Stevie-winner CIS Bayad Center, Inc. (Bayad) is the largest multichannel payment platform in the Philippines. Formerly known as Bayad Center, Bayad takes pride in having the largest billing network, serving more than 500 billers, including basic utilities, government contributions, loan payments, tuition fees, online shopping, insurance, and many others. To date, 80% of banks and financial institutions in the country are likewise powered by Bayad for their bill payment acceptance.

With more than 20 years in the industry, Bayad continues to be a trailblazer as it evolves from an over-the-counter payment center into a full-service fintech company, offering a whole suite of financial products & services available to both consumers and businesses.

Bayad won the Bronze Stevie Award in the Innovation in Rebranding category, where it articulated its brand transformation in an essay entry titled "Meralco's Bayad Center to Bayad: How a traditional bills payment brand authority in the Philippines adapted to the digital age."

Transforming the Digital Financial Experience

With technology continuing to develop in leaps and bounds, and with COVID-19 pandemic still in the equation, businesses big and small were pushed to undergo digital transformation to automate their services for their customers.

Through the use of real-time electronic payments and user-friendly mobile applications, transactions like bills payment, money remittances, and online shopping can now be done in the comfort of one’s home – something that Bayad makes possible. With the main goal of connecting, empowering, and providing customers with seamless relevant, and secured financial services, Bayad has aligned its initiatives with the goal of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in achieving 50% increase in digital financial transactions in 2023.

In line with this, the company has rebranded itself as a "Bigger, Better, and Younger Bayad" to introduce more payment channels and services, and to capture a significant chunk of the younger and internet-savvy market.

Anchored on its “Pay Anywhere” stance, Bayad has clinched and maintained partnerships with various billers, utility companies, government institutions, and remittance companies, enabling a network of establishments, agents, online and mobile applications, financial institutions, cooperatives, and fintech companies.

To date, 80% of the banks and financial institutions in the country are likewise powered by Bayad for their bills payment acceptance. More importantly, their extensive connections have resulted in successful partnerships with multinational financial services corporations such as VISA and Mastercard, empowering more customers to pay online.

Bayad has also opened opportunities to entrepreneurs to generate additional income for their existing businesses through its franchise model, enabling the company to receive various recognitions for its service excellence.

Scaling Innovation for the Future

According to Bayad, constant innovation is the linchpin in their development as a fintech institution. They continue to launch new and supportive services and solutions for customers.   

• Bayad has launched Bayad Asenso, a retail trade app that aims to provide opportunities for MSMEs to generate additional income for their existing businesses. This solution can be embedded within the business feature of the Bayad App, where business owners can register and manage their accounts, enabling them to become Bayad Agents, offering Bayad’s financial services in their respective communities.
• Apart from Bayad Asenso, Bayad also introduced the Bayad Checkout, a payment check-out solution that is integrated in an enterprise’s website or mobile app, allowing its customers to choose their preferred payment method.
• Lastly, Bayad has also successfully launched Bayad Express, a one stop shop payment solution that is also embedded in a merchant’s website or mobile app, which enables customers to access other billers of Bayad, apart from the merchant’s primary payment offerings.

As Bayad continues to create positive strides by maintaining dominance in payments, it advances its cyber security measures, enabling the company to obtain its Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard Certification (PCIDSS), an information security standard for all business entities that handle card information.

With its ongoing efforts in security compliance, Bayad also utilizes fraud detection tools making them confident in expanding its user base as it continues to develop value-added services and additional revenue streams to community establishments and online businesses.

Bayad won a Bronze Stevie Award for Innovation in Brand Renovation / Rebranding in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

Stevie-winner Home Credit Philippines is digitizing as many human resource tasks as possible to better support employees professionally and personally.

Home Credit Philippines is part of Home Credit Group, which focuses on responsible lending primarily to people with little or no credit history.  Home Credit endeavors to promote the principles of financial inclusion and safe lending, providing world-class financing services to customers, who are often first-time borrowers.

So far, their 77.4 thousand employees have served 56.5 million customers through their vast distribution network comprising 195,379 points of sale, loan offices, branches, and post offices.

In the years since Home Credit Philippines began operations in October 2013, they have modernized their human resources (HR) practices and platforms to adapt to the evolving financial and social environments. The Covid pandemic, in particular, prompted rapid digitization of many services and sectors worldwide, which Home Credit Philippines fully embraced.

Home Credit Philippines leaders seek to consistently support the creative thinking of their more than 12,000 employees. An effective leadership style, they assert, should magnify the strengths and potential of their team members, making their weaknesses insignificant. They believe there are no small roles, and that everyone’s contribution is important. Leading a large, diverse group of people means there is no one size fits all. However, one thing common to all is the need to be appreciated.

Enabling Human Connection
The COVID pandemic underscored the importance of reliable communication systems and software. In 2022, they deployed an internal HR chatbot to provide 24/7 service to employees, which can connect employees with HR even if there is no intranet access. They hope that HR will no longer be just a department but a culture that will be embedded in each employee. You don’t need to be an HR department to be a human resource, according to Home Credit Philippines.

Nurturing employees’ talent and development requires thorough understanding of their skillsets, functions, and background. Home Credit Philippines believes that data is power; gathering and deciphering actionable insights from that data can transform people systems.

Their team uses a tool called Power BI, an analytics platform powered by Microsoft. Power BI is a collection of software services, apps, and connectors that work together to turn users’ unrelated sources of data into coherent, visually immersive, and interactive insights. 

Home Credit Philippines also uses the CliftonStrengths assessment for personal and team development. The CliftonStrengths assessment is a performance-based tool that builds self-awareness and strength. It helps individuals discover their top five strengths and can help organizations improve company culture and performance. The underlying philosophy of this assessment design is that all individuals can be more engaged and successful when we are able to use our strengths to achieve personal and professional goals. 

Where They Are Now
As Home Credit Philippines looks for new opportunities to strengthen its HR support for existing and future employees, the company continues to trust in the latest technology to further improve operations.

Since implementing the above and other digitization efforts, Home Credit Philippines has increased its Talent Acquisition rate from 56% to 89%. They also reduced the average time to fill positions across all levels by an average of 44%.

Improvements have also been made within Operations. Through its automated employee verification tool, HR document control center, SharePoint Automation, JIRA Deployment, and PIP automation, Home Credit Philippines reduced its transaction rate by 26%, having all important materials and documents readily available to employees. They also improved their received rate by 9%, increased service level attainment by 24%, and decreased total processing time by 22%.

Home Credit Philippines won a Gold Stevie Award for the Innovative Use of Technology in Human Resources - Financial Services Industries in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

Stevie-winner OfficePartners360 (OP360) is a specialized outsourcing company focused on providing custom back office and customer service solutions for small to medium-sized businesses and Fortune 500 companies.

US-owned and managed, OP360 was founded in 2006 by entrepreneurs with strong experience in technology, HR, IT, and finance. Today, they are a full-service, fast-growing solutions provider with thousands of global employees and clients ranging from mid-sized corporations toFortune 500 firms.

Because the owners have been clients of offshore and outsourced services, they understand first-hand the benefits of outsourcing. For clients who require personnel, OP360 ensures the outsourced team not only performs but also operates as an extension of the client’s existing teams with the same shared values, training, and culture. In addition, OP360 operates out of premium facilities in tier-two cities thereby reducing client costs.

Principles in Action
OP360 leaders are committed to building and maintaining a transformative, high-performing culture. They hope to do this through effective communication, genuinely caring about their team (and the communities where they live and work), ensuring rapid career development for strong performers, and providing well-above-average compensation. Their methods seem to work, as they consistently have an exceptionally high management retention rate.

When the pandemic thrust the world into a state of disarray, leaders in the Philippines office responded by tapping into OP360’s core values of compassion and cooperation, as well as its ability to stay agile and adaptable to changing circumstances in order to guarantee employee health and well-being. 

By March 2020, 99% of staff were successfully pivoted to remote work. Computers and portable WiFi kits were sent home with employees, and those who did not have a suitable home office were housed in hotels from where they could work. A corporate telecommuting package was also offered for staff to have wired internet at home. Remote IT support was available 24/7, and when needed, IT staff were deployed to homes to swap out or repair damaged assets. A resiliency hub was also maintained to cater to employees who, due to emergencies, were unable to continue working remotely. 

When onsite work resumed, staff were shuttled to and from the offices to limit exposure to the commuting public. Free meals were provided to limit the need to leave the offices during breaks. A stringent office sanitation and disinfection schedule was maintained; more staff were certified in first aid and safety; and additional clinic nurses were hired to ensure safety. A mental health program was also launched to support employees’ mental well-being. Employees who tested positive for Covid-19 were given paid time off and received a care kit.

As soon as vaccines were available in 2021, OP360 rolled-out its vaccination campaign, “Together & for Each Other.” Joining a public-private venture, OP360 offered free vaccination to employees and their dependents. Within 3 months, 78% of staff were fully inoculated through the company’s efforts, exceeding the Philippines’ then-national average. The company also extended its care externally by distributing face masks and vitamins to 5 beneficiary-schools of its philanthropic arm, OP360 Cares. 

While the situation exacerbated vulnerabilities, OP360 never stopped operating with the health and safety of its community in mind.

OfficePartners360 won a Silver Stevie Award for Most Valuable Corporate Response to COVID-19 in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?

Stevie-winner Nurch is looking to enhance the stability and consistency of learning environments in the Australian childcare market through a loyalty rewards program for families.

Nurch founders Brent Thompson, Glenn Noy, and Kara Smyth have over 15 years of experience in childcare each. They all agreed that the common promotional strategies used by childcare centers are antiquated, and the strategies typically only benefit a new family, never an enrolled family who has been continuously supporting the childcare center.

With this in mind, they developed and launched a loyalty rewards program in 2019 that would not only help centers increase enrollments but also help centers retain their most loyal families through rewards. With no sign-up fee, there are only benefits for families in this program as well.

How It Works
Partnering childcare centers invite families to sign up for the Nurch loyalty program at no cost. The high-tech platform synchronizes with each center’s software to automatically download the details of enrolled families, including attendance records and fees. After signing up, families automatically earn 1 point for every $1 they pay to the childcare center. Loyalty reward points can be redeemed at leading Australian retailers.

This model organically attracts new families to participating childcare centers and helps centers maintain current enrollment. More consistent enrollment allows centers to better plan for fluctuations and frees their time to focus on enhancing the quality of childcare services. This contributes to better consistency of care and more stability for children, providing a better environment to improve their learning, development, and wellbeing.

Nurch is 100% compliant with childcare subsidies and Australian consumer laws. It is constantly updated and automated to meet government regulations, laws, and changes. With the Nurch platform and collaborative model, children, families, childcare centers, and the broader community all benefit.

Growth and Values
Nurch takes an ethical and transparent business approach by providing a Childcare funding declaration. Center groups can do their own risk assessment and have fair terms and conditions that allow centers to freely operate. For example, they have a 2-year agreement term, but centers can cancel anytime.

In addition, Nurch aims to promote diversity and healthy labor practices. Employees are respected and provided with the flexibility they need to balance work and home life. Employees are given the option of where they prefer to work and what hours. Career development is highly supported by adjusting roles to specific interests.

Since receiving their Stevie awards, Nurch has now assisted over 8,000 families and more than 50 childcare centers across Australia in retaining and growing enrollments. 

In a recent study, Nurch found that 67% of members would choose a Nurch-partnered childcare center or remain enrolled at their current center due to the Nurch program. Also, 80% of users saw more value in the Nurch program compared with leading retailer loyalty rewards programs. Nurch is currently on track to partner with 300 centers and have over 30,000 members by 2025. 

Nurch won a Gold Stevie Award for Most Innovative Startup of the Year – Business Service Industries, and a Silver Award for Most Innovative Startup of the Year – Business Product Industries in the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards.

Interested in entering the 2023 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards?