Embedded banking: 4 Isabel Connect partners on their experience

What do a payment expert, an ICT integrator, a debt mediation specialist and a construction software developer have in common? Apart from being partners of Isabel, all four of them have made their first firm step towards integrated banking, or, as it is more commonly known, embedded banking.

Embedded banking describes the process by which banking services can be embedded via APIs into third-party software platforms or apps. An API is a software interface that allows applications to communicate with each other. Isabel 6 provides this kind of API through Isabel Connect.

“With Isabel Connect, you can essentially open any business application, and then proceed to connect with it in a secure and efficient way,” explains Vanessa Beeckman, Sales Manager at Isabel Group. This is why she likes to compare the integration tool with a Swiss Army knife. And just like Victorinox, the company behind the knives, Isabel stands for technical progress and innovation. “It’s part of our DNA. Isabel Connect is just one of the many examples of this.”

Using Isabel Connect opens up a myriad of new possibilities for our partners with which they can further optimize their clients’ financial administration. By integrating Isabel Connect into their solutions, those clients get direct and seamless access from their trusted business applications to a wide range of banks. This means, for example, that they can make payment orders directly through their ERP system or bookkeeping software.

Here are 4 of our partners who like to think ahead. Find out how they provide concrete solutions for their customers thanks to embedded banking.

1. Twikey: paying more easily

As a payments expert, it is no surprise that Twikey aspires to reduce its clients’ payment administration workload down to a minimum. Twikey’s aim is to simplify their payment processes as much as possible. To this end, the company first of all focused on improving the administrative flow that automatic collection or direct debits entail. In the meantime, as the company says, it has grown into a one-stop shop for online payments. Specifically, Twikey helps companies get paid faster.

“By integrating Isabel Connect into our solution, we have drastically reduced onboarding time for our clients,” says Dominique Adriansens, Twikey’s co-founder. “Instead of weeks or months, it now takes less than one week – or even just a few minutes – to activate a bank. We also have many more banks on board now, meaning that our coverage is much greater. Finally, we place a lot of importance on automation. Isabel Connect is precisely why we’re now able to create automated flows with a lot of added value.”

2. Inetum-Realdolmen: ready-made ERP integration

Inetum-Realdolmen has been a loyal partner of Isabel for more than fifteen years. It takes care of the installation and the service desk of various Isabel applications for corporate clients. As an ICT integrator, Inetum-Realdolmen also develops its own integration solutions for Isabel’s range. One such solution is the Isabel Connect Integrator. This swiftly and faultlessly links a client’s existing operational ERP solution to Isabel 6, our multi-banking platform. As Katja Smith, Senior Service Delivery Manager at Inetum-Realdolmen, points out, this is done “without making a single change to the ERP software.” “There is no bespoke work needed in the ERP, which is a great selling point to persuade IT managers.”

“By using Isabel Connect, our clients can automate a lot more. That way, we reduce the manual work and also the risk of human error and active fraud for our clients. We also increase their operational efficiency,” concludes Katja Smith.

3. ROOV: supporting debt mediation

ROOV is a rarity and possibly even unique in Belgium: a fintech company with a social cause. That cause is supporting debt mediators and public authorities, more specifically social service providers and social housing providers, with their growing range of tasks. This aim of this support is to ensure that enough time is freed up to give all users the help they are entitled to.

“There are a growing number of people with money problems,” says Frédéric Vandenhende. The CEO and founder of ROOV wants his company to play a leading role for people in financial difficulty. “Through Isabel Connect, we help public authorities and debt mediators carry out their debt mediation tasks more efficiently, saving them time and money.” Take the example of reimbursement of invoices: “Nowadays, reimbursing one invoice for a user’s fixed basic expenses can easily cost 30 to 40 euros in staff time, which is often more than the invoice amount itself! With Isabel Connect, we can get these fixed expenses to be recognised automatically, and reimbursed more quickly, meaning that the administrative cost drops to just 3 euros.”

4. KPD: closely monitoring payments

KPD develops software for the construction sector, including an open ERP for construction companies. “Liquidity is a focal point for every construction company,” says CEO Beau Osselaere. “It is therefore vital to closely monitor payments.” For that reason, KPD also integrated Isabel Connect in its ERP solution. That way, construction companies can better record and gain an overview of the processing of important payments.

Apart from user-friendliness, integration with Isabel Connect has another important feature: security. “Sadly, internal fraud occurs quite often,” continues Beau Osselaere. “But because files are not physically exchanged via Isabel Connect, it is impossible to manually manipulate them. You can, in fact, consider the limited cost of Isabel Connect as an insurance premium against internal fraud. That security guarantee alone is enough of a reason to work with Isabel Connect.”

Are you working on a software solution yourself?
Or maybe you’re wondering whether the software you use in your department has a link to Isabel Connect?