Q: Can you share about your journey in the capital markets and how it shaped your career? 

DAVID BIRKENSHAW: Over 35 years ago, my journey started in the financial services sector with a focus on portfolio management and planning strategies. I quickly saw the need to understand market changes and find chances in undervalued areas. This view led me to the mining industry, where I noticed great potential for growth. I have led organizations like Meryllion Resources Corporation, focusing on exploration in South America and Oceania. Experience taught me that success in capital markets relies on flexibility and foresight. These qualities still drive my work at Birkenshaw & Company.

Q: What inspired you to create Bluesky Digital Assets and how does it fit with your expertise in mining and capital markets? 

DAVID BIRKENSHAW: My curiosity about disruptive technologies like AI and blockchain stirred the creation of Bluesky Digital Assets. These technologies could change traditional industries. Mining and technology feel distinct, yet both require innovation and efficiency. For example, AI improves resource exploration and operations in mining. There is a need  to connect these sectors, fostering investments that provide returns and expand boundaries in both industries. AI and innovation are vital.

Q: What trends do you see shaping the mining industry’s future and how should companies prepare? 

DAVID BIRKENSHAW: The mining industry now sees a major shift due to sustainability and technology. Investors and stakeholders prioritize ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) principles. Thus, mining companies need cleaner, more efficient practices. Technological advancements are becoming crucial. AI-driven exploration and automation help stay competitive. Companies should accept these changes by funding research, forming strategic partnerships and focusing on long-term sustainability. Preparation involves research and partnerships.

Q: How do you lead in a complex, changing industry? 

DAVID BIRKENSHAW: Leadership means fostering teamwork and empowering innovation. Challenges arise in mining and capital markets. Solutions-oriented thinking is key. Encourage a culture of constant learning. Transparency and integrity matter; they build trust with stakeholders and allow bold ideas. A leader inspires confidence and guides an organization toward sustainable success. Confidence and guidance lead to success.

Q: What advice would you give to new entrepreneurs and investors?

DAVID BIRKENSHAW: Remain curious and adaptable. The business world changes constantly. Success depends on anticipating and responding to these changes. Entrepreneurs should solve real-world problems and develop sturdy, scalable business models. Investors need diversification and thorough research. Also, never overlook strong networking and mentorship; supportive, knowledgeable people can truly make a difference. Adaptability and curiosity are crucial.

The post An Interview with David Birkenshaw, Managing Director of Birkenshaw & Company Ltd. appeared first on CEO Medium.

And with only one-fifth of IT budgets allocated to digitalisation, with no dedicated digital transformation budget, most financial organisations won’t have the right level of investment to see a real difference. 

Chris Weston, CDIO at Jumar, says: “Focusing on your technology and systems and partnering with a trusted end-to-end provider could speed up processes, giving more time for your staff to do what they love, and even encourage skilled jobseekers. 

In a sector where data protection is essential, ensuring you aren’t spending time fixing problems caused by inadequate systems is important. Undergoing a digital transformation can improve operations to align with your business needs, ensuring your customers and clients aren’t being left wanting. For financial organisations, digital transformation is no longer merely an option , but a necessity, especially if you want to keep up with industry standards and your competition.”

Human-centric approaches

Business growth cannot happen in the financial sector if the infrastructure isn’t in place to support users. By focusing on developing your technology and systems, you can enhance the accessibility of your financial services  and more effectively appeal to the general public. Attracting a wider audience is essential for business growth as it can encourage them away from your competitors, giving you the edge. 

Adopting a human-centric approach is essential for banking as financial services rely heavily on user input and interaction. Through a digital transformation, you can adopt a more human-centric approach, making your websites, systems, and processes more user-friendly. 

The digital divide is a real issue which affects many across the UK. Digital exclusion is inextricably linked to broader societal inequalities; isolating those on lower incomes or limited technological access might mean excluding the very customers you’re seeking to assist. 

It is crucial to modernise your systems so that they are user-friendly, including improving accessibility, creating a user interface that is easily navigable, and making sure there is adequate information and educational resources for users to readily access your services. 

Chris says: “A digital transformation isn’t simply about upgrading your technology, but it can be a great tool to open accessibility to your services and products. By investing in a digital transformation with a human-centric approach, you can ensure that your user interfaces are accessible to your customers, resources are available to educate new customers, and even draw customers away from competitors with overly complex systems. The financial sector relies heavily on your customer involvement, so your technology should work for a wide audience.”

Personalisation

Chris continues: “Another way the financial sector can open itself up through digital transformation is by providing personalised messaging. Given its customer-centric nature, it is important that you’re able to communicate efficiently with diverse audiences. This involves ensuring the availability of pertinent information for various people.”

With the advancements of technologies such as AI, the potential for tailoring your messaging and resources to cater to each audience you engage with is much improved. Whether you’re reaching out to marginalised groups, people with disabilities, or low-income families, it is important you’re making your content and resources as accessible as possible. 

AI can be pivotal in collecting and processing data, including demographics, socioeconomic factors, and user preferences, to create a personalised user experience. This can also be maintained and refined as the users engage with your platform, providing essential information and tailored service recommendations.  

Automating manual processes

One problem which might be holding your business back from growing is the time spent on manual processes that have the potential to be automated. By manually performing these tasks, your staff have less time to provide vital financial aid, advice, or services, potentially resulting in prolonged waiting times, or even lost or delayed transactions. 

The efficient delivery of services is essential and so ensuring your technology isn’t preventing you from providing to your customers is key.

Chris says: “A digital transformation isn’t only about improving your customer’s experiences through more accessible resources, but it also ensures your staff have more time to assist with queries and provide their services. By implementing AI to perform manual administrative tasks, productivity can be improved and delays can be reduced. In an industry where fast transactions are paramount, ensuring that your users receive the services they need can help customer loyalty and prevent them from moving to a faster, more efficient, competitor.”

Data protection

Not only should your service offerings be designed with a customer-centric approach, but you can expect the data you collect to be key indicators for understanding your customers – giving you an insight into their needs, requirements, and even trends in financial gain or debt. Ensuring your system infrastructure is developed to manage sensitive information securely, and to visualise the data with your customer’s needs in mind, can enable you to make evidence-based decisions about the services you offer. 

Automated processes can lead to fewer errors. Human error is a considerable challenge for many organisations, and when it comes to financial services, it could mean violating your customer’s privacy if the integrity and safety of your data aren’t properly maintained.  Ensuring you’re updating legacy systems can assist in keeping your customers’ data secure and accurate. This also improves your ability to analyse and visualise data, meaning that you can target prospective customers from trends identified in your historical data.

Chris says: “A benefit of digital transformation is the ability to conduct insightful data analysis . Through your data, you can identify high-risk areas susceptible to debt or delayed payments. You can also identify affluent audience segments for targeted marketing and personalised service offerings to attractnew customers to your business.”

Attract jobseekers

The financial sector requires high-skilled recruits, but finding candidates that fit the requirements can be a struggle. From fluctuating vacancies to increased workload pressure, retaining and attaining staff, and attracting job seekers with the right technological experience, is important for the best outcomes for your services. 

Not only can a poor digital profile make it more difficult for established workers to perform their jobs, but it can also be off-putting for a younger workforce to join. Skilled talent acquisition can be achieved through a digital transformation as workers require high-performing technology to prevent delays in their work. Making sure your organisation removes inefficient systems and provides accessible hardware and software is crucial.  

Chris continues: “Bringing in new highly skilled workers requires having the right systems in place. No skilled worker wants to come into a workplace notorious for difficult system handling. Growing your business requires a strong workforce who are supported by systems and processes which work well for them. Ensuring you have the right digital infrastructure to support your employees is key to seeing the great work they can do without disruption.”

The financial sector relies on technology now more than ever, with faster transactions and cashless payment solutions becoming main methods of payment. But if your digital infrastructure is inaccessible to your customers and staff, you will experience a breakdown in the services you can provide. By modernising your systems and technologies, you will be better able to offer tailored services, reach the right audiences, and secure data effectively – helping to grow your business and achieve a competitive edge.

Sources:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-reduce-human-error-operations-automation

https://www.bankingsupervision.europa.eu/press/publications/newsletter/2023/html/ssm.nl230215_2.en.html 

https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/news-and-insight/blogs/skills-and-talent-financial-services-impact-pandemic#:~:text=Firms%20are%20struggling%20to%20recruit,talent%20pools%20they%20recruit%20from. 

https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/industries/financial-services/publications/financial-services-in-2025/payments-in-2025.html 

The post How a Digital Transformation Encourages Business Growth in the Financial Services Industry appeared first on CEO Medium.

Customer Experience (CX) is the sum of all interactions and emotions a customer has with a brand from the first touchpoint to the last, and it is evolving fast. Customers want instant gratification – something that is predetermined, personalized, and readily available for consumption. This determines the baseline or the minimum expectation that the organization needs to meet. Businesses then need to determine how to improve the experience from the baseline.

Using Technology to Elevate Customer Experience

Technology plays a crucial role in CX as it serves as a channel through which exceptional CX can be delivered. However, everything starts with data. In order to understand the customer, organizations will need both general and individual data to identify situations, usage, requirements, patterns, etc. This would then be fed into a system or tool for analysis. While many AI tools are still in the experimental stage, I can see them evolving to a point where they can provide personalized data on each consumer.

If relevant data is scarce, finding suitable proxies or establishing methods to collect and utilize existing data will be crucial. Leveraging technology for data processing, insights generation, and user interface design will help to improve the system continuously. This makes the consumer experience even better.

 Strategies and Best Practices to Enhance Customer Experience

Enhancing customer experience requires a strategic approach and a focus on key elements. First, defining the vision of the desired customer experience is essential. Second, once the vision is established, benchmarking the current state of customer experience provides a baseline for improvement. The last step involves outlining a clear path from the present to the envisioned future, considering factors such as data and technology.

Organizations can build GPTs for their own customers, which can then be fed with data, proprietary models, and customer response methodologies. If the GPT needs to perform the way we envision it, it needs to understand how we work and have access to the data we work with. This could be SOPs, decision-making criteria, customer service practices, and all acceptable and non-acceptable processes. We would also need to create data based on past experiences, including typical pitfalls, normal failure points, success points, etc. All these data points are unique to the business, and over a period of time, and with more data, the answers will become increasingly customized.

Additionally, the cost and return on investment (ROI) must be carefully evaluated. While aiming for a fantastic customer experience, ensuring customers are willing to pay for the experience is essential. Striking a balance between the desired experience and an acceptable price point is key.

Measuring and Improving ROI

While metrics such as customer lifetime value and churn rate can be used to measure ROI, the fundamental questions that need to be answered remain the same – Has my revenue grown? Have my profits improved? Has my customer satisfaction increased? Has my employee satisfaction gone up? These metrics must be measured from before the implementation of the experience until after the implementation.

When one of India’s largest IT companies required a month-on-month service of converting large volumes of technical raw content received daily into case studies within 72 hours, we used technology to streamline the process. Through real-time automation, the content was segregated, assigned to writers, and completed within deadlines. Daily dynamic reports, generated automatically, kept the client updated on progress. Investing in this innovative technology and customer experience resulted in tangible benefits for the client and a successful ROI for us. While they had four vendors initially, the entire process was consolidated and given to our organization as we provided a better customer experience through technology.

Aside from technology, traditional methods, such as surveys and feedback mechanisms, can be employed to measure and assess the ROI. This could be done through pen and paper, phone calls, or electronic means. Another method of ensuring good ROI is to assign a Customer Success Manager (CSM). A CSM can improve the experience for the client and identify other areas where we can upsell or cross-sell.

Hard ROI takes time to measure, but with technology and a well-trained CSM, we have seen month-on-month and year-on-year growth for the business.

Ideating and Prioritizing Customer Experience

Customer experience has become crucial for businesses to survive and thrive. To deliver a desired experience, companies must define the experience and establish a method and process for its delivery. It must consider customer expectations within the industry or service and explore opportunities to provide a truly unique and personalized experience. The goal should be to transform the customer experience into a competitive advantage. Technology can be utilized to revolutionize and disrupt how customers experience and interact with a product or service.

For instance, I was speaking to the founder of a company that makes ID cards. He needed a system that would make the process of collecting, printing, and disseminating ID cards easier. I recommended developing an online platform or portal into which the customer can directly upload information, which the founder’s company can then process. But to provide a differentiated experience, I suggested using AI to get customers to design their own ID cards. Just like in Mid-journey or Dall.E, they can give prompts, answer a few questions on color, font, industry, etc., and Generative AI will create templates that the customer can choose from.

Although building such a system may require a significant investment, utilizing AI-generated templates can bring substantial benefits. Disrupting the traditional process of ID card creation, where manual data collection and design iterations are necessary, can significantly improve customer experience.

Conclusion

Ultimately, whatever method is used, it is all about measuring the customer’s experience. I might believe I have provided a superior experience, but the customer may disagree. Gathering customer feedback is crucial for understanding their perception of the experience delivered. Ensuring alignment between the actual experience and customer perception is essential for enhancing customer experience.

I am noticing that the experiences consumers have in B2C will also drive the expectations for B2B. The only difference would be that B2B organizations must work with partners to meet those expectations.

By incorporating innovative technology and reimagining existing systems, businesses can transform the customer journey and stand out in their industry. Just as Apple disrupted the smartphone market by not only designing a sleek device but also creating an entire ecosystem, building a good customer experience requires an all-encompassing approach that covers every aspect of the product or service. 

The post The Role of Technology in Improving Customer Experience (CX) and ROI By Ganapathy Sankarabaaham appeared first on CEO Medium.

When it comes to our modern online life, Toine Rodenburg has studied it all, and lived most of it. He can tell you what ARPANET stands for, and why it was so significant. He’s studied the biographies of industry greats, from Steve Jobs to Sergey Brin. In the early years, he waited in line with the rest of us for each new iPhone generation. He has strong opinions on Apple’s proposal to change the location of the “end call” button.

Recently, we caught up with Toine Rodenburg long enough to collect a range of fascinating opinions and insights:

Q: From your perspective, what’s the next big thing we can expect to see in cyberspace, or technology in general?

Toine Rodenburg: I love the “technology in general” part of your question, because the answers are limitless, just like many of the applications that are being imagined for new technologies. These days AI gets all the buzz, of course, and I’m one of the many who enjoy talking about it; not simply because it’s a technology topic, but the discussions typically veer into philosophy, metaphysics, and even pop culture. Really, what other subject lets you ponder Descartes and Hume one moment, and heatedly debate plot holes in The Terminator the next?

My own view is that if you believe there is something special about human beings, whether you call it a soul or a unique consciousness, there’s nothing to fear from AI. We’re all going to be fine. If your view of our species is less lofty, that our neural patterns and ability to think will one day be fully understood and replicated by scientists, then you probably should be scared. If we’re not unique, we’ll certainly be obsolete at some point.

Q: Interesting tangent. Beyond AI, what else do you see on the technological horizon?

Toine Rodenburg: Yes, we did go down a bit of a rabbit hole there. Understandable, though: The topic is just so fascinating, and ultimately so important. On a more practical plane, I see new technological applications streamlining efficiencies for businesses, such as the cross-border shopping facilitator we created for the Caribbean, Canadian and Latin America markets, MyMalls. It’s grown to become one of the leading premium shipping companies for the Western Hemisphere.

We stay ahead of the game by applying technological innovations across the full spectrum of online commerce — from the customer’s ordering experience to fulfillment at the warehouse to shipping. Right now, MyMalls partners with DHL Express, Fedex and Sea Freight companies for international shipping, eliminating the worry, hassle and regulatory complexities people often experience with these types of international purchases. Our logistical infrastructure includes two large warehouses that we built in Florida.

We are refining our processes every day, and thinking strategically for the long-term. We have some exciting initiatives we’re working on that will revolutionize the industry, I believe. Stage by stage, we’re eliminating the obstacles to simple, hassle-free international ordering. Stay tuned for more, very soon.

Q: On a more personal note, what’s your favorite movie among films that examine the future of technology in our lives?

Toine Rodenburg: Well, I have so many, starting with the classics such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Matrix trilogy. But when considering the paths before us, the opposite directions in which technology could take us in the coming decades, I would offer two films that forecast distinctly different outcomes.

The Forbin Project is hard to find, but well worth the effort searching for it. In the film, a computer network is given control of U.S. defenses, and it soon becomes aware of a similar network controlling military defenses in the old Soviet Union. This turns out to be not good, to put it mildly. At one point Colossus, the U.S. defense network, announces to the world: “We can coexist, but only on my terms. You will say you lose your freedom; freedom is an illusion.”

The bookend of this is a popular film from the 80s, WarGames. In this screenplay, scientists and politicians prove to be just as foolish, allowing an advanced computer consciousness to take control of national defense. The film’s much more optimistic ending happens when the teenage protagonist challenges the computer to run a simulation of one of the simplest games imaginable: tic tac toe.

By playing the game over and over, with each game ending in a draw, the computer learns that the nuclear strike it was contemplating would be similarly futile. At the end of the movie, the computer concludes: “The only winning move is not to play.”   

The post Our Interview With Internet Investor Toine Rodenburg  appeared first on CEO Medium.

The rebranding of Facebook to Meta on 28th October 2021 marked the beginning of an era. The Metaverse allows us to fuse digital and physical realities through the use of a variety of technologies, such as AR, VR, AI, and social media, in order to create a collective virtual reality space.

For businesses, the Metaverse is the golden key to unlocking the fullest potential of worldwide talent.

For job seekers, it is an opportunity to expand their portfolios and skillsets by collaborating with renowned global companies in a setting which is on the cutting edge of technology.

And it all starts with the hiring process.

What is the Metaverse?

The biggest advantage of the Metaverse is that it facilitates a collaborative experience that isn’t bound to geographical and physical restrictions.

Imagine it as a network of continuously available virtual environments that resembles the real world. There, you can interact with other people and with digital objects and engage in a number of activities, such as constructing virtual homes, shopping via immersive commerce, and joining virtual classrooms. All of these activities can be enabled by digital currencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

In an interview with the Verge, Mark Zuckerburg explained: “But you can think about the metaverse as an embodied internet, where instead of just viewing content — you are in it.”

Automating the applicant selection process

The Metaverse is creating new opportunities for organizations to augment their digital businesses. A major part of the success of any company is in the recruitment and onboarding processes.

In the past few years, we’ve seen a move toward AI job interviews. A specifically designed program can interview and assess candidates to determine which applicants are the most suitable before a human interview panel takes over.

This process has been implemented as a response to the increased interest in job roles. According to Glassdoor, each corporate job receives an average of 250 CVs. Four to six of those candidates will be called for an interview and only one will be selected for the job.

Instead of manually reviewing all 250 applications, AI job interviews automate the process and make it more efficient until the human interview panel steps in.

During this pre-selection process, some companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to scan resumes. Such is the case with 98.8% of Fortune 500 companies, including Nike, Apple, and United Airlines.

Other companies use virtual video interviews, where a robot acting as an interviewer asks about four questions, and the applicant has a minute or two to answer them verbally and record their answer. 

The Metaverse is about to streamline that recruitment stage too.

What would job interviews in the Metaverse look like?

In the Metaverse, an employer and a candidate will be able to meet without the need to travel to the head office. The interview can be conducted using 3D technology and VR goggles.

The Metaverse interview’s purpose isn’t to just save time to travel. Instead of simply providing another remote video interview platform like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, the Metaverse opens new doors to interactive communication. This way, both the employer and the candidate can examine each other to decide if they’re a good fit for each other. Moreover, they can gather in spaces that look and feel real, thus making the experience more comfortable.

In the same interview with The Verge, Zuckerberg explained: “The interactions that we have will be a lot richer, they’ll feel real. In the future, instead of just doing this over a phone call, you’ll be able to sit as a hologram on my couch, or I’ll be able to sit as a hologram on your couch, and it’ll actually feel like we’re in the same place, even if we’re in different states or hundreds of miles apart. So, I think that that is really powerful.”

Alongside behavioural and situational interview questions, a set of tasks can be implemented in the process to evaluate how candidates deal with business-as-usual tasks. As the Metaverse is designed with remote working in mind, a virtual reality interview allows the employer to test how each candidate will work in such an environment.

The applicant is also able to bring to the table a wealth of portfolio, showcasing data, video, and statistics in 3D to better illustrate their experience and skill set.

How to prepare for a job interview in the Metaverse

An interview in the Metaverse is not much different from one in real life, simply because the Metaverse mimics our physical reality. And just as you would prepare well for one in the head office, so should you for one in the virtual space with a few extra steps:

• Make sure that all your virtual reality technology is set up and working and that you have a reliable VR headset. The last thing you want is to have a technical issue that prevents you from carrying out the interview.
• Dress your avatar appropriately. In the Metaverse, you choose an avatar to represent you. While you can design your avatar however you choose, make sure you pick one that is suitable for interviews and job environments. Just like you would wear chic flared pants and a floral blouse matched with black ankle boots in real life, dress your avatar smart.
• Make sure you use security best practices when it comes to your sensitive personal data and internet connection. To avoid malware, update your anti-malware solutions and don’t download data from apps that look suspicious.
• Use traditional interview preparation steps. A metaverse interview is still an interview, so you should arrive prepared with information on your potential job role and details about your employers.

The world is changing rapidly and so is the way we interact with each other. Bridging the gap between physical and virtual reality, we’re stepping into a world of advanced, augmented communication. 

Businesses are seeing the benefits of the Metaverse as a form of remote collaboration, and interviews in that space are the first step to testing not only the candidate’s abilities but also the Metaverse’s capability to act as a next-level working environment.

Sources

https://www.globalnetbit.com/featured/a-basic-introduction-to-metaverse-and-its-advantages/

https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview

https://zety.com/blog/hr-statistics

https://www.jobscan.co/blog/99-percent-fortune-500-ats/

https://www.employmentking.co.uk/interviews/what-will-a-job-interview-in-the-metaverse-look-like/#:~:text=Job%20Interviews%20Conducted%20in%20the%20Metaverse%20It%20is,will%20be%20able%20to%20%E2%80%98show%20off%E2%80%99%20their%20competencies

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