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Unlock the Secrets to Fintech Success by Building a Successful Team with Timothy Partasevitch, Chief Growth Officer at Smart IT
Episode 42 • 2nd July 2023 • Fintech Confidential • DD3, Media
00:00:00 00:39:24

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Tim is the Chief Growth Officer of Smart IT, a company specializing in fintech solutions. He shares insights into Smart IT's mission and its expertise in the fintech industry.

Three key points in this episode :

1️⃣ Smart IT utilizes a global talent pool for software development, reducing costs and improving their clients' efficiency.

2️⃣ Tim delves into the benefits and obstacles of managing distributed teams and the value of prioritizing customer feedback and user experience.

3️⃣ The challenges faced in recruiting the right talent in the software industry and the importance of establishing effective people and processes.

Also, watch the entire episode on youtube.

https://youtu.be/jeSXL8d1ZKg

Links:

Smart IT

Company Website: Smart IT https://smart-it.io/

Company LinkedIn: Smart IT on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/smart-it.io/

Tim Linkedin: Tim Partasevitch on Linkedin https://by.linkedin.com/in/tim-partasevitch

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Support is provided by Solvpath, an A.I.-driven customer support system that uses a visual format and self-serve technology to quickly and effectively resolve issues, resulting in satisfying support experiences for customers.

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Time Stamps:

[00:00:00] Facilitate business growth through tech.

[00:04:03] Never assume: Fintech expertise grows.

[00:08:10] Fintech disrupts traditional banking: 6

[00:11:35] Cutting budget with remote teams.

[00:16:10] Pick right team lead for success.

[00:20:07] Manage distributed teams efficiently.

[00:23:22] SmartIT: People-focused tech solutions.

[00:27:11] Hire right, listen, ask questions, and manage expectations.

[00:30:54] Build team long-term vision.

[00:34:22] Manage technical debt: multiply, not add.

This is a Production of Diamond D3, Media

ABOUT:

Tim Partasevitch: Tim is a sales and marketing specialist, who solves business challenges like an engineer by focusing on data insights, analyzing what works, what doesn’t, and what can be improved from a technical and financial perspective. Over the years, he has supported transforming new clients into long-term partners and expanded services provided in the workspace, ultimately facilitating revenue generation and business success. Tim strongly believes that you can’t be in charge of the outcome and results. However, you are 100% in charge of the input.

Smart IT: Smart IT eliminates the headache of finding custom software development talent. We will build dedicated software development teams or let clients hand-pick the top software engineers to complement their in-house teams. Matching our expertise with business needs. Smart IT is among the top custom software development companies in the USA. We value each and every one of our clients, be they a Fortune 100 company or an emerging startup.

Tedd Huff: President & Founder of Diamond D3, a professional services consulting firm focused on global payments and marketing. He is also a video podcast host and producer of Fintech Confidential and Head of Corporate Strategy at Corvia. 

Over the past 24 years, he has contributed to FinTech startups as an Advisory Board Member, Co-Founder, and Chief Experience Officer, providing strategic and tactical direction for Global Payments OpenEdge, Heartland Payments, Nuvei, and TSYS, among others, focusing on growth while delivering innovation, process improvements and user experience-driven value to simplify the complexity of payments.

Diamond D3, Media: A media creation, management, and production company delivering engaging content globally

Transcripts

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

nowadays there's actually many

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

opportunities to cut down on the budget and, reduce the cost of operations.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

With what we are doing right now, you can tap into more IT and software

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

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development talent than ever before.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

They're not constrained to their local market and they can actually work

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

for other companies across ... The country, across the region, even

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

like across the oceans if they wish.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

If your company back in the days, in Silicon Valley, well you gotta

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

pay engineers in Silicon Valley.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

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And they cost quite a bit.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

But nowadays,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

you can still have your office in California, but a hire developer in

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Utah, or in somewhere in Europe, like Poland, Romania, without actually

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

sacrificing any sort of like quality, and without pushing the deadlines,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

and altering your roadmap too much.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

The most common cause of bad customer experience.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Isn't that high tech.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

It's embarrassingly simple.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Yep.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

It's answering questions.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

In e-commerce, it's really easy to get bogged down with common questions.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Whether that's, where's my package, how do I return or exchange this item,

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

or just to cancel a subscription?

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Solvpath is an AI-driven customer support system that enhances the

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

customer experience with visual formats and self-serve technology

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

to empower your customers to handle their own support requests.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Get the best customer support system for your business.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Get Solvpath.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Get started by visiting getsolvpath.com.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Welcome to FinTech Confidential, bringing you the people, tech and companies

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

that change how you pay and get paid

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

tim, welcome to the show.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Thanks for having me

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

the pleasure is mine

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Tim is the Chief Growth Officer at Smart

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

IT, and previous to that, he served as Vice President of Strategic Marketing

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

at Smart Nordic, and he led Strategic Marketing and SEO, as well as Content at

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

MEDvidi, Online Medical Health Service.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And for Smart IT they really are lucky to have him because it's a

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

team of programming professionals and business experts who are

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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dedicated to helping businesses grow through building custom software.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Now they have a long track record of success with over nine and a

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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half years, and they use the most modern and innovative technologies to

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

bring those client's ideas to life.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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It's served over 46 clients in 47 countries.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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It's almost a one-to-one ratio.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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And their custom software development is really focused on startups.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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As well as SaaS, application development among many, many other different things.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And one of the things I thought was really interesting is how it is

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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all distributed and how they manage all those distributed developers

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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and employees across the company.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Now, Tim, I've tried my best to describe the experience, your experience, and

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

in the company, but how would you best describe the Smart IT mission

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

and how are you driving the growth?

IT:

Couldn't say be better myself, to be honest.

IT:

The overall mission of Smart IT is to facilitate business growth through

IT:

technology, and through actually people.

IT:

The statement and mission of Smart IT is to build dedicated teams of programming

IT:

and business expert for our clients.

IT:

So it's more about people rather than just being about the technology.

IT:

Technology is obviously, is always just a tool, at the business and the

IT:

people, the thing that actually drives the success, that's kind of like the

IT:

philosophy behind, Smart IT is if you have good people, and good processes,

IT:

everything else will take care of itself.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And how are you driving growth,

IT:

Our clients will range from startups

IT:

to Fortune 500 companies, and they all have pretty similar goals and

IT:

objectives, that we try to solve.

IT:

Today there's like this, I wouldn't say there's a shortage of experts, but it's

IT:

very difficult nowadays because of how,

IT:

complicated,

IT:

the world of software has become,

IT:

it's very difficult to find the right person

IT:

that matches with your business.

IT:

If we talk about Fintech and financial industry in particular, and

IT:

insurance would be a great examples of

IT:

such things where you have to find the right people for the job.

IT:

And the purpose of Smart IT is actually to drive growth

IT:

through bringing you the people

IT:

that will deliver the end product.

IT:

I usually say in business development and in sales, there are three

IT:

things, that you need to stress when, negotiating with the customer.

IT:

Those would be the revenue costs and risks.

IT:

How can you make your customer make money?

IT:

How can you

IT:

help them save money?

IT:

And how can you help them

IT:

mitigate any particular risks?

IT:

So what Smart IT does, we try to minimize the cost of, recruitment of

IT:

IT professionals for you and minimize any sort of risks associated with,

IT:

developer churn rate and, unfit talent.

IT:

For example, we have very low, below 10% churn rate for our developers on average,

IT:

and the industry standard is around 20%.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

I didn't realize it.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

The industry average is at about 20%.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

That is huge.

IT:

In the past several years the market

IT:

was really good to develop as anyone who's done some programming.

IT:

The market was really booming, and there's a lot of job openings.

IT:

There are far more job openings than their IT professionals actually.

IT:

So developers are really encouraged to switch jobs and look for better.

IT:

And if you have a competitor, can offer them a better job.

IT:

Well, there's nothing stopping them really to leave.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Finding the right talent and being

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

specific into Fintech, I mean, this is Fintech Confidential.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

How did Smart IT get into Fintech?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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I mean we always have this falling into Fintech story cuz you don't get into

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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Fintech cuz that's where you want to go.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You generally go into Fintech because something pulls you into it.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

What is the story for Smart IT?

IT:

The original fall into Fintech, it was

IT:

happening before I joined the team.

IT:

But, as far as I know, like the story behind it is

IT:

it's not flashy or anything.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It hardly ever is with Fintech.

IT:

Yeah yeah.

IT:

It hardly ever is, what happens is, like in one of the original projects

IT:

for, Smart IT was, one of the partners,

IT:

called ByCard, which is the ticketing service.

IT:

There was a lot of

IT:

integration with banking systems and payment solutions that were

IT:

necessary to deliver the project.

IT:

Then the case study was published and the rumors spread around in our network.

IT:

Then people just approach, oh, you've done this sort of project before.

IT:

We actually need people who can do the same for us, and you have, doing

IT:

the same project and then you have some new experience and new expertise

IT:

that you pick up along the way.

IT:

And then you have the second and the third.

IT:

It actually ended up that Smart IT was developing, redeveloping, and revamping

IT:

the document management system for one of the largest banking conglomerates.

IT:

Step by step, there is no like glorious glamorous, fall into Fintech when

IT:

you just, find the silver bullet and suddenly you are the Fintech expert.

IT:

Now, it usually takes years and years, and gradually step by step,

IT:

you grow your expertise and you become more competent in that field.

IT:

Fintech is no exception.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

What do you think the biggest lesson

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

that Smart IT has learned about Fintech so far?

IT:

The biggest lesson about Fintech, I think is like

IT:

never assume that you know everything.

IT:

I would say that would be the biggest lesson, the Fintech is very

IT:

interesting, similar to insurance and I would say even healthcare.

IT:

Those markets they're very region specific because you have

IT:

laws and regulations for each individual region

IT:

and they can actually shape the technology solution that is required.

IT:

Different countries have different level of adoption of online

IT:

and, digital banking in general.

IT:

So some countries they're really good at it,

IT:

some countries they're not.

IT:

If you even talk about first world countries, in Europe for example,

IT:

Germany is way behind everyone else in terms of banking adoption.

IT:

It's funny because like in Germany they all always used cash and

IT:

they were really pushed towards adopting digital solution during the pandemic

IT:

when you actually cannot use cash and everything should be done remotely

IT:

and studying the market, studying the regulations of the region, and

IT:

understanding what, the user base of that region is very important.

IT:

Fintech becomes more about collaboration between the actual

IT:

developments and the business part of any application and software.

IT:

Cause you cannot just assume that, one solution fits all.

IT:

And different regulations, different, obviously local banks

IT:

have different APIs and integrations.

IT:

Each time you need to relearn everything.

IT:

Some things stay pretty much the same, but, whenever you enter a new region in

IT:

Fintech, it's pretty much a new learning.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

With Fintech it originally,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

that name really came out of

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

all the disruptive technologies that

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

were really pushing out banks and all traditional financial

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

institution type things.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Now it kind of encompasses those as well, which I find kind of hilarious.

IT:

Originally I think the Fintech was supposed to

IT:

be kinda this, standalone, yeah, anti-bank, some alternative to bank.

IT:

But, over the years, I think they resulted interior hybrid between two of them.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

So when you look at that, can

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

you share like any notable trends or disruptions that you're seeing

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

in the Fintech market currently?

IT:

I think, utilization of microservices, in

IT:

Fintech is, a big trend nowadays.

IT:

From a technical perspective, obviously that would be like using the technology

IT:

integrating to different micro services

IT:

That would be the technology trend that I see from the business perspective.

IT:

And also from the technology standpoint as well.

IT:

I would say great focus on user experience because back then, when, especially

IT:

with traditional banks, they were kinda like, if you're a client of a bank,

IT:

you don't have a choice but to use this, the online banking that

IT:

this bank actually provides you.

IT:

But now with Fintech, applications like Wise, Revolut, et cetera, et cetera,

IT:

there's a far more emphasis on user experience and user interface and

IT:

making sure that, you provide the best experience ever because actually now

IT:

you can lose customers to competitor.

IT:

While before that, it was pretty much a monopoly on your client.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

what kind of opportunities do you

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

see for these financial technology or Fintech companies to continue to

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

push ahead as they're getting a little bit more pressure on their budgets?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

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We're at a point right now where budgets are getting compressed

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

... The technology needs are actually

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Tell me about how, what opportunities you see, not just for Smart IT,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

but also for those businesses that are feeling that crunch.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

In terms of opportunity, you mean

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

like from, what can they utilize to push ahead or like in the market?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

How can they maybe reassess

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

... You have a companies that are like,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

We've got all these things that we need to, I'm gonna use

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

air quotes, need to get done.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

What opportunities do they have to look at ways of delivering all of that if they

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

want to, or what kind of opportunities do they have to identify maybe the items

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

that have the biggest bang for the buck?

IT:

Identifying like the bigger bank of buckets.

IT:

It's always a gamble like any business, it's business investment.

IT:

You don't know if it's gonna pay out and what the returns

IT:

on your investment will be.

IT:

I think that, nowadays there's actually many opportunities

IT:

to cut down on the budget and, reduce the cost of operations.

IT:

With what we are doing in other companies like ours, is you right now,

IT:

you can tap into more IT and software development talent than ever before.

IT:

Cause the pandemic kinda pushed us to remote workspace, and many

IT:

developers actually realized that they're not constrained to their

IT:

local market and they can actually work for other companies across

IT:

... Across the country, across the region,

IT:

Time zones can be a little bit of a challenge sometimes

IT:

... But there's nothing you cannot solve.

IT:

And companies are already prepared.

IT:

So the pandemic and remote work kinda push the companies to be more

IT:

willing to accept remote workers.

IT:

If your company back in the days, in Silicon Valley, well you gotta

IT:

pay engineers in Silicon Valley.

IT:

And they cost quite a bit.

IT:

But nowadays,

IT:

you can still have your office in California, but a hire developer in Utah,

IT:

or in somewhere in Europe, like Poland, Romania, countries where the living

IT:

standards, and cost of living is much smaller and thus the salary expectation of

IT:

a developer would be much, much smaller.

IT:

Thus you can cut down on your budget significantly there without actually

IT:

sacrificing any sort of like quality, and without pushing the deadlines,

IT:

and altering your roadmap too much.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Using external teams to support

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

development needs, is one of the big

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

... That is what Smart IT does.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And there could be a ton of factors that make it more way, way, way, way I've

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

done it myself, but it makes it way more difficult than is actually needed.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

How is Smart IT positioning themselves as visionary leaders, on

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

working with integrated partners or integration partners and customers

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

to really build that experience for that company's customers?

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Pretty much it all comes down to

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

your expertise in choosing people.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

At the end of the day, it's business, as usual, picking out

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

the right person for the job.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

So it starts with the team.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Usually, when I negotiate with the client and everything, we discuss

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

the project and picking out the right, team composition and team

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

structure, the very first thing that I say, We can pick out a team for

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

you as we see fit, if you trust us

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

... But I would insist that you would

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

go through the entire like hiring process for the team lead, at least.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Because the team leader, is the person who will be managing your

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

remote team, should be a person that you would be communicating

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

with a lot, and thus it should be a person you are comfortable with.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

That's one of the first things

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

... If you don't feel comfortable

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

... You shouldn't be working

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

That's like the biggest red flag

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

It also comes down to the person's experience.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

So you don't only look at the person's technical background,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

The guy can be, or a girl, really, really experience in banking and financial space.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

He or she can have a great deal of experience, with particular

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

technology that the client uses, but the soft skills might be lacking.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Or it might not just be the right fit, cultural fit.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Whether you like it or not.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Different companies in different countries have, different cultures.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

If you ever work with distributed teams across, multiple countries, it's

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

very difficult to actually make sure that they can communicate meaningfully

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

between each other, smoothly.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Any sort of international like teams, it usually has initial

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

intentions where people need to understand, how others work.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Mm-hmm.

IT:

Picking the right person for the right team.

IT:

For example, if you have, a client in Southeast Asia, they might

IT:

look for a very particular person.

IT:

Not a lot of talking and not they don't need too much of enthusiasm.

IT:

Like they're very straight to the point.

IT:

Give us, breakdown of the problem A, B, and C, or what's the problem,

IT:

what's the solution, five minute call and that's it, we are done.

IT:

When you're working, for example, with the team in USA, like there's

IT:

a lot more that comes down to actually interaction with the client.

IT:

Usually people are more talkative.

IT:

It's just the culture and different people tend to interact

IT:

differently with their team.

IT:

So picking the right person at the very beginning of the project I

IT:

think is one thing that you need to nail right otherwise, everything

IT:

along the road will be a bump.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

When I look at this, you mentioned,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

picking the right team lead, making sure that we have all of the

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

cohesiveness between the cultures.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Does that go beyond the team lead and the company?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

How are you managing the cohesiveness between the total development team,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

especially when working on a financial technology product that is region

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

specific how do you make sure that they're cohesive and being able to

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

understand and deliver on that mission?

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Comes down to vetting, the person.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

You need a really competent guy, in charge of hiring process.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

That's what you need.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

You need somebody who understands the problem that the client has.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

This person during the interview needs to be able to drill down

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

and ask all the right questions.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Usually it requires a great deal of like technical expertise that,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

for example, I don't possess.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

I'm really good at evaluating people based on their soft skills and when

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

they can be a right fit to a particular, client on the business side of things.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

And I can judge really well usually whether they'll be very

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

comfortable talking with each other.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

But I'm not really good

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

... I lack technical knowledge, evaluating

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

from a technical perspective.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

So again, just as technology becomes more complicated,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

so does the hiring process.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

You actually need several stages of the interview.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

That's why many companies actually employ several stages of the interview.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

First, you have general HR, but they just evaluate the CV and

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

saying, this person looks like he or she could be a good fit for us.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

They can do the job and they have experience necessary then comes the

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

technical, evaluation where you need to drill down into their expertise, whether

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

they have, necessary knowledge and whether they have a necessary mindset

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

to learn because you don't expect, a person to know everything right away,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

but you kinda present them with the questions and put them in a situation.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

They might learn, obviously, and then you should evaluate their

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

soft skills that they had and make.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

After those three stages of the interview on, then you can go to the client and say,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

I think I found the right person for you.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

The most common cause of bad customer experience,

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

isn't that high tech.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

It's embarrassingly simple.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Yep.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

It's answering questions.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

In e-commerce, it's really easy to get bogged down with common questions,

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

whether that's Where's my package, how do I return or exchange this item?

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Or just to cancel a subscription.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Solvpath is an AI driven customer support system that enhances the

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

customer experience with visual formats and self-serve technology.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

To empower your customers to handle their own support requests, get

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

the best customer support system for your business, get Solvpath.

d Huff | Fintech Confidential:

Get started by visiting getsolvpath.com.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

all of this is around distributed teams,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

and I know personally cuz I've managed a handful of distributed teams myself.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

it's really hard, one to get everybody on the same page, two, to make sure

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

they're speaking the same language.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

But the third one that a lot of people don't think about is how to manage the

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

HR side of the house, making sure you're getting the right technology, you're

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

getting the right taxes, you're making sure that they're properly vetted cuz

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

every country has a different way to prove that the person really is the person.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

All those different things.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Smart IT built a product internally to really help manage.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

All of that.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Walk us through what you guys do, to manage that and how that

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

helps your clients and others manage their distributed teams.

IT:

The platform called Juggl, that we've

IT:

developed, it is used for consolidating of interview, payroll, and HR processes.

IT:

We built originally for ourselves and we looked at the business model

IT:

and after refining everything we say

IT:

... Yeah, this needs to be in the

IT:

We are not the only one who experienced such problems.

IT:

Basically in the single platform, what we've combined is a platform

IT:

where you can pick out a talent and walk them through the entire, hiring

IT:

process and, keep a full view.

IT:

Because if you have worked in any sort of outsourcing or out staffing company,

IT:

you realize how messy the process of, onboarding anybody really is.

IT:

Because you have a Sales Manager who talks to the client, a sales manager,

IT:

they need to relay everything to the Tech Lead, who need to relay everything to the

IT:

HR lead, and then they find a potential candidate, and it goes all the way back

IT:

to the client through several steps.

IT:

So we build a platform that combines and gets everyone in one ecosystem.

IT:

So everyone is always, on a single page.

IT:

We created like a like really nice combined view to see like the entire

IT:

journey of all the candidates and to ensure that on every step of the way

IT:

... Everyone, including the Client, Tech Lead,

IT:

each candidate, and how to onboard them.

IT:

Regarding like the onboarding and managing what you've

IT:

mentioned, like taxes and payroll.

IT:

Now that just comes down to capabilities of your legal department,

IT:

whether you can do or cannot do it.

IT:

How we usually handle everything, is we actually contract or onboard,

IT:

the developers', full-time employees at Smart IT and create like a

IT:

custom contract with our client.

IT:

Client actually need to pay only us and then we handle all the taxes,

IT:

all the payrolls, everything.

IT:

But they see obviously the breakdown.

IT:

They see how much the developer costs them, what is their salary, what are

IT:

the taxes that they're paying, and what is like the general fee that

IT:

Smart IT, takes for our services.

IT:

One of the things that I think is often overlooked when onboarding, people into

IT:

the team and managing distributed teams is actually when you have people in

IT:

different countries and they never see each other in person, it's very difficult

IT:

to kinda bring out this team spirit.

IT:

I kinda like to make sure that the people that work for you in other parts

IT:

of the world feel like they're part of your team, feel like they're part of

IT:

Smart IT so they're not just like the contractor that just wakes up, does

IT:

their job, and leaves and that's it.

IT:

Like for them it's job for you, the contractor.

IT:

In this way.

IT:

If you set it up as this, it's just contractor, employer, employee

IT:

relationship, that's where you get a really big churn rate.

IT:

Cause there's no, pride, there's no loyalty and you shouldn't expect, cause

IT:

you, you've put no work actually in it.

IT:

So what we are trying also at Smart IT to do is put a lot of emphasis on the

IT:

HR in terms of bringing people together that mean like creating virtual events

IT:

between all the team members, making sure that, the onboarding present

IT:

kit really working really well.

IT:

Making sure that everyone gets like merchandise, those little things.

IT:

Like for you, like you might think, well, that, that's silly.

IT:

You have in a market that says Smart IT.

IT:

But when you see it every day and you have a merge and you see the

IT:

logo every day, you actually start feeling like you are part of the team.

IT:

When you have virtual events, when you actually meet outside of work environment

IT:

with your team members, you play tabletops or go bowling together if you are capable.

IT:

That actually helps to bring the team together just beyond this

IT:

employer, employee relationship.

IT:

At the end, what we saw, as the numbers and from the analytics is that it

IT:

decreases the churn rate significantly.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You mentioned this at the very

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

beginning of the call, right?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

The technology is a, delivery mechanism and really it's still a people business.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

As much as we try and make it

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

... Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT: Yeah.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Yay.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

and less people.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It is so much, a people business.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Even in technology, business

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

technology is just a tool.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Exactly.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You know that makes me kind of just think back and

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

... How, because we're talking

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

technology to deliver a solution.

IT:

Mm.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

How does Smart IT make sure,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

now you've gotten the good people and you've got the great team.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Now the client says, here's what I need done.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

How do you make sure that you're extracting that vision out of

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

that person's brain so that when they get the product, it comes

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

awfully darn close to matching.

IT:

It all comes down to asking the right

IT:

questions in the very beginning and managing expectations.

IT:

Any person who worked in sales knows that.

IT:

Originally, when I trained salespeople, I and business development people, I say

IT:

to them, first call ,or like discovery call, you shouldn't be talking at all.

IT:

Everyone has this image of salesperson as somebody who is very, outgoing,

IT:

extroverted, talks a lot and very oratory person, but actually the best salespeople

IT:

are the ones who know when to shut up.

IT:

With the technical discovery, it's the same.

IT:

You need those sales skills to ask the right questions and shut up.

IT:

You should listen to what the person in front of you is saying.

IT:

When you are conducting any sort of like discovery, you should be asking

IT:

questions and listening, the client should be talking, I would say at

IT:

least 70% of the time, and 30% is just you asking questions and asking

IT:

clarifying questions and discussing any sort of things that might be unclear.

IT:

Everything else is just them, expressing their vision and then you again,

IT:

cause the technology nowadays, tend to be a little bit more complex.

IT:

You need several people.

IT:

Usually you need a person who has like a good business perspective, who

IT:

understands, the macro scale vision.

IT:

And then you need people who can actually translate it really good into

IT:

technical requirements for the team.

IT:

That's where the team leads and managers actually come into play because, you

IT:

don't want just a person who's tech savvy.

IT:

You need the person who can translate from business to technology.

IT:

That's where the team leads and team managers usually come into play and the

IT:

person you need to be looking for is someone who has at least some sort of

IT:

like business analyst experience and has a really good understanding of business

IT:

model and what client wants to achieve.

IT:

Managing expectation of your client is also very, very, very important

IT:

and constant communication.

IT:

Part of the reason why so many people, switched from several years ago

IT:

from Waterfall to Agile is because you need constant communication

IT:

and constant reassessment.

IT:

Because there were too many issues and the situations where

IT:

the client has requirements

IT:

... They pass it to you, you translate

IT:

you deliver the product, and it's not what client expected at the end.

IT:

That's why the Agile is so important as a methodology of, conducting business

IT:

and development process in general.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

So we're coming towards the end.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

What do you hope that the Fintech Confidential audience walks

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

away with after watching or listening to this episode?

IT:

If not reevaluate, maybe think more a little

IT:

bit, about their hiring processes and how they evaluate the right

IT:

person for the job, what it takes to build really great development team

IT:

and what it takes to run a team.

IT:

We haven't talked about running the team and managing too much, but,

IT:

it's pretty similar to any other business, the development nowadays.

IT:

But engineers can be a little bit, specific I would say people.

IT:

Many of them, aren't very communicative at first.

IT:

And that's where actually the HR comes into play because, you need

IT:

to make sure that the person, like part of your team, don't just

IT:

treat them as a simple contractor because chances are you'll lose them.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Or, or you'll either

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

lose them

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

the, the thing about.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

a product that doesn't work.

IT:

Yeah, the project that doesn't work obviously

IT:

if you don't have enthusiastic, but, another thing that, people don't

IT:

think when they just hire a developer, they think, okay, if the developer

IT:

just walks away, I'll hire a new one.

IT:

There's a lot of things to relearn and to do if you bring out a new team of

IT:

developers because, working with existing code base is sometimes much more difficult

IT:

than writing something from the scratch.

IT:

So you don't want that.

IT:

If you want like a developers in your house or if you want to outsource

IT:

it to other company, you want them to stay for as long as you can because

IT:

each time you bring a new person, it'll be a new learning curve for them.

IT:

Especially if you hope on replacing them.

IT:

So there, so another like problem that can arise and there's even more reasons for

IT:

you to think about structuring the team.

IT:

With the long-term vision in mind.

IT:

Not only like you should think not only your product as long term, like

IT:

what's the kind of business model, how you gonna grow it, like how you gonna

IT:

bring investment further down the line.

IT:

Obviously all those questions are very important, obviously, but also you need to

IT:

think, how can I build my team long term?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Oh, long-term vision, but it always

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

comes back to the long-term vision.

IT:

Yes.

IT:

it always comes back to that, planning ahead!

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

I'm gonna go on my little

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

soapbox here real quick.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It's interesting.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You mentioned Agile and you mentioned Waterfall.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

I've transitioned companies from Waterfall to Agile and it was really interesting

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

to see how the perspective of some of the executive team that Agile just meant

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

that you decided what you were gonna work on tomorrow, or you're gonna decide what

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

you're gonna work on in the next sprint.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

That's what you did and when we were going through it, I said we

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

still have to do all of the work that you would for Waterfall to define,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

define what you want out of it.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

What are the success criteria?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You have to define that.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

The difference is instead of waiting until it's, all done, to

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

look at it and see if it's okay.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

After each deliverable product, you look to see if it's meeting expectations, so

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

you don't get to the end and realize it's the wrong thing and they had a

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

hard time wrapping their brain around the fact that you still have to.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

There's actually, honestly, in my opinion, more planning that

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

goes on when you're doing Agile than when you're doing Waterfall.

IT:

People try to always put those two into like

IT:

visualization, like infographics with arrows and everything to demonstrate.

IT:

And I always say if you are like, my background is engineering

IT:

is electrical engineering, but if you know what, like the difference

IT:

between, simple drain and Tesla valves.

IT:

Cause the Tesla valve is the drain that goes circle of several times.

IT:

And it's actually how most of your plumbing is done is to ensure, like the

IT:

smooth waterfall, because if you don't have, the constant circulation of water,

IT:

the end result is usually very messy.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Yes, yes

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

... Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

like planning, in the business.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You need to make sure that your process is very iterative, especially in the software

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

because if you made a mistake, along the way and you didn't fix it right away,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

it becomes so much more difficult to actually go back and redo

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

it because there's, you've already built this legacy.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And if you cannot extract one part of it and replace it.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It affects the entire like development process it can affect the code.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And you

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

... tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

just multiplies the technical debt.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It's a multiplier, right?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It isn't a one plus one and further back in the origination of

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

the code, the further back it is.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

The more it multiplies I always , just like when we were sizing stuff, we

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

used the Fibonacci scale, right?

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

That is the same way that technical debt builds up.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It's not linear.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It's not a one plus one plus one plus one plus one.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It's a multiple and over and over again.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

I could talk about this stuff forever because I have a lot of fun around it.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And I really enjoy understanding the processes and procedures

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

around these things.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And I have a lot of respect for companies like Smart IT, that are able to balance

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

between the human aspect, the process aspect, and the technical aspect.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

If you're in a room of a whole bunch of guys who have great ideas and they just

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

started their Fintech, what one piece of advice would you give the entire room?

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Be ready to change your idea.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

All right.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

After customer feedback.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Okay.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

That's good!

IT:

I think, nowadays, with how the markets shaped

IT:

and it's more user-centric, taking customer feedback and, is very important.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Voice of the customer has always

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

been my number one thing, to really make sure that you're getting it,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

to get it frequently, get it often.

IT:

Mm-hmm.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

To not diminish it.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You may only hear it once or twice, but those are from the people

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

that feel comfortable telling you.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Just put a zero at the end of anything.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

If you have 10 users and one person tells you, look at that as 10% as telling you,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

and look at it as percentages, not counts.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And I think that really helps out a lot.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

When you're looking at voice of customers, especially as

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

you're building up a company.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And building up a new user base, cuz you have small user base at that time, so

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

the numbers are gonna look smaller, so using a percentage is always very helpful.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

There's actually a great

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

parallel in e-commerce business

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

... From a hundred reviews, you

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

and 10, one star reviews, you're doing something very wrong.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Although on averages, it seems like your business is pretty

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

good, you're above four.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

But if you are getting like, consistently negative feedback,

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

even in small percentages, chances are there's something broken.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Mm.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Yes, totally agree.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Totally agree.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Well, we've spent a lot of time covering a bunch of different things.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

I'm excited to see the types of projects that Smart IT is delivering and really

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

keeping up with what you guys are doing.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

It's been fantastic.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Now, what I've done is I've gone ahead and created a link.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

To get connected with Smart IT all you have to do is go to

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

www.Fintechconfidential.com/getsmart.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Again, that is www.FintechConfidential.com/getsmart.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And Tim, what is the best way to connect to the team on social or yourself?

IT:

I'm pretty active on LinkedIn of all places.

IT:

I don't have any other social media because LinkedIn I use

IT:

actually for my work and yeah,

IT:

I've been in marketing for so long that I decided to nuke my entire

IT:

social media presence from everywhere.

IT:

I got tired of it a long time ago.

IT:

So yeah, LinkedIn, to find me and

IT:

... If you want to contact the company, yeah,

IT:

... Or yeah, you can just contact me directly

IT:

... Just shoot me a message.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

Awesome.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

So I'm gonna make it really easy for you guys.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

If you look at the show notes or down in the description down below,

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

it's gonna have all the links to all these different things you can

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

get ahold of the folks at Smart IT.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

You can get ahold of Tim, find out how they can help your business

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

grow and go to that next level.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

And Tim, thank you so much, man.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

This has been fantastic.

Timothy_Partasevitch_Smart_IT:

:

Thank you, I had a blast, yeah.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

All right.

tedd_huff___host__fintech_confidential:

:

well, until next time, thanks so much everybody.

:

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