We develop, market, install, and support a broad line of software products
and solutions primarily focused on facilitating real-time electronic payments.
Our payment capabilities, technologies, and solutions are marketed under the
brand name Universal Payments, or “UP,” which describes the breadth
and depth of ACI’s product offerings. UP defines ACI’s enterprise
or “universal” payments capabilities targeting any channel, any
network, and any payment type. ACI UP solutions empower customers to regain
control, choice, and flexibility in today’s complex payments environment,
get to market more quickly, and reduce operational costs.
These products and services are used globally by banks, financial intermediaries—such
as third-party electronic payment processors, payment associations, switch interchanges,
merchants, and corporates, and a wide range of transaction-generating endpoints,
including automated teller machines (“ATM”), merchant point-of-sale
(“POS”) terminals, bank branches, mobile phones, tablets, corporations,
and internet commerce sites. The authentication, authorization, switching, settlement,
fraud-checking, and reconciliation of electronic payments is a complex activity
due to the large number of locations and variety of sources from which transactions
can be generated, the large number of participants in the market, high transaction
volumes, geographically dispersed networks, differing types of authorization,
and varied reporting requirements. These activities are typically performed
online and are conducted 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
ACI combines a global perspective with local presence to tailor electronic
payment solutions for our customers. We believe that we have one of the most
diverse and robust electronic payment product portfolios in the industry with
application software spanning the entire payments value chain. We also believe
that our strong financial performance has been attributable to our ability to
design and deliver quality products and solutions coupled with our ability to
identify and successfully consummate and integrate strategic acquisitions.
ACI’s UP solutions span the payments ecosystem to support the electronic
payment needs of banks, financial intermediaries, merchants and corporates.
Our six strategic solution areas include the following:
Retail Payments
ACI offers comprehensive consumer payment solutions ranging from core payment
engines to back-office support that enable banks and financial intermediaries
to compete effectively in today’s real-time, open payments ecosystem.
UP Retail Payments solution enables banks to accept, authorize, route and secure
payment transactions. Using the orchestration capabilities of UP Framework,
this solution combines legacy technology with the modern, SOA-enabled UP BASE24-eps,
protecting customers’ existing investment while enabling them to move
to a real-time, open environment. Customers have the flexibility to operate
this solution on a range of hardware options, including x86/Linux, IBM System
z, IBM System p, HP NonStop and Oracle Solaris servers. This solution drives
innovation and increases customer loyalty by delivering choice and consistency
across channels.
ACI Card and Merchant Management solutions include comprehensive credit, debit,
smart card and prepaid card issuance and management; end-to-end merchant account
management and settlement; and operation of complex settlement environments
through a flexible system designed to support changing business models. With
proven scalability and interoperability with ACI’s other payment offerings,
this suite allows banks to introduce new products to their consumer segments
quickly, across different markets, nationally and internationally.
Real-Time Payments
ACI supports both low- and high-value, real-time payment processing for banks
and financial intermediaries globally, ensuring multi-bank, multi-currency and
24x7 payment processing capabilities, as well as complete and ongoing regulatory
compliance.
UP Immediate Payments solution enables banks to meet multiple real-time payments
scheme requirements globally and to quickly create differentiated products to
address consumer, business and merchant demands. The solution provides gateway
connectivity to any live, real-time payments scheme around the world and can
serve as a modern, real-time hub. The cloud solution speeds time to market through
pre-packaged offerings that are tested and proven for major schemes globally,
including U.K. Faster Payments, The Clearing House Real-Time Payments System,
Zelle Network and EBA RT1.
UP Real-Time Payments solution is the only global solution that allows banks
to address their RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement), SWIFT messaging, ACH and
real-time faster payments needs with a single, universal offering. The solution
delivers accelerated time to market with improved management of cash flow; payments
security and fraud detection capabilities; simplified connectivity to new payments
types and transparency for customers in tracking their payments.
Merchant Payments
ACI provides real-time, any-to-any payment capabilities globally in both card-present
and card-not-present environments.
UP Merchant Payments solution provides merchants with a vendor-agnostic, flexible
and secure omni-channel payments environment through an integration of Postilion,
ACI ReD Shield and ACI PAY.ON Payments Gateway. Postilion facilitates transactions
generated at the point of purchase, as well as back-office functions, including
prepaid, debit and credit card processing, ACH processing, electronic benefits
transfer, card issuance and management, check authorization, customer loyalty
programs and returned check collection. ReD Shield offers real-time fraud prevention
to detect and manage domestic and cross-border payments fraud across all payment
types, as well as an interactive, self-service business intelligence portal
for deep insight into merchant fraud activity. Lastly, the PAY.ON Payments Gateway
delivers global payments connectivity through eCommerce and mCommerce channels,
including a network of more than 350 card acquirer and alternative payment methods.
UP eCommerce Payments solution is designed for PSPs, ISOs, VARs, acquirers
and others that offer payment services to their merchant customer base. The
cloud-based solution integrates PAY.ON Payments Gateway and ReD Shield, and
is available as a white-label product.
Payments Intelligence
ACI’s big data engine uses powerful analytics to deliver robust fraud
prevention and detection capabilities to bank, financial intermediary, merchant,
and corporate customers.
UP Payments Risk Management solution is a cloud-based, 360-degree approach
to enterprise fraud management. The solution is designed to combat existing
and emerging fraud threats using a combination of machine learning, fraud and
payments data, advanced analytics, flexible rules and agile decision strategies.
For banks and financial intermediaries, the ACI Proactive Risk Manager component
gives customers real-time visibility into threats across their enterprise, including
issuer card fraud, check/deposit fraud, wire fraud, merchant acquirer fraud,
internal fraud and money laundering schemes at multiple perspectives, ranging
from an account or customer level. For merchants, ReD Shield provides real-time
fraud prevention for eCommerce and mCommerce transactions.
Digital Channels
ACI offers banks advanced cash management capabilities in a multi-tenant, cloud-based
platform.
ACI Universal Online Banker is a comprehensive digital banking platform designed
to meet the needs of small businesses up to large corporations. It enables banks
to generate new revenues through an extensive library of APIs and payment services
while delivering a compelling customer experience with a highly-intuitive user
interface. Customers can use digital tools to easily manage daily collections,
disbursements, information reporting and numerous other corporate cash management
services.
Bill Payments
ACI meets the bill payment needs of corporate customers across numerous industries
through a range of electronic bill payment solutions that help companies raise
consumer satisfaction while reducing costs.
UP Bill Payment solutions enable corporate customers to electronically present
bills and collect payments from consumers through a single, integrated platform
that powers the entire bill payments operation. The solution overcomes internal
application silos, providing a seamless consumer experience across all payment
channels, payment types and methods. Customers can use UP Bill Payment solutions
to power one-time payments, recurring payments, service-fee payments, disbursement
services, remittance services and eBilling. The solution also simplifies treasury
management operations through a broad array of reconciliation, reporting and
payment servicing tools. UP Bill Payment solutions include industry-leading
security, full payment card industry (PCI) compliance and privacy practices.
On Premises or On Demand Software Delivery Options
Our software solutions are offered to our customers through either a traditional
term software license arrangement where the software is installed and operated
on the customer premises (ACI On Premise) or through an on-demand arrangement
where the solution is maintained and delivered through the cloud via our global
data centers (ACI On Demand). Solutions delivered through ACI’s On Demand
cloud are available in either a single-tenant environment, known as a Software
as a Service (“SaaS”) offering, or in a multi-tenant environment,
known as a platform as a service (“Platform”) offering. Pricing
and payment terms depend on which solutions the customer requires and their
transaction volumes. Generally, customers are required to commit to a minimum
contract of three to five years.