A wide range of software platforms and services to meet the needs of financial institutions

From our beginnings, Alvantia has been a reference in Factoring and Confirming solutions. Thanks to our integration in FINOMNIA we are now taking a qualitative leap forward to offer a wide range of more complete and competitive financial platforms, designed to accompany financial institutions of all sizes in their growth.

This expansion allows us to offer a comprehensive portfolio of platforms and services, combining expertise and innovation and amplified by AI Governance & Compliance solutions to manage automated data analysis, IT outsourcing and optimize costs.

What is FINOMNIA?

FINOMNIA is a group that offers advanced and efficient software platforms to meet the growing technological needs of the financial sector, with more than 1,200 professionals and 18 offices in multiple countries.

It is a brand that lives in the synthesis of two complementary souls: on the one hand, the experience, reliability and solidity of those who know the market in depth; on the other, the innovation, vision and dynamism of those who look to the future of credit.

FINOMNIA’s new identity FINOMNIA reflects this integrated and inclusive nature: a dynamic, modern and multicolored visual system, capable of representing the group’s plurality and the richness of its origins. FINOMNIA is not a single entity, but an ecosystem of companies.

Moving Finance Forward is not just a slogan, but the expression of a clear positioning: to accompany companies and people in their progress, transforming finance into a concrete engine of growth.

Under this brand, Alvantia reinforces its commitment to excellence and expands its capabilities to drive growth for our customers and partners.

Looking to the Future

At Alvantia we are convinced that this transformation represents a unique opportunity to bring even more value to our clients. The diversification of services, together with the strength of FINOMNIA, positions us to continue to be a strategic ally of financial institutions.

We invite you to visit finomnia.com and discover how we can accompany your company in its next stage of growth.

Inblock is a platform based on blockchain technology that performs a double validation of the invoices provided by each financial institution. Thanks to this verification system, each registered invoice is validated against the rest of the market and is verified in the tax agencies (AEAT and Regional Tax Authorities), so that financial entities can check if an invoice exists and if it has been previously assigned to another entity, speeding up and securing the assignment process.

Main advantages of Inblock

1. Increased access to financing – Companies, especially SMEs, can more easily access trade credit-based financing; at the same time, there is greater certainty that the credit provided actually exists.

2. Increased agility and time reduction – The time required for the granting of short-term financing lines is reduced.

3. Download in operational processes – Facilitates entities to avoid requesting additional documentation, and promotes the digital assignment of trade receivables.

If you want to know more about Inblock you can do it here here.

José Antonio Garrote, Alvantia‘s Business Manager, had the opportunity to represent the company in this meeting, participating in the technological panel, in which he was able to explain the main differences between the European and the Spanish market and the different Latin American markets. As Garrote pointed out, the volume of business carried out in all Latin American countries represents 70% of the volume carried out in Spain, since it is a very mature market that is among the five European countries with the highest factoring activity. He also highlighted the fact that neither in Spain nor in Europe in general has the sector worked so far with electronic invoicing or a centralized repository of electronic invoices, something that is increasingly being done in South America.

Garrote also mentioned some advantages of the Confirming product regarding the Factoring product, indicating that the former can be very favorable in the Panamanian market and in the South American market in general.

This meeting, which was very enriching for all attendees, provided an opportunity to appreciate the efforts being made by the financial sector in Panama to contribute to the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises through new formulas that promote financial inclusion in the region.

Although the volume of business in the country is currently limited compared to other similar economies, there is no doubt that the Panamanian market has great potential within the Factoring and Confirming sector. In fact, several of Alvantia ‘s current clients (banks or large financial institutions) in South America are located in Panama.

In the firmament of science, there are names that shine with their own light, although they often remain in the shadows of history. Lise Meitner, a seminal figure in 20th century physics, is one of those brilliant minds that has left an indelible mark on the scientific world. Born on November 7, 1878 in Vienna, Meitner became a mainstay of nuclear research and a pioneer in the understanding of nuclear fission, despite facing numerous obstacles due to her gender.

Meitner demonstrated her passion for the sciences from an early age, defying the expectations of an era when women faced significant challenges in accessing higher education. Despite these obstacles, she became one of the first women to earn a doctorate in physics at the University of Vienna in 1906.

Meitner’s real rise in the scientific world began when he joined Max Planck in Berlin in 1907. There, he worked tirelessly and became associated with
Otto Hahn
establishing a collaboration that would change the course of the history of physics. For decades, Meitner and Hahn worked side by side on research in radioactivity and nuclear physics, cementing one of the most fruitful and remarkable scientific partnerships.

The price of being a woman

Despite her deep knowledge and significant contributions, Meitner’s career was marked by challenges and discrimination due to her gender. Despite this, her tireless dedication to science and her undisputed genius led her to become the first woman professor of physics in Germany, at the University of Berlin, albeit only as an “associate professor”.

The most outstanding milestone in Meitner’s career occurred during his collaboration with Hahn, when they unraveled one of the most momentous discoveries of the 20th century: nuclear fission. In 1938, while Meitner had been forced to leave Germany because of anti-Semitic politics, she and her nephew Otto Frisch, who was also a physicist, interpreted the experimental results of Hahn and Fritz Strassmann on uranium fission. This discovery laid the foundation for the development of nuclear energy and, tragically, the subsequent creation of the atomic bomb.
creation of the atomic bomb
.

Despite the importance of his contribution to the discovery of nuclear fission, Meitner never received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was awarded to Otto Hahn in 1944 for this work. His omission in this recognition was widely criticized and is considered one of the most notable errors in the history of the Nobel Prizes.

After World War II, Meitner remained active in research and continued to advocate the peaceful use of nuclear energy. He became an influential voice in the debate about the risks and benefits of this new form of energy, showing his concern about the ethical and humanitarian implications of the science.

Posthumous recognitions

Lise Meitner’s legacy goes beyond her scientific discoveries; her life is a testament to courage, determination and genius. Despite the challenges he faced, his passion for science never waned. To compensate for the lack of recognition throughout her career, Meitner has been honored on numerous occasions posthumously with numerous awards. Also
a chemical element of the periodic table was also dedicated to her: Meitnerium, which was synthesized by German researchers Peter Armbruster and
of the periodic table: Meitnerium, which was synthesized by German researchers Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg in 1982, almost 15 years after the scientist’s death.

His influence lives on in the minds of future generations of scientists, especially women, inspiring them to pursue their dreams and challenge the limits set by society. Meitner’s impact on science and her fight for gender equality continue to be a beacon of inspiration in the pursuit of knowledge and equity in the scientific field.

Therefore, we can say that Lise Meitner was much more than a brilliant scientist; she was a bold pioneer, a visionary mind and a symbol of tenacity in a world dominated by prejudice. His legacy is manifested not only in his scientific achievements, but also in his courageous struggle against adversity. His life and work remain a reminder that talent knows no gender and that the human spirit can transcend any barrier imposed by society.

The opening of the event was attended by important authorities such as María Jesús Alonso JiménezAmbassador of Spain in Argentina; Carlos de la Cruz MolinaDirector of Evaluation and Technological Cooperation of CDTI; María Cecilia SleimanUndersecretary of Science, Technology and Innovation Policies of MINCYT; Karina PomboNational Director for the Promotion of Science Policy of MINCYT, and Fernando PeiranoPresident of the R&D&I Agency.

During this day, the situation of the digital transformation technologies sector in Argentina and Spain was discussed in a panel with the participation of María Cecilia Sleiman. According to Sleiman, MINCYT has established 10 challenges that will allow Argentina to advance in the full digitalization of the country.

Alejandro Bianchi, representing the Argentine Software Industry Chamber – CESSI, said that CESSI expects to create 400,000 IT jobs by 2030. “The Internet has changed our lives. We don’t have to decide where we want to work, but with whom we want to work. The Internet has eliminated barriers to achieve this,” commented Bianchi, who also recalled that CESSI is working on a digital maturity index that will allow us to identify the situation of Argentine companies.

José Antonio Garrote, Business Manager of Alvantia, had the opportunity to present the company’s technological capabilities in the aforementioned areas, with special emphasis on Machine Learning applied to trade finance. In this regard, he commented on the advantages that machine learning based on experience can bring to the Factoring and Confirming sector, highlighting the following: reconciliation of collections, maximizing sales, avoiding fraud and early detection of risks.

Alvantia is certified as an innovative company and has a certified investment in R+D+i of more than 225,000 hours in the last 3 years, being a reference in the development of technological platforms for financing services for companies. In this sense, it specializes in Factoring and Confirming products, a fundamental industry in our country: almost one out of every five euros of the Spanish GDP is assigned and managed through Factoring and Confirming operations. In addition, according to the Bank of Spain, Factoring and Confirming account for 92% of working capital financing.

For the Alvantia team it is always a pleasure to travel to Latin America, where we started an internationalization process 7 years ago and where we have references in several countries.

We are very grateful for this invitation from the CDTI, an entity that does an excellent job in promoting innovation and technological development of Spanish companies and that in 2021 committed a total of 1,022.31 million euros to directly support 1,495 R&D&I projects.

Cloud Computing consists of offering and providing services through the Internet, including infrastructure, servers, networks, databases and software. These services can be public or private, and can be accessible by anyone or through a private network accessible only by certain clients.

The most important characteristics are flexibility, which allows resources to be increased or reduced according to demand, and cost reduction, thanks to the pay-as-you-go model. They are secure environments, managed by experts, with high availability, accessible, monitored and with 24/7 support, which allow improving the Time to Market.

There are three types of services through the internet:

IAAS

Infrastructure as a Service, where a third party provides infrastructure services over the internet. The user must be responsible for the management of the infrastructure, Operating System, Middleware, Databases and applications. With this service it is not necessary to invest in local hardware, you can build your own infrastructure without making large investments in hardware or maintenance. As an example of IAAS we find Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Why should you use IAAS?

• • Flexibility, thanks to the auto scaling of resources based on demand.
  • Savings in infrastructure, by not having to buy and maintain your own hardware.
  • Pay per use, you only pay for the necessary resources.
  • Efficiency, the implementation of new projects is faster.
  • Security, environments managed by experts with high availability, backups and support.
    

    PAAS

    Platform as a Service, where a third party provides its clients with a Cloud environment in which to develop and manage their applications. With respect to IAAS, it adds a series of components such as security, operating system, databases, servers and other software tools so that you can focus solely on the implementation and maintenance of your code and data. This model allows companies to focus on developing their applications without worrying about setting up and maintaining the necessary infrastructure. As an example of PAAS we highlight Google APP Engine, Heroku and AWS Lambda.

    Why should you use PAAS?

  • Maintenance, allows you to focus on the business, not worrying about the development environment.
  • Efficiency in the development, since it is based on predefined and tested technological Stacks, minimizing the risk of error.
  • Cost reduction, you only pay for the necessary resources.
  • Efficiency in deployments and tests, being able to create environments quickly and easily.
  • Accesibility, very useful for collaboration between distributed teams.
  • Security, automated backups.
    

    SAAS

    Software as a Service, where a third party provides their customers with access to their software over the internet. The access to the software can be through an API or a Web and is usually contracted through a subscription model. It is the most complete option since it offers a comprehensive service managed by the provider, which is responsible for the development and maintenance of the software. As an example of SAAS we have email services such as Gmail, DropBox or DocuSign.

    Why shoould you use SAAS?

  • Efficiency and cost , improves the Time To Market, since we can use the software of a third party without the need to develop a custom product.
  • Security, maintenance, versioning, updates and backup copies by the third party.
  • Accesibility, service with high availability.
  • 24/7 Support

In this table you can see the resources managed in each of the Cloud Computing modalities.

We offer our Factoring and Confirming platform in the SAAS model, so that our clients can focus on their business without worrying about software development. In addition, we add value thanks to our experience in the sector and the satisfaction of our clients, improving the Time to Market and using a secure platform, managed by experts and with high availability.

Many of us know fundamental data about technology; we know the first computers were gigantic compared to the current ones, the first photograph in History took 8 hours to take and there are currently more mobile devices than people.

However, there are some data that are not so well known and will surely surprise you:

1. Netflix owes its existence to a “fine” from Blockbuster

It all started when Reed Hastings, CEO and co-founder of the company, had to pay a fine of 40 dollars for returning the Apollo XIII film to Blockbuster after the deadline. At that time it occurred to him to offer a much more flexible movie rental service, creating Netflix in 1997. But this does not end here … in 2000, Hastings wanted to sell his company and his idea of ​​payment for streaming movies to Blockbuster for 50 million dollars. John Antioco, CEO of Blockbuster, rejected the offer. To give you an idea of ​​the degree of regret that Antioco must still have, Netflix currently enters more than € 45,000 per minute.

2. The youngest programmer in the world

He is only 7 years old, but he is already programming and last year he broke a Guinness record: Arham Om Talsania passed the Python programming language exam, a test that is even difficult for many engineers to pass. Son of software engineer parents, he had a passion for computer devices from a very young age, and soon became interested in video games and their creation. Shortly after, he scored 900 points out of 1,000 on the Python Language Program Development Test… little big genius!

3. The actress and WiFi precursor

Max Reinhardt considered her the most beautiful woman in Europe and she was the first to simulate an orgasm on the big screen (in the 1932 film Ecstasy). We are talking about Hedy Lamarr, a very peculiar woman whose artistic side overshadowed her important career as an inventor. The contribution of this Austrian to the world of technology was quite significant: during World War II, she and the composer George Antheil developed the patent for a radio guidance system for torpedoes of the United States Navy, which used the spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to prevent Axis powers from interfering with the signal. However, the military did not begin using the system until the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Her invention was used to control torpedoes and communication and is still in use today for mobile networks, Bluetooth devices, and WiFi. In this link you can discover a little more about Hedy Lamarr and here we tell you the interesting story of other women programmers during World War II.

4. A very alive bug

In the computer world, the term bug has been used for many years. However, in 1945 it was used literally in the operational log of one of the first computer equipment in history (the Mark II), when a moth was trapped inside it. I mean, a bug caused the machine to malfunction, but literally! The note that reflected the error included the bug’s own corpse … you can see it here.

5. Mom, when I grow up I want to be a bug catcher

More bugs for our last tech curiosity: did you know that there are experts who make their living reporting bugs to big technology companies? These companies have reward programs (Bug Bounty) that reward a certain amount of money to people who discover and report bugs in their software. Microsoft has one of the most important in the world and in the last year has delivered a total of 13.6 million dollars to these special hunters. Here you have an interesting interview with two of these professionals who work in Spain.

Home automation has entered the home, and it has done so to stay and continue to evolve. They are no longer complex solutions that require a large outlay. They are becoming more accessible to the pocket, and their configurations and installations are more focused on the common user, without previous knowledge of the subject.

In this article we will try to explain basic concepts to guide the first steps into this new world.

The first thing to understand is that devices coexist in what we call an ecosystem. Therefore, we must define which ecosystem we are interested in, on which platform we are going to connect all our devices. The differences lie in small details, but we must be specific in our choice. These ecosystems include, for example, Amazon Alexa, Google Home, Apple Homekit, Xiaomi, etc. Depending on our devices and user experience, we will have to choose the one that best suits our needs.

Next, we will have to see which devices we want to include in our home. There are different types of wireless communication that allow these devices to be connected, the most widespread being Bluetooth and ZigBee. For the latter, we will generally need a device that acts as a bridge, or gateway between this protocol and our home wifi network. Although each brand has its own bridge device, it is possible to find compatibility between many brands on the market without having to buy a specific device for each brand.

Thus, devices from different manufacturers, and even from different communication protocols, can coexist within the same ecosystem. We will be able to communicate with them remotely, without even having to be at home.

Once this is known, perhaps the most usual way to get started in home automation would be to acquire a smart speaker for our ecosystem. Through this speaker, in addition to the control that we can do of our devices via our mobile phone, we can use our voice to communicate with the devices we have connected, turn them on or off, program them and obtain information from them. Another option at this point would be smart screens that combine the functionality of the speakers with the visual component.

The most used devices in home automation systems are smart bulbs, based on LED technology, which allow us to control the switching on and off, vary the temperature and colour of the lights, programme them, etc. Combined with opening or movement sensors, they offer a wide range of possibilities for personalisation and savings.

There are also luminous devices that, connected to screens, offer backlighting, improving visualisation, obtaining an enveloping sensation, and creating lighting that is synchronised with the content of the TV or computer screen.

Other common devices are smart sockets, which allow us to programme on/off switching of elements that do not necessarily have to be smart, as well as informing us of electricity consumption, so that we can control it and be able to save energy.

Smart thermostats, some of which can learn our routines, interacting with our cooling systems, heating, or cooling rooms according to parameters based on energy efficiency and savings, are also important in terms of savings. Using the geolocation of our mobile phone, they can even adjust the energy consumption during our absence or stay at home.

We can also add security devices, such as cameras, smoke and humidity sensors, sirens, locks, and smart peepholes. Or devices to automatically activate curtains or blinds depending on temperature or amount of sunlight, improving our comfort.

We would like to highlight here a device that we find particularly useful. It is a remote-control device that learns the operation of almost any household appliance, or clones, if it has one, the remote control of the appliance, to make it intelligent, and allow the most common actions through our home automation communication system.

In addition, there are more and more basic household appliances on the market with home automation support, such as refrigerators or washing machines, which incorporate the possibility of connecting to our ecosystem, cohabiting with the rest of the devices.

The possibilities for interaction between devices, automation, programming, and configuration are virtually endless. And the results come in the short term, allowing us to say that, at a low cost, we can make our daily lives simpler, more fun, more economical, and more environmentally friendly.

Alvantia complies with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations Sustainable Development Agenda, which aim to restore the planet’s ecological balance and address the most urgent societal challenges. Of these, Alvantia focuses on SDG 13: Climate Action.

For years, Alvantia has been committed to implementing initiatives to combat the climate change crisis. Some of these initiatives have been: Replacing plastic packaging with paper or cardboard; Conducting studies to check the impact of changing offices in terms of the use of private vehicles; Counting the amount of materials used such as kilos of paper, computer material and batteries recycled; and finally the implementation of teleworking, which has helped to reduce waste in the workplace, as well as reducing energy consumption.

In addition, annual internal and external audits to monitor ISO14001 (implemented since 2015) allow us to measure the impact of environmental procedures, ensuring that good practices are maintained over time.

There is no doubt that today our planet is in a state of climate crisis, a clear consequence of human activity. This human activity includes such things as emissions from transport, excessive waste from litter and plastic, and polluting buildings and chemical industries. Also, the food system on which agriculture and livestock farming are based has become less sustainable. Another very important fact is deforestation, as trees are the main sources of CO2 transformation to oxygen.

All of this has had major consequences on our planet, such as the melting of ice at the poles, extreme temperatures and the extinction of several species of animals that have not survived this climate change.

It is for this reason that companies have chosen to develop and provide society with solutions to this major problem. According to the UN report “Frontier technologies to protect the environment and tackle climate change”, eight technologies are key to meeting Goal 13.

This report highlights eight key emerging technologies that have enormous potential to tackle climate change and meet the targets of UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13.

These technologies are as follows:

1. Artificial intelligence (AI): To help reduce air pollution, reduce hydrological risk and manage waste.
2. The Internet of Things (IoT): For smart management of energy infrastructures to help reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.
3. 5G: For the smart management of water supply to help reduce water loss and inefficiencies.
4. Clean energy technology: For renewable electricity generation to help reduce fossil fuel consumption.
5. The digital twin: For disaster risk planning to help increase environmental resilience.
6. Robotics: For monitoring climate change impacts underwater and observing marine life to help protect biodiversity.
7. Space 2.0 technologies: For accurate monitoring of ice sheets and ice caps to help accurately predict sea level rise and global weather patterns.
8. Digitisation and Big Data: To leapfrog traditional pathways and help increase agricultural efficiency and food security.

In conclusion, these are the technologies that help countries fight against all those emissions that are harmful to our planet, each of them being decisive in the fight against climate change. This fight against global climate change is already underway, and it is up to us to monitor, help and mitigate its effects.

Financing commercial credit means managing and processing a “cell” which contains a lot of information, sometimes more than it seems. We are not referring exclusively to the information associated with the cell itself (amount, period of time, debtor, etc.), but to the behaviour and the information that all cells as a whole are capable of providing us: signs of potential insolvency, cash flow needs, suitable price levels, readjustment of limits and capacities, more favourable or suitable periods for proposing a specific action, etc.

We cannot discover anything if, at this point, we talk about data management as a fundamental thrust of any service or product which has numerous customers or users on the other side. That said, are we properly using the capacities that technology offers us to draw correct conclusions on behaviour and tendencies when we refer to legal persons or professionals? Do we understand, think and rationalise from the same viewpoint as an SME or a self-employed worker? It is clear that this is not an exclusively technological matter, but is also related to listening, learning, experience and extensive knowledge of the variables used to be able to interpret the foregoing behaviour.

Here, we refer to “thinking as a company does every day” in order to understand how it sets its priorities, understand its needs, learn about how it rationalises its decisions, know when certain messages and offers are appropriate and when these may be unwanted and annoying.

This work area is so important that we can venture to say that providing and engaging time and resources to this end is a key differentiating factor between the operators and entities. In general, we are dedicated to seeking “the sale”, so we do not stop to reflect and improve retention, the quality of the service and use of the information buffer we have. It is important to measure responses, establish quality criteria, and have SLAs and service indicators, but it is also important to allocate time in our daily routines to understanding the behaviour of our customers, their needs, real priorities and way of assessing the service, and anticipating what is important for a provider and when it is important.

If we focus on the Reverse Factoring activity, we can see how the Spanish market, as indicated by the AEF statistics, makes over €160 billion of payments through this system every year. If we agree that the average amount of an invoice could be between €6,000 and €9,000, we would be able to simply deduce that in our market between 27 million and 18 million of invoices or payment orders use Reverse Factoring every year (let’s say 23 million). On the other hand, if we study the amount of data and information we manage with every order processed (by accessing the standard Reverse Factoring format published by the AEF) and we add other relevant information about the process, price offer, acceptance or not of the offer, advance period, etc., we can also agree that we have no less than 20 fields/pieces of data per order. In other words, the Spanish market handles at least 460 million pieces of data directly related to the management of Reverse Factoring programmes.

We say directly because we can indirectly estimate that there are several hundred million more pieces of data, probably as rich and important as the initial pieces of data. We refer to data regarding the operation of the company, its balance sheet, activity, profit and loss statement and business sector. The value of the data itself from a Reverse Factoring programme put into context and in relation to the external or public information of a company can identify numerous situations and behaviours to be able to adjust and tailor our offer to unexpected limits.

The importance of the methodical, systematic, intelligent and evolutionary cross-referencing, emulsion and mixing of all this information is essential if we want to optimise the return of a service whose results can become arbitrary or difficult to control and predict.

The use of new technology applied to this end becomes essential when processing a horde of data and information which seemingly move from independent axes. The “evolutionary machine learning” methodology, which is continuously learning and correcting, provides us with evident conclusions and returns, but the route for implementing and adjusting the operation of these tools is not trivial as it entails an extensive loading of applied technology and functional knowledge of the product.

Another fundamental axis of these works is to reach a “manageable simplification” of the conclusions. The processing of such information requires simple, semi-automatic and continued action proposals. We are not referring to an occasional study or analysis which concludes a sporadic action. We understand that this management must be part of the DNA of the service and the business model, and must therefore entail a methodology which enables continual improvement when applied to the matter.

Applying these advanced data analysis systems to the business must enable us not only to adjust and improve our business expectation in terms of activity, but also to help us to anticipate decisions that revolve around other aspects to which we often pay little attention: systems of reassigning risk limits to optimise use of capacities, and optimise consumption, alerts and indicators for the early detection of behaviours indicating unwanted situations, assessment of operational resource capacities assigned to customer or provider service, etc.

Although we know that the results and conclusions of these actions and mechanisms do not derive from an exact science, as we are speaking about behaviours, we believe that the effort and dedication of these works, which are based on significant volumes managed and processed, merit our attention and interest.