in emerging markets and developing economies.

The first annual action plan by the ZEVTC will set out the areas for sustained international cooperation that will help in expediting the transition during 2022. With the cumulative support of various countries and companies responsible for developing advanced mechanisms in the green technology space, the United Kingdom is set to become the first country in the world to phase out new, non-zero emission HGVs weighing more than 26 tonnes by the end of 2035.

Making sure that each and every commercial vehicle, including the HGVs sold in Britain are zero emission by 2040, materially places the country ahead of many tech-intensive nations which are yet to roll-out EVs on a large scale. Decarbonising the overall carbon footprint certainly requires a number of actionable and measurable steps that can develop a sense of responsibility among the citizens, as consumer preference remains one of the most important factors in bringing such a transformational change.

Over the years, the number of people adopting EVs have grown significantly with the purchases of hybrid electric vehicles gaining pace in emerging markets as battery electric vehicles are quite expensive to purchase and run as compared to the vehicles of similar configuration running on petrol and diesel engines.

According to a research conducted by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the proportional sale of zero emission vehicles is set to escalate to 70% of the new car sales by the year 2040.

News

Lockdown Norms and Staff Crunch: UK Hospitality Sector Faces Fresh Challenges

After struggling with three national lockdowns since the pandemic broke out, the UK has gradually opened the economy. Bars and restaurants began welcoming customers from 12 April onwards, and indoor dining is expected to open from 17 May. The Covid-19 pandemic ravaged businesses, especially the ones in the hospitality and aviation sectors. Global travel restrictions and social distancing norms crippled both sectors.

The hospitality sector is expecting that the pent-up demand and a UK-oriented holiday season would help the sector to revive with a profitable summer season.

But as the industry is gearing up for recovery of the businesses, staff crunch is the biggest challenge the sector is facing. Job losses in the sector during the lockdown forced workers to leave their jobs and look for jobs in other sectors. The crisis is so pressing that most establishments are struggling to hire enough workers, due to which, plans to fully operationalize by May might fall apart.

Restaurants and pubs have said that as many as a quarter of those who were employed before the Covid-19 pandemic may not return owing to the uncertainties. Besides post-Brexit, the challenge pertains mainly to the lack of availability of skilled labor from the EU, which is causing hiring issues, specifically in the kitchen.

UK workforce in the hospitality sector before the Brexit comprised mainly overseas workers, including those from the EU. But a major chunk of them have left England last year, and there is no clarity on whether they would be back any time soon.

The listed restaurant operator, Mitchells & Butlers (M&B) lost 9,000 of its 39,000 staff in the last year. The restaurant owner D&D is looking to hire as many as 400 new hands to add to its total workforce of 1,300. Pizza Express laid off thousands of its employees in the last year and is now looking to hire 1,000 staff.

A report by Fitch Ratings has said that restaurants, pubs, hotels, and restaurants would have to bear additional costs of both hiring and training new employees, which would impact margins in the short term. According to the report, prior to the Brexit, EU nationals comprised 12 percent of the UK’s hospitality workforce.

The report pointed out that the staff crunch was not even across the sector. Establishments like Whitbread that employ directly, would likely have more employees returning to work than those who hire part-time or through staff agencies. It said that the crunch would be felt more in London and other big cities, as they hired more foreign workers than remote joints, which depend on local communities would remain less affected.

Though venue owners expect huge demand after a year but if opening hours are limited due to staff shortage and therefore, it might impact revenues. A recruitment website highlighted that vacancies on its website were up by over 85 percent in the last couple of weeks. About 22,000 roles are now being advertised. Data from the Office for National Statistics suggest that the hospitality sector has 355,000 vacancies compared to a year ago. About 3.2 million were employed in the sector before the pandemic.

UK businesses were severely impacted by the pandemic. The easing of lockdown norms was supposed to help businesses get back on their feet. The hospitality sector is one of the biggest employment generators. If the staffing crisis is not resolved soon, it would not only defeat the purpose of easing norms, it would also impact revenues in a big way.

Written by Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Group. For more information: https://kalkinemedia.com/uk

News

A Year On, How Pandemic Still Creating Havoc for The UK And Europe

It has been exactly a year since the world was hit by a deadly health disaster which affected everything around us. The Covid-19 pandemic ravaged lives and livelihoods and restricted the world to be indoors. The UK had to go through three national lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus, and the restrictions crippled public-facing industries.

A recent study has found that the restrictions during the three lockdowns have cost the economy a whopping £251 billion. The study conducted by the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that gross value added (GVA), which is an estimation of all the goods and services created in an economy, without including the raw materials and input costs required for the delivery of the same, was less by over £250 billion than what was estimated in the pre-pandemic times.

Some of the poorer parts of the UK were the worst affected, however, London managed to safeguard itself. London’s contribution to the UK’s GVA was only a little less than a quarter of the country’s GVA, but it suffered 20.5 per cent of the losses. This was possible because sectors like insurance and finance and communication and information – London’s mainstays – managed to work out of homes smoothly. A separate study has found Britain’s economic recovery could get compromised because of a lack of digital skills as the number of young people taking IT courses declined sharply in the last one year.

The third wave:
And it is not just the UK that is struggling with the pandemic. Europe is staring at a probable third wave, and to contain its spread, authorities in various countries have begun reimposing lockdowns and restrictions.

France Prime Minister Jean Castex imposed a lockdown for a month in Paris and other areas where cases were going up. It has allowed essential businesses and schools to function. Italy, which was one of the worst affected countries last year, has brought out fresh restrictions as cases increased. All areas with over 250 cases per 100,000 people would be declared red zones and are under strict restrictions. The whole country would be in lockdown at the Easter weekend. Italy’s weekly average of new cases has been on the rise since March and has been reporting over 360 deaths each week.

Germany has also announced an extension of lockdown till 28 March. Bars, sports and leisure venues, restaurants have remained shut since November. The government has begun easing restrictions since 8 March. Areas with a smaller number of cases would be allowed to reopen non-essential services.

Vaccination rollout:
Europe’s Covid crisis has been exacerbated by complications over the vaccination drive. Several countries have discontinued using the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine as fears spread over blood clots among recipients. However, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany have since then said they would resume its use; the vaccination rate in Europe is not yet on the level as that of the US.

PM Boris Johnson has warned that a similar third wave as is being seen in Europe could soon strike the UK. He said that past experiences have taught us that when neighboring countries get affected by a sudden wave of infection, it does not spare the UK either and may affect it even severely. He said that he has been in touch with the European nations.
He added that the UK is committed to a quick and fast vaccination programme but highlighted that vaccination drives are essentially international programmes and do require cooperation on an international level.

On Saturday, a total of 844,285 first or second doses were given to people, which was up from 711,157 given last Friday. Over 27.6 million people, which is more than half of UK’s adult population, have been vaccinated with at least one dose.

The UK’s health ministry recently announced that it was working to come up with a new testing technology. The new technology would be able to identify whether positive samples have any of the more dangerous variants and could help in getting faster results.

Known as the genotype assay test, it could reduce the detection time by half and used along with normal testing procedures to identify cases rapidly.
As part of lockdown easing norms, the UK government is also now focused on reigning in new variants. As part of its plans, once a strain gets identified, increased contact tracing and testing could be deployed to contain the spread.

Both Europe and the UK are struggling with the pandemic and currently the new strains. Not only the health infrastructure is strained, but the pandemic is draining the economic resources of countries. But the biggest challenge for the UK and Europe is getting enough vaccine jabs. Europe has threatened to withhold vaccine shots for the UK by rejecting AstraZeneca’s export authorization to the UK till the company fulfils its delivery commitments to the EU. This bitter war over vaccination rollout could make relations between the two countries acrimonious.

By Kunal Sawhney, CEO, Kalkine Group

Digital Skills, News

Kesho undergoes complete rebrand as part of Omnio’s shake-up of its digital service for the credit union sector

Sercle represents a major evolutionary development of the legendary ‘Curtains’ platform

Following reporting by Business In the News last month that Omnio’s credit union business Kesho, had launched Vox Money, to widen accessibility financial products, today Kesho can announce the unveiling of Sercle – as part of delivering market leading digital infrastructure for credit unions worldwide.

Building on the legacy ‘Curtains’ platform, it offers a completely new digital roadmap, enabling credit unions and financial institutions to maximise and grow their loan portfolio in a secure digital way.

Credit union members will now have access to a range of financial products they were previously denied, and this digital advantage will empower the sector to grow and increase responsible lending to the communities they serve.

The Sercle digital portfolio gives credit unions advanced digital onboarding and instant loan decisions with a powerful and flexible product portfolio.

It offers a one stop solution through open API into the existing platform infrastructure, and into the brand-new Cloud platform that launches in 2021.

Sercle’s clients will have access to advanced tools such as: data analytics, to manage and report on their portfolios; open banking, to enable real time data from applicants to make fully informed lending decisions; fully integrated solutions from one platform to provide automated reconciliation, security, and regulatory reporting.

Members, lenders, and savers will have access through mobiles and online via desktop in real time, with informed risk-based decision tools accessing their accounts virtually and securely. New advanced technology will lead the way in providing secure environment to share documents and data between members and financial institutions.

The Sercle business is the leader in the credit union sector with more than 30 years’ experience and supporting around 1.5 million members, and part of the Omnio Group and currently processes a host of products across its platforms including: savings, loans, mortgages, banking, and current accounts.

Adrian Cannon, CEO of OMNIO commented: “Sercle offers a new chapter for credit unions. By supplying them with an enhanced range of financial technology products they can substantially improve their offering to existing and new members. Our new, easy to use and secure platforms and products, with the introduction of open API’s, now defines the “best in class” category in credit union technology and will significantly enhance the way credit unions are managed and introduce their members to a range of financial products previously beyond their reach.”

Lindsay Ward, Executive Director of Sercle commented: “Over the last 12 months, we have listened to our credit union client base, and worked closely with many of them to ensure that Sercle is the product they need this year, and for the next 30 years. Kesho “Curtains” is the most widely used Fintech platform in the UK, but with mobile technology and connectivity changing the way we live, it has been essential to upgrade our platform and deliver cloud technology to support credit unions everywhere.

“A working group has been established, so that we can fulfil the needs of clients and so that those with vulnerable members can be confident in the service. Meanwhile, positive customer feedback means that we already have plans for wider expansion into Ireland this year.

Ward continued: “As we focus on providing credit unions with market-leading digital infrastructure, we felt it was time to refresh the Kesho brand. Sercle brings it up to date and reflects its position as one of the most respected in the UK credit union and Fintech space. The launch of the Sercle App in Q1 2021 will not only provide these services to all our credit unions clients, but it will also enable our clients to deliver further services to their members providing instant loan decisions fully digital onboarding of new members. And a Hub to reach out and grow their membership base through communities.

“Kesho and the Curtains platform started as one man’s dream over 30 years ago, but now is the right time for a new approach. Sercle’s new style, look and feel is in line with our vision: to provide financial management and support fair and responsible lending to those in society who need it the most.”

News, Tourism

Tourism industry should expect 80% decline following COVID-19, say experts

International tourism could decrease by 60-80% due to COVID-19, says top experts at an event hosted by Trinity Business School.

According to panellists at the ’Travel and Tourism in a Post Covid Society’ online event, hosted by Trinity Business School, this massive decline in international tourism could also see a 1000 billion euro loss for the industry as a direct impact of the pandemic.

It was also noted that a uniform recovery of the international tourism sector was highly unlikely due to varying numbers of cases in individual countries.
Made up of international experts, the panel also discussed the impact of COVID on tourism in Ireland, Scotland, Australia and China.

During the event, a survey was also taken, asking the audience about their views on Ireland and its tourism sector. The results showed that the majority of respondents agreed with proposal of an inbound mandatory quarantine as a proportionate response to the pandemic.

However, only around half of all respondents thought that international tourist flows would recover to 2019 levels within 2 years. Slightly less than half thought that Ireland should follow other countries and open for international tourism in June.

Professor Brian Lucey, Director of Research at Trinity Business School and Chair of the online event, says:

“The tourist industry is one of global consequence, accounting for between 5-10 GDP in most countries with in some cases up to 25%. This is too large to be allowed to wither on the vine, and countries such as Ireland and the UK which are proposing to delay international tourist opening should seriously reconsider this.”

To learn more, please visit: https://www.tcd.ie/business/

Business Research

Economies that imposed an early lock-down will thrive

Countries that imposed strict and early social-distancing measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak will result in their economies recovering much quicker than those who took a much more relaxed approach according to new research from ESCP Business School.

According to Professor Nabil Kahalé the social-distancing measures that have been taken to slow the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in most countries, are already causing huge economic consequences.

However, Professor Kahalé has proven in his recent studies that although social-distancing measures can damage the economy during the containment period, those countries that applied these measures strictly and as early as possible, will only suffer economic losses for a short period of time.

This is because strict social distancing measures require a shorter period of time to reduce the number of infected individuals to a predetermined level. Therefore, countries that have enforced early interventions will diminish their total economic loss in the long-term as their society can begin to operate again having obtained low infection rates.

“When social-distancing measures are needed to contain an epidemic, they should always be applied as strictly and as early as possible, so that they attain their objectives in a short period of time,” says Professor Kahalé

As most of us have been in lockdown for over a month now, we are now starting to look ahead as to how our economy will recover long- term. What is apparent though is that those countries where stringent measures were applied early will also recover much quickly out of this crisis – a lesson for many governments going forward.

Education, News

Giving money to citizens will not fix economy, researchers find

Governments should hold off on giving their citizens money until after the lockdown is over, finds new insights by the University of Cologne.

In an attempt to counteract an economic crash, governments in Hong Kong and the US are giving their citizens equivalent to 1,200 euros to help stimulate their economies. However, Dr Michael Thoene, CEO of FiFo Institute for Public Economics at the University of Cologne, says that governments should not expect quick results from this.

“There is no point in passing money to consumers when they are not allowed to go shopping, or are very unlikely to book a holiday. People may be shopping online, but the idea of everything flowing into online shopping is not the point of an economic recovery,” says Dr Thoene.

He suggests that governments should wait until restrictions on everyday life and economies can be eased before implementing such measures.

Dr Thoene adds that in the meantime, governments are better off combating the supply shortage and channelling more money directly into industries, small freelancers and tradespeople who seriously need it.

“Governments need to think about the smaller companies in the most affected industries. For example, it’s not just the airlines that are struggling, but also the airport bakery and the shops. These companies can find themselves very quickly in existential distress and will need liquidity and relief to keep them afloat during this crisis,” says Dr Thoene.

Big companies may also be struggling, but they have employee compensation schemes, ability to borrow money and generally very good communication, whereas other smaller companies do not therefore are less likely to survive this crisis.#

These insights come from the discussion paper: The difficulty of investing sustainably in the future. And how it can be done. – featuring a postscript about investments in the future in times of the corona pandemic.

FInance

Managing Payments in Unprecedented Times

Lynton Buxton, TALL Group of Companies, considers how businesses can manage payments in these unprecedented times.

“The coronavirus pandemic is a public health emergency. But it is also an economic emergency. We have never, in peacetime, faced an economic fight like this one.

“I know that people are deeply worried. I know that people’s anxiety about the disease itself is matched only by their anxiety about their livelihoods.”

Strong words from The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak who has described the current emergency as an ‘economic fight’.

As businesses throughout the UK assess the impact of the coronavirus on their day-to-day operations, it is clear that ‘normal’ activity will be severely restricted as members of staff are forced to remote work or self-isolate as necessary. The plight of many industry sectors that are faced with significantly reduced revenues as a result of restrictions will only continue to grow.

As businesses find their financial teams reduced in numbers, the ability to process payments whether ‘in’ or ‘out’ can become stretched. For those organisations that receive large numbers of cheques, the new Image Clearing System (ICS) can provide an answer with the ability through some banks to remotely deposit cheques.

The use of a desktop cheque scanner to image a cheque, for these images then to be consolidated into a data file for onward transmission to the organisation’s bank, can assist in reducing staff travelling time to local branches, avoiding social contact and free up resource for other stretched areas of the organisation. For smaller numbers of received cheques, mobile banking app’s may well provide an answer again avoiding the need to visit a local branch.

Where businesses are still making payments by the ‘good old dependable’ cheque, there are ways in which the process of cheque production can be facilitated. For businesses that rely on the use of ‘special’ or corporate cheque books to make payments that require hand writing and signing, the introduction of computer cheques may be an answer to speed up production. These ‘special’ computer cheques can be branded with corporate logos, colours and fonts and available pre-signed if necessary. Using dedicated cheque production software, or integrated accounting packages, these cheques are ‘infilled’ at the organisation prior to distribution.

Indeed, the use of cheque production software packages can also have an added benefit by the addition of Image Survivable Features (ISF’s) on printed cheques. With the introduction of cheque image clearing in the UK, there has been an associated rise in attempted cheque fraud as fraudsters seek to identify ‘weak spots’ in the clearing system. The addition of a security device, such as a Unique Coded Number (UCN) or UCN Plus® QR code can help prevent attempted fraud by encrypting ‘key’ details from the face of the cheque, either in the case of the UCN at the time of printing of the original cheque stock, or for the UCN Plus® at the time of cheque infilling. ISF’s are becoming a major deterrent in the fight against fraud.

For those businesses and organisations that are really struggling to maintain payment processes, the use of Business Process Outsourcing services could be an answer. Outsourcing business processes has major advantages in freeing up valuable resource and enabling ‘business-as-normal’ processes to be undertaken. Additionally, for those organisations faced with increased payment workload processing refunds, compensation payments, etc as a result of the continuing issues surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, the ability to outsource extra fulfilment is a major benefit. Payments, whether as paper documents or electronic services, can be made on an organisation’s behalf, branded appropriately and at a scheduled point in time to suit.

The TALL Group of Companies has had 30 years’ experience of providing organisations with secure print and electronic payment solutions. From the printing of corporate cheques, the provision of cheque production software through cheque imaging and cheque fraud prevention tools to the ability to provide Business Process Outsourcing services to organisations of any size, TALL has a complete range of products and services to enable organisations to weather the coronavirus ‘storm’ whilst still maintaining customer service levels throughout.

Martin Ruda, TALL Group Managing Director said,

” In the face of the ever-changing national challenges, it is a company’s responsibility to ensure that firstly all its staff are cared for but also to assist our customers in meeting their obligations in the current circumstances. TALL can help organisations meet those obligations and will work with our partners to develop appropriate solutions. Together we can work through this current crisis.”

For more information, see https://tallgroup.co.uk