Infy to take Indian start-up tech global
EdgeVerve Systems, the financial product unit of IT major Infosys, is tapping into the expertise of Indian start-ups to step up its digital offering as part of its Finacle platform for financial service customers globally. This month, the company (a fully owned subsidiary of Infosys) firmed up two partnerships with local start-ups to take their solutions to customers globally.
EdgeVerve Systems, the financial product unit of IT major Infosys, is tapping into the expertise of Indian start-ups to step up its digital offering as part of its Finacle platform for financial service customers globally.
This month, the company (a fully owned subsidiary of Infosys) firmed up two partnerships with local start-ups to take their solutions to customers globally. On Friday, it said it would take nearfield communications, payments and location-based services of ToneTag, a Bengaluru start-up that is backed by former Infosys director T V Mohandas Pai, to its customers as part of Finacle.
ToneTag also counts among its investors Facebook product director Anand Chandrasekaran, co-founder of i-Flex Solutions Deepak Ghasias, and former Wipro chief executive T K Kurien.
Last week, Infosys Finacle joined hands with Ratan Tata’s Unilazer Venture-backed Niki.ai to build a joint solution and provide a “smart-purchasing chatbot by using natural language processing and machine learning to speak to customers and perform online transactions”. Niki.ai can also deliver personalised suggestions for customers of Infosys’ banking and other financial service client analysis.
ToneTag will offer flexible payment solutions at banks using contactless technology, with the help of biometrics authentication capabilities at Infosys Finacle. This combination will help consumers approve a transaction on their phone without sharing the card or account information with the merchant, said Infosys.
These start-ups were recognised at Finacle FinTech Connect, an initiative that focuses on alliances and uses the Infosys Innovation Fund programme to identify promising financial technology start-ups.
Such partnerships, analysts say, will primarily help Infosys build smart offerings for financial service sectors at lower cost, using available expertise from start-ups.
Customers of IT service companies across the globe are seeking artificial intelligence, machine learning and other digital technology-based offerings that can bring down the cost of operations and ensure better customer experience. This has resulted in small deal sizes for these IT companies, long dependent on large and long-term software service deals.
The Niki.ai chatbot solution should help banks to enhance their revenues and improve customer stickiness, said Sanat Rao, chief business officer at Infosys Finacle. The services offered using ToneTag would provide banks a significant opportunity to gain control of the “last-mile payment experience”, without making substantial capital investment.
Nitin Babel, co-founder of Niki.ai, said it would gradually go global with the Infosys client base, once use of its chatbot becomes popular at Indian banks.
“The utility of the Niki chatbot is multifold. It can support any digital transaction, be it a banking one or an ecommerce payment. Hence, it can be adopted in different markets. First, our focus is to gain a significant foothold in the domestic (India) market and with this partnership, we can plan to go global within a year,” he said.