Thanks to the internet, the e-commerce industry has grown tremendously with competitions among players getting intense by every passing day. New products are gaining ground to entice consumers to spend their money online and make recurring payments via digital wallets effortlessly. But it is a completely different ball game for SMEs who wish to try their luck in cross-border trade to expand their consumer base.
Small businesses from India, Pakistan or CIS-countries like Georgia face obstacles while applying for a merchant account in order to sell their products or services abroad. This situation gets worse when aspiring entrepreneurs from Vietnam or Sri Lanka apply for their merchant account application and get rejected by the local traditional financial institution. Such states of affairs raise a very important question that how can these entrepreneurs grow their business if they cannot get an adequate financial solution for receiving their clients’ payments. This is where Realisto comes to rescue. It supports merchants to stand their ground in the local and global markets with its unique currency management and payment services.
Setting an Example in the Industry by Raising Realisto as TechFin Firm
The Founder of Realisto, Josep Pocalles and his professional team perceive payment processing as a route for creating a long-term relationship with their merchants. In doing so, they provide them with custom-made solutions in all vital areas such as project management, IT development, compliance, marketing, and others. They also offer services like FX market research, currencies technical analysis and revenue collection services for e-commerce stores and online merchants. Moreover, the skilled team creates an ecosystem for clients by incorporating subsidiaries with a friendlier business climate and ensures their sustainable growth in the marketplace.
Prior to establishing Realisto, Josep choose to endeavor in the payment sector because he understood its potential and impact in the evolution of IT sector. About 20 years ago, he started working on the internet– related businesses, which were mainly about hosting and web design in the IT industry. While his IT career brought him a technical understanding to meet the requirements of his customers, the competent leader within him was enforced to learn the ins and outs related to this industry. Josep wanted to be at the right position where he could satisfy his customers’ demands. Therefore, to achieve this, he decided to get funds from the local traditional financial institutions in Spain. At that time, the process was complex and full of obstacles. After this incident, Josep decided to initiate the process of becoming a regulated Payments Institution so that others won’t have to go through the similar trials and tribulations as he did.
Building an Ecosystem to Overcome Pitfalls of Payment Transactions
According to Josep, plenty of entrepreneurs with a career in banking are fascinated with the word, Fintech. But, coming from a highly-technical profile of a telecommunications engineer to successfully executing a project in finance came naturally to him. That’s why the Founder does not refer Realisto as a FinTech rather a TechFin firm.
Although, it is true that internet has enabled e-commerce to take place globally, the reality is far from it. Before entering the global market, every business has to act according to a set of rules and regulations enforced by their local market. But if not backed, they become immovable in their local markets and miss out on the opportunity to venture overseas due to lack of financial solutions for managing payments of global clients. Understanding this market scenario, the team of Realisto realized that the retailers need a specialized service for managing their currencies to reduce operating costs in the transactions.
Strengthening Clients’ Businesses while Fostering a Clear Vision
Realisto aims to achieve its mission of creating “impact to reduce digital inequality” while delivering best-in-class payment solutions. After analyzing customer’s requirements, the team of Realisto provides an adequate plan to improve clients’ business model, thereby increasing their profits.
The creative drive behind Realisto is its clients. Josep believes that having a clear vision and perfect understanding of merchants’ business models is the most effective way to boost creativity within his team. Similarly, the in-depth knowledge of how clients’ businesses are operating further enables Realisto to identify complementary services or products while amplifying their working capabilities. The skilled team also sought some cross-selling opportunities by merchant’s request or takes personal efforts to improve overall customer satisfaction.
Aiming to Become the Number One Option for all SMEs
The Founder of Realisto believes that a company can never be successful unless the employees within are happy and motivated with the activities and work environment. Therefore, the first thing the versatile leader does at the office is to ensure that his employees are pleased and gratified because jovial and satisfied employees strive to effectively deal with clients issues and make them happy.
As a fast-growing consulting firm, Realisto is growing by leaps and bounds. Presently, there are a number of ongoing IT development projects which will take its platform to the desired level of automation. Along with this, the experienced team members of Realisto are continuously striving to deliver an efficient and reliable customer support service, which will put them on the right track of increasing their portfolio of merchants. The Spain-based company’s long-term approach is to become the number one option for all SMEs operating in non-OECD nations like Thailand or the Philippines that are left out from the system provided by their local financial institutions.
