The University of Nairobi (UoN) has partnered Barclays Bank Kenya (BBK) to launch Host-To-Host, an automated seamless cash management system, doing away with the manual, labour-intensive payment processes previously used by the over 60,000 students.
Host-To- Host is part of the university’s digitisation programme that ensures end-to-end integration between UoN’s treasury system and the bank system, resulting in a decrease in the errors and rejects that result from manual collections and payments processes.
Embedded in the Barclays Integrator, the bank’s internet banking solution, the system is flexible and accommodates mobile payments available from Barclays in addition to enhancing transparency, security and high standards of accountability through readily available information that is also credible for audit purposes.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, BBK managing director Jeremy Awori said: “This is the first collaboration of its kind in this market, it not only cements our partnership with the University of Nairobi, but also creates new opportunities both for Barclays to meet our customers’ growing need for customized solutions that are aligned to their business model.”
UoN vice chancellor Prof George Magoha said this will enable the students to pay fees at any of the BBK channels and receive auto receipts for their fees as well as automatic updates on their account status on the student portal.
“Without doubt, this will bolster efficiency across the various departments in the university considering that all our processes are interconnected with the finance office,” he said.
The new solution, which also counters fraud by eliminating the physical slips from the payment process, comes at a time when the continent is grappling with how to optimise internal processes and ensure systems and hardware infrastructures are robust enough to mitigate the risks associated with fraud.
