Banking on change in UAE: Technology to the rescue
Our technology platform takes away the headache by helping companies and individuals understand their policy, which eventually saves them money and time. more importantly, the platform comes at no additional cost Talal Bayaa, co-founder and CEO of Bayzat
Bayzat, which means cash or change in Arabic, looks set to gain momentum after shifting its focus to limited product lineup. The startup launched operations by providing financial products comparison but that’s not their key offering anymore as it is now mainly focusing on providing enterprise solutions to insurance and HR sectors.
Its co-founder and CEO Talal Bayaa is determined to make a name in the global arena for simplifying and empowering lives through technology. The four-year-old startup, which increased its workforce from 12 to 50, recently raised $3.6 million in Series A funding to launch products that can better serve its customers. It provides enterprise solutions to companies like Deliveroo, Baker & Spice, and Propertyfinder, among others, and generates revenue by partnering with insurers.
“Initially, we started with financial products such as credit cards, loans and insurance etc, then focused on health insurance in line with Dubai’s new health insurance law under which everyone is bound to be covered by January. In 2016, we also rolled out our HR automation platform to our clients,” Talal told Khaleej Times.
Talal said they saw many problems they could solve for clients by giving them a better and simpler way to manage benefits, which is the main reason Bayzat moved into health insurance and HR solutions.
Although there is stiff competition in the market, Talal was of the view that the key differentiator is that Bayzat is a software as a service (SaaS) company focusing on creating customer value and enterprise solutions.
The company’s chief commercial officer Tarek Bayaa said: “Our point of differentiation is the technology and how we simplify the customer experience with it. If we take insurance services as an example, you can imagine the complexity the industry creates for customers such as 50-plus pages policy, paperwork processes and limited knowledge of plans.”
“Our technology platform takes away the headache by helping companies and individuals understand their policy, which eventually saves them money and time. More importantly, the platform comes at no additional cost,” he added.
Talal, a 29-year- old Palestinian-American entrepreneur, said Bayzat’s vision is to provide purposeful experiences that simplify and empower lives. “We believe great customer experience comes from transparency and powerful technology. Therefore, both of our currently offered services are based on simple pain points that every company and individual faces every day,” he said.
The healthcare industry in Middle East and North Africa (Mena) has been growing 10 per cent annually and the UAE and Saudi Arabia are considered the major growth markets. As most countries in the region have made healthcare insurance cover mandatory, companies like Bayzat can capitalise on the growth opportunities in the years to come.
“Like many fresh startups, there were times we faced challenges, when looking for right talent and initial funding. However, there were also times that luck was on our side, such as the time Dubai Health Authority announced the mandatory health insurance law — that’s when we shifted our focus to health insurance,” Talal said.
“Thankfully, we are receiving good responses in terms of demand volume and customer appreciation. Bayzat saw 350 per cent plus growth in last four quarters and we have just launched our HR solutions services. We are very excited about 2017,” he added.
HR solutions
Citing an in-house survey to launch technology platform for HR solutions — Bayzat Benefits — Talal said over 50 per cent of HR executives’ time is spent on processing employee information while on average an HR professional wastes 42 per cent of his time on repetitive administration tasks.
“Only 10 per cent of HR time is spent on strategy and about 80 per cent of HR executives would like to see automation of HR-related tasks,” he said.
He said Bayzat Benefits automates administrative work for HR professionals and ensures that all HR processes are centralised, accessible and secure. Its newly launched features focus on managing employee records, handsfree data entry, automated reminders for data accuracy, etc.
“With so many businesses starting up in the UAE, closing down or doing restructuring every year [more than 22,000 businesses were established in Dubai in 2015] quick establishment process, effective overall management, and smooth operation are crucial for many to survive,” Talal said.
expansion on cards
Talal said Bayzat operates only in the UAE currently, however he doesn’t rule out its expansion across the Gulf region in future.
“Potentially, the GCC region would be more feasible to expand our services in the near future. Although it is important to thoroughly plan these details, we have still a lot to do in the UAE market before considering the expansion,” he said.
Venture capital firm for early stage tech startups Beco Capital, Precinct Partners, Raed Ventures, Delta Partners Group and Womena are investors in Bayzat. These investors focus exclusively on supporting technology startups in promising sectors.
Justifying investment in Bayzat, Amir Farha from Beco Capital said: “Apart from significant growth in 2016, the key factor behind our investment support is the innovation Bayzat will bring to the market and it’s faster scalability. With technology now proliferating large industries and creating efficiencies that never existed before, consumers and businesses are able to extract tremendous value by economies of scale.”
— muzaffarrizvi@khaleejtimes.com