GraceKennedy uses Azure App Service to increase access to financial services through its GK ONE app in the Caribbean

The GraceKennedy Group (GraceKennedy) is a provider of food and financial services that is headquartered in Jamaica with operations spanning the Caribbean, Canada, the United States, and Europe. Through its financial services arm, GraceKennedy Financial Group, GraceKennedy provides customers with remittances, bill payments, investment, commercial banking, and other money services.

With increasing customer expectations for flexible, remote financial solutions, GraceKennedy is undergoing a transformation to unite all its financial products in one ecosystem. It began working with Microsoft Azure solutions to develop a super app called GK ONE, which connects customers to GraceKennedy’s financial services wherever they are in the world. This app is now the top digital wallet for remittances in Jamaica, and the company has plans to expand to four other Caribbean countries in 2024. 

Providing people across multiple countries with financial services

Established as a small trading business more than 100 years ago, GraceKennedy has historically focused on processing and distributing food products. Over the years, it has expanded and diversified into a group of more than 50 subsidiaries and associated companies operating in food trading and financial services worldwide.

GraceKennedy is the agent for Western Union remittance services in Jamaica and 10 other Caribbean countries and has formed partnerships with multiple financial institutions across the region. The company also maintains a strong presence in North America and the United Kingdom to help the Caribbean diaspora stay connected to home and send money back to their families.

With a presence in so many countries, GraceKennedy found that providing quick and efficient financial services could be challenging. Customers often had to visit several locations or wait in long lines to complete transactions. GraceKennedy began working on a solution to bring multiple offerings together in one digital location. “We offer remittances, bill payments, banking, insurance, and more,” says Rayon Walker, Chief Enterprise Architect at GraceKennedy. “These are all different companies, sometimes with different locations. We wanted to bring them all under one umbrella in the digital space.”

GraceKennedy needed technology that would help it quickly provide secure financial services across multiple countries with varying regulations. The company turned to Microsoft, knowing that it has a global presence and could help GraceKennedy develop solutions quickly.

Using Azure App Service to seamlessly connect to more countries in just a few months

In 2021, GraceKennedy formed a team to keep pace with the constantly changing digital landscape. This team worked with Microsoft to devise a solution that would connect GraceKennedy’s financial services while helping the company comply with regulations in multiple countries. 

GraceKennedy used Azure Cosmos DB to access scalable app development capabilities and Azure App Service to build and deploy its solution on a scalable cloud infrastructure. It created GK ONE, an app designed to connect all its financial services in one digital ecosystem. “I am very happy that we don’t need to build and manage a server room and that we benefit from the global infrastructure Microsoft provides,” says Rickardo Ebanks, Chief Digital Officer at GraceKennedy. “This has helped us to scale our solution for markets outside of Jamaica without having to worry about buying servers and waiting for delivery and setup. We can go from idea to execution with our Azure infrastructure and a small DevOps team.”

With a secure and scalable infrastructure, GraceKennedy can expand the app’s offerings easily. “We can make features available in any country and language quickly,” says Ebanks. “We can achieve in a few months what would have taken multiple years to do with localized on-premises datacenters.” 

With a cloud-based and agile solution, GraceKennedy can now connect to its customers no matter where they are in the world. “With the GK ONE app, users can pay bills and send money home to their loved ones within a few seconds,” says Walker. 

Increasing customer transactions by double-digit percentages each month and seeing a 75% retention rate

GraceKennedy deployed GK ONE at the end of 2022. Since then, customer use and transactions have consistently increased. “Every month we have been in operation, we have seen double-digit percentage growth in transaction volume,” says Ebanks. 

GK ONE has become the number one digital wallet for remittances in Jamaica in less than a year. The company tracks customer satisfaction with Azure Synapse Analytics and has found that its customers like this digital, cloud-based financial platform. “We are seeing a 75% return rate for customers who use the app. They are satisfied with the convenience and experience and continue using the app over and over again,” says Ebanks. 

With the ability to easily adapt its product, GraceKennedy is continually improving to keep users happy. “We can make quick changes and improvements to match customer needs and experiences. We’ve been able to deploy solutions quickly and adjust based on customer feedback—in some cases in just one business day,” says Ebanks. Now, GraceKennedy can establish new digital infrastructure across the Caribbean—a task that could have taken several weeks in the past—almost instantly. 

Improving customer self-service capabilities and financial transactions

GraceKennedy is excited about the future of GK ONE and how Microsoft will help it provide efficient self-service options for clients. The company has been using Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) to create GK ONE identities for its customers so that they can set up accounts and complete transactions more quickly. “Users onboard using a digital self-serve tool,” says Ebanks. “They then easily access products and services across GraceKennedy without having to provide the same information again.”

GraceKennedy hopes to unify customers across the Caribbean and promote financial inclusion through the app. “We saw the opportunity to reach the unbanked and the underbanked,” says Ebanks. “With GK ONE, we are now giving them a simple, convenient financial experience that allows them to send and receive money, pay bills, buy insurance, apply for a credit card, and more. This is how we are bringing added value to the communities we serve.”