“If a tool doesn’t make the human experience easier, it’s a badly designed tool.” – Bose Chan
From target demographics to government regulations and societal values, there are so many influences on what goes into building software. The profound impact of these factors becomes clear when we look at the differences in how technology has developed in different regions of the world.
Today I’m exceptionally pleased to be joined by someone I’ve come to know and respect not only with their business acumen but also as a good friend, Bose Chan. Bose is the Head of Strategic Partnerships at MX, where he heads up product partnerships and devex, driving MX’s strategic approach toward build vs. buy vs. partner decisions. He is also responsible for building up the platforms and journeys that clients and their developers leverage to onboard, implement and build their apps. Before joining MX, Bose managed the Open Banking function at Citi as part of its FinTech and Consumer Digital business. He led the development, integrations, and operations of financial data APIs that power thousands of FIs and fintech apps, providing connectivity to millions of US consumers.
In this conversation, Bose and I discuss his perspective on the differences between FinTech in the US and Asia, how his early life experiences impacted his views on financial management, what it means to design software with the human experience in mind, the fallacy of breakthroughs in technology in FinTech, privacy versus safety and security, and more.
Highlights with Bose Chan
-Bose’s journey to his role as Head of Strategic Partnerships at MX and his origin story in the financial industry
-Growing up in Singapore and how Bose’s experience with the financial crisis influenced his career in finance
-The impact of early life experiences on financial decision-making
-The lack of financial education in schools and the importance of understanding basic financial management
-Designing software with the human experience in mind
-The importance of focusing on purpose and intent in the building of software
-Understanding screen scraping and the issues it presents
-Examining the economic value chain and the challenges of fair distribution of resources across stakeholders
-The fallacy of breakthroughs in technology in FinTech
-Differentiating between online and mobile banking
-How target demographics influence investment and technological development
-The government’s role as a technology and identity provider in certain Asian countries
-How regulatory policy and societal values influence the ways technology is built
