By Vaiie
12/01/2023

Vaiie has made a big impact since joining the Digital Jersey community more than 7 years ago. We spoke to Louise Flynn, Operations Manager at Vaiie who shares her insights and perspectives on the industry, what sets the company apart, as well as workplace culture, future plans, and top tech trends that she believes we’ll see in 2023.

For anyone who doesn’t know, what does Vaiie do?

At Vaiie we create solutions to enhance the way businesses meet their regulatory obligations. Our Identify product provides real-time remote identity verification. Onboard is our digital client onboarding solution which seeks to improve the process of client onboarding in regulated financial services, and our Locate product is a digital first address assurance solution. Our proven Vaiie Communicate service manages communication via data-to-print, SMS, email and secure client portals for a true omni-channel experience.

What has been the highlight of the business so far?

Through our Communicate service, Vaiie has been serving some of the Channel Islands’ largest financial service customers for over 17 years! This has enabled us to expand Vaiie’s products and solutions.

In June 2022, we launched JerseyMe, the Government of Jersey’s digital ID solution. JerseyMe is a bespoke for Government implementation of our Vaiie Identify product, we enable Islanders with safe and secure access to the Government’s online services. Our collaboration with Government has seen the joint team nominated for a Digital Jersey TechAward.

What Tech/RegTech trends do you think we will see in 2023?

This is the subject of our next Vaiie Insights Report, to give a sneak peak for Digital Jersey members, if we look at the bigger picture we see three main trends – RegTech, AI, and ESG.

RegTech and the fight against financial crime is going to have another big year. The war in Ukraine, increased identity fraud, and the turmoil of the crypto space has all forced the requirement for better tools to manage regulatory and financial crime risk.

Identity verification, particularly liveness checking, is going to be a big area of focus in ID&V tools. Client onboarding tools will become smarter and more workflow driven to close the gaps between technology and the regulated firms processes. Screening and monitoring solutions will get more contextually aware by using natural language processing to reduce false positives. Closer to home, thanks to the positive work of the Government we should see greater local adoption of digital ID systems.

If we look at AI and ESG. The late 2022 releases from OpenAI, particularly ChatGPT, will finally see a leap forward in capability that matches promise and as companies understand the new possibilities, we will see greater use of AI within products.

When it comes to ESG, consistent regulatory standards are being set which will enable the next wave of innovation. Perhaps more importantly, regulators are starting to act, with fines issued to some of the biggest global banks for greenwashing offences firms are being held accountable.

How would you describe Vaiie’s workplace culture and what does the team do together outside of work?

For us, it’s about listening, feeding back, empowering people and providing the right degree of flexibility to allow the team to manage their day-to-day lives. The team is highly social, outside of work we have had a running club and charity fundraising. During the recent World Cup, many of us got together to watch games and the Vaiie WhatsApp group was particularly busy during the England games!

What’s the go-to music you listen to in the office?

Our team is made up of Gen X, Millennials, and even Gen Z’s, the playlist is as broad and eclectic as you’d expect. Whoever gets in first gets to choose the playlist, and the first to complain has the pressure of choosing the next! We work at a fast pace, so the music is usually fast paced and uplifting. With the occasional curve ball thrown in by our MD.

If Vaiie could collaborate with anyone/any business, who would it be and why?

Our collaboration with the Government of Jersey on the JerseyMe solution has been a great success, it validates our Identify product in the local market and the capabilities of the team. Next on our collaboration wish list is financial services regulators such as the Jersey Financial Services Commission. Vaiie are part of the Jersey Post Group, and we believe that through our Locate product there are much more robust ways of clients providing address validation using technology and finally moving away from PDFs of utility bills!

Lastly, what’s one thing you wish you’d known when you started working at Vaiie and what advice would you give to a newbie?

Many businesses talk about a strong culture and being people focussed. Vaiie really do walk the walk in this area. The level of trust I share with the team is a level above any of my previous roles. That certainly doesn’t mean we agree on everything. Challenges are fair and meant with good intentions and people do find the time to follow up with each other to ensure we’re pushing in the right direction. Vaiie are currently recruiting for a DevOps Engineer and Product Manager, if you like the sound of Vaiie and want to work with an incredible team, you can find out more and apply here.