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Manitoba Environmental Industries Association Emerging Issues Conference

Telpay was pleased to sponsor the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association’s Emerging Issues conference last week. As many businesses continue to navigate the pragmatics of working from home, virtual conferences provide missing opportunities to forge our connections and promote our businesses.

Here’s a short video recap of Telpay presentation.

The theme of this year’s conference was “Adapting to a Changing World.” The keynote speakers, the strong Indigenous content, and practical discussions were inspiring and useful. The Aboriginal Business Leaders Panel and Aboriginal Elders Panel presented strong visions and opportunities on the path towards reconciliation. The MEIA Students Chapter Panel highlighted the real strength of today’s environmental education and offered a grounded sense of hope for the future. The call to heat our buildings and operate industries without natural gas was affirming numerous examples of how this can be achieved. And of course, what all businesses are discussing these days – post-Covid strategies. How can we use what we have learned through the Covid experience to continue to evolve towards a just and sustainable future? Undoubtedly the most important call to action. Never waste a good crisis.

To learn more about the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association and their programs, have a look at their website at www.meia.mb.ca

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Telpay Trees Fall Update

This year marks the 100th anniversary of National Forest Week celebrated at the end of September, just when the trees are showing their most glorious colours across our country. Forests are places of sanctuary and tranquility, even in recent times gaining their own therapeutic practice known as “Forest Bathing” – simply breathing in the clean air and reconnecting with nature.

The Telpay Trees Fall Campaign saw another 5,000 trees planned and planted. Alongside the mighty Red River in the heart of Winnipeg, our staff team met for the first time since March. Wearing our masks and physically distancing, we extended the existing tree line with a mix of local trees and berries. Our founder Bill Loewen, having recently celebrated his 90th birthday, dared to join us at the gathering taking distancing precautions seriously. We planted an apple tree there in his honour.

At a special ceremony on National Tree Day, Telpay CEO Cora Jalonen announced our planting a Fruit and Berry Forest in partnership with one of our customers, the Neeginan Aboriginal Centre at their downtown Main Street location. Joined by Mayor Brian Bowman and former parliamentarian, business-owner, and longstanding Tree Canada Board Member Dorothy Dobbie, we ceremonially planted 6 fruit trees and announced our intention to plant over 100 fruit and berry bushes in the Spring of 2020 with the help of Falk Nurseries. Continue reading

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A Message from Telpay’s CEO

It is with mixed emotions that today we announce the retirement of Telpay’s Founder and President, W.H. (Bill) Loewen.

For over 50 years, Bill Loewen has transformed and revolutionized the way individuals and businesses send and receive payments. Mr. Loewen changed how people got paid with Canada’s first independent payroll service company, Comcheq. Also, he introduced Canadians to electronic payments by telephone in 1985 with Telpay.

Having established an enviably solid foundation, he leaves a legacy of innovation, depth of knowledge, and industry advocacy that ensures Telpay is well-positioned to continue providing innovative payment solutions.

With a plan to transition into the future, we also announce today that Telpay has been acquired by a Winnipeg ownership group with controlling interests in Payworks, a cloud-based workforce management solution. This ownership group is committed to investing in technology to further solidify and elevate Telpay as Canada’s electronic payments leader.

Throughout this changeover, Telpay will continue to operate independently to focus on what we do best – delivering value for you and your business with efficient, cost-effective payment solutions.

Telpay’s office will stay where it all began in Winnipeg. Our team’s unwavering dedication to providing exceptional products and services to our customers and partners remain resolute. We are excited about joining forces with the new ownership group to help take Telpay into the next chapter of growth and innovation.

For additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@telpay.ca.

On behalf of the management and staff, we thank you for your continued support!

Regards,

Cora Jalonen, CPA, CGA, CIA
CEO

 

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Million Tree Challenge Update

As the wise saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is now! That holds true even during a global pandemic. As part of Winnipeg’s One Million Tree Challenge, Telpay staff, customers, and friends planted 5000 trees this spring.

While all plans for public plantings were put on hold due to COVID, we reached out to you, our customers. And the response was resounding from individuals planting in their own yards, to staff giveaways to whole community tree giveaways. In partnership with one of our customers, the Dakota Community Club, we gave away 500 trees in just two hours! We were so pleased to have so many of you interested in this project.

We’d love to help stimulate this kind of tree planting across the country. Check out Tree Canada to get involved in their national tree planting program.

Continue reading

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How AccuRoot Financial Solutions Adjusted to Working from Home

Several months into the new world of working from home and some of us are asking the same question: How would we function without remote tools such as Zoom and Telpay?

Naureen Punjani is one of them. The co-founder of Winnipeg’s AccuRoot Financial Solutions, Naureen has daily Zoom meetings with teams across the business consultancy firm.

“We even have weekly virtual coffee breaks with everyone,” says Naureen, “and we check in with our employees multiple times during the day to ensure they never lose their morale or feel isolated.”

AccuRoot has also sent care packages to employees containing PPE, as well as provided tech support for working from home and allowed flexible working hours.

“They’re small things that show we care,” says Naureen, “and the result has been them performing extraordinarily well. We don’t need to micromanage as they feel loyalty and concern for their teams and give 110%.”

AccuRoot is also using this unique time to improve business efficiency, which has included investing in a team task management tool that so far has shown amazing results, says Naureen.

“We are all in the know in real-time, the stress of keeping tabs on our teams is practically a worry of the past, and all team members have a new tool to test out, learn, and get engaged in. It keeps them focused on all the good and newness they have to look forward to.”

Telpay has played a big role in transitioning to the new normal as well, says Naureen.

Although AccuRoot’s sales have taken a hit, Telpay’s pre-authorized debit (PAD) function has allowed for uninterrupted collections and ensured that the company’s cash flows remain predictable.

“Setting my clients up for PAD puts me in the driving seat,” says Naureen. “It eliminates the need to follow up — which saves costly administration time — we don’t have to deal with paper cheques, and most importantly we have the freedom to plan our cash flows.”

Telpay has also made bill payments easy from home, she adds, because the entire process is virtual, including approvals.

“They receive an email with details of what is being paid and approve or reject right from their emails.”

As for the Telpay setup and training process, which happened just months before the pandemic, Naureen says it was “very smooth.” And though it took the AccuRoot team a bit of time to test out the transactions the first time, they soon quickly onboarded all of their own businesses and also helped several of their bookkeeping clients do the same.

“The process was super simple every single time,” says Narueen. “Telpay’s support staff’s promptness, pleasant attitude, knowledge, and experience plays a key role in the seamlessness of the onboarding process.”

Although she couldn’t have predicted a pandemic, of course, looking back, Naureen says that while Zoom and the other tools are keeping the AccuRoot teams connected and engaged, she’s “so thankful” for Telpay for keeping business running smoothly.

“It’s been a life-saver.”

Find out how Telpay can be a life-saver for your business by visiting telpay.ca/for-business or by contacting us directly at 1-800-665-0302 or service@telpay.ca.