GET TO KNOW
What do you currently identify as
the major areas of investment in
your industry?
This is linked to my thoughts about the world
preparing for IoT and 5G – in combination
with the work I’m involved with here at ACI
– eCommerce. Ensuring any solution that will
be used to bring smart devices and homes to
life or make our lives as consumers infinitely
flexible in terms of how we want to make our
purchases, will need to be fast, robust, secure
and can cope with enormous growth. So,
areas of investment will include making sure
the architecture provides all those strengths.
How do you deal with stress and
unwind outside of the office?
I have two beautiful grandchildren. They are
young, bundles of energy and individuality
and I’m totally besotted.
If you could go back and change one
career decision, what would it be?
I wouldn’t change anything. My whole
career has given me strong reasons for
staying in a role and strong reasons for
moving onto the next. I’ve been very
fortunate to come across influential mentors
that have helped me shape my career for the
better. Sometimes you need someone who
recognises your potential and can offer you
an opportunity to take initiative and change
your career path for the better.
we relax our sharing concerns and succeed
in trapping and stopping the fraudster? The
pace of innovation and progress will only
make this harder to answer.
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?
Over the past couple of years, ACI has
increased its focus on the solutions that are
utilised in the cloud, with heavy investment in
creating the robust, safe, secure bedrock that
is required for this space. It’s been extremely
rewarding to be part of this exciting journey
that will ultimately provide infinite payment
and fraud management opportunities for our
customers and to see that work coming to
fruition. We’ve stepped up our efforts as we
are close to launching the fruits of this hard
work and the next 12 months will be all about
enabling our customers to take full advantage
of the new strengths.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain C-level
position in your industry?
I would say spot opportunities and take them.
Be vocal about change but be clear on how
you communicate the need for it and provide
“
STRIVE TO HAVE
YOUR TEAM BE
SO WELL-OILED
IT CAN BE AS
SUCCESSFUL
WITHOUT YOU, AS
IT IS WITH YOU.
practical reasons. Take on new responsibilities
that could lead to exciting things and
over-achieve on those new responsibilities.
Concentrate on striving towards your goals
but expand or change them where it makes
sense for the company. Challenge yourself
– there may be encouraging mentors in
positions of influence who see something
in you and offer you an opportunity. As
you progress through the ranks, become a
mentor in your own right, a teacher of good
practices and behaviours and keep your team
enthused and interested. Learn to delegate
because as you rise, you need to spread the
load – but strive to have your team be so well-
oiled it can be as successful without you, as it
is with you. n
What are the region-specific
challenges when implementing new
technologies in Europe?
In this world of collaboration, data sharing
needs, security concerns, global realm of
eCommerce fraudsters, advancements in
technology and AI on both sides of the
law, competitiveness, innovation, speed –
the region-specific challenges are more
complex than ever. There has always
been a fine balance to be reached when
it comes to preventing fraudsters from
stealing what is rightfully ours (or our
customers’) – but the shrinking of the
world in the way consumers behave
is making that balancing act ever
more complicated. Do we harden our
borders and keep our data safe – but
open ourselves up to risk because we
are blind to global trends and behaviour? Do
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