#402 Transforming Financial Services with AI and Cloud: Alina Timofeeva on Digital Strategy

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Mehmet: Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO show with Mehmet. Today I'm very pleased joining me, Alina Timofeeva. Alina, thank you very much for joining me here today. The way I love to do it, as I was telling you before we start, I like my guests to introduce themselves. So tell [00:01:00] us a little bit about you, about your journey and what you are currently up to.

Mehmet: Just for the audience, we're going to talk too much today about, you know, digital transformation, AI and all these hot topics. So Alina, the floor is yours.

Alina: Okay. Thank you so much for met for introducing me and for inviting me today. Um, I'm very happy to be on the show. I guess my journey is I came to UK 10 years ago.

Alina: I started as a graduate in Accenture and then had a career throughout KPMG and Oliver Wyman very much focusing on digital transformation, cloud technology and the risk and rec angles. A lot of the stuff which I've been doing was a mix between both the implementation, the advisory and the strategy. And I think because of this, I gained a lot of exposure to the C suite, both the CEOs, the CIOs and the CTOs in terms of what they are thinking about on their digital transformations.

Alina: I'm very much [00:02:00] focused on financial services. And, uh, I think all the examples that may be given today are more of the financial services, the large banks. Like HSBC, JP Morgan, Accredits, WIS and the likes of the similar banks I worked with.

Mehmet: Great. Thank you again, Alina, for, for, you know, joining me here today.

Mehmet: Uh, and I really appreciate the time, um, you know, you're going to share with us and with the audience. So, and thank you of course, of sharing your journey also as well. So we talk about digital transformation a lot, especially on, on my show and I like always to hear, you know, different perspectives from different, uh, thought leaders like yourself, Alina, because everyone see things from, you know, I would say the corners that they have spotted before.

Mehmet: And because you just mentioned, like you, you talk about financial institutions and like big banks and all, and all, you know, these, uh, uh, [00:03:00] large enterprises. So. I know that there are challenges when we talk about digital transformation and the digital transformation We know the term has been around for years, but we always keep hearing about you know, um Some challenges that they faced, you know The aim that they started with Changed over time and they start to have also some struggles And not only the transformation in the way like yeah, okay, like we to shift to the cloud let's say and then the the the You know, mission is complete, but also to keep innovating.

Mehmet: So I would love to hear, you know, your point of view on on this matter from someone who's been doing this for a long time, like yourself, Alina.

Alina: Yeah, so I think that there are a few strategic questions from the digital part. The large financial institutions are looking to answer. So some of them are around the cost, as you know, currently the climate, the economic climate is quite difficult.

Alina: So a lot of the [00:04:00] institutions are doing the cost cutting and there are kind of two parts to it. So one, how can technology make the business more cost effective and more efficient? And the second one, how can the technology on its own, you know, the technology estate be more cost effective? So that's kind of one part.

Alina: The second part is more, as you mentioned, Mehmet, there are programs that happen and they do go wrong, whether it's the digital transformation programs or the regulatory programs, and it's essentially how can you remediate these programs in an effective way and make sure that That the technology strategy and the business strategy are fully aligned around the key KPIs, not just as the start, as you set out the program, but throughout the program.

Alina: And after, you know, the program has been delivered, and then the third part is more around the future forward looking stuff like innovation. So the key questions would be like, how can I serve my customers using technology, uh, [00:05:00] thinking going forward? If I were to drive innovation, if I were to think about customer first, how would technology support this?

Alina: So there is a lot of conversation around using data as a strategic asset. And today we'll be talking about AI and perhaps the future technologies like quantum, but it's essentially how do you think about the customer first to make sure that any of the technology transformations not only do. uh, it for the sake of the technology, but more to transform the journey of somebody like you and I and Mimet in future.

Mehmet: Absolutely. Now, you know, it's something that popped out in my mind now because Alina, you worked a lot with C suite, I mean, with the board, on the board level. Um, I've read a very interesting, uh, study by IBM, um, which, you know, the conclusion is that the C level. Other than the CIOs, of course, and the CDOs, [00:06:00] they think, you know, that, you know, they are not getting the best of, out of the technology and they think, you know, there's something wrong.

Mehmet: Now, that article, and for the sake of transparency, we are recording on the 3rd of October, probably this will be by the end of October. So that article was two weeks ago, and, you know, I just commented on LinkedIn. I said, I think they can't blame, you know, technology alone because the board, they didn't define, you know, the end goal from their side.

Mehmet: And they kept seeing technology as a cost center versus an You know, innovation center where something that can, you know, contribute to adding revenues, increasing the customer satisfaction and so on out of curiosity. And because, you know, I like to hear opinion off, you know, people like yourself, Alina, who have, you know, this experience and they talk to the board a lot.

Mehmet: What do you think about, you know, this, this, uh, this study? [00:07:00]

Alina: So I think that there are different angles we can look at. So for example, we've seen instances when the regulator questioned if there was a transformation, for example, the cloud transformation, how far was the board involved in this? And some of the challenges identified by the regulators was that whilst there was cloud transformation, it transformation, the board didn't have the full visibility in terms of, you know, the key KPIs, the key controls and You know, that was one of the reasons why the cloud transformation perhaps didn't achieve the business outcomes, right?

Alina: There are fundamentally, the question is, if you were to start the program, at which point do you make sure that the technology and the business go hand in hand together? As you mentioned, Mehmet, you know, you have, in many cases, the technology started the process kind of from their side or perhaps the business starting it, but they're not really aligned.

Alina: So the key to the success is that you start [00:08:00] aligning the business and the technology and the risk teams, you know, much earlier in the process. You define what the success looks like I do feel that in many of the cases the challenge is also the technology people telling their story in a more business related content To the more business related people.

Alina: So for example, I worked with one of the banks and they struggled to implement devops Holistically across the organization and they tried it three times And I think they always struggle to tell the story of their successes to the business Because the language in which they were portraying the successes of devops was more like some of the more technical kpis rather than the Uh kpis which would transform into something meaningful for the business like the efficiency the time to market You know, the cost savings, and I think it's bridging the gap between the technology in the business world and doing this earlier in the process where possible is something which would make it successful for the CEO and for the board to understand in terms of what is [00:09:00] the transformation delivering?

Alina: What is it delivering? Not just from the technology perspective, but what is the value to the customers, the value to the shareholders, and I guess the value to the organization.

Mehmet: Absolutely. And, you know, if you allow me to add my two cents, I would say also, you know, one of the things that I would not say a failure, but we didn't learn it to, to practice it the best way as, uh, technology practitioners, leaders is to learn the business language and, you know, get out from the jargons alone.

Mehmet: Um, because business people, when we talk them, Technology jargons. They would not, they would not understand what we are saying because they need to understand numbers and see figures. The second thing before I, I, I jumped to another important topic today is I believe the, you know, there's a need for doing a revolution in the naming of the it department.

Mehmet: See, I say it, [00:10:00] um, against the naming of it department, because in, my opinion, information technology, the name of the department itself, keep in people's mind that this is a, an operation unit, like same as it was back in the days and like maybe 20, 30 years back. And it should, they should come up with a new naming.

Mehmet: I don't know what is it. I'm happy with technology department, remove the information from it for a reason or another. But, yeah, like, you know, your points also are very valid on that. Now, we talk about digital transformation, we talk about innovation, we talk about all this, and you mentioned the data, which is indeed one of the most important things.

Mehmet: But, we've seen that with the rise of this digitization and adoption of all these new technologies, we have the cyber threats. On the organizations, right? And you mentioned at the beginning, uh, [00:11:00] today, Alina, that, you know, there's a regulation part of, of what we are doing also as well. So this, you know, walk me through what you are seeing from the rise of cyber breaches on, on organization in general.

Mehmet: And you're talking about financial services here, which is very important. So why should organizations and regulators and the governments Um, you know, come together and come out with, you know, a strategy and, you know, like more, uh, initiatives to avoid the breaches mainly because we know, like when we say cyber threats, we talk about, of course, encryption is one part, but what's more dangerous is the cyber breaches, which is like Connected to data privacy.

Mehmet: So I will, I will, uh, you know, give you back the stage to walk us through, through this topic.

Alina: Yeah. So I think the way I was thinking about this topic, to put it into simple business perspective. So for example, in the UK, there were, [00:12:00] Multiple breaches more recently. So one of them in June, there was an NHS cyber attack.

Alina: Then there was the IT outage, which happened in the July, which is the global outage, which everybody knows around in terms of prowl strike. Then there has been just recently a breach with Harvey Nichols, which is a big store in the UK. That was TFL, which is essentially the huge transportation system in the UK.

Alina: There has been something called post office scandal, which has been in the news quite a lot lately, and not all of this is purely cyber driven in terms of encryption. I think it's much broader than that, but essentially there are different angles. which we keep seeing. So that was, for example, a data breach in Disney, which is more in the U S recently for which they decided to stop using swap.

Alina: But essentially what we are seeing more and more right now is that these breaches are happening. They are coming [00:13:00] to the eyes of the customers like you and I, because they are in the media, they are visible and we have seen certain things happening in the UK already. So for example, in September, Two weeks ago, so on 12th of September, the UK government said that they're going to boost the resilience of the data centers.

Alina: Um, there has been a lot of media in terms of the press, in terms of what needs to happen after the IT outage, because the cyber strike outage has a vulnerability when various companies are aligned to one particular provider, which is CrowdStrike in that example. And when something went wrong with the provider, which wasn't really such a big, huge breach in terms of internally, but it managed to affect so many, uh, people and so many businesses in a very, very negative way, which weren't just the banks, but the airplane companies.

Alina: and a lot of other businesses. And so I think the way I [00:14:00] look at it is that there are three key players. So one, it's the organization themselves. I mean, we can talk about banks, but it's kind of any organization. The second part are the regulators. And the third part is the government. So what we are seeing more and more is that these bridges are holistically showing that it's not just one bank where it's happened, not just one organization, but it keeps happening over and over again.

Alina: Which is why I'm suggesting to look at the regulator and the government and not just the organization, I guess, in terms of the organization specifically, it's how they think about the operational resilience. What this practically means is whether you are a bank or an insurance company or airline. You need to make sure that your customers like you and I can continue to get the service, even if there is a breach, right?

Alina: Or if they can't get the service, they can continue to start receiving that service within an agreed, you know, ETA or SLA, [00:15:00] which could be two hours or three hours. And essentially what needs to happen is it needs to be defined as a starting point, what that service could be. So for example, with a bank, one of the key material services is making sure that the customer can make a transaction.

Alina: where the customer can withdraw cash from the bank account or the customer can take out cash from, you know, the machine. Uh, so that is like one of the examples of the basic material service, which the bank needs to provide. And obviously if there was an instance like crowd strike and if a customer like you and I was not able to make payments, say for 24 hours, or more than 24 hours, that's going to be completely outside of the tolerance of what the bank could should be offering to its customers, which could lead to various legal risks, uh, and various concerns and also breach of customer trust.

Alina: So I think the importance there, and we can talk about it maybe in the next question, is focusing on the [00:16:00] resilience within the bank for which there are many things that need to be done. And many people have done it in a more theoretical way, but in many cases they haven't tested for these uncommon scenarios, which could potentially happen.

Alina: But nobody has ever predicted for them. Like CrowdStrike wasn't something which was expected, and whilst it wasn't on the outside something major, right, so it wasn't some sort of a war, or like it was just an update, it didn't manage to impact quite a lot of organizations in a negative way.

Mehmet: Right, Alina.

Mehmet: While you're talking, you know, there was immediately some questions popping out of my head. And, you know, it's you, you guess they're gonna ask some follow up question. Um, personally, I've been in, in, in, in the industry of, uh, business continuity for, for long enough, I would say one. And I've seen it on all, all sides of the table.[00:17:00]

Mehmet: Um, what surprised me that two things, right? And you talked about the resiliency, which is, this is what I'm going to ask you. But first, because resiliency requires some, some planning and, you know, part of the planning is to have your business continuity plan, right? Um, yeah. Out of curiosity, you know, do you think like sometimes, and this is more not related to technology, it's more related to human nature that we like to cut shortcuts because, you know, we say, ah, okay, you know what?

Mehmet: Um, I shifted to the cloud. It's not my problem anymore. You know, the resiliency, it's the cloud provider problem, right? Um, You know what? This is something that might happen How like how often gonna happen one in I don't know ten thousand one in a hundred thousand I will skip it for now. I don't want to put costs on that Do you think this is part of the problem alina?[00:18:00]

Mehmet: Do you think like also we underestimate? Because you brought the CrowdStrike story here. Do you think we underestimate also, um, the factor of the supply chain? Because, you know, we have a supply chain here. So why these things still happens and why more than any time before with all, we are going all digital and we're going to come to AI very soon.

Mehmet: Why it's important to sit down, stop cutting shortcuts, Stop saying no, this will not happen to me and focus on the resiliency

Alina: Yeah, so I think that there are a few things, uh, just to mention on that So for example, there are certain banks that are fully based on one of the cloud providers Let's take AWS as an example And you know, we may have requested a banking authorization.

Alina: They may have said Here are the you know, 10 20 instances when there was a breach when AWS was not available [00:19:00] Right. But the probability of this happening again is 0. 01%. Not necessarily because the breach is not going to happen, but because, you know, the bank is built in a way that if one region goes off, then it goes back to another region, then it goes back to the third region.

Alina: So the probability of the Three regions going off at the same time is very slow, very low, right? Which is 0. 01 percent in that example. So I think that there are some institutions that think about it in advance, right? But they are, as you mentioned, reliant on this. There is a second part, which is the actual business continuity or disaster recovery.

Alina: So there is the regulator requirement in the UK and in Europe that you need to task those plants, right? And I think where organizations could fall short is whilst they have the processes and the policies in place, uh, they don't always see. Test these funds thoroughly, in particular, because it's more onerous and more costly exercise.

Alina: And I think that there are [00:20:00] different parts in those funds for some of it is the technology, right? What happens if it goes down? But the other part is the human aspect. So I think one of the challenges with the crowd strike was more that, you know, whilst the situation has happened, perhaps the businesses didn't know how to react to it and didn't know how to react to it fast enough.

Alina: You know, how they could provide the communication both to the customers and both internally in terms of what is happening, because this may not have been the event which they have, uh, catered for. And I think in terms of the supply chain of third parties, there is a question of what are the various scenarios.

Alina: Right, which you should be thinking about. And typically, there are certain scenarios which may be happening much more often for which people tend to cater. But then the question is, should you cater for those improbable scenarios? So, 1 of the things I think it's called CSRD, which is the regulation. It asks.

Alina: Some of the organizations in financial services to focus on [00:21:00] those very minimal probability scenarios for the business risk. It's not necessarily from the business continuity aspect, but they have to define, for example, if tomorrow there was a war in Middle East, which I know it was. It's kind of more happening now, but two years ago, nobody thought about it.

Alina: Uh, how is it going to impact you as a business in terms of the cost in terms of the revenue, but I guess you could also think about the technology and all the other purchases. Um, so I think that there is an angle where organizations should be thinking about it, but obviously given the efficiencies and the cost, we see that they would probably plan for the more typical scenarios and the less typical scenarios and the less.

Alina: Some of the data regulator requirement, uh, is probably not necessarily what organizations would be spending their time on just to your point moment, because they think that it's extremely unlikely for this to happen.

Mehmet: Absolutely. I mean, like this is a topic that I think is going to stay with us for a while [00:22:00] and people gonna keep learning by unfortunately losing some time.

Mehmet: So it's a, it's a. Long learning journey. And thank you for bringing up the, the, you know, my region where I, where I stay in the Middle East. And yeah, we, we can, we started to see, you know, more, uh, I would say initiatives, whether from, from the governments, whether from, you know, like the large organization.

Mehmet: And, you know, if, if we talked about these same topics, maybe I would say 10 years or even seven, five years back, we, we would not, uh, No one would listen to us. This is what I can tell you. Now, I'm liking, you know, the way how we structured, you know, this conversation with you today, Alina, because, um, we're talking about the data and importance of, you know, leveraging the data for innovation, as you mentioned, and important to have, you know, this, uh, resiliency, whether it's from [00:23:00] getting the data stolen or like getting it lost, because We know that the data is the base of ai, right?

Mehmet: Artificial intelligence and AI is everywhere, right? So, so there's, since I started the podcast, I don't remember, there is one episode I didn't have to touch on AI because it's, it's the next. Big thing or the hot thing. Although it's not new. I know this but um You mentioned that like some digital transformation initiative failed.

Mehmet: We Just said like in cyber we saw some failures as well. Uh Is it gonna happen to ai this time?

Alina: Yeah, so I think essentially if you look at it I mean I worked with god. I worked with cyber. I mean there is I know there is going to be quantum computing in future, right? So it's essentially just a new technology, which may, you know, bring the new use cases, which will make the banks [00:24:00] potentially successful.

Alina: Uh, but the challenge I see with AI is that there is a lot of hype around it, and in many cases, people seem to sell that AI is going to solve everything. Which is frankly speaking, not true, because I think that there are separate parts to this. I think it's always the question which use case you should apply AI to, uh, to make the best kind of outcome.

Alina: But the second part, as you mentioned, is you should always. Uh, when you build AI or when you have AI in plans, uh, think about it, uh, not just as a mechanism, which is going to solve everything, but as a mechanism that AI can fail as well. And there are different things which are coming out more and more often right now.

Alina: So, for example, there is AI security, which is more of a new kind of concept. Uh, for the people. There is also various use cases when you train the model, and there is something called catastrophic feeling, which essentially means that you can [00:25:00] retrain the model, but it can fail. So the importance there, similar to the business continuity, which we discussed is making sure that humans are throughout these whole processes, both in terms of training the technology, but then, you know, if anything were to go wrong.

Alina: So right now, the regulation around AI is not, uh, has not been in place for a long time. There is something called EU AI Act, European Act, which is very detailed in terms of what, uh, how AI could be regulated for. In the UK, we don't have the formal regulation yet, but we're anticipating that when it's going to come, it's going to be somewhat similar to the UAI, uh, act.

Alina: Uh, and. I think currently there is a lot of conversation, as you would see in various mediums like Financial Times and other places. Should AI be regulated or should AI not be regulated? I think at the moment, a lot of the banks are more questioning, you know, what are [00:26:00] the key AI risks? And then making sure that you have all the, let's say, infrastructure behind it.

Alina: By infrastructure, I don't mean the technology, but more similar to what we discussed, , that you are clear what the risks are. You are clear that you have the frameworks and policies in place. You are clear that the board and the CEOs are aligned in terms of what is happening so that you are not just starting with the technology, but you are kind of trying to holistically build this framework for the bank.

Alina: And then kind of. Implement the technology as part of it. Obviously, in a way, this is going all in parallel because the department would like to innovate and they don't necessarily want to work to wait for all the, you know, policies and processes to happen. And this has been the same way when we used to implement cloud, maybe eight years ago now.

Alina: Um, but I think that there is more. thinking right now, in particular with the regulation that all these frameworks are happening kind of towards the start of the journey rather than in the middle [00:27:00] or at the end.

Mehmet: Um, I think you're, you know, you touch on very, you know, great topic, I would say, Alina, regarding the regulation first.

Mehmet: Uh, and this is a debate by itself. And I think we need episodes and episodes regarding this. My just humble opinion is too much regulations and too much complication of things is not good. Usually like, because this will, will slow down innovation. Uh, again, this is my, my point of view. I respect any, any other ones, of course.

Mehmet: Um, the second one, And to your point, and, uh, this is, this is right, like just saying, okay, I'm going to implement AI for the sake, like I'm following, you know, the hype will not bring anything, right? So, because we need, I like, you know, this concept of, uh, having end in mind, right? So what are we trying to achieve?

Mehmet: If it, if AI will help us to make it faster, cheaper, better. Yes, let's, let's do [00:28:00] it. But if we are just putting a chat bot there and, you know, using an open AI API over there for the sake of having an AI powered, whatever it is, application, I'm against, you know, because there's no point of this. And I like something you mentioned at the beginning, Alina, it's about customer centricity and following what the customers want, right?

Mehmet: So. And you know, like in the podcast, I cover large companies as also, I love, I cover, you know, stories and the topics about startups. And this is what I tell, you know, every time entrepreneurs that I meet, whether on the show or outside of the show, go and listen to what your customers want. And if AI is something that can Really put you in the next level and you know, take your business to you know, where you want it to be Yes, of course like put put ai everywhere in your application or in your business or whatever it is so 100 on this point now, um,

Alina: I think just just to add momentum, you know, [00:29:00] we talked about uh renaming it department into something.

Mehmet: Yes

Alina: It's the same with AI. So think about AI. I mean, it's not about AI. So one of the things I advocate for is decision intelligence. So essentially, one of the things around AI, it allows you to go through a vast amount of data. And if it is successful to bring to a certain conclusion in a faster and more efficient way, and then you can bring insights out of the discussion.

Alina: But I think fundamentally we think about the customer or even the bank, right? It's essentially around which decisions you want to drive and how intelligent you want to be around your decisions. And fundamentally, there are two things that help you reach the outcome. So one is luck and the second is the good decision making.

Alina: So it's essentially using AI, but it doesn't have to be AI, right? It can be data. It can be something else. To bring you to the decision which, uh, you are trying to make. So that's one thing. But I guess in terms of the it, if we were to [00:30:00] rename it, it would be more about, you know, it making value for the business.

Alina: And it's the same concept with ai. How would the AI or IT, or technology or data bring the data to, uh, bring the value to the business? So I think he should be talking about things like, you know, not necessarily. Data, you know, in just in the concepts of the cyber stuff in terms of keeping it safe and secure, but more kind of forward looking, how they'll support, uh, the intelligence, the decision making, maybe the, how can data be the strategic asset or data and AI be a strategic asset.

Alina: But I guess what I'm advocating for is whether it's cloud or whether it's AI or whether it's any other technology, it's just a tool. to meet certain mechanisms which the customer needs to achieve, right? And if you are a bank or if you are any other company, essentially it's a way for you to achieve it in a perhaps better way with [00:31:00] certain thinking about the various risks and perhaps regulations on your journey.

Mehmet: Absolutely. Um, so we, for the AI specifically, um, where are you seeing it coupled? Because you mentioned quantum computing multiple times, Alina. And quantum computing is one of the emerging technologies that, you know, from as far in, in my, again, humble personal view, the promised benefits going to be huge.

Mehmet: And, you know, AI is already accelerating, you know, our You know, evolution, I would say, and revolution from how we live, do business and all this. So, and again, as an expert and a strategic advisor and as someone who have, you know, done a lot of initiatives in this domain, Alina, tell me [00:32:00] more about You know, how do you envision coupling all these emerging technologies together?

Mehmet: So A. I. Quantum computing. Maybe maybe there are some other stuff you're seeing on the rise as well that Is about to really change things at a larger and faster scale than what we are just seeing now with the AI. So what's your point of view on this?

Alina: Well, I mean, if we look historically, some of the organizations are still using mainframe, right?

Alina: So the next step was to move to cloud. Then the next step out of cloud was to leverage the cloud data and cloud AI. So there are various use cases around it by conversational AI, for example, and then the next step would be quantum. Now, at the moment, quantum, frankly speaking, is also more of a unknown concept.

Alina: I know that people are talking about it. I know that next year is going to be the quantum year by [00:33:00] United Nations. They have said that it's going to be the quantum year. So I think it's going to be a very popular discussion topic in places like world economic forum, et cetera. Uh, what I have seen with quantum now more is there are certain organizations that are investing in it, for example, one is IBM, and then there are certain organizations, for example, Terra quantum, which are looking from the engineering side into this.

Alina: What I haven't seen yet in detail is, you know, how banks are looking to, uh, absorb this, right? So I think the stage at which banks are right now, they're more trying to understand the strategy, the use cases, right? Not necessarily implementing it right now. So it's not necessarily something which, you know, I'll say tomorrow quantum computing will be in every single bank.

Alina: But I think if you are a part of the innovation team, you know, there are some POCs which may be happening. There is some thinking around it happening now, and I know that some [00:34:00] banks may have done this in the past, including the large global banks in terms of the thinking and continue to do this going forward.

Alina: Um, I think the thinking ultimately is. When you have as a bank, when you have a vast amount of data, which frankly speaking is a starting point needs to be in good shape and quality to be able to do anything with it, which is still not the case in many of the places. Then you can use all these technologies on top to try to.

Alina: drive, you know, efficiencies and cost efficiencies out of it. Unfortunately, what we tend to see, if we take even cloud as an example, organizations have spent a lot of time going to cloud and efforts and what was promised has still not yet been achieved in many of the places. So coming to the original point of the podcast is how can you start a team unit earlier in the process?

Alina: So that the business and technology go hand in hand together versus like doing it first one way and then kind of [00:35:00] trying to remediate it the other way. So we've seen it with cloud. Uh, it may happen with AI. I mean, with quantum, I think it's a little bit further ahead. So I think that the key question with all these technologies, which may be coming and have been coming.

Alina: It's how do you align your strategic vision from the start rather than from the end and making sure that the C suite, the CEO, the board are kind of on board in terms of what this technology may be bringing from the cost perspective, the customer perspective, the efficiency perspective, and kind of planning for it holistically.

Alina: from the start, rather than, you know, putting things into the data lake and then figuring out you can't really do stuff with it.

Mehmet: Right. Absolutely. I mean, I really, I enjoyed, you know, the flow of, of this conversation with you today and, uh, you know, we could have gone like hours on each of these topics, but as we are coming almost to, to, to the end, just.

Mehmet: You know, uh, finally words of wisdom I would say from your side and where [00:36:00] people can get in touch with you

Alina: Yeah, so I think the final words of wisdom is I think it's always about reinventing and innovation But there are the key principles that follow in this follow you in the same way and ultimately it's about ensuring the customer trust And making sure that you build it and if something happens, restore it.

Alina: So ideally you would plan for any failures so that this process of restoring trust doesn't take you too long, because I know that customers get excited, they hear about the hype, and then when something goes wrong, they get very dissatisfied. And then you kind of spend more time remediating the dissatisfaction of the customers and then making them excited again, which is why it's very important to build for the failures.

Alina: I guess in terms of where you can find me, uh, it's largely my LinkedIn, which I'm sure a moment you can put In the information and I'm posting various stories around technology AI IT The various failures how to overcome them [00:37:00] and I personally believe that it's not just the failure of the technology per se But it's also the people that Make sure, you know, that this technology works properly and if something fails, they never give up in terms of restoring it and making sure that, you know, the customers like you and I can rely on technology as much as possible and get the benefits which they were promised, which they thought they're going to get.

Mehmet: Absolutely. Uh, again, I didn't, I thank you very much. I know like how much you've got a busy schedule. So thank you for taking this time today to share your experience, your insights, uh, about all things, digital transformation, cloud AI, and of course, cyber resiliency. So thank you again for that. And as you said, yes, I would put the link it in profile, link the show notes.

Mehmet: So if you are listening to this podcast on one or your, on your favorite podcasting application, so you'll find that in the show notes. If you're watching this, uh, on YouTube, you would find [00:38:00] this in the description. And this is how I usually end my, uh, episodes. This is for the audience. If you just discovered this podcast by luck, thank you for passing by.

Mehmet: I hope you enjoyed if you did so. Give us a thumb up subscribe and share it with your friends and colleagues And if you are one of the people who keep coming back ask me about you know, some topics suggest me Guests or they give me feedbacks. Please keep doing so I love to hear what you got and I listen to all your Suggestions and all your questions.

Mehmet: So keep them coming. Thank you very much for tuning in and we'll meet again very soon Thank you. Bye. Bye