interop.io’s Director, Head of Solutions Reena Raichura, who was recently named FinTech Person of the Year, and Steve Grob, Founder of Vision57, joined Harrington Starr’s CEO, Toby Babb, for an episode of his podcast FinTech Focus TV. Read on for a round-up of their captivating discussion, which touched on Reena’s push to shift the focus from applications to users and workflows, and the future of the interoperability sector.
Long Live Workflows
As a true pioneer in the interop space and one of the architects who has developed the concept into what it is today, Reena has observed that despite the technological solutions that companies like interop.io are providing, design thinking for the desktop continues to center around building applications in isolation. She believes that an application’s value increases from the workflows, data, and platforms it can connect to and that users benefit more from tightened collaboration, rather than the increased fragmentation we’re seeing. There are a lot of new FinTechs coming out to fill gaps in various sectors and processes, and they’re all brilliant on their own. However, they would be significantly more valuable in a workflow.
Users and workflows need to be at the heart of the design process and to inspire this shift within the industry, Reena invented the Straight-Through Workflows™ (STW) concept. Users’ main concern is doing their jobs and she believes that there’s no need for them to even be aware of every application they use. With STW, Reena aims to inspire the community to come together and change the focus – see past the boundaries of applications and start thinking about workflows.
Unlocking Effectiveness
The discussion naturally moved to the power of interoperability and the countless benefits it offers. Users have accepted massive levels of inefficiency for a long time, but the advancement of interoperability is proving that the days of navigating between 12 different UIs with 12 different notification systems, which behave in 12 different ways are long gone. With the help of interop, all of this can now be done centrally.
Technology should be an enabler for people to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. It should unlock effectiveness, which ultimately results in improved productivity, allowing users to enjoy their jobs. Reena points out that ease and efficiency continue to be vital parts of interop, however, effectiveness is the buzzword for the future of the industry. Ensuring that we offer users the necessary tools to maximize their potential in the workplace is imperative.
FinTech Focus TV Wrap-up: A Glimpse into the Future of Interop
Interoperability has emerged as a ground-breaking technology that is now recognized as a truly transformative force within the industry. It has moved from being a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have”. It is here to stay and things like the rise of AI and its potential to make processes more predictive portends exciting times and a bright future for the sector.
Watch the full episode of FinTech Focus TV with Reena and Steve above to also hear them talk about all things FDC3 and the release of the upcoming Desktop Interop Maturity Model eBook the duo has co-written.
