Cloud Solution Provider ViBiCloud Reduces FX Risk and Maximizes Growth with Wallex

Case Study

min read

About ViBiCloud

ViBiCloud, is an Indonesian multi-cloud managed service provider that helps companies adopt cloud technology. They provide an extensive range of services, from assessing their client’s IT infrastructure to recommending the ideal cloud architecture, calculating the total cost of ownership, and managing their cloud infrastructure post-deployment.

The company has achieved numerous accolades, such as the prestigious Microsoft Country Partner of The Year in Indonesia in 2019, Microsoft Gold Cloud Platform, AWS Cloud Consulting Partner, Alibaba Cloud Direct Partner, Huawei Cloud Consulting Partner Premier, and Google Cloud Partner. ViBiCloud was also awarded the ISO 27001 certification for data security, evidence of its commitment to guarding its customers’ data and privacy.

Many companies depend on ViBiCloud’s expertise and services as they undertake their cloud and digital transformation journey.

“Wallex enables us to mitigate our risks of exposure to foreign currencies and this will help us achieve our long-term financial goals.”— Elisabeth Amelia, CFO

Operational challenges and costs drive ViBiCloud to look for alternative payment solutions

ViBiCloud needs to deploy software from vendors across multiple countries outside Jakarta to provision the necessary cloud resources for their customers.

To ensure the constant availability of these resources, the company must make frequent foreign currency payments to these vendors, which are based in countries such as Singapore, the United States and China, from their headquarters in Jakarta.

At the time, ViBiCloud performed these transactions through leading Indonesian banks CIMB Niaga and BCA Corporate Banking but found several downsides to doing so, namely the high administrative costs and provision fees that their banks charged them.

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High transaction costs

Banks in Indonesia will charge various fees for international transactions. The base service fee stands at approximately USD $25 and the transaction fee can go up to about USD $3.30 per payment. Some banks may charge the transaction fee as a percentage of the value being transferred, which means that larger payments will incur correspondingly larger fees.

Limited operational hours of banks

The COVID-19 situation led to the introduction of PPKM (Emergency Public Activity Restriction) policy, which resulted in banks operating in a narrow range of hours during the day. Banks also make branch visits mandatory for international payments. These factors affected the productivity of ViBiCloud’s finance team.

Currency fluctuations

The Indonesian rupiah (IDR) is one of the most volatile currencies in the foreign exchange market. This led to costs accumulating rapidly each time ViBiCloud needed to make a high-value payment to their vendors, as they had to convert their IDR to USD, AUD and SGD every month. Such FX volatility can make it expensive to purchase the foreign currencies ViBiCloud needs to pay its vendors while affecting its cash flow and productivity.

When the pandemic struck in early 2020, mobility and business operation were very limited. Still, as a technology company, ViBiCloud was keenly aware that it was business as usual for them and their clients, and this meant keeping up with their payments to vendors, expensive and unproductive as it was.

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ViBiCloud enjoys more savings, productivity, and support after switching to Wallex

Even though ViBiCloud had never used a FinTech provider to make cross-border payments, they were convinced that they needed to switch to Wallex after they saw a platform demo.

Compared to banks, Wallex offered a cheaper flat fee for every transaction, and its secure online platform eliminated the need to make physical visits to the bank, especially with the PPKM policy in effect. What sealed the deal for ViBiCloud CFO Elisabeth Amelia was the fact that Wallex is trusted by more than 40,000 customers in Asia.

The company signed up with Wallex in May 2020 and they have made frequent and large transactions with their vendors in USD, SGD and AUD from Indonesia — all online, without any transaction limits.

Saving up to IDR 300,000 in provision fees per transaction

ViBiCloud’s costs went down almost instantly after making the switch to Wallex. Their lower fees resulted in estimated savings of over IDR 1,000,000 every month, just from provision fees alone.

Beyond this, Wallex also enabled ViBiCloud to make its currency conversions at a much more competitive exchange rate than what they would get at banks, which further contributed to their overall savings when making international payments.

Zero need for minimum balance and maintenance fees

ViBiCloud previously used several banks for their international payments, and each bank would impose different administration fees every month, which depended on various factors such as their account balance.

Following their switch to Wallex, ViBiCloud enjoyed greater cost savings as they no longer need to pay any maintenance fees, nor are they subjected to penalties for not keeping a minimum amount of money on the platform.

Making transactions is now faster, simpler, and more productive

Wallex's easy-to-use and secure online platform proved extremely easy to use and saved the finance team a large amount of time and effort by completely eliminating the need for multiple physical visits to the bank. Every transaction, from smaller amounts to those that go as high as USD $120,000 can now be performed online through Wallex.

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Securing favourable exchange rates for 24 hours

The constantly fluctuating value of the IDR no longer translates to expensive FX fees for ViBiCloud, which is now able to secure an exchange rate that is favourable to their payment needs for 24 hours through Wallex. This helps ViBiCloud to minimise their FX expenses and internal budgets whilst remaining competitive.

Wallex vs Traditional Banks: IDR | Wallex

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