Q&A with Daniel Balogh

Fides offers a unique mix of products and services that really help its customers. That has always been a priority for me, and was definitely a draw. Fides is also known for being a customer-centric organization — it offers a lot to its clients, and in return, those customers are very positive and constructive in their interactions with the company. Most of my career has been spent in customer-facing business development and key account management positions at large, multinational organizations. While I enjoyed those roles, I’ve also always liked the idea of joining a smaller company that feels almost like a family.

Surprisingly easy. I was able get to know the company and most of my colleagues within the first three months. Obviously, I haven’t been able to meet everyone in person, but I’ve had at least email communication. Fides also has a number of very active customers, so I’ve been able to interact with them as well. We have a good product, a good service, and a good work atmosphere, all of which are very important to me. I love the fact that we have an open door policy where I can even go to the CEO and ask him anything.

I love being in the midst of changes, and I love being part of a group that can potentially shape the future of the company. I’m still in learning mode and I still need to build relationships both internally and externally, but I have ideas for new initiatives. I can see great business potential, and I truly enjoy working with a relatively small number of people to do something better. That’s always an exciting challenge to me.

There really haven’t been a lot! The main challenge comes from being part of a relatively small company that is growing. We need to document processes and a lot of history now to make things more readily scalable. But that’s a great problem to have.

Calls and emails are the two primary channels for communication. I prefer to have a mix of both, as we need to be fact-based and document things, which is best to do in written form. We also track our client communications in our CRM and ticketing systems, depending on the customer’s need and reason for that particular interaction.

My team needs to drive more update meetings, where we talk about contract renewal, the client’s plans and needs, and relevant additional services that Fides offers which our clients may not know about. We’re always focused on the customer’s needs and requirements. And representing a company that is really bringing change, or bringing benefits to customers is always a very good feeling.

Generally, clients are looking to add new countries, new banks, or even just new bank accounts to their portfolio and are looking for the best way for their unique business to achieve this, depending on their objectives. The majority of the discussions are around building the solution, so a combination of planning and future outlooks to help them achieve the business outcomes they desire. Some of these are really exciting conversations, as it’s almost like brainstorming about how we can match their needs. Conversations about a specific issue or a specific challenge such as different standards from different countries are also common — anything that is relevant to the platform or the issues around customer systems that we need to solve.

It’s important to have inter-departmental interaction and make sure that we have initiatives where we work together. I have at least a bi-weekly exchange with Product Management, Project Management and Client Services. I have several ideas around increasing alignment between the various groups and sharing information from and with our customers. As an example, we’ve been planning a prioritizing exercise with some of our key customers, to get their feedback on product features and benefits. We want to know what their top priorities are as well as what they would like to see, to help us drive our product decisions — and channel that feedback to product management to help them shape the roadmap.

My team’s primary focus is on existing relationships. So for us, success is measured through customer satisfaction. We collect that information through surveys and key performance objectives (KPIs) that ensure we deliver the best services to our customers, in a professional way. We will always also be measured on driving business results. So it becomes a mix of client satisfaction, cross-selling and upselling that translates into hard dollars.

On a personal level, I’m very much looking forward to a more “normal” way of working when we no longer have to worry about the pandemic. Interactions and team events, leisure activities with co-workers are important to me. Success is all about people working hard together to achieve more – and then celebrating it together. I want to get to know my colleagues better. Therefore, I plan to participate in as many team activities as I can and do my part to contribute to Fides’ open door culture of communications.

Fides is the world leader in multibank connectivity, payments and transaction communications. A market leader for more than a century, Fides is committed to the principles of Open Banking, making treasury and financial operations as efficient, transparent and secure as possible for all organizations.

Fides provides everything organizations need for efficient cash and liquidity management, all through a single platform — along with connectivity to more than 13,000 financial institutions through an unmatched range of methods and channels. Thousands of companies around the globe rely on Fides’ connectivity capabilities and comprehensive workflow, reporting, conversion, validation and security services, for their own businesses and for extending services to their clients.

Whether you access via the secure Fides Multibanking Suite or take advantage of our seamless integration with third-party ERP, TMS and other backend systems, Fides is the only platform you need.