In this special Finance to Futurist FinTech Spotlight episode, Founder & CEO of QV Systems, Daniel Layne discusses his FinTech origin story from innovating as a SaaS company to focusing on the B2B customer experience, building the network effect and leveraging prescriptive analytics to create a future-ready financing platform.
In this special Finance to Futurist FinTech Spotlight episode, Founder & CEO of QV Systems, Daniel Layne discusses his FinTech origin story from innovating as a SaaS company to focusing on the B2B customer experience, building the network effect and leveraging prescriptive analytics to create a future-ready financing platform.
Welcome to Finance to Futurist, a Sidetrade podcast series on how innovation data and AI are disrupting order-to-cash.
Natalie Silverman:Hi, this is Natalie Silverman for Sidetrade. Welcome to Finance to Futurist. On today's episode, we're speaking with another FinTech founder whose origin story parallels the Sidetrade journey from innovating as a SaaS company, to focusing on the B2B customer experience, building the network effect, and leveraging prescriptive analytics to create a future ready financing platform. Please welcome Founder and CEO of QV Systems, Daniel Layne. Good morning, Daniel and thanks for sitting down for Finance to Futurist.
Daniel Layne:Great to be here, Natalie. Thanks for having me on.
Natalie Silverman:We love to hear about interesting stories and interesting startups. And before we get into all those good questions, I would love to know more about yourself and your background and kind of how you got to QV Systems today.
Daniel Layne:Yeah, sure. So probably quite typical of people around about my age, I got into computers at school, and then a lot of time writing little computer programs for me and my friends from about the age of 10. And then always found it fascinating to be able to create something in the digital space, I can't draw, I can't really do anything with my hands, but computers I can deal with. So when I left school, I didn't go straight to university, I got a job initially working in a call center, that call center didn't have any software to predict call volumes. So I volunteered to write that. And that basically got me into it as a profession. I then got a job at the same company, which was a retail bank, working in the in the formal IT division, working with cash machines, and card payments, which was really, really interesting. And yeah, and I've been in software development ever since.
Natalie Silverman:Oh, I love that. When I was little, I wanted to be an archaeologist. But I love that you were already getting your hands dirty and and doing computer programming, even at an early age. Tell me more about the origin story for QV Systems. Because again, I'm fascinated with entrepreneurs like yourself, how you got your start where the idea came from. And then we'd love to hear more about how you've seen kind of SaaS evolve in the financing sector, even since your your origin.
Daniel Layne:Yeah, definitely to kind of combine those two, those two questions together. It was really born out of the really early days of SaaS of cloud. And working in the retail bank, I then stayed in the financial services industry for basically all of my career, started writing the software that would become our platform accelerate in about 2006 as a as a side project while I was doing consultancy work in the leasing industry. And at that point, you know, if you tried to put a cloud system into a thin surf company or a bank, you know, it just wasn't happening, everything had to be on premise, this idea that you could transact serious business over the internet with bits of kit that you can't touch, you can't see that even though what they are just wasn't a thing at all. But I built the software years before I built the company. So the software for me was I was spending all of my time traveling around the UK and Europe on these kinds of one to two year projects, designing then deploying pretty much the same software over and over again. But it was all custom for each for each client. And I just thought there has to be a more efficient way of doing this. And so the idea was the accelerate, we would build the direct platform once deploy that in the cloud, and enable our customers to get access to it whenever wherever they are. And instead of spending time defining requirements, drawing up specifications, rebuild the software, change the software, make it look different, all of that stuff that I was doing all of that effort, we could put into actually continually improving the software and making sure that our customers can concentrate on their core business. So that was to say I was a pure technologist at the time, no commercial experience whatsoever. So from then to kind of 2012 it was really just a software project with no business around it then started the company got some co founders and got a bit of angel investment which was you know, an amazing start and amazing feeling when someone else believes in your idea, turned it into an actual product that was that was ready for sale got that to the market in about 2015 grew our customer base from obviously zero up to the 56 or so is today. We've got venture capital investment came in in 2019 and 2021. So we're institutionally back. Now we've got a team of 20 people working in Bedford in the UK. And yeah, it's amazing when I look at the software now. And when I walk into one of our customer sites and see the software being used in the wild to do these transactions, it's amazing for me to see that come from technology experiment, all those years ago
Natalie Silverman:You know I love a good innovation story, I came from not just marketing, but I really have a passion for innovation and bringing the idea of agile and almost a culture hack, as even a recent analyst even said that large enterprises need to be more agile and need to be more flexible, and almost bring that type of hack culture into the fold. So I'm a huge proponent of leveraging a lot of the startup principles and methodologies and things that got you to where you are, and probably using that Agile methodology and iterative process within large enterprises as well. So I feel like entrepreneurs are not just for startups, it seems like they're moving to what people are calling an intrapreneur, where you have that entrepreneurial spirit, but again, bring it into a into a corporation. So again, I love that you can kind of see the evolution of your own company, which to me parallels a lot of what we've done at Sidetrade as well.
Daniel Layne:Yeah, it's, it's really fascinating. I'm just reading a book on the holiday about intrapreneurs. And, yeah, you know, I've seen those people in organizations that I've worked in, like, you know, I'd like to think that I probably was one, certainly at the bank. But you know, it's really difficult for a large corporation, especially one in a heavily regulated sector to fully embrace that. And I'm not saying it's what they shouldn't be, it's not what they should do. I'm just saying it's so interesting to see those two worlds kind of interact, and try and get the best out of the entrepreneurial culture and drive. But within the constraints of, you know, a publicly listed company or a company that's subject to banking regulations, and making that all work together. It's, I think, a really, really interesting space.
Natalie Silverman:You know, I want to circle back on a comment you made earlier, because I think the way that you spoke about your origin story, and being very much tied to the customer experience is very relevant to kind of where we are today. And across all sectors, not just technology. But you know, for me, just reading more about QV Systems and how you got your start, you're really leveraging the latest technology to redefine financing, efficiency, productivity, and the customer experience. So in your opinion, how was the customer experience changed in your domain in the asset and automotive finance industries?
Daniel Layne:Yeah, so that's a really great question. I think it's changed hugely, there's a much much greater focus on the consumer. Now, if we're talking, let's talk B2C first. Because I think that's where the changes are more advanced. In the B2C world, we've gone from a situation where the consumer was very, very much on the backfoot, in terms of the power imbalance between the financier and the consumer. Now, certainly in the UK, and I know that this is repeated across all of the mature finance markets, the regulatory forces have been brought to bear to make it fair on the consumer. So I think that's a really important piece of the customer experience. I don't like to think of customer experience so narrowly as is there an app? You know, can I changed my address online? For me, it's much broader than that. And really top top priority it's got to be is the products that I'm being sold the right product for me? Am I being miss-sold? Is it fairly priced? Does it have the features that I need or might need in the future, and I think the B2C lending space has made huge leaps and bounds in that over the past 20 years, equally, you know, on the more touchy feely parts of CX. Yes, people expect to be able to administer their accounts online, now, you've got to have an app, you need to be able to show the value that you're adding to the consumer throughout the lifecycle not just start of the loan or lease, and then maybe at the end, but really trying to keep that customer relationship active to enable the best service for the customer. Obviously, from the finance houses perspective, there's revenue opportunities in there, and there's nothing wrong with that, as long as it's the right product at the right time to the right customer. So I think b2c is has changed hugely, B2B is still pretty old school, certainly in the UK. We've got people who still aren't on e-Sign, for example, you know, not many, but but it's still out there. I think with the maybe the next wave of entrepreneurs that start businesses and have grown up expecting that type of experience. So people who were in their maybe teens and early 20s, now, when they start businesses, they are going to migrate to service providers, including financial services providers that can offer them the experience that they're used to, and the second nature to them, you know, that they're going to expect everything on the phone, why do I have to log into a web portal, you know, that's just not going to work for them? And certainly, the idea of sending bits of physical paper back into post is going to be a no, no. So I think the B2B space will catch up with the B2C. You know, over the next generation or so. And then we'll go from there and really excited to see, you know, what's coming next, I think predictive is going to be big. And just that constant connection between consumer and provider.
Natalie Silverman:You're making such a great point. And I like to call it the Amazon effect or the Netflix effect. But you're absolutely right, how you and I consume media or are used to doing things at a click of a button, or like you said on a mobile device is absolutely the way that we want to do business from a B2B perspective. So I think you're right, that B2B does have to catch up with B2C from a customer experience perspective, because we expect it or to predict what Netflix wants us to watch next, right. And so you know, the idea of predictive analytics or even beyond that we're hearing now prescriptive analytics. So it's not just forecasting, it's going to be able to use AI and machine learning to actually prescribe or predict again, what's even in the future, besides just looking at historical trends. You know, what you talked about love the segue, let's talk about data a little bit. And this idea of predictive versus prescriptive, because I think what you're doing at cuvee is very similar to what Sidetrade has done with our data lake of both buyers and sellers. And so we'd love to hear more about QV Systems and how you're also building a similar network effect and creating that ecosystem between brokers to lenders and intermediaries to vendors, and dealers to OEMs. Because, again, I think there's a lot of parallels into what we're doing to with our buyer and seller community.
Daniel Layne:Yeah, absolutely. And as you said, at the start of the question, ultimately, it's all about the data, right? So for me, when I look back at my experience in these industries, there's so many points where you're manually extracting a chunk of data from one universe and putting it into another universe ready for the next stage of manipulation. And that is just so inefficient, like you say, with your your data lake with what we're trying to do at QV Systems is we want to be that data repository. So people can engage with that data and make decisions based on that data, as you say, have machine learning algorithms to predict what might be some good next outcomes for the various counterparties everything from the data streaming out of the vehicles, all the assets into the data repo, so that the person that owns that asset has got a real time view of how the assets performing, is it safe, have a duty of care to the user of that asset, there's a lot of different parties involved that have got a stake in making sure that these assets are operating in a safe manner, all the way through to, you know, the more financial end of it, well, let's say you own a book of debt, and you want to sell that book of debt, you know, today, you would need to get a load of people get a load of spreadsheets, do a lot of manual analysis highest and corporate finance advisors, all of that. And evidently, some of that process isn't going to go away. But if we've got a record of all of these agreements of how they're performing, can we not expose that to the wholesale finance market, and, you know, almost turn it into a supermarket. So I love data always have, it's always been the part about computing that's interested me the most. And ultimately, it's a hackneyed phrase, but data is the new gold. But for me, it's actual power. Having the data and having the people that can interrogate that data, understand it, writing the programs that can do the same automatically. That's where the power is going to be in the next wave of industry. And so being part of that is super exciting. And we want to make sure that we keep it broad and we can offer guidance on your car's gonna need the service in two weeks all the way to other say buying and selling books of debt.
Natalie Silverman:It's interesting that you're talking about data in kind of this next wave and like you said, you know, we always say cash is king here, right? Because obviously, we're working in accounts receivables, but you're absolutely right data is really the key to unlocking the value of, of not just our cash, but also your people. And so what we're hearing, you know, in this industry, it's not just digital transformation, because I think the connotation of digital transformation tends to be just about the technology. But what we're hearing is we're calling it finance transformation, actually. But it's the idea of evolving people and process and technology and data to kind of take your organization to that next stage of growth. So I just wondered, you know, it sounds like QV Systems is very aligned with that idea. And so I wondered, how does your company help businesses future proof? And are those some of the same concepts again, you're hearing in your industry?
Daniel Layne:Oh, definitely, definitely. For me, to create a future proof business, you need agile technology, you need the resources to be able to manipulate, analyze, collect, distribute data, but what you probably don't need is you can't have a situation where every company in a given market has those resources has those skills, it's just so inefficient, much as companies specialize and stay focused on what their core business is. And that kind of tends to increase over time. It's madness, that if you're running a finance company, whether you know, accounts receivable or asset finance, why would you need to build your own internal IT team, hire them, retain them, which is always an incredibly difficult motivate them and do all of that in house. I mean, it's just not what the business is set up to do. So we help businesses stay future proof by taking all of that overhead away from them and centralizing it in our organization where that's what we do day in, day out, we stay up with the latest trends, we use the latest technology, we're always curious and open to seeing what's coming next. And then we can deploy that technology remotely. And the businesses, our customers can have instant access to that tech, they don't have to go through that terrible cycle of you know how software used to be built before SaaS, which is start a project two years later, by the time the project is complete, the system is already out of date, you designed it two years ago, that system then spends 10 years 20 years 30 is whatever getting more and more and more out of date until it becomes too much of a business issue. And you have to start that whole cycle again. Whereas what our companies are doing is clearly saying we'll worry about the software, we'll worry about continually evolving it improving it, you know, our business is on the line if we don't do that, so you know, we're going to do it, and you customers get the benefit. So to me, future proof means being able to take advantage of trends quickly, efficiently without that business distraction of running internal projects.
Natalie Silverman:Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. I mean, and again, that's why you have to think about how do you optimize your internal resources? And how do you sometimes move them off more of their tactical activities that might be you know, draining them or taking them away from the strategic priorities of the business. So that's why we always say, you know, if you can move your team from tactical to strategic by leveraging data by leveraging technology and AI, that's where you get to that optimal, you know, Nirvana, essentially, what's next for QV Systems from a tech and a data perspective? Can you give us a little sneak preview of maybe what you're working on for the future?
Daniel Layne:Yeah, definitely. So all about ecosystem. So we're working on joining together service providers, we're working together at joining them with finance companies, with end customers to enable the new world that we're seeing of bundled services to be deployed. So maybe I am leasing an electric vehicle, but I also need a home charger fitted. And I also need insurance for that vehicle. So taking it beyond the kind of service and maintenance approach into more of a whole lifecycle piece. That's really exciting. What we spoke about earlier, trying to leverage the data that we've got provide Industry Insights, that's definitely something that's high on the agenda. Yeah, being more predictive, being prescriptive, being able to offer our customers and their customers that a glimpse into the future of here are the things you might want to consider here are some services that might be really useful to you in your life or, or the growth stage of, of the business that you're running, because I think finances have got a lot of data. That is it's just not being exploited to the full, you know, we've got information on if we're talking about individuals, we've got information on their income, their expenditure, their likes, their dislikes, where they live, how many dependents they've got. So we can build a really good picture of this individual, and we can see where they're going and try and assist in that journey. And the same with the business. You know, there's a lot of really fascinating work going on now about connecting businesses more deeply with their finance partners to enable things like invoice factoring, and a more modern way, advances on monthly recurring revenue for startups. If we expand that out into asset finance, why can't we be smarter about the assets we finance? Does each business need to own the stuff that is running its business with its tills? Its kitchen equipment? Definitely not. You know, asset finance already deals with that. But then how do we link together groups of similar businesses get buying power, shared experience, predictive analytics about reliability? And yeah, I think it's a really exciting time to be in this in this business.
Natalie Silverman:Thanks, Daniel, for your insights into the future of finance. For Sidetrade, this is Natalie Silverman.
Conclusion:This has been another episode of Finance to Futurist, a Sidetrade podcast series. Make sure you catch every episode by subscribing to our podcast on sidetrade.com or through your podcast platform of choice. Thanks so much for tuning in. This podcast is brought to you by Sidetrade, and is for general information purposes only. All rights reserved.