Difitek is delighted to support the Communications Blockchain Network (CBN) and its innovative solution that tackles settlements and aims at enabling modern services in the several billions dollar market of global ICT service providers.

“We appreciate the opportunity to work with leading telco and blockchain companies in the specification and implementation stages, as well as in the operational stage. We will support the initiative offering our finance engine and open API framework that guarantees safe and compliant transactions, and an interoperable layer to interact with blockchains and other modern services.” Difitek’ CEO Armodio Corrado commented.

See the full press release below.

Atlanta, GA, Monday 24th June 2019 – The Global Leaders’ Forum launches Communications Blockchain Network (CBN)11 carriers invest in the set-up of a blockchain enabled settlement platform supported by over 10 technology partners

The ITW Global Leaders’ Forum (“GLF”) today announced that it is launching a special purpose vehicle that will develop a live, blockchain-based platform, which will revolutionise the ICT Service Provider industry’s commercial settlement infrastructure, representing an opportunity worth billions to the global industry from costs savings and revenues from new products and services.

The CBN, which is expected to go live in the coming months, will be governed by a collaborative structure. Several carriers have already agreed to support the establishment of the platform, with A1 Telekom Austria, China Telecom Global, Colt Technology Services, Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier, IDT, Orange, PCCW Global, Tata Communications, Telefonica, Telstra and TNZI all agreeing collaboration to ensure this blockchain-based, special purpose mechanism can become a reality. The GLF is also inviting every ICT Service Provider to join the CBN without any prerequisite.

The GLF is also announcing that it will partner with leading technology providers to develop the reference architecture and support the creation of an open ecosystem for both ICT Service Providers and technology vendors. Over 10 technology providers have already confirmed their support for the platform and their intention to participate in its development, including Amartus, Clear Blockchain Technologies, ConsenSys, CSG and their Wholesale business, Difitek, IBM, Internet Mobile Communications, Orbs, R3, Subex, Syniverse, and TOMIA, with more to be announced.

Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology (“DLT”), can provide significant benefits that will transform inter-service provider settlement processes by enabling automation and improving security. DLT-based automation can facilitate carriers to settle new types of traffic, underpinning network and service innovation, and save costs.

The objective for the platform, and the collaborative industry-wide governance framework, is to serve the wider ICT community by avoiding fragmentation and thus help accelerate the adoption of automated settlement applications. The new environment will facilitate development of open-source standards and APIs that enable service-provider interoperability of DLT-enabled services, and manage critical infrastructure elements of the platform.

Louisa Gregory, leading the GLF working group on blockchain and Chief of Staff of Colt, said: “For the past 14 months the GLF and its partners have been putting rigour and processes behind this platform and we believe that now is the time to launch. The blockchain-based ecosystem has been tested with resounding success at every stage, and we believe that this platform signals nothing less than the future of ICT financial settlement.”

Marc Halbfinger, Chair of the GLF and Chief Executive Officer of PCCW Global, said: “When we set out along this journey, it was our goal to launch a platform that would enable multi-dimensional automation for the betterment of the industry. Now we are embarking on the next stage of this process by creating a truly open platform that will facilitate settlement among every ICT Service Provider, including carriers and cloud providers for all forms of ICT traffic.”

Franz Bader, Director of Wholesale at A1 Telekom Austria said: “Making processes between carriers more efficient is only one of the huge potential benefits blockchain provides. Settlements will be our first step on that most promising path into the future. We are looking forward to many carriers joining us on that journey.”

Rolf Nafziger, SVP of Deutsche Telekom Global Carrier, said: “Smart contracts and blockchain have a huge potential not only to simplify and automate complex inter-carrier billing/settlement processes but also to handle the complexity added by new services like NB-IoT, VoLTE, etc. To avoid fragmentation, it is very important that we move and work together as an industry. We therefore highly welcome and actively support the GLF initiative of an interoperable carrier blockchain network”

Nick Ford, President of IDT’s Carrier Services, said “IDT is pleased to be part of the working group creating the GLF CBN. To focus on value for our customers, we all need to reduce the friction and costs of the back office. The CBN will be a platform to automate much of the basics between carrier partners, identify discrepancies before they become problems, and allow commercial, operations and finance teams to spend their time on elements of the business that make for differentiated service. We are happy to play a contributing role in pushing the industry towards blockchain settlement.”

Emmanuel Rochas, CEO of Orange International Carriers, said “Orange has been involved from the start of the Blockchain initiative. The creation of this SPV to work along together with 11 other carriers is a significant advancement in business development and a new way of working towards the optimisation of telecom settlements processes.”

Juan Carlos Bernal, CEO of International Wholesale Business for Telefonica, said “Blockchain will continue to deliver significant benefits across the entire wholesale sector. This important step forward showcases these real and tangible benefits from this technology and is also a positive reflection of the wider adoption of innovation in our sector.”

Jussi Makela, Director of GLF said: “From very early on, the GLF recognised the importance of the right governance structure to provide certainty to the whole industry that the platform will be open, inclusive, independent and conducive of innovation. We are confident we have the right framework in place and we are excited to welcome every ICT Service Provider to participate in the development of the platform.”

About the ITW Global Leaders’ Forum

The ITW Global Leaders’ Forum (GLF) is a global network of leaders from the world’s largest International Carriers, who convene to discuss strategic issues and to agree collaborative activities, with the aim of upholding the principle of interoperability and ubiquitous international and technological coverage. 

The mission of the GLF is to be “the voice of the global carrier industry providing leadership and direction to interconnect the digital world”. This encapsulates the ultimate aim of the GLF, and its members, which is to enable consumers and enterprises to communicate and transact for any service or application, on any device and any infrastructure, in any geography, thus enabling the globalisation of business and the closure of the digital divide. 

The International Carrier industry is a critical part of the global ecosystem, providing the backbone that enables digital services to be distributed around the world. The GLF’s primary objective is to provide leadership and direction for the industry by advocating common priorities that will limit network fragmentation and improve interconnectivity so that new digital services can be delivered at scale anywhere in the world. 

More information is available at the company website: www.itwglf.com 

About Difitek

Difitek provides the leading finance engine for digital finance services. It has powered many financial marketplaces in real estate in the US and Europe, in access to capital for individuals and small businesses in South East Asia and new forms of financing in South America.
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More information is available at the company website: www.difitek.com
For further information, please contact:
Armodio Corrado, CEO
info@difitek.com
+1 415 580 0087

Amazon started in the mid-90s. Online stores and e-commerce were also emerging in the 90s. We have talked about digitization for decades but only now do we start to witness a real purge of brick and mortar stores with many closing around the world. Why now, do changes really happen so slowly? But maybe the game is not yet over if retailers could just become innovators and change the rules of online commerce.

Especially in the US and UK, thousands of stores have been closed or gone bankrupt during the last 12 months. Some other countries might be left behind and the big wave is only coming. In a way this has been expected for years, yet it is almost surprising, how long many traditional retail stores and chains have survived. They haven’t been able to change their business – they have just tried to delay the inevitable.

Why is this happening now? We can assume some reasons:

1. Behavior of consumers changes slowly but now the mainstream has gone online;
2. Customer experience of online buying has become acceptable;
3. Brick and mortar stores must cut costs and cuts affect product range and customer service;
4. Volumes grow online and it is harder for traditional retail compete with price;
5. Big online stores exercise superior data management.

The situation is a combination of many things, but it is very hard for traditional retailers to stop or delay the development. The only solution is that they must adapt to the situation. It requires them to become innovative. It is not enough that to simply open an online store when the big online players already have better resources and brand recognition to do it better. 

We can see some rising concepts that also offer opportunities for old retailers. For example:

1. Showrooms are becoming more important to demonstrate products;
2. Even Amazon has opened some stores, but utilize modern technology;
3. Privacy issues can turn the data models around.

As is expected in any battle, each party should focus on their own strengths and find the other party’s weaknesses. Customers are still looking for experiences, and physical stores and showrooms are a part of that, but they must be modified to support and improve customer experience and have clear ways to drive sales, offline or online. This requires a new type of concept and customer experience design that can definitely not be achived by cutting costs and product lines in existing stores.

Data and privacy are another interesting area to change the game. Amazon and other leading online stores have accrued better customer data than traditional retailers. They can make better recommendations to customers and they can also better predict demand and manage their supply chain. Data helps them optimize their business and offer what customers want with better prices.

Privacy is also becoming a more important issue and consumers are not so willing to give their data to those big players any more. We are also seeing that in the future consumers could own and control their own data. These kinds of distributed data models are the only option where smaller retailers could compete with leading online stores. Retailers could cooperate with parties that empower consumers to collect their own data and use their profiles to get better customer experience and the right products. This development will lead to personal AI that help consumers find what they really want. 

These new concepts are possible weapons for traditional retailers to fight against leading online companies. The concepts are not enough to win the battle or the war. It also requires superior execution. It also means these companies must renew their operations. They must become modern digital companies internally, with data-oriented processes. It means they must be ready to kill their old processes, operations and functions. To be clear, this doesn’t mean just using new software and IT for old processes, it means building new operations, processes and models from scratch.

Many retailers are now in a death spiral. They still have many assets, but they could soon be gone, if they don’t build totally new businesses now. They must not only look at the 20-year history of online stores but find the new trends and areas where they can change the current online business and offer something better to customers. Customers look for good experiences, and price and data drives both business and consumers, too. Retailers really must become innovators in those areas.

The article first appeared on Disruptive.Asia.

​At least 1.5 billion adults worldwide do not have access to financial services. Those people are not benefiting from financial inclusion, or being part ofthe financial systems in any way. Despite this number having recently dropped, it is still a lot of people.

Financial inclusion is also linked to human rights, opportunities to get a job, to have a home and access utilities. Those without financial services are not only in developing countries, but also in Western Europe and North America – but we can see hope that the situation is getting better.

Opening a bank account depends on several factors. Banks want to choose their customers, and with tough KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) requirements banks are getting even more selective. Financial services now include many more options than just simple banking.

Some obstacles people face to get access to financial services include:

• No finance history, i.e. not having used any other financial services previously;
• No credit score; 
• No data to prove finance or other history;
• No permanent job;
• No permanent address.

The reality is that financial inclusion requires new models and a new way to conduct business. Technology, especially fintech solutions, can help a lot, but at the same time there is a requirement for business models that can include and encourage these new customers to come to and use the services. For example, in western countries it can include working with people and communities that are not just missing out on banking, but also other functions in society.

Technology can help financial inclusion in many different ways. For example:

• it is much more cost-effective to set up mobile finance services for customers that have less money and may require small loans;
• there are many new models to effect credit scoring even if a person has no financial services history;
• mobile data, including location and social media profiles, help to know customers and their backgrounds better;
• international money transfers, e.g. from relatives in western countries, can been used as a guarantee for loans;
• and there is no longer a need for expensive legacy banking IT systems, when new cloud-based solutions can offer the same services with much lower costs.

​People can now start to use mobile wallets to receive salary and other payment, and international money transfers with at reasonable cost. They can also start to take small loans without credit history or permanent addresses, and in that way also build their finance history. At the same time, service providers can offer these services with lower costs and investments. Technology is really  the key component for improving financial inclusion and equality.

Financial inclusion is not only important for these people, but for the whole economy. When people are included in financial services, they can better work, use money, buy a house and save money. This is fundamental for all economies. It also means people can start to pay taxes. When many people are outside finance services, it is not only a problem for those people but for society and a country’s economy.

Of course, this is not only about technology, but as we have seen many other areas, when a technology becomes commodity, it enables many new things. We see now this development in financial services. Many banks are still stuck with their legacy systems, but it doesn’t stop new players emerging that have newer, more cost-effective solutions.

Beyond the technology, financial inclusion needs also the right attitude. It needs people who see opportunities to offer financial services to these excluded people. It is not altruistic thinking, it is also seeing opportunities outside the traditional ‘fat cat’ approach. One could also say, it is a choice, if you want to only handle the millions of dollars of a few people, or a few dollars from millions of people. With the traditional banking model, the latter option was not so attractive, but fintech has now made it a real choice and at the same time help these people, bottom lines and economies grow.

The articles was first published on Disruptive.Asia.

Difitek (a Grow VC Group company) offers platforms to build new finance services also for unbankable people, read more.