Smart working and payments digitalization: TAS Group is not slowed down by the Covid-19 emergency
TAS Group, leader in Italy in the supply of software and services for banking and financial applications, has been successfully applying smart working practices for already 10 years. Thanks to this approach, the company is able to guarantee its customers maximum efficiency in managing digital payments, to the benefit of consumers and businesses during the ongoing emergency.
Milan, March 4, 2020 – The health emergency that many countries around the world, and in particular Italy, are experiencing brings to the fore two themes that can be invaluable in dealing with the current crisis, without compromising company productivity and the economic exchanges between firms and consumers: smart working and cashless payments.
Smart working is something that has already been successfully adopted in many European countries, especially those in the North (with an adoption rate of 31%). The benefits of this approach, in which the worker has the possibility of operating from home connecting remotely to company servers, has the positive effect of a significant reduction in CO2 emissions as well as allowing a better balance between private and professional life, increasing the well-being of the person and consequently his or her productivity.
To reduce the spread of the virus, the Italian government is urging companies to encourage smart working, thus pushing companies and workers to get used to a new way of working as part of the culture. In fact, only 2% of companies in Italy have so far adopted smart working policies, compared to an average of 11% at European level.
TAS Group can be viewed among the pioneers in this regard. It started to adopt this work policy in 2011, progressively involving the entire production staff distributed in its offices throughout Italy (8 in 6 distinct regions), Serbia, Switzerland, France and Spain (2 operating offices). Before the arrival of the Covid-19 virus in Italy, TAS Group had typically about 30% of its staff working from home, a percentage in line with the European average.
Recently, following the preventive directions issued by the national authorities, TAS Group has further increased the percentage of its staff in smart working, without requiring any changes in management approach or negatively impacting work capacity.
“In the last few years we have appreciated the validity of smart working in many situations; for this reason, the government guidelines have not caught us unprepared: we already had organizational tools and procedures well established to allow employees to work easily from home without compromising productivity, teamwork or the quality of project delivery”, said Guido Isani, Human Resources Director of TAS Group. “This emergency will hopefully increase the adoption of smart working by proving its benefits and bringing Italy in line with other European countries“.
Another area in which TAS Group is helping to thwart the epidemic is through the digitalization of payments, which it at the core of its business.
Close contact between people when paying in cash, as well as the cash itself, are moments and tools that can be a vehicle of contagion. As is well known, cash moving from hand to hand is one of the means of a potential spread of pathogens, even under normal circumstances.
In recent weeks, the increase in remote, mobile, web and kiosk payment transactions has been sudden and clear. Many banks have experienced exponential growth in the downloading of payment apps, the use of cards and customer interactions with unattended channels (ATM, Internet and Mobile Banking). The sudden increase in volumes through these channels was made possible by the availability of highly resilient and scalable technological infrastructures.
“This is precisely the core business of TAS Group”, commented Massimiliano Quattrocchi, Director and General Manager of Global Payments SpA, a company dedicated to the payments sector, entirely controlled by TAS, “making mission-critical platforms and technologies available to Payment Service Providers, capable of enabling new digital payments with maximum safety and agility. In the emergency caused by the Covid-19 virus, our mission therefore also has a connotation of social responsibility, given that we contribute to guaranteeing economic exchanges in a ubiquitous and cashless way, while reducing the risks created by human contact. It is a source of pride that our constant work on technological innovation today concretely supports the country’s economic dynamics in a time of difficulty.”
TAS Group has been operating in the FinTech sector for over 35 years, and is today a Preferred Partner selected by leading Italian and international banking operators to face the challenges of the digital payment revolution, from Open Banking to Instant Payment, Fraud Prevention and Real-time bank liquidity management.
“The ongoing emergency is a further challenge that our customers must and can face, relying on the technologies enabling digitalization”, says Valentino Bravi, CEO of TAS Group. “In times of crisis the strength of strong and loyal partnerships emerges, and TAS has all the required characteristics needed to continue enabling this technological change, constantly improving the performance of its solutions, in line with the expectations of our customers. It is important to underline how these elements have allowed the growth of TAS Group in recent years, leading the Group to have a very positive outlook for the future “.
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