From Paper to Digital: enabling innovative Payment Solutions through partnerships with Lynn Dufrane

Tedd Huff: 00:00:00

Welcome to another episode of FinTech Confidential.

Tedd Huff: 00:00:02

Today, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Lynn Dufrane, the Executive

Tedd Huff: 00:00:08

Director of Sales over here at CheckAlt.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:10

Having sat on the side of a traditional banker's desk is,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:14

is really beneficial when you're talking to financial institutions.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:18

Being in the payment space and around innovators and FinTechs is beneficial in

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:22

understanding that side of the business.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:25

There was this moment of Is this a, is this the next big threat in banking?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:30

And I think what we're finding out is I think it's the next great partnership.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:36

People may be shocked, but last year, business customers wrote more

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:39

checks in 2023 than they did in 2022.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:43

So checks aren't going anywhere when you're going after new business, whether

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:47

you're going to enter the market and.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:48

Um, and search for a new vertical.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:50

Maybe you've never done business in the healthcare space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:53

I'm personally a big fan of the healthcare space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:55

I think every financial institution should look at the healthcare space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:00:58

I think fintechs, you know, that's a great space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:02

I didn't realize this, but the number one thing apparently

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:05

for financial institutions that they'll talk about this year.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:08

I hope financial institutions move away from thinking fintechs are

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:12

threats and really move into this.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:15

We have to partner with these financial technology companies.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:18

I think it's a hundred and sixteen billion.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:22

Payments were processed by check all I didn't realize there were that

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:26

many checks still being written.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:01:27

I'm just being honest

Tedd Huff: 00:01:30

Welcome to fintech confidential bringing you the people tech and companies

Tedd Huff: 00:01:35

that change how you pay and get paid

Tedd Huff: 00:01:39

Welcome to another episode of fintech confidential today.

Tedd Huff: 00:01:42

I have the pleasure of sitting down with Lynn Dufrane The executive

Tedd Huff: 00:01:47

director of sales over here at CheckAlt.

Tedd Huff: 00:01:50

And today we're going to dive into what it really looks like to

Tedd Huff: 00:01:53

work with partnerships and really understand how CheckAlt is solving

Tedd Huff: 00:02:00

a lot of these problems around lockbox and some other features.

Tedd Huff: 00:02:04

Well, then.

Tedd Huff: 00:02:05

I'm glad to finally have you on.

Tedd Huff: 00:02:07

How are you doing?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:02:08

I'm well, thanks for having me.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:02:09

It's a privilege to be here.

Tedd Huff: 00:02:10

Yeah.

Tedd Huff: 00:02:11

So we always dive in originally to, to really talk about how you fell

Tedd Huff: 00:02:18

in to this wonderful world we call fintech, you know, kind of give us

Tedd Huff: 00:02:22

like a, how you first got in and then.

Tedd Huff: 00:02:25

Like do a quick fast forward to, to how you got to where you're at today.

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Lynn Dufrane: 00:02:50

Probably an untraditional path for fintech because I started a

Lynn Dufrane: 00:02:53

small community bank I think in 1987 as a teller, as everyone in financial services

Lynn Dufrane: 00:02:59

probably should start as a teller, um, and worked my way up very quickly.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:03

And I moved over to the payment side, I think it was like the early nineties and

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:07

I literally fell in love with payments.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:10

The movement of money to me was fascinating.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:13

And it was one of those groups that just constantly evolved.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:16

And so every day you learn something new and I'm just really curious by nature.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:21

So it was such a great fit.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:23

Um, and so I just payments has just always kind of been my passion.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:27

And I've been very blessed to work for a lot of great organizations and

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:31

CheckAlt is at the top of my list.

Tedd Huff: 00:03:33

Well, that's where you've landed now.

Tedd Huff: 00:03:36

You started at the community bank.

Tedd Huff: 00:03:38

You've made a couple steps through there to some well known brands.

Tedd Huff: 00:03:42

What did you, what did you, what are you bringing from those experiences

Tedd Huff: 00:03:48

into that as you come over to CheckAlt?

Tedd Huff: 00:03:51

What is the, the biggest piece you feel like you're, you're

Tedd Huff: 00:03:54

bringing along with you?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:55

Yeah, I, I think it's a comprehensive

Lynn Dufrane: 00:03:58

understanding of the industry.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:00

And I think having sat on the side of a traditional banker's desk is,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:04

is really beneficial when you're talking to financial institutions.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:08

And I think being in the payment space and around innovators and FinTechs.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:13

is beneficial in understanding that side of the business.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:16

And so I think what I bring is kind of a more collaborative approach

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:20

to bringing the two together.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:21

Because I think initially when fintechs kind of made their splash

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:25

into financial services, I think there was this moment of is this a, is

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:31

this the next big threat in banking?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:33

And I think what we're finding out is I think it's the next great partnership.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:39

In financial services.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:40

And I think the really smart institutions understand that, and I think what,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:45

what we try to do at CheckAlt is bring that innovation together in an

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:49

industry, check processing, that's probably seen as, as, as more of a

Lynn Dufrane: 00:04:55

traditional, um, not real technologically advanced processing of paper checks.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:02

But there's also this perception, I believe, that folks believe

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:05

checks are going away.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:06

Right?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:07

And they probably have for a decade.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:08

And the truth is they're not.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:10

In fact, people may be shocked, but last year, business customers wrote more

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:14

checks in 2023 than they did in 2022.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:18

So checks aren't going anywhere.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:20

CheckGulp is innovating to stay ahead of check processing.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:24

And I, and I think really the way FinTechs and financial services come

Lynn Dufrane: 00:05:28

together will be the pivotal moment as we move forward in this industry.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:32

So you, you, you know, it's, it was kind of surprising to me.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:36

I mean, I can't, I can.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:38

Think back is as long as I've pretty much been in the industry.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:41

And it's every year feels like it's the death of checks.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:45

It's the death of checks.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:46

It feels like every year that comes along, I think it's been more of a, a transition

Tedd Huff: 00:05:53

or a conversion that's really happened.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:56

I don't think there's fewer checks.

Tedd Huff: 00:05:57

I just think that the way that they're being created, um, accepted,

Tedd Huff: 00:06:03

converted, and then transmitted have all made some major changes.

Tedd Huff: 00:06:08

And when you look at all those different things, how do you see the

Tedd Huff: 00:06:13

vision and the mission of checkout really delivering that to the market?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:21

Yeah.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:22

I think I actually agree with you that I was probably in that boat

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:25

thinking, well, checks are going away.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:27

And then as I emerged myself in this industry, realizing

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:31

statistically that's just inaccurate.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:33

Um, and I think the one thing checkout does is understand.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:37

There's a need to process physical paper checks, and

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:41

that need is not gonna go away.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:43

And so by stop, if, if you stop innovating in that space, there's gonna

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:48

be a gap at somewhere down the road.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:50

We're still innovating, which is a good thing.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:53

We're we're looking at ways to turn paper checks into a CH, for example.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:06:58

So, um, I think the, the greatest misconception is a lot of us

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:02

use an online bill pay system with our financial institution.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:05

I'm a huge fan of bill pay.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:07

And I've known for years because I'm in this industry that certain people

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:11

I pay, I know there's a physical check going because I can see that the time

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:15

it's supposed to arrive can be weeks after I have input the actual check.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:20

And what Checkult does with one of our offerings is we take that

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:23

physical bill pay check and we catch it at the moment it's being

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:28

issued and we convert it to an ACH.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:30

So now we've eliminated the postal system, we've sped up the time that

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:34

that payment is being received by the.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:36

By the payee, and also the credit that the consumer gets for paying

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:40

that bill in a more timely way.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:42

So, I think those are the things that we try to innovate, but again, I do believe

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:47

paper checks are here to stay for a while.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:50

My mom's 81 years old, and I can assure you, not only does she write

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:53

a check constantly, she balances her checkbook every month religiously.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:07:57

So she is, that's how old school my mom is.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:00

Now my children?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:01

I don't know.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:02

I'm hoping they know how to write a check, but I'm not sure they do.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:06

You know, that's the generation of P2P payments and everything's instant.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:10

And so what we have to do at CheckGauld and really across the financial

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:14

services industry is really figure out how to serve both spectrums, right?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:19

We still need to serve my 81 year old mom because she's going to be part

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:22

of the financial services ecosystem.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:24

Um, but also need to look at my children from a digital forward perspective

Lynn Dufrane: 00:08:28

because they are going to change the ecosystem over the next several decades.

Tedd Huff: 00:08:33

Well, you mentioned, um, the lockbox function that, I mean, lockbox

Tedd Huff: 00:08:38

has been around a really long time, right?

Tedd Huff: 00:08:41

And you know, I still remember the first time that I had to use one, I

Tedd Huff: 00:08:46

was paying my first utility bill and I had to write the check and put it

Tedd Huff: 00:08:50

in the envelope and then mail it.

Tedd Huff: 00:08:51

Right.

Tedd Huff: 00:08:52

Cross my fingers that it got there in time so that they didn't drop my electricity.

Tedd Huff: 00:08:56

But yes.

Tedd Huff: 00:08:57

Yes.

Tedd Huff: 00:08:57

Yes, but when you look at that, what are some of the opportunities that

Tedd Huff: 00:09:02

you're seeing for financial institutions Maybe some non financial institutions

Tedd Huff: 00:09:10

as well Looking at these types of products, like you'd mentioned, that

Tedd Huff: 00:09:16

catch it before it gets mailed out and converts to ACH, what are the kinds of

Tedd Huff: 00:09:22

opportunities that you're seeing there?

Tedd Huff: 00:09:24

And can you give us an example?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:26

Sure.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:27

I think financial services in generally are having maybe an aha moment, and

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:34

it's really not even related to check processing or digital offerings.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:38

Great.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:38

It's more related to the talent shortage that is everywhere, but certainly

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:43

in the financial services industry.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:44

So if you are an institution that was doing, say, lock box processing

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:49

yourself for your clients, I think there's becoming a need now to look at

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:54

where do we outsource that, because we should redeploy our own associates to

Lynn Dufrane: 00:09:58

go out and do revenue enhancing things or redeploy them for an area where we

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:04

have a gap and we don't have people.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:06

Um, so I think that's one thing that is, it, it may not be, you know, super digital

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:12

first in thinking, but it's, it's relevant in that it's a way for you to enhance

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:17

your business into the next generation.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:19

Right.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:20

Um, and I, I think examples of that is we just, uh, hosted a large

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:24

institution here in Miami at our event.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:27

And I originally, they came to me with the need of, they were

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:31

going to acquire our software.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:33

They have a big lockbox processing facility in house.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:36

And when I talked to their president as we walked around, I said, help

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:39

me understand because I've heard your team make different comments.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:43

Um, are you all still thinking of ingesting the software and doing it?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:48

And he said, no, we're doing a pivot.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:51

Uh, we'd like to outsource.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:52

It makes sense.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:53

And I'm certain they've done this for generations.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:10:57

And it's made sense to outsource and allow their team to do other things.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:01

So I think that's kind of an example of where maybe it's not

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:04

product forward in what they're thinking but more product shifting.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:08

Um, I think that Checkult is constantly innovating, uh, whether it be the online

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:14

portal that allows that, that biller to go and pay their bill either by card,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:20

debit, or credit, or have a direct ACH out of their checking or savings account.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:25

Um, whether it be the traditional paper lock box where people are

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:28

opening the, the envelope scan.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:30

What you went through with your utility bill.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:31

Somebody opened it.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:32

They scanned it.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:33

They, they created a file and they got it deposited.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:36

Or it's where we intercept that bill paycheck.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:39

So I think those are more like comprehensive offerings and maybe

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:43

decades ago people thought about one thing and maybe the innovation is that

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:47

you have to be holistic when you're solving things for clients, right?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:51

Or.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:51

When you're going after new business, whether you're going to enter the

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:54

market and, and search for a new vertical, maybe you've never done

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:58

business in the healthcare space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:11:59

I'm personally a big fan of the healthcare space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:01

I think every financial institution should look at the healthcare space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:05

I think FinTechs, you know, that's a great space.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:08

Um, the truth is, and I'm one of those people, as we age, We, we need

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:13

doctors and, uh, young people seem to be a little bit more forward thinking

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:17

in being proactive in visiting a doctor versus waiting until, you

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:22

know, there's something wrong.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:23

So I think there's great opportunity for, for businesses, for financial

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:27

institutions as we move forward.

Tedd Huff: 00:12:29

Can you help me understand where the opportunity lies?

Tedd Huff: 00:12:33

I mean, we, we've talked about the financial institution, organizations

Tedd Huff: 00:12:37

that are, are sending in or receiving the lockbox per payments.

Tedd Huff: 00:12:42

One of the things that I had noticed is, is talking to, uh, to the CEO,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:12:47

Shai,

Tedd Huff: 00:12:48

a lot of times is that there are a lot of partnerships

Tedd Huff: 00:12:52

that feel untraditional.

Tedd Huff: 00:12:56

Can you help me understand?

Tedd Huff: 00:12:58

How you're looking at partnerships beyond, uh, the traditional

Tedd Huff: 00:13:04

route of financial institutions.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:06

Absolutely.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:07

So, I think a great example is, um, I didn't realize this, but the

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:11

number one thing apparently for financial institutions that they'll

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:15

talk about this year is check fraud.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:17

I heard it from an association, a very large association.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:20

What can checkout do about check fraud?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:23

And so that I thought, well, that's an interesting question.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:25

And so as we've talked to various FinTechs in trying to develop

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:29

partnerships, uh, I met someone who basically started a FinTech that monitors

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:35

checks being sold on the dark web.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:38

And it was fascinating, uh, the, the data that he had built, he had

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:44

a background in secret service.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:45

So we're talking, you know, first class.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:48

Uh, team that he's put together.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:50

And it's something like 20 years ago, you, you know, that stuff didn't happen.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:13:56

And many financial services institutions are very traditional in nature.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:00

And so I think the, the partnerships that we're trying to build is to fill gaps that

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:05

we hear when we're talking to our clients.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:07

And I, yesterday someone asked, well, what's the differentiator between Checkult

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:11

and everybody else who does what you do?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:13

And I, it's one of those things when you ask an institution, what's

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:16

the differentiator between your checking account and somebody else's?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:19

It's a checking account.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:20

It moves money and we process checks.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:24

But the differentiator is we're constantly looking to partner with FinTechs.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:29

Shai Stern, our CEO, has an unbelievable network with these FinTechs and just

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:35

with really entrepreneurial type spirits.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:38

And that's what we need to do to push forward and move forward.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:41

And so I'm really focused on.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:43

Where can we leverage these partnerships to bring more value to our clients?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:48

And, uh, yesterday's presentations, uh, the Miami conference met a, just a, an

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:54

enormous amount of thought, knowledge, and just super interesting ideas.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:14:59

And I think that's why I say what I originally said is.

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I hope

Lynn Dufrane: 00:15:37

financial institutions move away from thinking fintechs are threats

Lynn Dufrane: 00:15:41

and really move into this, we have to partner with these financial technology

Lynn Dufrane: 00:15:45

companies because they think of things that traditionally we haven't thought of.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:15:50

And if we can marry those two together, it's a better

Lynn Dufrane: 00:15:53

experience for our consumers.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:15:55

And at the end of the day, we're all here to serve clients.

Tedd Huff: 00:15:58

As we're recording this, you're relatively new to check on.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:00

Yes.

Tedd Huff: 00:16:01

Um, what was the biggest surprise?

Tedd Huff: 00:16:06

That, that you found after joining the company and how did that change

Tedd Huff: 00:16:12

your perception of legal overarching?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:16

The biggest surprise was, I think it's 116 billion

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:22

payments were processed by check off.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:25

I didn't realize there were that many checks still being written.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:27

I'm just being honest.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:29

So my biggest surprise was how large this industry still is.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:34

Um, I think the other big surprise was.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:38

How innovative this company is, because traditionally when you

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:44

say the word paper check, the next word typically is not innovation.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:49

Yet I think CheckGault and especially Shai and the executive leadership

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:52

team have done a great job.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:16:55

Of breaking the mold of saying, we process checks and we're very proud of that.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:17:00

We process checks, but we process checks and then, and then, and then, and then.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:17:06

So I think that's what was really eyeopening for me.

Tedd Huff: 00:17:11

Well, and as, as we're looking at all of these different things

Tedd Huff: 00:17:16

and the innovation that goes on at CheckAlt, especially around something

Tedd Huff: 00:17:21

that is typically looked at as super legacy paper checks, paper, ink.

Tedd Huff: 00:17:27

Printed, processed, when you look at the fintech founders and or new people

Tedd Huff: 00:17:37

in the financial services arena or fintech, if you were able to give them

Tedd Huff: 00:17:42

just one piece of advice, one piece that they would, they could take with

Tedd Huff: 00:17:49

them forever and they would never forget, what would that be and why?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:17:54

My advice would be to be open to collaboration and not to think.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:00

That there's only one way to skin the cat, you know, to say that, say it's that way.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:05

Um, the more that I have seen the FinTechs and then the other side of

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:10

it, whether it be the corporation or the financial institution,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:14

there is such a great opportunity.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:18

And some of those opportunities come by sitting down and

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:20

just having conversations.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:22

And that happened at dinner the other night as we were talking about

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:25

an idea, which originally I thought was going to go down one path.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:27

And then I was talking to a banker.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:29

And they brought something up that I never thought about because, you know, I

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:32

don't spend time in that space anymore.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:34

Like I used to, and I thought, okay, we need to pivot.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:37

I think the ability to pivot, which I always felt the ability

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:40

to pivot is critical to those that are incredibly successful versus

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:45

those who are just successful.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:47

If you can pivot and you pivot well, I, I think that is the

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:51

key to long term success.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:18:53

So that would be my advice is collaborate and be willing to pivot.

Tedd Huff: 00:18:57

So you, you mentioned the collaboration makes a ton of sense.

Tedd Huff: 00:19:01

I mean, uh, the, the broader you make your circle, the more things you learn

Tedd Huff: 00:19:05

about, the better your perspective grows and gives you different insights.

Tedd Huff: 00:19:11

The piece that I, I find interesting is, you know, you're not the first

Tedd Huff: 00:19:15

person that said be able to pivot.

Tedd Huff: 00:19:16

But, but what I'd like to understand from your perspective is.

Tedd Huff: 00:19:20

How do you know when to pivot?

Tedd Huff: 00:19:22

How do you know that that's the way you need to pivot?

Tedd Huff: 00:19:26

From your perspective,

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Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:30

I think the way you know to pivot.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:33

is I think some of it is instinct, which obviously you can't teach, but

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:39

I think a lot of it is surrounding yourself with a really good network

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:44

that's not afraid to tell you.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:47

I think you're looking at that incorrectly.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:50

Some people surround themselves with people who just say, you're amazing.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:53

That was great.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:54

You know, you're just the best at what you do.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:20:57

I think having someone in your inner circle who isn't afraid to challenge

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:01

you will help you know when to pivot.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:03

And, and then being open to that challenge, right?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:06

And talking through it.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:07

And I'm always one of those folks that say, listen, it's

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:09

okay to agree to disagree.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:11

At the end of the day, someone has to be the leader that makes the final decision.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:16

But I do like being around people who are okay.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:19

If I say, listen, we'll do that.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:22

But it's okay to disagree on that.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:23

Because I.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:24

Okay.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:24

I really think we should go this way.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:26

And I think just having your voice heard and having someone take a step

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:29

back, but they're still confident that they feel they're going the

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:32

right way, that's something you respect as well at a great leaders.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:36

But I think that ability to have people in your inner circle that challenge you,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:41

I think that helps lead to quicker pivots.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:44

I mean, COVID is a great example, right?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:46

I was working at a, uh, a core processor at the time on the card services EFT side.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:51

And when COVID hit, you know, all of a sudden, all of our clients went from going

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:57

to offices every day to being remote.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:21:58

Well, I had worked remote for 20 years at that point.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:01

I'd been sitting at my home computer.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:02

So I'm like, I was remote before it was cool.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:05

And I remember saying, we have to pivot on how we deliver.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:08

We have to do more Teams calls.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:10

You have to be on video now.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:12

Because you don't have the luxury of getting to know people by

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:15

sitting across from them at a table or a lunch or a dinner.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:17

And so I was like the first leader to say, all calls going forward, you

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:21

need your video on because that's how we're going to get to know and

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:24

deepen relationships with our clients.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:26

And, and that was a pivot because we could have done the traditional way and

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:30

just used our cell phones to make phone calls or, you know, send a text message.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:35

But that personal relationship was lost when we went remote.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:39

Because people couldn't see you.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:41

And someone said, yeah, but my clients don't put their videos on.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:43

And I said, that's okay, because they still see you.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:47

And we're trying to build a relationship.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:49

So you being present is important.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:51

And eventually what happened, clients started turning their cameras on.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:54

And what do you always hear?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:55

I'm not really camera ready, but since you have your camera on, I'll turn mine on.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:22:59

So I think that's a great example of a good pivot.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:02

It's interesting you bring that up because even yesterday, I had a call

Tedd Huff: 00:23:07

scheduled with a client and we're, we're sitting there and I'm, I'm, I'm waiting.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:12

And then his partner comes on and he and I are sharing video.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:16

And then the other gentleman hops on and he's like, I'm so sorry.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:21

I couldn't get the video to work.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:23

So I just dialed in by my phone.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:25

Can you help me figure out how to get the video on?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:23:28

Yeah.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:28

So I think that is so interesting to see

Tedd Huff: 00:23:31

that pivot that has happened.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:32

Yes.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:33

Um, and these are, these are new people to the industry.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:36

I mean, these are, these are folks that I've worked with for decades.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:40

And that have made that position, that transition to have that, that closer one

Tedd Huff: 00:23:47

on one relationship to be part of it.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:49

So I love that perspective and especially that example.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:53

Len, we've, we've hit on a bunch of things today.

Tedd Huff: 00:23:56

One thing that, that I wanted to talk about that I kind of skipped over

Tedd Huff: 00:24:01

and, and, I was sitting here thinking I wanted to kind of go back to it.

Tedd Huff: 00:24:04

When you look at the checkout lockbox products, can you give me in the audience,

Tedd Huff: 00:24:10

an example of how it works, what it means, and maybe from your perspective, how.

Tedd Huff: 00:24:18

How checkoffs doing it differ?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:20

Sure.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:21

We, we focus on six levers.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:24

So six different outcome product offerings.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:28

What I've tried to do is kind of bundle the offerings into comprehensive

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:33

solutions so that our clients can go out to market and solve for

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:39

prospects that they're trying to do.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:41

You know, convinced to, to do business with them or their existing clients.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:45

So the traditional lockbox, which most people are familiar with, like

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:49

you, you pay your utility bill.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:51

It goes to a P.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:51

O.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:51

box.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:52

Somebody behind the scenes is opening and processing that.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:55

We do that at 11 different locations throughout the United States.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:24:58

We have people at all 11 that take pride in, in that process.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:03

And then that money shows up in your account.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:05

So that's, that's like the traditional, One of the legacy offerings.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:10

Then we innovate from there.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:11

And that's where that intercept bill payment check that I talked about,

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:15

we call it catch where we catch that check from your bill pay service.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:19

We turn it into an ACH.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:21

Normally that check would have literally went to the U S postal

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:24

system and came to the lockbox and been processed by one of our people.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:27

Now, we've innovated to say we can catch that bill paycheck by working with

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:31

biller networks and convert that to ACH.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:35

Um, the other kind of comprehensive solution for businesses, businesses want

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:40

their customers to be able to pay online.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:42

You know, we have a generation, my kids are in that generation that they

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:46

are, you know, whether it be P2P or online payments with their debit or

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:50

credit card, or they just set up their ACH to have their account debited

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:54

every month on a recurring bill.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:25:57

That, that is a necessity of running a business these days.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:00

So we have that online portal as well.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:02

We call that online payments.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:05

We also have, um, traditional what people call, um, merchant services where a

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:11

small business needs to accept cards.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:13

And so whether it be Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:17

It allows their clients to make their payment at the preference

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:20

they want in person, online, whatever that, that status may be.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:24

Um, and then we also have where our clients can actually consume our software.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:29

So you might want to be check alt at your business.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:34

And so basically you can use our software as a service to, to basically run your own

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:39

lock box, intercept bill payment checks, have an online portal for your businesses.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:44

So.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:45

Those six lovers are kind of our, you know, bread and butter at Checkult.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:49

But what I think differentiates us is I try to bundle them

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:52

together into solutions.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:54

And like in the financial services segment, I really look at how can I

Lynn Dufrane: 00:26:58

help the financial institution solve?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:02

Do they need deposits because their loan growth is going through the roof?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:06

Well, I think our treasury management solution can help grow deposits by

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:10

going out and entering new verticals.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:12

We talked about medical.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:13

I love medical as a vertical.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:15

If you're not in it, HOA, great business for financial institutions.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:19

Um, corporate America, small business.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:22

So how can we help you gather new clients to help meet your needs?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:27

And then also from a financial institution side on the six levers, we

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:31

do what's called ATM image processing.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:34

So if you go to an ATM and deposit a check, we actually

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:37

convert that check to an image.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:39

Back in the good old days when I was a banker, we literally once a day

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:43

go out to the ATM, pull the checks out of there, go into the branch

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:47

and manually deposit those checks.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:49

Um, there were like shared networks and a lot of different things.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:52

Now it's all innovation.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:54

So, that's sort of in a nutshell what we do, but I like to think what we really do

Lynn Dufrane: 00:27:59

is we help solve problems with creative solutions in probably a very traditional

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:04

space, but in a way that innovates partners with FinTechs to bring like

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:09

what I call the value add to the table.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:12

Things like the black web, right?

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:13

The dark web with check fraud or Innovation around maybe risk

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:19

scoring, checks, um, so those are the kinds of things that are on

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:23

the table that we keep exploring.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:25

And I would say the one thing I've noticed since I've been at CheckVault

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:28

is we never say never, and we never stop innovating and working.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:32

So that's a, it's really refreshing.

Tedd Huff: 00:28:35

We've talked about a lot today, Lynn, is there

Tedd Huff: 00:28:37

anything that that we've missed?

Tedd Huff: 00:28:41

Um, or just a message that you want to, to share with the audience that

Tedd Huff: 00:28:47

really helped them understand what's going on and what they can do.

Tedd Huff: 00:28:52

Sure.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:52

I mean, I think the main message, which, you know, someone

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:55

probably had to say to me when I started here is checks aren't going anywhere.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:28:59

Um, if you do business with checkout today, we're incredibly grateful

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:02

for that partnership and we'd love to know how we can help you grow.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:06

And if you don't do business with Checkult today, I'd love to chat with you because

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:09

I think we have a first class offering.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:13

I think we have an incredible team led by amazing leadership and I really think

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:18

we can help transform businesses, whether it be a financial institution or a

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:21

FinTech, um, or a commercial business or a nonprofit or a doctor's office or HOA.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:27

Um, you know, we, we are willing to partner up with anybody, but really do

Lynn Dufrane: 00:29:31

want to look at a partnership on how we can both make each other successful.

Tedd Huff: 00:29:37

Well then I appreciate that.

Tedd Huff: 00:29:39

I'm excited to see all the things that are going on here at Checkout.

Tedd Huff: 00:29:43

What I'm going to go ahead and do is I'm going to put links to get ahold of Lynn

Tedd Huff: 00:29:46

and the rest of the team at CheckAlt down in the description and in the show notes.

Tedd Huff: 00:29:50

So you guys will be able to get a hold of that really, really easily.

Tedd Huff: 00:29:53

And this has been really exciting to be able to spend a couple of days

Tedd Huff: 00:29:58

with you and the team to really get to understand what's going on here.

Tedd Huff: 00:30:02

And I really appreciate the person that I'm meeting.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:30:06

Well, the pleasure is all ours and it really has been a treat to get

Lynn Dufrane: 00:30:08

to know you and spend some time together.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:30:10

I appreciate you coming to Miami.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:30:12

Could have had warmer weather, but we did okay.

Tedd Huff: 00:30:14

Weather was fantastic.

Tedd Huff: 00:30:16

Well, at least it turned out today.

Tedd Huff: 00:30:18

But Lynn, thanks so much again.

Tedd Huff: 00:30:20

And, uh, look forward to seeing what you guys do.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:30:23

Thank you.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:30:23

Thank you very much.

Lynn Dufrane: 00:30:24

I appreciate the time today.

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