Defined by True Innovation
Pio-Tech is a business solutions provider that has become, over the last sixteen years, defined by an innovation-first approach that champions digitisation and futurism. Earlier this year, PioTech were recognised in Acquisition International’s 2019 Global Excellence programme as the ‘Most Innovative Business Solutions Provider’ in the Middle East and African region. Following this deserved win, we spoke with Mr. Rand Hashem, the Managing Director at the firm, to find out more about their drive to create a paradigm shift in the finance and banking industries.
With their sights firmly set on revolutionising current best practices in the banking and finance sectors, Pio-Tech has aimed to make vast changes in an industry which has, perhaps unfairly, garnered a reputation for rigidity. Yet, everything they have done over their sixteen-year history points in the right direction – this is a firm that is confident in its expertise and knows what it has to do to bring real, observable differences to global financial markets. More than that, they have strategically partnered with leading IT corporations to ensure that they remain at the very cutting edge of technological developments, helping them to seize the latest opportunities to add value to their clients and their business operations.
In many ways, Pio-Tech has made it almost seem easy, but, as Rand reveals, every success has been due to the firm’s expert leadership and gifted team. Throughout it all, the pursuit of innovation remains the cornerstone of the firm’s work – its lifeblood. “At Pio-Tech, innovation is not just another word, it’s part of our organisational heritage a journey that began in 2003 with a small team that is talented and dedicated to the finance and banking sectors. Our main goal was to develop ready-to-use solutions to enhance banks’ business decisions, increase business continuity while increasing employees’ productivity. We have started with two main products Bank-BI® and Bank-BPM® and through the years we expanded our operations and services in many countries around the world specifically, Middle East, Africa, and parts of Asia. This made our products the main flash-flags in the banking industry.”
Specialising in three main areas of banking; information and performance management; banking process management; and customer engagement, Pio-Tech have cornered the market on vertical solutions that help their clients better understand their own business and understand their client base in ways that have not previously been possible. “Our main flagship products are certified by Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft with the ability to meet customer setup preferences whether on premises or on the cloud. The Bank-BI® and Bank-BPM® cover these three pillars fully and are already integrated with most of the international core banking solutions in addition to social media, payment gateways, and international rating agencies.”
“Since the beginning, Pio-Tech has been pointing to three main matters first: Pio-Tech’s largest investment goes to persistent research and development to maintain a leading position among banking solution providers. In addition, we focus on building long-lasting partnerships with our customers. Fundamentally, we believe that building transparent and trusting relationships with our customers help them to achieve their strategic goals throughout the years. Equally, through the continuous evolution of our products to accommodate the latest technological trends in the financial industry provides our clients with the ability to distinguish themselves from their peers and competitors through enhanced services, better customer engagement and streamlined operations.”
The conversation soon turns to the region in which Pio-Tech primarily operates. The Middle East has always had a reputation for swift technological advancements and adoption, as they look to bolster their incredible industrial growth. Africa has recently started to follow in their neighbors’ footsteps on the back of direct investment in techinfrastructure. Booming economies aside, the continent has become a hotbed of innovation and evolution. Pio-Tech’s home of Jordan is no different, as they look to create a commercial stronghold and rise up onto the world stage as a true goliath on the greater business landscape. Rand takes a moment to discuss Jordan’s importance in greater detail: “Other than being a commercial hub in the region with strong, corporative relations with its neighbors’ and international business community, Jordan is also a country of opportunity. It has 23% of MENA’s Tech entrepreneurs, according to the World Economic Forum and climbed eleven spots in the 2018 World Digital Competitiveness index, with 22% of graduates being hired in the ICT sector.”
Evoking these qualities, Pio-Tech has thrived on the back of a company culture that encourages collaboration and creativity. “We empower our employees to deliver solutions fit for the proactive digital age. At Pio-Tech, we put the pioneers at the forefront of innovation where they collaborate with each other to manage local and regional projects with a strong track record of end-to-end delivery of complex projects.”
Despite working with top-tier financial establishments, it is important to frame Pio-Tech’s achievements within the scope of their own industry. In this, they have impressed with a dedication to staying at the forefront of a sector that never stops moving forward, as leading tech firms the world over constantly search for the next big development. By all considerations, Pio-Tech has remained utterly relevant due to the work of their research and development teams, as Rand explains in more detail. “As our strategic focus is to help our customers build insights around their data to deliver better products and services to their customers – as well as comply with regulatory requirements – the R&D department captures most of our attention and receive a remarkable percentage of our annual investment. We carry out persistent research and development initiatives to enhance products and launch new ones, primarily through launching new R&D centers (our latest was in Nairobi in 2018) and signing cooperation agreements with local universities to sponsor student innovation projects.”
Yet, the wheel continues to move forward, and technology continues to improve, adapt, and evolve. Artificial intelligence and machine learning threaten to revolutionise the way that banks conduct their business and interact with customers. For Pio-Tech, innovation again remains the backbone of their efforts, as they seek to best utilise these new tools to strengthen their considerable arsenal. “At the end of the day, Pio-Tech is a next-generation global technology company that helps banks reimagine their business for the digital age. With the take-off of business intelligence technologies such as; Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Block Chain and Machine Learning, we have learned to constantly evaluate our technology’s worthiness, building solid platforms to empower banks towards acceleration. In addition, we are determined to adopt best of breed technologies and follow regulations and trends to build banking solutions that are business focused in areas such as analytics, performance management, process automation, and robotic technologies. Finally, we have designed new platforms for banks that can help them attract and target new customers and develop new products that cover all their customers’ needs with the lowest cost to investment ratio.” Ultimately, Pio-Tech is adept at constantly evaluating their products and solutions against what is available on the market. They know that their customers expect the best, and they are determined to deliver it.
Finally, Rand discusses Pio-Tech’s future as they look to expand into new markets: “New markets are a priority on our roadmap. Currently, we are working on a market penetration-based strategy to increase market share in Africa and Eastern Europe. This expansion involves establishing new subsidiary companies, expanding our partners’ ecosystem and signing strategic alliances and partnerships with wellknown international solutions and technology providers.”
http://www.pio-tech.com/Company: Pio-Tech
Address: Amman, 11953, Jordan
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