GET TO KNOW
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?
It might sound a bit cliché but I really like meditating . I ’ ve practiced Tai-Chi since I was a kid and I like to do it at least once a week . Or a few minutes of mindfulness meditation every day . It feels great , especially after a running session . Also , I ’ m currently training for a half iron-man . It is something I have never done before and it ’ s quite a challenging objective for me – especially as I have gained a few extra kilos since COVID-19 started .
Also , it helps me to develop a more ambitious and resilient mindset . I take my role as CEO very seriously and want to make sure I am always the best I can be . What I do outside of the office is just as important as what I do in the office .
If you could go back and change one career decision what would it be ?
Sometimes , when I look back , I wish I would have studied more in the area of computer science . I focused very heavily on maths and missed a bit of time to programme more . That said , my greatest passion has always been maths , so I decided to focus entirely on it . But computer science also has a strong place in my heart . I did a lot of coding but not as much as I would have wanted . I am very lucky in that my career has always been CEO of Veezoo and there ’ s nothing I would change there . It ’ s been a great learning experience . Of course , I have made mistakes but sometimes these are hard to avoid and they ’ ve helped me and the company grow to where we are today .
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry ?
The first step is to build up a modern cloud data infrastructure . Tools like Fivetran or Airbyte help you gather data from different sources and load them into a modern cloud data warehouse , e . g . Snowflake or Redshift . Other great tools like DBT , enable you to transform your data effectively . They work together to build a database with quality data . This is fundamental before you can use your data to gain new insights .
Then , what we start to see more of , are companies investing in making data more accessible , not only for the technically skilled people but for everyone who needs information to aid their roles . Many don ’ t have time or expertise to work with data in the traditional way and need something that feels more natural . For example , if you think about sales or marketing managers , they need a lot of data to find new opportunities .
However , they need something that is easy to use , otherwise they will be very limited . As organisations continue to see the value of data for their growth , we will see this need for accessibility to increase .
What are the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in EMEA ?
Language . EMEA is a very fragmented market in terms of language and this creates many challenges when implementing a technology based on natural language processing , especially if you are a small company . For example , Veezoo provides a natural language interface to databases . In other words , it enables people to easily get answers to plain English questions about their data , such as ‘ How many customers who have subscribed to our newsletter have placed no order in the last 6 months ?’.
However , as a Swiss company , Veezoo had to understand three languages ( DE , FR , IT ) before it was rolled out nationwide . In that sense , the UK and US is a much more attractive market .
On the other hand , these additional challenges help us push our technology much further . Currently , Veezoo speaks four languages and each one of them helped us improve our artificial intelligence models further .
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months ?
The pandemic brought out a new way of working and many of the changes were very positive . One of the greatest changes for us was the increase of asynchronous processes . For example , in order to avoid virtual meetings , we started writing down more information about the topics to be discussed and their issues . This means that the team can read and digest it more efficiently , in their own time , providing us also with a better record of our decisions .
It helps make things more efficient and creates better documentation and more data . The past year has allowed us to be a global company . People are more receptive to virtual sales meetings now which has opened up new countries for us quicker than we projected . It also meant that we are able to hire from all over the world giving us access to great talent to join the Veezo team . I had to adapt to it quickly but we will probably remain with a hybrid way of working , where we keep a mixture of virtual and physical to get the best out of the team .
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain C-level position in your industry ?
Well , I can only talk for entrepreneurs . If you are an entrepreneur , my number one tip is to excel at your core , the core of what you ’ re building . For the rest of it , leverage the best of what is out there . Stand tall on the shoulders of giants to get you further and build what you ’ re good at , better than anyone else . p
72 INTELLIGENTCIO AFRICA www . intelligentcio . com