Vijay Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Tangentia
Tangentia is a Global Boutique technology consulting firm with extensive experience working with BFSI clients. With innovative solutions, a proven track record over fifteen years and a strong partner network, the company is well poised to support BFSI customers as they look to embrace the realities of the digital age and transform their companies, says, Vijay Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Tangentia, in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).
How significant is cloud technology for banking and financial industry in India?
Cloud is one of the core technologies at the forefront of the digital age – providing an infrastructure fabric for other technologies such as mobile, automation, artificial intelligence, social computing, Internet of Things (IoT) and analytics, and blockchain, to name a few. The banking and financial industry in India has been quick to adopt these technologies, and cloud technology is often the backbone for any implementation in this space. Cloud technologies such as virtualisation, Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) can help banks improve cash flows by moving from a Capital Expenditure (CapEx) to an Operational Expenditure (OpEx) model. Risk Profiling Systems, Early Warning Systems using Predictive Analytics, Non Performing Assets (NPAs) monitoring are applications which can be built on a cloud technology infrastructure. Technologies such as robotics process automation (RPA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain, Augmented and Virtual Reality, IoT, Big Data and other digital technologies can help the Indian banking and financial industry both in optimising their operations as well as transforming digital customer experience and engagement.
What sort of cloud-based services do you offer in the banking sector?
We are among the world leaders in Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and B2B integration and our proprietary Tgateway offering, used by 1,000+ customers globally, is a cloud-based offering. Tangentia has built SWIFT gateways for multiple large global banks and has been involved in multiple projects integrating banks with their intermediaries and partners as well as integrating Core Banking applications to Wealth Management and Trading Platforms. In addition, Tangentia has built one of the first mobile banking apps built on the IBM Bluemix Cloud Platform on a private cloud.
Tangentia understands the BFSI sector very well and we think this sector is poised for a lot of transformation especially with Robotic process automation (RPA), AI, Blockchain and related digital technologies. Tangentia is well poised to support our customers in this sector via our alliances with partners such as IBM, UI Path, Automation Anywhere and Blue Prism, to name a few.
Technology is significant for innovation but it also carries the risk of data breach. How do you ensure the safety through your products and services?
Technology security has multiple facets. For example, we were among the early movers in the area of Identity and Access Management (IDAM) where we have significant maturity and proven implementations. Apart from standard testing, we also include a security testing phase in all our project implementations. Tangentia is SOC 2 certified and we have tried to make sure that we internally use some of the same security infrastructures as our customers and this has helped us understand this better. However, the security business is ever evolving and the “good guys” have to keep working hard to keep ahead of the “bad guys”.
Tell us about the B2B industry in India. How do you think technology-based innovation can transform it?
The B2B (Business to Business) industry’s success depends on a simple metric: the ease of doing business. And this metric can be dramatically transformed through technology innovation. Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) technologies such as our Tgateway offering mentioned earlier can help businesses streamline their purchase order, invoicing and related operations with their trading partners. Process digitalisation using technologies like Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and AI can help reduce process cycle times, which are critical in any B2B interaction. Blockchain technology is well-known in financial services for crypto-currency applications. A lesser known but emerging application area for Blockchain is in “Smart Contracts” which have the potential to dramatically reduce contract risks and dispute management in B2B scenarios. In B2B, for Banking and Financial Services, technology innovations around AI, Big Data and Analytics can help in scenarios such as commercial lending to optimise processes such as KYC (Know Your Customer) and improve risk profiling, underwriting and real-time risk monitoring. Finance & Accounting (F&A) is an example department that is critical to keep the wheels of the B2B industry turning. And technology based innovations such as predictive analytics for invoice delinquency, delivery reconciliation automation, advanced data visualisation can all help to streamline F&A operations for any company.
What services do you offer in terms of application development? What more have you planned for the future?
We offer full-stack development and implementation services for mobile, web and enterprise applications. We’ve helped customers with applications in areas such as B2B integration, e-commerce, IDAM, mobile experience and custom web development. For example, one of our flagship projects is for a leading Canadian bank, with whom we have partnered for a mobile experience solution for customer loyalty. The solution has helped the bank transform the digital experience for their customers, and has won them multiple awards in customer loyalty summits. Going forward, we are investing in and executing on application development, consulting, implementation, training and managed services around technologies such as RPA, AI, and Blockchain. We have a strong partner ethos and always look to leverage our partnerships for customer success. For example, we have a 15 years relationship with IBM and are a platinum partner with them, with cognitive AI applications using IBM Watson as a key focus area. In RPA, we are partnering with the industry leading software vendors to build solutions and services around their platforms.
