In conversation with our Chief Technology Officer
In the second instalment of our business leader series, we catch up with Billy Ferguson, our CTO. With more than 25 years’ experience in tech, working across the full spectrum of financial organisations, Billy draws on a broad understanding of how technology can influence change.
We discuss the main challenges for scale-ups, the immense opportunities technology can unlock in the alternative finance space, and why the right technology is key to developing stronger relationships with our clients.
Have you always had a passion for technology?
My father worked at IBM for 25 years, so the influence of technology was always there, even if I wasn’t consciously aware of it at the time. I got to see things like laptops in the 80s, long before they became a common feature in homes. And – much to my mother’s frustration – I was always trying to work out things worked. I would take things apart to put them back together – a radio or a hairdryer that had stopped working would end up in a thousand pieces because I thought I could fix it!
Why did you choose the alternative finance industry?
I went straight from university into my first financial services role, so I’ve been in the industry my whole career. I joined ThinCats from a challenger bank, which operates in the alternative finance space, so I had an appreciation of what ThinCats was doing from my work there. I saw the beginnings of a successful technology platform and a huge amount of potential in terms of how it could impact the industry. I felt I could play a strong part in executing and delivering that and taking it to a level where it could be of immense value to the organisation and our clients.
What is ThinCats’ technology roadmap?
When I joined ThinCats about seven months ago, one of my first tasks was to build out a two-year roadmap. Now, we have a good view of the work that we need to do over this time but it’s an evolving view that needs to adapt as we understand more. The roadmap is designed to build strong foundations where we can automate loan origination and servicing as much as possible and provide real-time (or near-real time) data in a self-serve capacity. This means enabling our business leaders to get all the information they need and getting our PRISM data analytics (in-house risk system) to best-in-class. We can then get reliable assessments of the risk and the opportunities, as well as a good insight into our customers’ needs and the state of the general market.
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Our roadmap is moving us along so that we build that efficiency and scale; to get into a position where we’ve addressed the foundations and we take it to the next level - to become an increasingly important partner to our borrowers and a valuable member of their ecosystem. We need to have the right things in our toolbox so we can make that happen.
How does technology help meet our clients’ needs?
Borrowers I talk to are looking for consistency and confidence in our decision to lend. They want the decision time to be as short as possible. The technology isn’t quite there yet but I’m working towards that with my team. Our goal is to be the best in market in terms of how quickly we can get people the money. Technology can make the loan initiation process rapid and pain-free and, once agreed, it can minimise the impact of servicing the loan on the business. Our customers are medium-sized and, like us, they don’t have an army of people in admin. We want them to deploy their resources where it matters most - on making their business successful.
How has the role of CTO changed over the last 10-15 years?
Consumer technology has progressed so much that expectations of business technology are also much higher. I’ve always had the view that we need to be servicing our team as well as our customers but it’s now more relevant than ever. Internal user experience must be excellent too – good people are hard to come by and if technology is a barrier to them doing their job, they will leave.
Historically, technology was consumed by the organisation. Now, the art of the possible is often dependent on what technology can do. What we want to achieve as a business is influenced by what technology can support and enable – from moving into different markets and sectors to commercialising what we build – and this throws up new dynamics and challenges for a CTO.
Given the broad influence of technology, it’s healthy for CTO to sit on exco, and I’m fortunate to do that at ThinCats. Modern CTOs understand the business. They’re not just the ‘beardy guy’ in the corner that works on the tech stuff and is wheeled out when something goes wrong – they’re a lot more engaged in business conversation and play a greater role in driving the strategic direction of the organisation.