COVID-19 Measure: Read Full Magazine Here. Lyst Technologies (LYST) is a leading System Integrator of world-class Next-Generation business solutions.
LYST develops, delivers, and supports innovative software and services that harness 21st century technologies in new and different ways to help our customers manage their organizations effectively and drive down the costs of doing business by leveraging its industry-wide experience, deep technology expertise, comprehensive portfolio of services and vertically aligned business model.
LYST operates through various locations and countries, i.e. Bahrain, India, Lebanon, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tanzania, Turkey, UAE & the United Kingdom.
LYST’s main focus is to empower and support the development and growth of the Global Finance industry, and in specific, the Islamic financial industry by helping the financial institutions to digitize, deliver, oversee and support them in their global technology transformation journey.
In today’s world, organizations have to rapidly re-engineer and digitize themselves and be more responsive to ever-changing customer needs and business requirements. LYST is best positioned to be the technology partner and co-innovator to businesses. LYST provides leading edge Technology solutions that address the ever-changing needs and demands of the Global financial industry; being a trusted technology partner of choice for global businesses, LYST is recognized for its innovative approach towards delivering maximized business value and its commitment to continuous sustainability.
Moving forward, Naji Moukadam is the Managing Director and CEO at Lyst Technologies. A Senior Executive with over 30 years of experience across diverse organizational domains with proven experience in driving multi-million-dollar growth across multiple geographies covering Europe, the Middle-East, Africa and Asia.
Naji is currently driving the development of a global go-to-market strategy that includes business development, thought leadership, global delivery and center of excellence to expand Lyst Technologies worldwide.
During his career, Naji provided several workshops and presentations, and spoke in many conferences and symposiums such as:
-The Specifications of IT Solution to Support the Growing Islamic Banking Industry at the 3rd Annual Asian Islamic Banking & Finance Summit in Kuala Lumpur.
- The International Islamic Finance Forum in Dubai.
- The Enterprise Banking Solution-Complete Integrated Solution at the MEFTEC in Manama.
- The Right Technologies for the Islamic Banking Industry at The Islamic Finance & Investment Symposium in Jakarta, and many more.
Furthermore, Naji’s core competencies covered many areas including: go-to market strategy, organization development, leadership growth & crisis management, business management and new market penetration, team management (business development, professional services, software development, client management, contract negotiation, deal closure, strategic planning, financial services as well as project management) in addition to his technology skills related to system architect, analysis & design, solution implementation and support.
In September 2011, Naji joined SAB Group as the Managing Director at SAB International out of Dubai with the main task of developing and coordinating a comprehensive global go-to market strategy activities for the group.
Prior to that, Naji started at Path Solutions in 1993 as a System Analyst, where he designed, architected, developed, and managed a focused Islamic banking solution in 1995. He became the Executive Vice President of system development in September 2000, where he enormously contributed to the development of the global Islamic financial technology. It is important to note, that being an advanced technology pioneer, he designed, developed, and implemented a complete mobile and internet banking solution in 2003.
In November 2004, Naji got promoted to become the group president, where he reviewed and restructured Path Solutions by developing a complete go-to-market strategy, realigned its product offerings, processes and methodologies across different departments of the organization and evolved Path Solutions into a market-led provider of solutions and services for the Islamic financial industry.
His role also covered setting up and implementing related advanced system design and system implementation strategies and processes, as well as launched a corporate academy practice focused on providing training and educational programs related to the Islamic financial technology; the academy practice offered services to the company teams and recruits, the organization clients, and across selected business schools around the world.
Prior to that, Naji served as the professional Services Director responsible for rolling out Finastra products to the different banks in Lebanon during the year of 2000 at MDSL S.A.L.
Last but not least, Naji began his career at PC Group in 1988 where he gained an in-depth knowledge and high level of expertise in developing, setting up and implementing retail banking solutions and consulting assignments and assessing the banks' set schemes within Equip bureau, a member of PC Group. Naji designed, developed, and supported various projects ranging from enterprise resource planning focusing on retail & wholesale companies, banking branch automation, and human resources. He directly conducted the support to 5 retail & wholesale institutions and one commercial bank.
Naji Moukadam holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Management Information Systems from Saint Joseph University. He attended several executive educational programs and training courses ranging from corporate development, business development, banking strategies, team management, leadership management, and an Executive Development Program - University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School and Strategic management in Banking at INSEAD in France.
It’s a really exciting time to be working in the global financial technology, and in specific the Islamic financial technology field amidst Covid-19. Recent developments will certainly help separate the good companies from the bad. Such news brings great optimism and opportunities for many financial institutions to consider digital transformation during the pandemic, moving to agile and secure financial technology solutions and services available to serve banks’ community from bank executives, managers, employees, to clients, agents and so on anytime, anywhere.
People may be discouraged from using certain next-generation financial technology. Increased cautiousness regarding privacy and security isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s encouraging that more and more people are taking precautions and becoming more aware of their online privacy. However, it is proven that these next-generation solutions and services are becoming more and more secure with the advancement of technology and its various uses.
From our own experience in the field, it certainly seems that many financial banks and institutions started considering cloud-based solutions and services, in addition to extending their own on-premise platforms onto the cloud, where such services are becoming available and more vigilant. People now have greater knowledge of what information of theirs is being stored, what it is being used for, and who it is being shared with.
Stating the above, BUSINESS LIFE Magazine has had the opportunity for an exclusive interview with the reputed Naji Moukadam, Managing Director and CEO at Lyst Technologies.
BL: What is going on with finance and tech giants recently?
Naji Moukadam: Going into 2021, the rising expectations that things will soon return to normal are driving the market forward, and mainly because of the optimism of the efficacy of COVID vaccines. However, the headlines are positive for now, but the pandemic and its unprecedented economic effects will not disappear overnight.
There are a lot of challenges with a transformational year in the industry ahead of us for sure. The need to adapt to emerging technologies such as automation and artificial intelligence has taken on a new significance, along with a renewed focus on solution-driven technology.
I expect to see more centralization of solution-driven technology this year, with a focus on the tangible benefits it provides to the industry.
When speaking of technology, these big tech giants will always be put under the spotlight. Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, SAP, IBM and Google have been the main headline recently. All companies wielded monopoly power during the pandemic, and none of them have any serious rivals today.
During the pandemic, all tech giants reacted quickly and decisively on adapting and offering cloud-services, empowering companies and employees to work from home, paving the way to a work-from-anywhere work mentality.
BL: What are your views on Synergies Banking and Financial Solutions?
Naji Moukadam: Digitalization is transforming how people communicate and do business on a regular basis, and the future of financial services around the world continues to be driven by advances in banking technology. A growing demand from millennials and Generation Z for a digital banking experience is changing how the entire banking industry operates. Technology has its hand in every point of the banking industry; and the influence of technology will continue to transform banking into a digitized future. Synergies Banking Solutions embrace the growing trends of being prepared for the future. With data driven personalization, artificial intelligence and the use of high level security and protection of customer data, Synergies Banking Solutions are ahead in the race of positive evolution. Our solutions provide one of the most innovative digital transformation foundations to engage demanding customers with real-time processing engines, open banking, and embedded customer insights.
BL: How do you deal with innovative Islamic finance?
Naji Moukadam: Innovative Islamic Finance is a relatively advanced concept that has been introduced into the world through new, agile, and adaptable financial technology. It is built based on the principles of Islam. Islamic finance has a wide range of applications, including the use of Islamic finance to assist with education, the alleviation of poverty, and a way to support the world's poor. There is no doubt that embracing technological advances would enable Islamic finance to fulfill its potential and provide the size, connectivity and outreach of its needs to engage with potential customers in developing countries.
BL: What are Lyst Services?
Naji Moukadam: Lyst services empower the financial industry via optimized next-generation technology and services that consist of consulting, empowerment in education, outsourcing and digital marketing. Each service encompasses specialized teams that work together to enable great customer outcomes.
Outsourcing technology helps keep your company competitive, cost effective, have faster time to market, and greater flexibility. Using outsourced technology, companies will aid in adaptability, as well as help you evolve with the changing landscape.
Consultancy mainly focuses on finding the most suitable solution for any need and design the best plan for implementation. It is an important service that builds business cases, refines processes and facilitates the execution of business goals.
Empowerment in education services provide an opportunity to make a tangible impact on any company’s future. By attracting, maintaining and nurturing talent for the next decade, we make sure our recruits will have the ability to collaborate and interact with fellow workers on a global scale.
Delivery services reduce any delay, expense and reliance on internal resources, making sure you optimize value and time to market, for all prospective clients.
Digital marketing services focus on finding the most suitable solution for your specific needs and designs the best plan for implementation using search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and social media management (SMM).
BL: What do you say on digital transformation, digital strategy, digital process and organization and digital banking architecture and governance?
Naji Moukadam: Digital transformation is a broad topic that covers a number of different types of initiatives. Simply put, it is changing how a business interacts with customers and employees using technology; and also using technology to significantly improve internal processes, by making them more efficient.
There is a problem with the word digital, and it is that it’s all pervasive. That could be a huge opportunity, but also a huge problem. It is very easy to get lost in the digital transformation initiatives. It is necessary, therefore, to anchor the initiatives and define some business key performance indicators (KPIs). It is about growth in sales, higher customer loyalty, and retention of customers, as well as upselling of goods. No one person can really fully lead digital transformation, because it is omnipresent in digital cuts across marketing, technology, operations and finance. Therefore, the moment that any individual attempts to lead it creates a problem.
Financial institutions started conducting digital transformation strategies during the pandemic, moving to agile and secure financial technology solutions and services available to serve banks’ community from bank executives, managers, employees, to clients, agents and so on anytime, anywhere.
Digital strategy focuses on using technology to improve business performance, whether that means creating new products or reimagining current processes. It determines the direction an organization will take to create new competitive advantages with technology, as well as the strategies it will use to achieve these changes. When emerging technology makes it possible for creative businesses to offer services that were not previously possible, this typically entails improvements to business models.
Digital transformation and digital strategy are closely related, but differ in scope. Digital transformation drives change in three areas: customer experience, operational processes and business models.
Digital strategy, on the other hand, relies on technology, not culture. It utilizes technology to create the capabilities a company needs to become a digital business. Setting down a strategy is a key component of the transition process, and ensures that technology is being applied in a way that supports the business objective.
Digital processes are a collection of multiple tasks conducted by people in a specified schedule to develop a product or service for certain customers. Internal business processes take place at every level of a company, but may not be visible to customers.
By implementing internal and external business processes, your organization should gain greater success such as greater customer satisfaction and faster ability to react to changes in your particular market. This type of organization within a company will also allow departments to work more effectively between each other.
In order to provide and procure banking services, banking architecture can be summarized as the applied systems that banks use, and those that clients and employees navigate through. In order to adapt more effectively to rapidly changing market conditions, banks need a fast and efficient way to simplify their architecture.
Banks will need to identify gaps and process changes between the desired transformation state and current architecture state in order to choose the appropriate transformation approach (4):
SOA-Based Architecture: A component-based, SOA-compliant architecture can provide banks with interoperability between their core functions and reduce the cost of integration. Working with a shared service landscape would also contribute to creating an infrastructure that will comply with the current and future needs of banks.
Progressive Simplification: Banks can opt for incremental simplification instead of fully overhauling core legacy systems, preferring selective customizations that will provide them with competitive advantages without altering all legacy products. However, banks will have to decide if the transition package supports country-specific regulatory policies and accounting standards for bank-specific business processes.
Core banking on the Cloud: To leverage various pricing choices, banks can opt for a cloud-based solution to host processes, software, networks, or infrastructure. This strategy could result in some risk transfer to the bank as the cloud service provider would manage functions such as disaster recovery and data storage.
Pre-integrated Complete Banking Ecosystem: For banks, another option is to provide a capacity-driven simplification strategy for their banking architecture. Such an approach allows banks to reinvent their process of architectural design by choosing capabilities that as a pre-integrated banking ecosystem are available on the market. This is preferably achieved through a subscription-based model.
BL: How do you implement cost reduction with digitization?
Naji Moukadam: Digital transformation is altering business models, developing new services that generate revenue and, most importantly, reducing costs that can be achieved by digitizing manual business processes.
Applying digital transformation tools to traditional, labor-intensive internal activities will lead to tremendous savings, efficiencies and enhanced risk management. This is particularly true in financial services, where Robotic Process Automation (RPA), also known as digital labor, is being embraced by a few larger companies for manually intensive, repetitious activities, the kind that have been sent offshore in the past to achieve labor arbitrage. The potential for cost savings through all sorts of business processes may be greater than the digital transformation's potential for new revenues. In regulatory and compliance reporting, Robotic Process Automation has tremendous potential, particularly to reduce costly errors in that process and in financial reconciliation, specifically to close the gaps between non-straight-through-processing systems. Technology now available enables financial institutions to automate many operational computer-based activities, such as scanning, matching, comparing, filing, and more. This will free workers to do work of greater value.
If implemented effectively, RPA can be an important investment. Among the reasons:
Quick time to market: Automation can be applied easily, even more quickly than finding the right person to do it.
Quick paycheck: The program itself is inexpensive and there can be substantial incremental savings. Paycheck for such operations and procedures can be as fast as six to nine months.
Easily scalable: Technology can be applied to tackle seasonal operations (data remediation or high business activity periods).
Complement other initiatives: Can be introduced in combination with other exercises for process improvement or initiatives for location strategy to maximize capacity free-up.
BL: What are the synergies cloud solutions that boost financial institutions’ performance, simplify their operations, increase their reach and ascertain their compliance across the whole Islamic financial value chain?
Naji Moukadam: The way we do banking is evolving rapidly through financial technology or FinTech. FinTech continues to influence every aspect of global banking, whether it is lending, payments, mobile banking or even capital markets. While Islamic banking is still relatively new (due to constraints on Islamic banking as well as lower capital financing), there is a growing interest in this field of finance. In addition to Synergies on-premise solutions, Lyst Technologies extended its offerings on-cloud. Islamic FinTech's greatest boost comes from solutions that can be implemented on-cloud or on-premise, focused on branchless banking, crowdfunding, agency banking and microfinance.
Factors that promote the growth of Islamic banks' solutions include:
- The rise of Islamic banking in markets with a high number of unbanked individuals. In these regions, Islamic banking FinTech solutions could be used very efficiently to meet unbanked customers.
- Islamic banks usually have higher operating costs in contrast to non-Islamic banks. Using FinTech channels could make banking more efficient by lowering the cost of providing banking solutions to the unbanked.
- Increasing internet, mobile and smartphone penetration in markets with Islamic banking supports the growth of Fintech models to provide banking solutions
- The lack of Islamic investment options available to investors makes it difficult, costly, and inefficient to create a sharia-compliant investment portfolio. Smarter use of technology, however, could be used very well to screen all available investments at a fraction of the cost.
BL: What are your long-term goals, did you achieve them, and how?
Naji Moukadam: To say that the world has changed would be an understatement. The way we work, learn, and interact is completely different today. As a CEO, I need to see the whole context in which the company works, consider numerous forces at play, set a broad vision, and be the final voice on various decisions. In my particular industry and situation, my objective is to figure out the best way forward.
Some long-term goals include:
- Have close links to all stakeholders.
- Growth via stakeholders and partners.
- Be able to develop a team of talented, diverse and driven individuals who will be as excited as I am about preparing for the future.
- Continuous learning at the center of all things.
- Build a community that is collaborative, confidence-based and risk-tolerant.
- Have a common and convincing vision.
- Clear and well-understood strategy.
- Strong and sustainable performance on all levels.
BL: What has been your biggest challenge, and how did you overcome it?
Naji Moukadam: Innovation in financial technology is consistently disrupting the status quo and driving growth while existing providers do all they can to keep up. Financial technology, within traditional organizations and modern start-ups, is improving and automating how financial services are provided and used. These challenges have been pushing our imagination in new ways, and like most developing industries, the challenges have been tough.
Building trust with users and getting early users on board has been a challenge, especially in disruptive technology. From eliminating data breaches, to keeping up with regulations, and even organizing big data are all challenges we face on a daily basis. Not only do we have to convince consumers to trust our brand, but also have to argue that our product is crucial. By interacting directly with our users, we have improved our relationship and gained their trust. Creating an authentic, agile, and informative online experience for our customers has built positive, lasting relationships.
BL: How important is company culture to you and what measures do you take to maintain your desired culture?
Naji Moukadam: A winning company culture has always shown to improve levels of employee engagement, productivity and performance. Company culture is defined as the values, ideals, attributes and goals that characterize an organization. From establishing a brand identity to uniting coworkers and increasing employee engagement, a healthy company culture can have a huge positive impact on your organization.
Corporate culture is maintained by finding ways to measure how transparency and trust flows in the organization, have an out-of-office team building, create core values and highlight people who live up to them, get to know your employees, keep people interested, keep communicating, and keep your employees happy and loyal.
BL: What are your values as a company leader? How do you ensure these values are upheld by employees?
Naji Moukadam: It is really important to identify and improve your core leadership values. Understanding what leadership values are and what core leadership values you want to adopt into your leadership style can help you improve your relationship with your team, thus becoming a more effective leader. Leadership values are important because they help you determine how you want to achieve your goals and what type of leader you want to be.
Stating some values as a company leader include influence, vision, honesty, passion, integrity, dedication, empathy, personal development, respect, authenticity and many more.
Companies have to encourage employees to “act like owners” in their interactions with customers, since they are handed over the company’s vision, mission, values, and culture.
Empowerment, training, recognition, support and rewards all play a role in ensuring company values are upheld by employees.
BL: What features make a good leader?
Naji Moukadam: Leadership is defined as a process of individual influence on a group of individuals aimed at the achievement of individual and/or common goals of the group or the organization. Without the two elements together, leader and follower leadership ceases to exist.
Leadership is persuading and convincing people to go the extra mile in achieving the organization’s goals. They help set the direction the employees should follow to achieve the vision of the organization. In addition to that, leaders help increase business performance and productivity through motivating the employees and setting performance objectives the employees should accomplish. A technical leader does more than direct and troubleshoot technical issues with software, hardware and mobile applications. He will also manage your technical team. Good direction involves honesty, integrity and the ability to inspire teamwork, promote productivity and delegate tasks without being condescending.
A technology leader wears multiple hats and always plays an important strategic role within every organization, as the marketplace and world becomes increasingly automated, tailored, and complex.
To list a few features:
- Confidence, Inspiration, ability to communicate the vision and values, establish the right culture in the organization, honesty, integrity and transparency. Commitment, humility, as well as learning from failure and experiences as a whole.
BL: Would you describe yourself as good leader?
Naji Moukadam: One does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent.
BL: How does LYST enable banks to better connect and communicate with each other and their clients, to deliver both improved profitability and client service whilst reducing operational risk and costs?
Naji Moukadam: Customer communication and expectations are not static and will continue to evolve and expand across all industries, especially banking. Because of the complexity of mobile-first offerings and the secure handling of sensitive data, to swift and seamless integration, financial organizations that want to develop new services often need the expertise of external partners to both access what needs to be improved and which approach is the best to meet the needs of customers.
Extending Synergies Banking Platforms to address banking and financial institutions’ specific needs through end-to-end solutions, vertical modules and add-ons enable banks to better connect and communicate with each other and their clients.
By recognizing the need for such change, Synergies is designed to work with banks to create a range of digital products and services, either as a whole Platform or through individual modules for key parts of the customer onboarding process, with an API based on open bankingdesigned for simple integration with other systems for maximum flexibility.
Synergies Banking Solutions are deployed via a premise-based or cloud-based delivery model. Cloud offers a scalable, manageable technology model that cuts IT hardware, maintenance and development investment, which makes it the ideal deployment choice for a many Banks and financial institutions that are not hampered by intricate IT systems. The ability to use Synergies Cloud Solutions enables banks and financial institutions to have access to a highly secure, always-on, industry-leading Islamic banking and financial technology solutions, without the need for significant internal IT resources and expensive infrastructure of their own. The wide range of cloud-based Islamic financial solutions provide end-to-end banking solutions for different needs such as: Omnichannel Banking Cloud, Core Banking Cloud, Window Cloud, Digital Banking Cloud, SME Banking Cloud, Consumer Financing Cloud, Investment Banking Cloud, Microfinance Cloud, Crowd-funding Cloud and Treasury Cloud.
BL: How do you deliver innovative solutions to the Islamic finance market, specifically in the area of asset and liability management?
Naji Moukadam: Asset and Liability Management (ALM) is a technique used to reduce financial risks arising from asset and liability mismatches by financial institutions. ALM techniques use a mix of risk management and financial planning and are often used by businesses to address long-term uncertainties that could occur because of changing conditions. Financial institutions are left with a surplus which can be effectively utilized to optimize their investment returns and improve profitability by successfully balancing assets against liabilities.
In addition to the aforementioned, Lyst Technologies, in cooperation with Connectif built a focused Islamic trading platform, iWAVE, to connect the Islamic institutions to their counterparts through one central platform. Allowing master agreements to be negotiated, trades to be executed, and all post trade processes to be undertaken across the whole Islamic finance asset and liability product range.
Because Islamic banking depositors are taking part in the bank's benefits, Islamic banking follows to maximize benefits to beneficiaries and among them depositors. Islamic banking works side by side with traditional banks in many markets, supplying potential consumers with all product options. In many markets, the population could theoretically prefer conventional banking to Islamic banking. Crowd-funding, microfinance and agency banking are supporting the growth of Islamic banking with the help of factors such as:
- Spread of Islamic banking across areas with a high % of unbanked people.
- Islamic banks tend to have higher operating costs than non-Islamic banks.
- The Use of Islamic FinTech could make banking efficient by lowering the cost of providing banking solutions to the unbanked.
- Rising internet, mobile, and smartphone penetration in markets with Islamic banking supports the growth of FinTech models to provide banking solutions.
-The lack of Islamic investment choices available to investors makes the process of constructing a sharia-compliant investment portfolio difficult, costly, and inefficient. Smarter use of technology, however, could be used very well to screen all available investments at a fraction of the cost.
BL: How do you build rapport with your workers? Why do you think this is effective?
Naji Moukadam: Getting to know your team is critical to any business owner. You need to understand their motivations and drivers if you want to get the most out of everyone. The team will not all respond to the same exact things, so the more you can get to know each of them uniquely, the better the relationship will be. Simply asking your employees for their perspective of things will be enough to delight people and stand out as a good manager/business owner.
You can build rapport with your employees by asking work related questions, but questions that are not directly related to work are more effective, such as: what are your hobbies or interests outside work, what do you like to do when not working, where did you grow up, what’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited, and why?
Everyone’s favorite subject is talking about themselves. Some people will be more private than others, so trying out different topics will help find something that they really want to discuss. Looking and listening carefully to see what they show more excitement about, and showing you are genuinely interested in their answers will help you build a proper rapport.
BL: What are your current and ideal work/life balance? What measures do you take to control the work/life balance of yours and your employees?
Naji Moukadam: Balancing your professional and personal life can be challenging, but it’s essential. Creating a harmonious work-life balance is critical, though, to improve not only our physical, emotional and mental well-being, but it is also important for our career.
Better use of technology enables people to respond to problems more effectively and efficiently. It allows for a response from wherever they are. Despite this, it hinders time spent with family but enables quality time.
Letting go of perfectionism, unplugging once home, exercising and meditating, limiting time-wasting activities and people, changing the structure of my life, and starting small are all measures I take for a better work/life balance.
BL: How safe is our financial information online? What kind of information has been and can be leaked without warning?
Naji Moukadam: Financial service organizations, now more than ever before, are striving to understand how to fully operate in the cloud and to recognize the potential security challenges cloud computing can present if not properly secured and leveraged. Investing in a solution that automates security policy compliance in the public cloud will give you visibility into your distributed cloud environment, while ensuring your cloud environment is compliant. Such a solution continually scans your infrastructure in order to detect misconfigurations, as well as actively enforcing security best-practices, and remediating violations automatically before they even become risks.
The goal of software security is to maintain the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information resources that enable successful business operations. This goal is achieved through the implementation of security measures. To implement the appropriate security measures, there are a few key questions we need to ask ourselves:
- What are we trying to protect?
- Why are we trying to protect it?
- How will we protect it?
Based on these questions, Synergies was built and is being continually enhanced using the best market practices to provide the most possible secure platform and cover security measures that minimize and even eliminate many cases related to security threats. These implemented measures cover the full spectrum of the software development cycle, from designing the product to releasing it and includes, but not limited to design and development, application security risks, data validation and full audit and audit log, access configuration and control, as well as data layer isolation.
BL: Are our personal details, email addresses, passwords, and financial details secure?
Naji Moukadam: One of the main concerns that come up when considering financial cloud compliance is that customers do not manage their own IT infrastructure. That is why it is important to stress the fact that cloud compliance is a two way street. Financial service organizations have a contractual obligation to their clients but clients must rely on best practices and regulations to look out for their interests as well. In other words, a specific provider, be it on-cloud through SaaS (Software as a Service) or on-premise through PaaS (Product as a Service) will offer certain compliance and security features, but it is up to the client to responsibly implement those features. Whether the firm chooses a private cloud or public cloud, compliance guidelines must be met to ensure optimal security.
Financial technology solutions should cover the full spectrum of the software development cycle, from designing the product to releasing it and includes, but not limited to, design and development, application security risks, data validation and full audit and audit log, access configuration and control, as well as data layer isolation.
BL: What is your philosophy of management when you are leading a team in the technical field?
Naji Moukadam: The only way to successfully manage a technical team is to take on full responsibility and serve as the intermediary between each member of the team. You don't have to do this yourself, just make sure everything goes smoothly and on schedule. Your job is to organize all data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Allowing the whole team to understand and address clients’ priorities, and putting ourselves in their shoes will open our eyes to opportunities we could not see before, from a different perspective.
Providing the team with the necessary tools for project delivery will allow you to get the best out of each tech genius. Reward employees for their hard work, since tech geniuses are more particular about getting credit for every single obstacle they overcome, in comparison to a business team that is mostly tempted by power and money.
Informing the team about customer feedback will help the technical team understand what step to take in order to improve product delivery.
BL: How would you resolve a conflict with a technician who did not value your ideas on a project?
Naji Moukadam: I have always worked hard to empower my team to take a more proactive role in my business, listening to what they have to say about new ideas, better ways of doing business and taking high levels of effort to improve the organization as a whole. People want to be heard and feel valued. Having a company culture where people will bring their ideas to work has been associated with many important outcomes in areas such as productivity, employee engagement, retention and innovation.
In the real world, conflict in the workplace is inevitable. Avoiding conflict or mismanaging it comes at a high cost to organizations. Essential qualities I have been developing over the course of my years to deal with employees have taught me to always listen, detach from my own biases, focus on behavior, and try to understand why things were done the way they were in order to address and seek a resolution to the problem quickly.
BL: What technical projects have you worked on in the past that excited you, and why?
Naji Moukadam: Throughout my 30 year career, every project I took on excited me in its own way, but there was one specific project with a challenging scope. Having to conduct an exciting digital transformation strategy for one of the most prestigious banks that was at the forefront of technology in the Gulf region.
The bank wanted a hybrid model with the best of breed solution implementation, while maintaining operation during rollouts over various components and solutions. The implementation process was very unique, in all aspects ranging between technology, solution, and functionality.
BL: Where do you go to find your favorite sources to study technical innovations?
Naji Moukadam: Innovation has become the buzzword of the industry in the 21st century. From business to other areas everywhere innovation is being talked of. Several emerging businesses have proved that innovation can be the way to the top. Amazon, Google and Facebook are proof of it.
Participating and subscribing to many innovation blogs and websites to read on a daily basis such as Harvard Business Review, Idea to Value, MIT Technology Review, TechCrunch, CNET, Innovation Excellence and Innovation Management all include in-depth analysis from serious experts and academics, wonderful case studies of big name businesses, as well as looks at specific skills like creativity, leadership, and curiosity that will help you stay ahead of the competition and market.
BL: What is the role you feel technology plays in our industry amidst Covid-19?
Naji Moukadam: Technology has played a major role in responding to Covid-19. Throughout the pandemic, technology has answered the call for a new form of public health that illustrates opportunities for enhanced agility, scale and responsiveness. Technology like chatbots and virtualized patient care offer a mechanism to triage and distribute care at scale. AI and high performance computing have accelerated research into understanding the virus and developing targeted therapeutics to treat infection and prevent transmission. In response to public concerns, new mobile contract tracing protocols were created that protect patient privacy and civil liberties, providing new opportunities for privacy-sensitive technology to support efforts to prevent and monitor outbreaks. Although much progress is still needed, the importance of technology for public health protection and pandemic preparedness has been highlighted by Covid-19. By recognizing that we should highlight the role of technology and continue to explore ways to complement and strengthen conventional approaches has proven to be a huge advantage to us, making it clear that we are on the right path in innovation as lessons from the current pandemic are assessed.
BL: What would you bring to this role that others wouldn’t?
Naji Moukadam: Over the past 10 years, business organizations, developments in technology, and globalization of the world’s economies have changed the end game for many business organizations. CEOs are under tremendous pressure to remain agile in a dynamic business environment where regulations and procedures are continually changing.
There is no denying that CEOs are accountable to their board of directors, business owners, and shareholders. With the company’s current and potential success on the line, it is really important on each and every CEO to create their own value.
To name a few:
- Recruiting top talent: Being able to effectively communicate the company’s vision and how each employee fits into bringing the vision to life will encourage top candidates to join the team.
- Defining the right metrics: Understanding the need for the organization to have a solid reputation, integrity and a strong presence in local communities.
- Thinking outside the box to motivate employees: Recognizing the importance of an engaged and spirited staff from top to bottom will optimize contribution and allow their unique set of expectations to prosper.
- Establishing a global presence: Understanding different cultures and addressing the uniqueness of each one through the goods and services that are being offered by the company will allow for a successful functioning across international borders.
- Partner empowerment: The goal is to ensure partners have access to data that is streamlined and intuitive. With easy and immediate access to information anytime, anywhere, companies and partners can spend more time building a sustainable partnership.
- Incorporating modern technology into the business model: To successfully be able to compete, companies need to direct the organization into the cyber-market where customers from countries all over the world have access to the company’s goods and services.
BL: What are the key challenges and approaches to compliance?
Naji Moukadam: Compliance is complicated and expensive to manage, and are usually created in response to a specific event – a new regulation, criminal investigation, etc – with little thought to how it all works together.
The main challenges facing compliance are based on the pace of change and level of uncertainty we are experiencing. The increasing use of technology, and the emphasis being placed on “why” or “how” a business is being conducted, beyond just the “what”, are also pressure points.
The first main approaches facing compliance is through establishing frameworks, policies, training and empowerment to the team on how to better engage with their counterparts, clients, and partners. The second main approach to facing compliance is through our Synergies Banking Platform that provides vertical solutions and modules to address bank compliance requirements across all banking activities and services.
BL: What are your approaches to managing technology change?
Naji Moukadam: Employers need to employ tailored communication campaigns that utilize various delivery channels and include consumer-like context experiences to communicate with today's diverse, mobile-enabled staff.
It is obvious that organizations do not use the right resources or techniques to help their workers understand and implement new ideas and practices, especially in today's digital workplace, where employees live in a noisy environment in which conflicting interests are constantly communicated. Too much data and too much one-size-fits-all messaging makes employees feel overwhelmed and limits their engagement with communications of strategic change. In order to connect in today’s diverse, mobile-enabled workers, employers need to employ targeted communication campaigns that leverage multiple delivery channels and provide consumer-like context experiences.
BL: What do you feel is most important for IT, enablement for innovation?
Naji Moukadam: There is no proven formula for success, particularly when it comes to innovation. The pace of change has gone into hyper-speed in the digital age, so businesses must get their strategic, innovative, executive, and organizational factors right to innovate successfully. No single tool or method will yield reliable, profitable breakthroughs, nor will a series of practices that are misaligned or poorly integrated. It takes a systematic approach to build systematic capability. Skills, tools, metrics, processes, platforms, incentives, roles, and values all have to come together to produce a winning innovation machine.
It is important for have what it takes to take the right decisions in order to embrace innovation completely, while making sure not to inherit the burdens of outdated legacy systems while you are thinking about innovation. Thinking outside the box, and finding innovative ways to rebuild outdated systems rather than patch up and migrate them.
BL: What is your approach to stakeholder relationship building?
Naji Moukadam: In order to resolve transitions in unpredictable organizational environments, effective organizations rely on stakeholder perceptions, reports on the social and environmental effects of operations, the prevalence of civic advocacy, globalization, emerging problems and conflicts, and the need to be good corporate citizens through ethical and socially responsible actions.
Anyone who has an interest in your idea, operation, product or service is a stakeholder. Customers, project managers, outside regulators, VPs, senior management or even co-workers may be part of this. I believe it is extremely important to establish relationships with stakeholders and should be thought of as a subject that stands on its own.
The number one reason for building relationships with stakeholders, in my opinion, is to prepare for the unexpected. When unexpected issues arise without a relationship, it gives sponsors the feeling that you’re inept. On the other hand, when unexpected issues arise with a relationship, sponsors have a feeling of confidence. If you build a good relationship, it becomes easier to have open honest conversations with your stakeholders. They will listen to your opinion and allow for flexibility in meeting project goals. Last but not least, building good relationships with stakeholders will secure you a promise of future projects.
