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Bob Blower
CEO designate at Clarency.com
Bob Blower is a business consultant at UNITE Global AS, a company that provides real-time payments and settlements services for banks.4 He is also the CEO Designate of Clarency.com, a fintech company.2
With a background in entrepreneurship and innovation, Bob Blower has expertise in the financial technology sector, particularly in areas related to trade finance and blockchain technology.12 He has been involved in discussions about the future of trade finance and the potential impact of blockchain on the industry.1
In February 2023, Bob announced that Clarency Singapore had become a member of the Singapore Fintech Association, indicating his ongoing involvement in the fintech ecosystem.3
Bob Blower's LinkedIn username is bob-blower-414602, as mentioned in the query. His profile likely contains more details about his professional experience and current roles in the fintech and payments industry.
Highlights
SWIFT and others are struggling with how to bring stable coins and Government versioned CBDC into the framework of payments, but not so far value (interest bearing tokens anyone?).
Of course a lof payments are built around copper wires technology. Very truncated and specialised data formats that try to optimise speed and data usage to enable faster transmission and processing. These are reconciled and against other messages and then posted as “true” value to accounts. accounts sit on core banking platforms and are structured for statements based on the local settlements.
Digital tokens sit in wallets, are by their nature multi-asset and multicurrency but the ERP, cash management and core banking platforms are struggling to catch up. Companies like E6 are embracing this new world, but payments technology lags because its a community business. Bringing 11,000 banks to one standard would take decades. At HSBC I worked out it would take 17 years to have a single version of core banking across 55 countries - and that was excluding the atypical processing platforms in UK and Hong Kong.
Banks like JP Morgan have designed their multicurrency capability around two processing platforms. Their background in asset management makes it simpler to recognise assets to store value as wallets rather than opening “accounts” to store value.
In this tokenised asset driven world cash management changes. Convertability matters, the liquidity matters, concentration matters. Its more like CDs and CP, than fx accounts.
A distributed world reflects a different way to look at balance sheets and liquidity. But the technology is there for leaders, others will have to bite the bullet and embrace change and redundancy.
There is an old adage known to liquidity managers worldwide, that liquidity is always in the wrong place when you need it. I worked with Hewlett Packard several years ago on recognition of cash in their treasury platform. To be recognised the cash in each country had to be reconciled to purchase order and invoice, before being posted to the internal ledger.
Most cashflow was associated with the largest buyers and suppliers, as you went beyond these the values reduced and the number of buyers and suppliers multiplied. The incremental cost of reconciling many smaller suppliers and buyers was higher than the cash being released so we concentrated on the largest buyer and suppliers. To capture between 40-60% of the cash flow. The purchase orders and invoices were stored globally in multiple ERP platforms making it difficult to access all the data, while the cats balances were reported through bank statements provided by around 180 banks, many of which issued a paper based statement rather than electronic ones. In either state there was little standardisation around the data. An invoice covering multiple deliveries would cover many items using single reference number, of the bank replaced remittance information with their own servicer reference, while different payment systems obliterated or truncated reference information to the point that it either did not make the statement or was so mangled as to be unusable.
I the absence reconciled cash the Treasurer might need to make costly or mistaken decisions. If a country was short of cash they might need to move cash from another incurring costs. They might request sales to give discounts for early settlement of outstanding invoices, or they might use invoice discounting the boost cash, or cover shortfalls. The CFO might use factoring of lengthen the payment of supplier invoices to bolster cash balances, especially around year end. The accumulation the fees and charges in a large company could run to hundreds of millions. The impact on corporate operating margins might be fatal for a trading business.
Reduction of correspondent banking activity increases the cost and complexity of cross border trade. It directly impacts the routing, the management and cost of internationally active companies at a time when supply chain disruptions, sanctions and compliance costs are eroding or eliminating trading margins or forcing prices up to the detriment of us all.
Enabling simple movement of data to support transactions can significantly reduce delays, uncertainties and costs associated with cross border business. reducing these factors encourages cross border trade and restores equilibrium to a rich seam to help grow companies and economies reducing poverty into the bargain. At Clarency we support the goal enshrined in SDG16 and the parallel efforts to enhance KYC and compliance data through ISO20022 and the G20 by pioneering new technology and operating models. InterlockLedger.
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Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.