product management - FinTecBuzz

FinTech Interview with Chris Li, SVP of Products at Xactly

FTB News Desk — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 13:30:04 +0000

See how integrating agile and innovation frameworks can transform product development and boost market leadership.

Chris Li, SVP of Products at Xactly

Chris, please give us an overview of your role at Xactly, its approach to product development, and how it has evolved in recent years.
As the SVP of Products at Xactly, I manage Xactly’s global Product Strategy, Product Management, Product Marketing, Product Operations and Product Success functions and am responsible for optimizing Xactly’s products to reinforce our position as the only AI-powered platform that combines revenue intelligence and sales performance management to help organizations transform their revenue operations. In my role, I focus on formulating and executing product strategies that drive sustainable competitive differentiation and market leadership, allowing organizations to unlock their full revenue potential.

Our approach to product management has evolved substantially over the years. We’ve complemented our annual roadmapping process with a long-term innovation framework and a short-term agile development process. This allows us to balance our focus on where we need to go over the next few years with what we need to get done in the next quarter or two.

What inspired Xactly to move from a traditional annual product roadmap to a multi-year innovation framework and quarterly agile development process?
Technology is evolving at a pace we’ve never seen before and with the emergence of Generative AI, the pace is only going to accelerate. Xactly has also been on a portfolio management transformation for the past few years; maturing from a multi-product organization to a true platform-first organization. To allow us to exploit the ever-changing technological climate and to effectively execute upon our product strategy transformation, we realized we needed to institute ancillary processes around the traditional annual roadmap planning process.

How do you balance the need for long-term visibility with the flexibility of short-term agile planning?
Although an annual roadmap establishes the key areas of focus for the upcoming year, agile development ensures we’re decomposing our roadmap into manageable bodies of work to allow us to deliver new features and products in a highly predictable way. By incorporating a multi-year innovation framework, we’re able to objectively determine where we should be placing our bigger bets and track the potential impact of those innovations along their journey to market.

What were the biggest challenges Xactly faced when transitioning to this new agile development approach, and how were they overcome?
The risk of change fatigue comes with any process transformation. We’ve discovered significant operational benefits by applying our quarterly agile process, which we’ve leveraged for a few years now. Earlier this year, we determined it would be best if we temporarily pause making additional changes to the process to allow our R&D teams to focus on executing the process, rather than continuing to refine it.

How has the adoption of a multi-year innovation framework impacted Xactly’s ability to innovate and respond to technological changes?
Our multi-year innovation framework has had a profound impact on our ability to innovate and respond to technological changes. We now have the capacity and tools to objectively assess the choices we should make, which could take multiple years to manifest into material benefits for our customers. Innovation is typically one of the most difficult things to get right. However, it’s required if you want to stay ahead of the market. The harsh reality is that most long-term innovation attempts don’t pay off for organizations. We’re using our innovation framework to stay on the right side of that equation.

How has the shift to a quarterly agile development process affected team dynamics and collaboration within Xactly?
Xactly has always been a highly collaborative organization, but the application of our agile development process has unlocked a whole new level of cross-functional collaboration. In most research and development (R&D) organizations, engineering and product are separate functions expected to work closely together. That’s the case at Xactly. But with the agile development process, our teams operate as one. Due to the planning we incorporate into the process, we’ve also seen the collaboration with our peers in go-to-market and customer experience improve as well. The process drives visibility and alignment.

In what ways has customer feedback been integrated into the agile planning process, and how has it influenced product development?
Software companies take risks in various ways to drive innovation and stay competitive, such as adapting new technologies like AI. Since we are constantly taking risks, we need rapid and timely feedback to determine what’s working and what requires a pivot. At Xactly, we leverage a launch strategy which allows us to release new capabilities in phases to solicit feedback early and often before those capabilities go to general availability (GA). For example, we might release a new capability to pilot, where technically the feature is code-complete, but we expose it to select customers, internal stakeholders, and partners to work with it and provide feedback. This allows us to apply improvements to the capability as we progress through the Beta phase; such that when we get to GA we’ve hardened the capability and have a degree of confidence regarding the value it will unlock for our customers.

What metrics or key performance indicators does Xactly use to measure the success of its agile development and multi-year innovation framework?
The KPIs we measure related to our agile development process are primarily focused on velocity and adherence to the committed scope. This ensures we’re building and shipping code quickly. The measurements of success for our innovation framework are different and depend on the innovation we’re contemplating. Those measurements could be related to validating product-market fit, understanding the potential profitability of the capability, or even bringing clarity to the total development timeline.

What advice would you give to other software enterprises looking to implement a similar agile development and innovation framework?
My advice would be not trying to operationalize both of these processes at the same time. First, you should identify what the biggest current challenge is and if it is related to development velocity and alignment or related to driving competitive differentiation. Based on that, choose the most appropriate process that addresses the current challenge. Then when operationalizing one of these processes, ensure you have executive buy-in and acknowledge it will likely take multiple years to get right. With the proper governance model, organizations will know when they’ve optimized enough and can then reap the benefits of the improved process.

How do you foresee the agile development process evolving at Xactly in the next few years, and what future trends do you anticipate in product roadmapping and innovation?
In the next few years, I’m looking forward to continuing to increase our pace of innovation leveraging these processes. We’ve taken the time to build an integrated framework balancing short-term and long-term planning and we can now benefit from that.

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E-commerce Solution Services 101

FTB News Desk — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 13:00:32 +0000

1. Choosing between self-hosted vs. cloud e-commerce
1.1 Self-Hosted
1.2 Cloud-Based
2. Top 3 E-commerce Solution Providers
2.1 Sana Commerce Cloud (SCC)
2.2 Adobe Commerce
2.3 BigCommerce
3. Features to look for
3.1 Out-of-the-Box Capabilities
3.2 Integration Potential
3.3 E-commerce Costs
3.4 Time to Market
3.5 Relevant Experience
3.6 Culture Fit
3.7 Support Capabilities
4. Parting thoughts

Choosing the correct e-commerce solution is like choosing what the foundation of your online store will be. Business owners, decision-makers, e-commerce managers, marketing teams, and project managers—this one’s for you! Let’s dive deep into the three main categories of e-commerce solutions to equip you with the know-how to choose correctly.

Open-source platforms:
Open-source solutions like Magento are ideal options for businesses with unique needs and in-house development resources, as they offer high customizability and control. Whereas, in setting up and maintenance, they require a high degree of technical expertise.

SaaS (software-as-a-service) platforms:
User-friendly and scalable, a SaaS platform such as Shopify or BigCommerce will provide the entire package: storefront creation, hosting, maintenance, and you name it. That makes them a perfect match for all companies looking for a headache-free experience, accompanied by flexibility to adapt once they grow.

Headless commerce:
A headless solution decouples the front end—the customer experience—from the back end, for example, business logic. A headless solution allows maximum flexibility for a business with complex needs and a desire for a truly tailor-made storefront experience, though it needs well-leveled implementation.

1. Choosing between self-hosted vs. cloud e-commerce
The creation of an online store is not just an exciting step but also a tenancy of a critical decision. But self-hosted or cloud-based e-commerce? Knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each approach empowers you to select the best platform with respect to your technical expertise, budget, and growth aspirations.

1.1 Self-Hosted:
Self-hosted solutions give you the highest level of control and customization; however, you will need to maintain your server infrastructure and software. So, technical proficiency and maintenance are a must on this path, but this enables freedom to deal with the functionality of your store.

1.2 Cloud-Based:
Cloud platforms abstract server management and software updating, allowing focus on the business. They are mostly user-friendly and scalable—perfect for when your business is just starting up or if you want to avoid having too many hassles. There won’t be advanced customization like in self-hosted solutions.

Everything depends on your technical skills, budget, and what level of control you want. Consider the level of complexity that your team can handle; agree on how complex you think the online store should be. The cloud enables fast time-to-market and a low upfront cost, while self-hosted platforms work for those who want full customization.

2. Top 3 E-commerce Solution Providers

The choice of e-commerce technology is a strategic one. It will work well for businesses of all sizes. Now, let us go into details about industry leaders like Sana Commerce Cloud, Adobe Commerce, and BigCommerce, where we see their pros and cons to help make an informed decision.

2.1 Shopify

Shopify caters to B2C sellers with its user-friendly interface and extensive app store. It offers 24/7 support, making it ideal for startups and small businesses.
However, customization options are limited, free features are restricted, and scalability can be an issue for high-traffic businesses.

2.2 Adobe Commerce

It caters to enterprises that have large volumes, advanced customization, and marketing features.
Needs much technical expertise when setting up and maintaining.

2.3 BigCommerce

Being user-friendly, it is very appropriate for companies with simple requirements or those that are getting started in business.
Having an excellent set of features natively, to which it adds a very reasonably priced model and is highly flexible too.

Remember: This is not everything. Things like budget, technical skills, and growth plans that are in the right mix for your business must be considered.

3. Features to look for
An e-commerce solution needs to be solid enough to assure the backbone of your business, but the choice will leave one with a headache considering the available options at hand. The aim of this section is to raise as much awareness as possible for you, the business owner, the independent e-commerce manager, or probably one of the marketing team members and the project manager. We’ll go through two key features to look for:

3.1 Out-of-the-Box Capabilities:
Ensure that the platform delivers core features such as product management, shopping carts, secure payment processing, and basic marketing tools—a foundation from which you would have a generally efficient online shop.

3.2 Integration Potential:
Comfortable integration with already existing systems like CRM, inventory, and marketing tool solutions is essential to creating smooth-running operations and data flow.

3.3 E-commerce Costs:
Consider the upfront, subscription, and transaction charges. Go for a solution that best fits your wallet and provides room for the growth of your business.

3.4 Time to Market:
How long does it take you to put your online store into action? A user should rather shift towards easily accessible user interfaces and readily available features to reduce delays in their launch.

3.5 Relevant Experience:
Does the e-commerce solution provider have industry experience or experience with companies of your size? Find partners who can prove their successful cases concretely in your market.

3.6 Culture Fit:
Apart from technical expertise, the culture should also be taken into account—the values a provider has. Are they aligned with yours? This paves the way for smooth collaboration and effective communication during the execution process.

3.7 Support Capabilities:

Responsive, reliable support is important to work out technical glitches and restore a platform completely. Check options for support and the pace at which a given provider responds so that you’re guaranteed that they will be available when the need arises.

Prioritization of these features will move you to the forefront in choosing an e-commerce solution that gives your business a better likelihood of being successful in the digital marketplace today.

4. Parting thoughts
The e-commerce solution you opt for creates the prime basis for the success of your online business. Finding a well-matched platform that will customize your business according to your needs, work effectively, and change your sales is of prime importance.

Consider the fact that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Carefully consider the features against the pricing models and how far the provider can support them. Feel free to use highly professional consultations or go through customer reviews for insight that is valuable. This will make sure that your informed choice perfectly aligns with your ideals in business, moving your e-commerce journey further.

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Epic River, Finastra LaserPro integration to speed loan closings

BusinessWire — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 17:00:10 +0000

Epic River, a lending-as-a-service platform provider that aims to provide a premium customer experience to every community bank and credit union in the country, announced its integration with Finastra’s LaserPro loan documentation system. The partnership significantly streamlines the loan closing documentation process and supports consumer, commercial and real estate loan types.

Financial institutions leveraging Epic River’s platform to collect borrower information will now be able to automatically send data to LaserPro to generate loan documentation. This minimizes manual data entry into the LaserPro system by digitally transferring information, ensuring accuracy and eliminating the risk of missing or mistyped data. Additionally, the generated loan closing documentation is instantly available for e-signature through the Epic River platform.

“Today’s financial institutions face an increasingly competitive landscape with consumers looking for solutions that can deliver agility, innovation and convenience. Finastra’s LaserPro was designed with the scalability and regulatory assurance our customers need to enhance performance while ensuring compliance across the lending lifecycle,” said Cheryl Anderson, Senior Director of Product Management at Finastra. “This integration with Epic River positions our lenders to remain competitive as we strive to provide technology that redefines the traditional, labor-intensive lending processes and offers a superior borrowing experience.”

Many community banks and credit unions still rely on paper or email-based loan processes, leading to a higher risk of errors and limited operational flexibility. This manual approach often causes significant delays and requires excessive back-and-forth communication between the loan processing team, lenders and the applicant. The Epic River platform solves these issues by accurately collecting application information, guaranteeing correct signature placement and securely uploading supporting documentation.

Jeff Grobaski, CEO and Founder of Epic River, said, “Epic River’s collaboration with a leading provider like Finastra serves as a pivotal partnership that creates greater value for the lending ecosystem. Integrating our platforms optimizes the process and eliminates unnecessary re-keying of data, manual hand-offs and mistakes that prolong the loan lifecycle and inconvenience borrowers. The result is a seamlessly connected experience that instead ensures a smooth borrower experience and an efficient loan processing workflow.”

Epic River’s innovative software and service solutions are designed to digitize and automate the entirety of the lending lifecycle for community banks and credit unions, small businesses, healthcare providers and patients. From trusted online identity verification to loan application and closing, the comprehensive digital product suite securely manages every step of the loan process.

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Varo Bank Welcomes Wook Chung as Chief Product Officer

PRNewswire — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 17:00:09 +0000

Varo Bank, N.A., the first all-digital, nationally chartered consumer techbank in the U.S., announced the appointment of Wook Chung as Chief Product Officer. Chung joins the bank at an exciting period of innovation, as it capitalizes on its bank charter, enabling agile product design that provides technology-first solutions to meet customers’ most important banking and money management needs. The techbank, founded in 2015, combines the capabilities and nimbleness of a technology company with the security and oversight of a regulated financial institution.

In his new role, Chung will spearhead Varo’s product vision and strategy initiatives and will be a key leader in Varo Tech, the innovation engine of the company which brings together product, technology, data and design.

“Our goal is to create industry-leading products that enable our customers to build financial power, prosperity, and live better lives.” said Colin Walsh, Varo Bank founder and CEO. “We are thrilled that Wook shares our passion to provide the best of banking for the benefit of all of us.”

Most recently as VP of Product, Design & Engineering at SoFi, Chung managed in-app and online product experiences, specifically focused on growth, risk, and fraud. Prior to SoFi, he held product management roles at notable tech companies including Facebook, Twitter, Samsung, Google, and Microsoft.

In 2022, Varo made significant strides to enhance its product suite, adding Zelle®¹ in-app this past November, enabling customers to safely send and receive money between people they know and trust. Other offerings include Varo Believe², a secured card designed to help build credit, and Varo Savings Account, which provides one of the highest Annual Percentage Yields (APYs) in the U.S.³

“During my early days in Silicon Valley,” said Chung “I dreamt of creating financial products that help consumers make informed and smart decisions about their money. I’m humbled to join Varo’s talented product team to continue to create, implement, and scale crucial offerings that allow consumers to build financial resilience and prosperity.”

Disclosures

Zelle^® and the Zelle^® related marks are wholly owned by Early Warning Services, LLC and are used herein under license.
Varo Believe is a secured credit card designed to help you build credit.; however a variety of factors impact your credit and not all factors are equally weighted. Building credit may take time. Varo Believe may be able to help when you consistently make on-time payments.
According to The Ascent’s review of Varo Savings Account.

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FalconX Hires Baris Cetinok as Chief Product Officer

PRNewswire — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 15:30:26 +0000

FalconX, a digital assets platform for institutional investors, announced that Baris Cetinok has joined the team as Chief Product Officer. As a product and technology veteran with more than 25 years of experience, Cetinok has played an integral role in shaping important business initiatives and delivering exceptional products for some of the world’s most renowned brands, including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and American Express. Immediately prior to joining FalconX, Cetinok led product teams for Robinhood’s Brokerage, Trading and Clearing platforms.

Before leading platform product teams at Robinhood, he served in key leadership roles at Apple for a decade, including Senior Director of product management for Apple Wallet, Apple Pay and iCloud. In that position, he developed the product vision, product roadmap and led global product marketing. His contributions led to Apple Pay’s expansion to 60-plus countries, more than 10,000 banks, millions of merchants and hundreds of millions of consumers.

Cetinok’s extensive product management, product marketing and strategy skills are uniquely suited to extend the strong momentum FalconX is experiencing as institutional investors are gravitating towards brokerages given recent market conditions.

“Post-FTX fallout, there’s a growing need among institutional investors to improve risk management and trade more efficiently,” Cetinok said. “It’s an honor to join a company creating dependable infrastructure that facilitates global investor access to crypto while enabling the tokenization of traditional assets.”

Early in his career, Cetinok served as Senior Vice President of product management and design at American Express for the company’s Enterprise Growth team as it drove international expansion and focused on improving the consumer experience. Prior to that, he led the consumer rollout of Amazon Payments at Amazon. Cetinok began his career at Microsoft and spent more than a decade with the company, serving in leadership roles in the Internet Technologies division and for Microsoft Office.

“As a digital finance pioneer who created and implemented product roadmaps for some of the world’s leading companies, Baris has the product and leadership skills to create value worldwide and take FalconX to the next level,” said FalconX CEO Raghu Yarlagadda. “We’re excited for Baris to help us continue scaling FalconX as we deliver value to the institutional investor community.”

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Marqeta Announces Agreement To Acquire Power Finance, Inc.

BusinessWire — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:00:46 +0000

Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ), the global modern card issuing platform, announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire credit card program management platform Power Finance, Inc. (“Power”). The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

“We’re thrilled to welcome the Power team and product to Marqeta. We already see considerable demand for differentiated credit products from companies looking to innovate in this space who are held back by the constraints of legacy technology,” said Simon Khalaf, incoming CEO at Marqeta. “We thoroughly examined possible acquisitions to more quickly establish Marqeta’s leadership in the modern credit space. It became clear to us that Power would strengthen Marqeta’s platform with a best-in-class tech stack for credit card program management.”

Power’s cloud-native platform offers credit card program management services for companies creating new credit card programs. The company was founded in early 2021 by fintech veterans CEO Randy Fernando and CFO Andrew Dust. Power’s investors include Anthemis, Fin Capital, CRV, Dash Fund and Restive Ventures. As part of this acquisition, Power Finance CEO Randy Fernando will now lead the product management of Marqeta’s credit card platform.

The combination of Marqeta and Power’s platforms allows Marqeta to directly offer its customers the tools they need to create innovative credit products that meet the changing demands and expectations for credit cards from consumers and businesses. Power and Marqeta were founded on similar core product principles, with a modern and easily scalable platform built with today’s developer in mind. This acquisition will allow Marqeta customers to launch a wide range of credit products and constructs. It will combine Power’s next generation rewards engine with Marqeta’s own rewards innovations, and add in Power’s data science toolbox and ability to embed experiences inside existing mobile and web applications. Marqeta expects to use the acquisition of Power to significantly accelerate the capabilities offered in its credit product.

“Companies like ours were made possible because of the path Marqeta blazed in modern card issuing, demonstrating the possibilities in payments with flexible and modern payment infrastructure,” said Randy Fernando, co-founder and CEO at Power Finance. “At Power, we built a full-stack, cloud-native credit card issuance platform, and by becoming a part of Marqeta we have the ability now to bring this innovation to a much larger market at global scale.”

The purchase price, which is subject to customary adjustments, consists of $223 million in cash, approximately one-third of which is payable over a two-year period subject to certain conditions, plus $52 million in cash subject to a milestone that is expected to be achieved within the next 12 months.

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