With the changing evolution of work and a need for solutions that not need to manage teams, but also fit your everyday needs as a business owner, technology often has the solution. Using software, apps and tech tools is often an essential part of a business owner and anyone looking to conduct business more effectively.
To find out how some of the best in the region do it, we speak to one of them; Yogesh Sangle, Head of Instarem, who is based in Singapore.
Yogesh is responsible for expanding the business and this involves launching innovative products that help with money transfers, currency exchange and more, to help businesses in the region. He has led and managed the regional businesses for many well-known companies within the banking, cards and remittances sector, including PayPal, Citibank and MoneyGram.
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For those who might know, Instarem is a leading digital cross-border payment and new-financial platform that enables consumers and SMEs to send and collect international money transfers conveniently and securely. They are currently in over 100 markets, 65 markets in real-time. Instarem is a trusted licensed service provider with licenses in Australia, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, UK, US, EU, and Canada. Instarem recently launched APAC’s first smart card, amaze, in Singapore. The card allows users to pair up to 5 bank cards, providing better FX rates for travel.
Instarem for Business provides an easy platform to manage payments as a business (Free)
We are in the space of making payments instant and simple, with every payment at your fingertips. Our “Instarem for Business” platform allows seamless integration of business payment processes with just a few easy clicks. As one of the first few platforms that offers most Asian currencies, our Asian counterparts have been able to benefit from our low-cost payment platform.
From the long list of frustrations with payments, bulk payment services often rise to the top of the list for businesses, especially SMEs. Managing payments across different territories with different currencies and deadlines is increasingly commonplace as businesses start to grow and expand. Bulk payment systems, therefore, make life a lot easier for businesses that are used to delivering one payslip at a time.
Payment transparency is especially important when it involves multiple beneficiaries, so our users can even view charges upfront on our platform, along with a breakdown of the exact transaction amount. Beneficiaries also get notified of the amount they will receive.
The integration of multi-currency for SME users allows for a smooth cross-border payment process so prior to officially rolling it out, we tried and tested this feature on our platform to ensure the transfers took place within 24 hours.
LinkedIn provides access to news and talent (Free)
LinkedIn is my day-to-day source of news, where I get first-hand updates on the companies and employees in my professional circle. Comments, likes, and reposts are more than just a couple of clicks, but they are a good way to connect and engage with my team and wider network. In the age of modern technology, LinkedIn is a great way to effectively build relationships, across the globe.
Additionally, the platform keeps me up to date on industry trends and developments as well as how major companies in the region are scaling up within the ever-evolving fintech space.
Businesses like Instarem are always on the lookout for unsolved problems in the market. Reading about these new perspectives and hearing the opinions of experts in the field allows us to ride on and even be a step ahead of the latest trends that are shaping and disrupting the region.
LinkedIn is also a fantastic resource when it comes to talent management too. It helps us to source for and retain our growing team.
Make foreign exchange easier with the amaze card (Free)
Way before the “revenge travel” trend took off, the Instarem team long contemplated designing a smart travel card that solves travellers’ woes. amaze is APAC’s first smart card that allows users to link up to five bank cards to it. Being an Instarem product, great foreign exchange (FX) rates are assured. Users spend and save at the same time by stacking up cashback on top of their bank cards. Personally, when I travel overseas for work, I take advantage of low FX rates and value-added tax (VAT) refunds without having to top up. The fuss-free, seamless experience is something people-on-the-go will enjoy, given they can access visibility of their transactions via the Instarem app, whenever they need to.
The long list of amazing travel partners helps keep me up to date on where I can save extra when I’m planning ahead for trips.
Tableau helps provide insights (Paid)
Content and data are something we consume and churn out every single day, and it is crucial to turn all this valuable data into actionable insights.
With Tableau, my team and I can gain insights into how consumers and businesses interact with our platform from a variety of data sources. We use the reports generated to identify what the problems are and where we can fill the gaps in terms of customer orientation and product fit.
Tableau allows my team of engineers to design and implement product and technology initiatives with the right considerations. We work with cross-functional teams of analysts, project managers, developers, and architects all the time and we need a data reporting and analysis system to support the team.
Manage multiple project goals on Confluence (Paid)
Confluence makes it easy for the team to set goals across multiple projects all on a single platform. It is also easy for me to spearhead projects and deliver action-packed strategies with a bird’s-eye view of all the ongoing projects.
It acts as a marketplace for ideas sharing, where me and my team brainstorm and experiment with new features, as well as stress-test and document existing features to make them even better.