iCheckGateway.com joined the Nacha Payments Innovation Alliance to help front line banking executives with the necessary automated payment technologies to meet Nacha's regulations.  

iCheckGateway.com (iCG), an Inc. 5000 company and Nacha’s Preferred Partner recently reported that it would launch strategic ventures on payment automation technologies to help the frontline executives in the financial sector. iCG will work with the industry veterans to automate various legacy payment and collection processes as a member of Nacha's Payments Innovation Alliance. These ventures will specifically focus on helping frontline executives like bank managers, process owners, and treasurers automate their day-to-day repetitive tasks.  

A McKinsey study from August 2020 showed that a significantly larger group of companies pursued automation than two years ago. It is safe to assume that after numerous waves of COVID since then, the need for automation has only increased. Automation of critical processes is not a luxury but an imperative need that organizations cannot ignore anymore. Moreover, this need extends to both small and large organizations equally for increased operational efficacy.   “A few years ago, automation was accessible only to top-tier institutions that could hire professional developers in-house. The smaller merchants had no way of affordably automating critical processes. This disparity crushed several merchants who could not compete with the impressive turnaround times and efficient services offered by the larger institutions. However, the tides have changed, and now automation is available to scale for most merchants,” said Jason Estes, CEO with iCG.

“Automation is most effective when it is readily available to the people who benefit most from it, that is, the frontline executives. Our payment solutions are designed with the end-users in mind. They require nearly zero-coding experience and provide immense value from the moment they go live.”   The market is filled with organizations that offer automation services/products. However, how many of these organizations can successfully automate processes for their clients?

A study by EY from 2019 showed that nearly 30% to 50% of initial automation projects fail. While there is comfort in the fact that some companies are actively working to make automation simpler, there is still a long way to go.   “The easy-to-use type automation tech is the only one that has a truly sustainable future in this highly competitive market. We cannot expect financial executives to learn code from scratch and solve complicated technical problems independently. That is why we are so focused on developing robust automated solutions powered by a tech-savvy customer support team that can resolve the most complicated technical issues within minutes. We understand the need for maintaining a near-perfect uptime for critical financial systems and have the resources to help our partners deal with unforeseeable technical problems,” Estes explained.  

Automation may seem overwhelming within the scope of the numerous tasks required in financial institutions day-today, and some consider it a threat to traditional jobs. This is what Estes had to say about the automation tech that his team is currently building, “There is this image that automation will take too much time and could replace team members within the financial industry. We believe that this statement does hold some truth. However, it is only applicable to individuals who are not adapting to the market’s needs by constantly upskilling themselves and looking for processes to enhance efficency and profitability within the businesses. Our entire approach to designing innovative payment solutions focuses on creating tools that work side-by-side with the frontline executives as digital assistants. We aim to empower these executives by automating repetitive tasks so that they can devote their time to more important tasks like building relationships and helping end-consumers.”