Friday, October 29, 2021

7 Benefits of Gig Economy for Employers

Many forex traders ask Alan Safahi of Orinda, Contra Costa :How to overcome the odds stacked against me in the forex trading business? Alan Safahi is an experienced entrepreneur and the founder of a startup company in Francisco.

Safahi has a firm grip on the forex market and usually highlights that mind, money, and method are the three things that define success in forex trading. Today’s article will give you a list of seven strategies to tackle the odds of trading forex. Read on!


1. Market Sentiment: Market sentiment is an essential factor or strategy that drives forex trading. It influences your decision and triggers specific thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Alan Safahi recommends determining different elements that define the current market sentiment. Next, find out how you can incorporate sentiment analysis into your forex trading.

2. Trend Riding: Instead of closing your eyes and purchasing at any point during the uptrend or short-selling during a downtrend, you should focus on riding trends. Remember, there is much more to riding trends than simply focusing on uptrends and downtrends.

It is crucial to find ways that allow you to jump on a trend when it is the most robust. Avoid focusing on when the trend is about to end. That way, you can ride a trend with increased chances of success.

3. Breakout Fading: The forex price charts can experience many false breakouts. The occurrence of these fake-outs provides you with an opportunity to leverage the power of fading breakouts. For instance, you can trade against those breakouts. Therefore, it is crucial to find out why most breakouts fail and identify fading opportunities with higher probabilities.

4. Breakout Trading: A large, sustained move in the breakout can occur due to currency prices break out at certain price levels. As a result, it leads to a situation that enables you to capture significant profits in the least amount of time.

However, the primary issue with the trading breakout strategy is that many of such breakout attempts fail. Therefore, it is wise to identify potential breakouts and related opportunities for this strategy.

5. Decreased Volatility Breakout: Decreased volatility breakout is somehow similar to the breakout trading strategy. It is because you will hope for a successful price breakout in both situations. However, this strategy requires that the foreign exchange market register a period of low volatility before you make an attempt to implement the strategy.

6. Carry Trade: Carry trade is a fundamental trade strategy highly favored by Safahi. It is particularly beneficial for institutional investors. Before implementing this strategy or method, learn how a carry trade works in the forex market.

Carry trade allows you to profit from the interest rate spread and the currency’s price movement. It is crucial to focus on high-yield currency for a steady return. Likewise, this strategy leads to risk-free profit-making when you use the difference in currency rates.

7. News Straddling: The foreign exchange market is sensitive to geopolitical and economic news worldwide, especially news related to developed countries like the U.S, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France.

News is very important to forex trading because each new piece of data or information can change the perceptions of the trader’s current and future situation. It can also influence the outlook of specific currency pairs.

Originally Posted: https://alansafahi.weebly.com/blog/7-benefits-of-gig-economy-for-employers

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Concept and Future Outcomes

The finance sector is embracing the concept of legal tech gradually. Legal technology or Legal Tech is the utilization of technology and software in the legal industry. Legal Tech companies are startup businesses founded to dislodge the conservative legal market and shape the legal, financial service sector by handling high or low-value tasks in the legal fields and law firms.

Alan Safahi: They are designed and programmed to help law firms get more clients and extend better services. Using these technologies, law firms and institutions reserve a better chance of serving clients by assisting them with efficient legal service at the drop of a hat. Legal Tech also comprises technological advancements, for instance, AI and Blockchain-related services as they are being widely accepted all over the world. The amalgamation of law and technology benefits law firms, individual lawyers, large-scale business, billing, document storage, etc.



Lawyers and legal advisers can stay updated with new laws and utilize the tools using legal research platforms. The tools are readily accessible, unlike printed books and research papers. The research papers are collected from reliable sources for study purposes, which means if you are a lawyer and you need to access the legislative documents, you can do it with Legal Tech in no time.

Active customer services

Legislative authorities are there to help their clients, and that’s technically the utmost priority as well. Merging the legal sector with technology helps to get the job done quickly and efficiently. Softwares and applications help out clients and keep them engaged, which hikes up customer satisfaction and converts viewers to customers.

What have we learned about Legal Tech so far?

Profession-based technological development like FinTech, Legal Tech, Insur Tech is slowly making their way to the mainstream. With the technological expansion, we are expected to see most fields and sectors working in conjunction with the technology for their target customers. These advancements are made to suit different needs in the profession, which is a unique concept as other people have varied requirements. Currently, innovators are envisioning the aspect of incorporating technologies into more and more sectors.

According to Alan Safahi, as innovators work their way in to solve the problems regarding specific professions, the potential value of the respective profession’s technology will increase along with the impact of these technologies. This includes the utilization of Blockchain and AI technology. These technologies have the potential to touch the lives of legal representatives daily. Understanding these technologies will be favored by both the client and the institutions while advising a client or including an analysis.

The future outcome

With so many technical aspects developing for a particular profession, tech-savvy customers will find it more approachable and effective to communicate with the next gen. Younger generations of legal administrators are more likely to be in-tuned with the techs and contribute to the younger customers’ needs. It is also expected that law firms will insist on general legal tech competence, which can eventually increase the Lawtech component. Another future insight will be monitoring cyber ethics by establishing a new legislative figure. This is to monitor the impacts of the technological growth being used in law practices online.

Conclusion

The adaptation of Legal Tech in law firms and the legal industry is pretty plausible. This innovative approach in the legal sector has many subjects to cover, for instance, Legal AI, Blockchain, Legal Tech in courts, etc. This is to accelerate the legal industry and make it substantial for future tech-based clients. In conclusion, we can say that this is just the beginning of a revolution. It’s looking promising so far as some developments are already in the process regarding the financial and legal services.

Originally Posted: https://zed.network/legal-tech-the-concept-and-the-future-outcomes/

What B2B payment Trends in 2022?

Individuals and businesses throughout history have relied on various payment systems to purchase products and services. Today, payments have advanced from the bartering system through a myriad of technological innovations, leading to convenience.

Companies have never had a wide range of options for paying and receiving funds. The payment industry experiences consistent transformation and growth. According to Alan Safahi of Orinda, Contra Costa, a startup founder and experienced entrepreneur in San Francisco, technological and operational innovation have propelled this tremendous growth. 

Today’s article will inform the continued growth of B2B payments in 2022 and highlight how B2B companies can better capitalize on the following trends. Read on!

Customer Loyalty and Relationship Building

The current nature of the payments landscape is competitive for B2B companies. Consumers dictate demand, meaning automating existing processes is not enough in 2022. Increased iteration will result in increased competition. 

According to Alan Safahi of Orinda Contra Costa, Fintech companies create advanced, faster, and accessible means to financing. As a result, the nature of demands from customers is also shifting rapidly. 

Research shows that consumers will expect products or services that address the increasing needs and issues of the digitized world. In response, B2B companies make efforts to empower customers and serve themselves when and how they desire. 

It means B2B companies should focus on business relationships to stay relevant and make efforts to respond to rapid changes in the payment landscape with new strategies, engagement capabilities, loyalty programs, and operated models dictated or informed by the consumers. 

Real-Time Payments (RTP)

B2B companies will experience payment modernization efforts, leading to real-time and faster payments in 2022. According to Safahi, small and large payment providers in the U.S are likely to amplify the need to balance speed, convenience, and security. 

Therefore, B2B companies must restructure their offerings, cultivate partnerships with Fintech companies for security and build their own services to integrate payment models into their business system. 

Advancements in cloud technologies will enable B2B companies to innovate, stay agile, and experiment with payment offerings. B2B companies are more likely to integrate financing into their payment systems. 

However, it is crucial to work with companies that offer cloud-based financial integration technologies. B2B sellers and buyers will experience an increase in eCommerce rates in 2022. For example, e-marketplaces, such as Amazon Business and Alibaba, appeal to manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors due to new markets and growth potential. 

Data Value Assessment and Prioritizing Integrations 

Evaluating the value of data is an important trend for B2B companies in 2022. Modernization and digitization will give B2B companies a competitive edge, allowing them to streamline their payment operations. 

It will result in faster payments, streamlined scheduling, accurate invoicing, and financing with immediate results and visibility. That way, B2B companies will attain control and manage their business relationships, operations, and payments. Moreover, integration is an essential aspect of B2B payments in the digital age. It is one of the best ways for companies to survive in challenging times. Because consumers need mobility, ease, fast processing, and time-saving, the integration trend will continue to increase with technological advancements and consumer adoption.

Safahi says integrative technologies in B2B payments systems will allow companies to make informed decisions.

Originally Posted: https://alansafahi.com/2021/10/18/what-will-be-b2b-payment-trends-in-2022/

Thursday, October 14, 2021

Privacy and Security Tips for FinTech Companies

Many Fintech companies gather and process large volumes of data to provide financial services reliably, inexpensively, and quickly. According to Alan Safahi of Orinda, Contra Costa, a leading entrepreneur and founder of a startup in San Francisco, much of this data contains sensitive information, such as:

● Date of birth

● Bank account details

● Social insurance number

● Credit score details

● Banking credentials

Alan Safahi of Orinda, Contra Costa says the sheer volume of data increases its sensitivity because Fintech companies can generate a complete and detailed picture of a person. That’s why data security and privacy compliance with applicable legislation is critical. Here are a few privacy and security tips for Fintechs. Read on!


Build Privacy Protective Controls

A data breach is equally devastating for young and experienced Fintech companies. It creates harmful effects on investors’ confidence and customers’ trust. Therefore, Safahi recommends Fintech companies take data security and privacy seriously.

Most Fintech companies have the resources to create privacy-protective controls and establish security safeguards into the developing technology. Fintech companies can also introduce or fit these controls into existing systems and processes.

Develop Information Governance Programs

Fintech companies make developments and commercialization at a rapid pace, leading to various complications. For instance, many companies find it challenging to collect and process personal information before developing and implementing privacy and security frameworks.

Consequently, this creates substantial risks from a security and privacy perspective. Therefore, Safahi suggests companies of all sizes develop and operationalize information governance programs. The purpose is to streamline personal data collection and processing.

Limit Retention of Personal Information

According to Alan Safahi, personal information in the U.S refers to data or info that is not subject to jurisdictions and regulations. However, it must align with U.S privacy laws. Remember, this raises a wide range of challenges for Fintech companies, especially with data retention.

According to U.S law, Fintech companies can only retain personal information as long as it is necessary to fulfill a specific purpose. So, it is crucial to destroy, erase, or anonymize personal information no longer required by the organization.

Fintech business models usually rely on actionable insights from large volumes of data. So, it is not commercially practical to destroy data after providing a service to a customer. Safahi says Fintech companies can turn to anonymization instead of destroying the data.

However, Safahi warns Fintech companies that information is no longer “personal” to be truly anonymous. For example, replacing direct identifiers, such as names, addresses, and financial data elements with unique codes may not result in accurate anonymization. Therefore, it is wise to create a balance between anonymization and data retention.

Overcome Jurisdictive Challenges

Most Fintech companies face privacy problems when expanding their services from one jurisdiction to another. It is because each country has its own data privacy and protection rules. For instance, when launching in the U.K., many U.S offerings require modifications to account for the U.K.’s broad definition of personal information.

Therefore, it is crucial to overcome jurisdictive challenges when expanding your products or services. Because data about a person’s offline and online behavior tracked to a unique identifier (a device I.D. or I.P. address) is personal information in the U.S, U.K., and Canada. However, the rules of privacy vary from country to country.

Understanding the laws and implementing them accordingly can help you overcome challenges related to jurisdictions. That way, you can maintain the security of your customers’ private information. Until Next Time!

Alan Safahi is a serial entrepreneur with 30+ years of experience in the information technology, telecommunications and FinTech segments.

Originally Posted: https://vocal.media/trader/privacy-and-security-tips-for-fin-tech-companies 

5 Characteristics of a Successful Forex Trader

Alan Safahi of Orinda, Contra Costa, an experienced entrepreneur and founder of a San Francisco-based startup company, believes that successful forex traders have a set of unique traits or characteristics that set them apart from others.

You can increase your chances of making successful trades by borrowing some of the traits given below and using them in conjunction with evidence-based knowledge. To make it easier for you, Alan Safahi Orinda has come with these five characteristics that every successful forex trader follows.



1.     Sticks to the Plan

No successful forex trader lasts longer without a plan for each trade. Successful traders have a specific and informed plan of attack for each position, including entry point, position size, stop-loss exit, and take-profit exit.

Safahi says traders with higher success rates always stay flexible with their take profits. However, they also settle for less when they make judgments and find that this is all they can take out of the forex market at the moment.

On the other hand, they also extend their profit targets when the market developments are in their favor. Safahi’s research and experience show that successful forex traders don’t move their stop-loss orders from the original setting unless they are in their favor.

2.     Stays Flexible

Foreign exchange traders do not emotionally attach themselves to positions. A successful trader recognizes that it is not about staying right or wrong but minimizing losses and making profits. Safahi recommends everyone that this should be every trader’s ultimate goal.

In addition, successful traders adapt to incoming data, information, and news. Likewise, the trader abandons an open position if the situation counters. It means the trader does not wait for price action to take it out of their trade.

3.     Keep Up to Date with the Technical Aspects

Successful currency traders are well-aware of technical levels in forex trading and currency pairs even if they don’t pursue a technical-based strategy. For instance, Alan Safahi Orinda, Contra Costa says that a successful trader knows the Fibonacci retracement levels and focuses on important short-term and long-term trend lines. At the same time, they get up-to-date information on significant highs and lows in the forex market.

4.     Protects Profits

A successful forex trader makes efforts to take profits and minimize losses, whether it is modifying a stop order, partial take profit, or squaring up entirely and stop trading after a profitable movement in the market.

Besides, a successful trader will always analyze the market and ensure a profitable trade with minimized risks. Similarly, they keep what they have made instead of risking it to make more.

5.     Keeps a Track Record

A trading account is in one of three situations at the end of each month or year. First, you have made a profit over that period. Second, you are roughly breakeven. Third, you have lost money. Regardless of your account status, it is crucial to improve your results in the coming period.

That’s why Safahi recommends reviewing your trades’ track record. For example, if you have lost money trading around the non-farm payroll report in eight of the twelve months, you can avoid trading during this specific period in the next year to improve your results.

Originally Posted: https://alansafahiorindaca.wordpress.com/2021/10/02/5-characteristics-of-a-successful-forex-trader/

Sunday, October 10, 2021

Understanding A Secure Payment System

Online payment services are now a cornerstone for a successful business. However, since you are not physically inside the shop to pay in person, and the need for secure payment processing is a critical aspect of payment service networks because of this reason. A secure payment system or SPS is a type of payment processing and information service that offers users online security.

Its a payment processing service that protects the user’s financial and personal data from fraud and unauthorized access. Data security is the essential factor for this type of payment processing, as billions of dollars go through secure payment systems every year.


As more and more people use a credit card, debit card, or online and mobile apps over cash, its importance will only rise.

We here at the Zed Network work with FX firms, Fintech, and MTOs and provide them with a comprehensive payment orchestration platform that not only ensures secure payment processing but a complete payment service network with all the payment gateway integrations required. Due to our specialty, we have in-depth insight into secure payment processing systems, and we thought we should let you know about them to helo you understand how they can help you. So without further delay, let’s begin!

How To Know If A Payment Is Secured?

Payment gateways ensure the user information is secured by using encryption technology. You can find out more about the technology used in the payment gateway integration by right-clicking on the site’s payment page and selecting “properties” and then “details.” You will then see a list of the type of encryption security the site has. SSL is widely considered to be the best, so if you see that, then you are in good hands. More on SSLs in the following passages.

What’s The Most Secured Payment Method?

If you are looking for the best security options, then you will find them for financial institutes dealing with billions of dollars daily. However, for the general public, the market leader in payment gateways, PayPal leads in secure payment processing. It’s a highly dependable platform with safe checkout capabilities from millions of websites where your card information and account details are never stored.

Difference Between Payment Gateway and Payment Processing

Payment processing is the way transactions are carried out. It includes things like card readers and point of sale systems that communicate the financial information between a merchant and the customer’s bank account. Every business owner needs to know how to accept credit card payments for successful card processing if they want to operate. On the other hand, payment gateways are services and tools used to communicate the transaction’s status. For example, it helps track whether or not payment has been approved.

Difference Between TLS & SSL

TLS and SSL are cryptographic protocols that ensure a payment gateway is secured. These are there to ensure that information passing between two systems is fully protected from outside threats and security breaches. According to Zed Founder and entrepreneur Alan Safahi, digital communication is vital for secure payment systems, and TLS and SSL both offer that. So let’s talk about the two methods a little bit more.

What’s SSL?

In the modern world, SSL has become the standard for online security. For secured payment systems, it’s the critical aspect and is considered standard technology for safeguarding online information. SSL stands for Secure Socket Layer, and it works as a layer of encryption that guarantees the security of information passing between two systems.

What’s TLS?

If you want something that offers more than SSL, then TLS is what you need. Known as the Transport Layer Security, and in many instances, you find companies are referring to SSL when they actually mean to refer to TLS technology.

Benefits Of Having A Secured Payment System

For any payment processing service or payment gateway to ensure security having SSL and TLS encryption is a must. They’ve set the gold standard in protecting sensitive user data like personal information and bank details. Simply by having an SSL certificate, your customers will start to trust you as it assures uses that your online site and payment services are safe to interact with.

So if you want to protect your customers and show them that your services are safe to use, then make sure you get your SSL or TLS certificate. Online shoppers are savvy enough to know what an SSL certificate means, and they don’t usually buy from businesses that don’t have it. So you could be losing business and putting your entire operation in jeopardy.

According to Safahi, the PCI is a security council that helps training and certification and ensures your enterprises keep up to date with secure payment services and data security. Independent Agency certificates cannot be falsified, and councils like this are great places to use and understand SSL encryptions. One of the most important factors when it comes to secured payment systems every business must meet the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance. It has security guidelines your business must follow to ensure the protected coverage of your customers’ financial information while being processed, stored, and transmitted.

Work With Payment Processors That Ensure Security

So there you go. These are some of the things that you needed to know about secure payment systems within payment gateway networks. Whenever you choose your online payment orchestration and processing service, check for secure payment processing. Now, if you want the highest grade security for your payment integration, then contact us.

We here at Zed specialize in creating custom payment orchestration layers with a guaranteed secure payment system. If you have any more questions regarding payment processing or secured payment systems, then please contact us. You can drop the questions in the comments below or hit us up on our socials, and we will answer your questions. And with that being said, that’s about all we have for you today. We will come back with something new for you soon. Until then, see ya!

Originally Posted: https://zed.network/understanding-a-secure-payment-system/

Popular Online Payment Solutions

Paypal has been dominating the market when it comes to sending and receiving money. It is considered the de facto online payment solution for online customers, freelancers, and business owners. However, PayPal isn’t the only global payment solution out there. There are plenty of other payment solutions companies that offer the same services and compete with PayPal. We here at the Zed Network specialize in providing companies with global payment processing solutions and payment processing in a complete orchestration layer. 


So we know all there is to know about payment processing solutions, and we thought you should know about the most popular options out there to make your decision easier. Here in the following passages, we will list out all the online payment solutions that offer comprehensive payment services. According to Zed Founder and entrepreneur Alan Safahi there some payment solutions that you can find that offer cheaper frees, faster transactions, and have enhanced security. So let’s check them out!




Due:

Due is one of the most popular online payment solutions because of its innovative time-tracking and invoicing tools that are perfect for freelancers and small business owners. In addition, you will have access to secure online payments at a 2.7 percent transaction rate. You can even use Due for international payments, and that takes around two business days. Plus, it works as a digital wallet to send or receive money to anyone in the world instantly with little to no cost. There’s even an e-bank where you can store your online cash. 

Stripe:

Stripe rose to popularity in the last few years because of its powerful and flexible API. You can fit it according to your needs regardless of whether you are running a subscription-based company or an on-demand marketplace. Stripe easily integrates hundreds of apps, and it is easy to set up and running quickly even if you aren’t a coder. Add to that the lack of setup, monthly, or hidden fees are an added bonus. 

Dwolla:

Dwolla is an online payment solution that works and PayPal when it comes to transferring funds because of its API. It focuses on bank transfers or Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments that ensure you can create a customized payment solution where payments are received within a day. The best part is that the transactions are free.

Apple Pay:

Apple might be late to the party, but it’s high time merchants take notice and start to consider using Apple Pay. Apply Pay transactions are faster and more secure because it uses touch ID confirmation. That means customers can use their fingerprints to pay for their pizza. While it is relatively new, there is no cause for worry as it is starting to adapt to support older machines. According to reports, Apple Pay is also working on a P2P payments system within iMessage. 

Payoneer:
Payoneer is one of the oldest payment processing solutions online. Payoneer offers a wide range of support for its users, and it’s available in more than 200 countries and accepts 150 different currencies. Receiving payments in Payoneer is free, and its flexible API will also grow along with your business. Like PayPal, Payoneer can receive plastic MasterCards as payments if you don’t want to go into digital payments entirely.

2Checkout:

2Checkout is one of the most popular online payment solutions out there that you can use to accept credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal globally. It’s available in 87 different languages, offers advanced fraud protection, integrates with hundreds of online shopping carts, and you can automatically bill customers with recurring billing. 

Amazon Payments:

Amazon Payments is one of the most secure payment processing solutions out there. If you use Amazon Payments, they will automatically go through Amazon’s checkout whenever there’s a purchase on your site. In addition, with Amazon Payments, customers will be using their own Amazon credentials, making the payment process more convenient and trustworthy. 

Zed Network:

Zed Network offers customers an embedded payments orchestration platform. However, Zed isn’t a payment gateway, acquirer, PSP, bank, Payment facilitator, or network. But, according to Alan Safahi, they do have all of the above and more to create a seamless payment experience for our clients and their customers. You elect to utilize ZED for your payment acceptance/collections or mass payouts/disbursements. We provide a comprehensive, turnkey end-to-end solution that is so much more than just payments.

Find The Payment Processor That Fits Your Needs

So there you go; those are the popular online payment solutions out there. Make sure you check them out to see whether or not they fit your need. According to Safahi, merchants often rush into deciding on payment solutions even though that can hamper their operation. So make sure you take your time and check out each payment processor and ask questions if they offer global online payment processing or not and other features that you may need. 

You can also send in your questions to Zed by either dropping them in the comments below or hitting us up on our socials. So if you have any queries regarding online payment processing and other solutions, don’t hesitate to contact us, and we will help you out. And with that being said, that’s about all we have for you today. We will come back with something new for you soon. Until then, see ya!