16 minute read
A customer-centric focus
Highlighting the region’s “can do” approach to challenge, Pritesh Kotecha, SVP for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Israel, describes how his career path in technology fits well with SmartStream’s keen attention to the customer
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The continuous momentum. Every challenge, both professional and personal, is approached with a ‘can do’ attitude and achieved through innovation and a sense of community. People in the region are social and eager to share their experiences and advice. Ideas come to fruition sooner and you can see the tangible results faster. This forward-looking spirit is infectious and drives us all to do better. As a leader this energy motivates me and my team. I surround myself with people who share the same unrelenting drive to help our customers find new ways to excel. Within SmartStream we believe that “If you do not create the next thing that disrupts your business – someone else will”.
I graduated in 1992, in the midst of one of the worst recessions the UK had ever faced. Determined to work, I took the first job I was offered which was in retail electronic sales. Though I didn’t know it at the time this low-level job would be a blessing since it would teach me about people - how to listen, serve and build relationships. My first corporate role was in support on the night shift, and from there I gradually worked my way up and eventually landed in banking technology sales. The UK is a tough, overcrowded and highly competitive market so you have to quickly learn the value of customer service and delivering on your commitments. I was fortunate to be given the chance to build a regional business when the DIFC acquired SmartStream in 2007. The experiences and lessons I had learned throughout my career have served me well. We proudly serve 100+ regional banks and have a stellar reputation for being customer centric in all we do. I personally train & mentor new sales recruits, which allows me to impart some of the things I have learned through my journey.
Our clients’ main objective is to offer their client’s the most immersive and seamless digital experience and to enable that SmartStream takes care of all of the operational aspects that sit behind it. We tell our clients “You take care of the Experience; we’ll take care of the Transactions”. Our end-to-end Transaction Lifecycle Management (TLM ™) suite can be deployed as a single module, across the enterprise or in the cloud as a managed service, or as a full BPO. TLM lowers our client’s cost to income ratio, reduces their operational risk and provides analytics and insights into all operational aspects. Additionally, it provides early warnings of transactions and processes that have failed or are about to fail. By SmartStream providing benchmark Service & Operational level outcomes to our clients, this allows them to provide a world class service to their clients.
With business teams no longer centrally located we have seen stress points and risk in even the strongest of operations. These impact the business and client facing functions. The resources that businesses rely on have the knowledge needed by financial institutions but are hindered by traditional technologies limitations which is still IT centric and usually requires lengthy IT projects to implement change. While we often hear about business self-service, it is not yet prevalent across our industry. In 2018 SmartStream founded our Innovations Lab to create and embed Artificial Intelligence (AI) into our TLM solutions. Three years on these capabilities are providing our clients with real business self-service. For example, raw data can simply be dropped into our TLM Reconciliations solutions and the AI algorithms will immediately understand the formats, decipher the best matches and provide insight – all in seconds – with no IT or application knowledge required. At SmartStream, we understand the value and power of having clean data and a single version of the truth cross all of solutions and services. We pass that value on to our clients so they can accelerate their digital footprint and provide an agile and immersive experience to their clients.
Prepared for the Unexpected
Raghu Nandakumara, Field CTO at Illumio describes his experience in financial technology which has shown him that security, far from being a hinderance, can be an enabler for business
Nothing ever stays the same and especially in the MEA region. If this year has taught us anything it is that we must always try to be prepared for the unexpected. The dynamic nature of the banking industry mixed with the unpredictability of the world makes me feel that I want to get up every morning and make a difference. Who knows what will happen next?
In my 15 years of experience in the financial services sector, I have had the opportunity to work across a number of areas of Cyber Security – from the early days in operations, through service delivery, engineering, product management, and finally audit and compliance. This variety of roles has helped me understand how technology solutions are assessed, certified, integrated and operationalised and then validated. Further, the opportunity to work closely with the business in a highly regulated industry has allowed me to appreciate how security can be an enabler for, rather than a hindrance to, productivity. My current role of Field CTO at Illumio draws heavily on all these experiences which, in hindsight, have been invaluable.
For banks of all sizes, Illumio provides a simple security solution to prevent malware from spreading to critical applications within the organisation.
Raghu Nandakumara Field CTO at Illumio
Segmenting environments like PCI and SWIFT from other IT systems not only helps banks remain compliant but can reduce the impact of any breach. By restricting an attack to a small area Illumio can speed up the detection of a breach. Detecting and remediating a breach in a short time can dramatically cut the cost of that breach. The key to the product is how quickly and simply it can be deployed and become effective. Our technology is not only used by some of the largest banks in the world but also some of the smallest.
The last 12 months have brought about a massive change in the way people work and how companies operate. This has driven the need to increase the security and control in the computing environment that Illumio can fulfil. The demand in MEA for Zero Trust based finance solutions has created a need for simple to implement technology. To meet this demand for 2021 we need to build our position in the region. We have already created alliances with some of the top security solutions providers in the region, like Help AG, but you will see investment in many other areas during the year.
Making an impact
If all the bank customers relying on Temenos solutions were a nation, it would be the third largest. Jean-Paul Mergeai, Managing Director of Temenos for Middle East & Africa reflects on his journey with the company and where their future is taking them
This year we are celebrating 25 years of Temenos in MEA. We have a strong presence in the region with seven offices and a highly experienced team, as well as a deep and rapidly growing customer base, from the very largest banks (such as Al Rajhi) to the newest and most ambitious new challenger banks (such as STC Pay).
I am particularly excited by the size of the opportunity with challenger banks and digitization in the region. MEA is a hotbed of banking innovation and there are many great examples of banks, big and small, using technology to make banking better and boosting financial inclusion.
I am a technologist at heart, having started my career as an academic specializing in the fields of Machine Translation and Artificial Intelligence. I have worked for over 30 years in IT solutions for banks and financial institutions.
I joined Temenos in 2010 as part of its acquisition of Odyssey Financial Technologies and have been the Managing Director of Temenos’ MEA operations since 2014. My remit has since expanded to include the APAC region.
What is really exciting is the pace of innovation at Temenos and its scale. It is really rewarding working for a company that can boast to have such a massive
impact on people’s lives – we serve 3,000 banks and as a result 1.2billion people worldwide depend on Temenos solutions for their day-to-day banking.
MEA IS A HOTBED OF BANKING INNOVATION
Before Coronavirus, we knew that banks faced big challenges, including intense financial pressure, rising customer expectations and fierce competition. The pandemic added to this, in particular accelerating the customer demand for digital. Individuals and businesses are now less likely to visit branches or use cash and are more willing to bank digitally. Banks have had to accelerate their digital transformations by years.
To succeed in this new normal any player, whether an incumbent or a nimble new entrant, must have a front office that delivers rich customer experiences and a back office that drives automation and brings products to market fast.
It is a big moment for our industry, and we are in a unique position to support banks adapt, transform and launch new hyper-personalised digital banking products and experiences.
Jean-Paul Mergeai, Managing Director, Middle East & Africa
Personally, I will be expanding my geographic focus in 2021 as I take on my additional responsibility for the APAC region. We have an enormous customer base in APAC and I am excited to work with the team to support their development and accelerate growth in APAC-MEA, a high-potential territory full of opportunities for Temenos.
Thomas Schornstein, Head of Middle East Business and Member of the Executive Board of additiv, describes his journey in wealth management technology and why now is the perfect time for it to enhance business performance
After over 20 years in wealth management, it is exciting to be part of this fundamental shift in the client service model in the financial service industry. Although digital readiness from clients is increasing very rapidly and client behavioural patterns from online retail have found their way into the financial service industry, not every digital solution is a success. Traditional values as trust, privacy and service quality still play an important role. My fascination is how to bring these elements - state of art technology and expertise in banking together. For payment services and pure brokerage this has been largely achieved, but there is still the gap when it comes to wealth management. This is an area where I think I could create a lot of value.
My roots are in international wealth management for HNWI clients. After three years on the technology side and involvement in numerous client projects I have learned one important lesson, there is no “one size fits all” solution. The key success drivers of the actual business
Thomas Schornstein, Head of Middle East Business and Member of the Executive Board, additiv
model must be analysed carefully before a digital journey can be defined. Any digitization project is only as good as its commercial success at the end of the day. If you do not have a viable sourcing channel for new clients today, it is a wrong assumption that a digital journey will solve this problem easily. On the other hand, if you are gifted with high number of existing clients already using some digital services, it is more likely that an additional digital offer will be accepted and will contribute significantly to your income.
At additiv, all our products utilize Digital Finance Suite (DFS®), which is purely specialized for the digitization of the wealth and investment journey. DFS® is a single platform with the agility to adapt to changing needs and the intelligence to deliver personalization, at scale. It makes an ongoing digital roadmap operable.
Our DFS® platform is an intelligent system, dynamically responding to changes, interacting with clients and internal users according to their individual needs. With DFS®, banks have the intelligence to maximize customer engagement according to the individual business and technology strategies, increasing up-sales and cross-sales opportunities and boosting retention rates.
Our approach also ensures that adapting to future changes is easy and avoids the need for big and costly ‘startfrom-scratch projects’. This frees up a bank’s own internal resources to create unique product offerings. And, because DFS® is available in the cloud or as a hybrid cloud setup through Software-asa-Service (SaaS), banks can also benefit from the cost efficiencies associated with cloud deployment.
One of the most important pillars of additiv’s global expansion strategy is the Middle East. We see a unique combination of banks and their clients with readiness for our services; a sign that true digitalization is now essential. Our products, platform and roadmap enable banks to adapt to this need and beyond.
Our aim is to have at least one system up and running with a sizeable market player in every important country in the Middle East as reference case, as we have within Europe and Asia. To support this, we plan to set up new offices here, on the back of client successes, expanding on our already established DIFC office in Dubai and locations throughout Europe and Asia.
In Our DNA
Path Solutions’ Group Chairman & CEO, Mohammed Kateeb, describes his journey as a leader in Islamic finance technology
There are two dimensions to the answer and the answer applies to me as an individual and to Path Solutions as a company. First, it is exciting times to be in the technology field because technology is disrupting everything we experience. There is not a single profession or industry where technology is not driving its change. Through intelligent software we are finding new ways to perform things efficiently and more effectively and, in the process, of enhancing people lives.
The second dimension is Islamic finance; we are believers in this segment because in addition to improving people’s lives in general, we may have tremendous impact on the biggest challenges facing humanity such as financial inclusion. Yes, technology is immersing financial services into our lives seamlessly, but it is also helping us reach the unbanked, which is a must to improve the standards of living of the underprivileged.
When you are a computer scientist, normally, you start as a generalist exploring what technology can do. I was a good software engineer, and I was privileged to live through extremely exciting times such as the PC and the 4th Industrial Revolution. During my career I have built software to different industries such as healthcare, media, telecommunication and finally finance. I got into banking in 2004, and I was drawn to the segment of Islamic finance because of how underserved it was and the opportunities it offers. I felt that we as a company have a chance to make a difference. I started by focusing on small opportunities to serve the investment and financial institutions, then pushed into retail banking. We focused on the small Islamic banking segment which was growing at a tremendous pace. Subsequently, the global financial crisis hit, which gave us a completely different perspective on how this segment is actually a better solution compared to the rest of the segments. And finally, the 4th Industrial Revolution technologies such as mobility, and cloud, came to give us the infrastructure to reach the unreached. All this strengthened our focus on this exciting segment.
Path Solutions is a unique enterprise software house that is laser-focused on a niche segment which has given us a deep understanding of this segment and allowed us to create partnerships most of our competitors would never dream of. Collaboration is key to unlocking continuous improvement and business elevation in a new financial ecosystem. As an example, we are the only software firm certified by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI). In this fast-paced, rapidly changing world, the most successful and sustainable source of competitive advantage is through uniqueness and innovation, and this is exactly what we have been doing. Lately, many other companies have been trying to mimic Path Solutions but lack the DNA for it. Path Solutions is viewed to be the most important school in Islamic financial technology. Many of our graduates (former employees) are holding strategic positions in almost all our multinational competitors who are trying to get in or compete in this segment, something I am immensely proud of; I do believe that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. But all should realize that it takes more than an employee or two to replicate Path Solutions, because it is built in our DNA.
Secondly, our passion for technology is unparalleled. As a Chairman and CEO, I am a software engineer by heart and I still enjoy technology brainstorm sessions and I am deeply involved in many of our important technology decisions. This passion is demanded at all levels of the company and part of Path Solutions’ value system. To summarize, we are passionate about our business and creating great technology solutions to empower it.
Mohammed Kateeb, Group Chairman & CEO, Path Solutions
2020 was unprecedented and was devastating in many ways; it taught us great lessons as humans and is in the process of creating our new normal. One of its important side effects, is the acceleration of the transformation to digital across the world. The pandemic will force changes in the regulations and push our industry forward. Our plan is to be a relevant force in that change. During 2021 we will be busy with many of our clients implementing advanced solutions in which we have been investing for the last ten years and we will continue to do so.
