By Fernando Nuñez , Clemens Rossberg and Albrecht Von Der Recke
It was 15 years ago today that together we founded fonYou Telecom. In the life of a start-up business, 15 years represents a long-time. Of course, you learn a lot, but to survive, you have to achieve a lot as well.
We began with a vision of a digital future. We understood, and predicted, the need for digital transformation not just within the mobile operator community, but also within the customer base it was serving. And although the fonYou of today is a very different business from the one we launched 15 years ago, that understanding of the digital transformation required is the golden thread between the business then, and the business now.
To survive and thrive, you have to be able to both promote the change you want to deliver, as well as respond to the change that is already occurring. It takes a great commitment from a great team to stay ahead of the market. It is about constantly evolving and developing your products and services to facilitate that change, maximise its benefits, and establish yourself as a trusted, reliable and innovative company.
The business the three of us started in Barcelona 15 years ago now has a presence in 18 countries across EMEA and the Americas . We have established our expertise in digital transformation and automation, in AI and Machine Learning, and become renowned for our ability to extract value from the data in the operator’s networks. None of this could have been achieved with the outstanding efforts of the team we built.
Together we have built a company that has helped mobile operators to migrate customers to a digital platform, and made it easy for cash customers to switch to digital payments. We have integrated our platform with operators all around the world, using our digital technology, our knowledge and expertise in ML, AI and data analytics to help them improve their customer engagement.
We have effectively helped operators to create a financial technology strategy. Now, as we celebrate the achievements of our first 15 years, we must look ahead as well, and renew our vision for the future. Right now, we are investing in advanced financial technology solutions to further help our clients, operators and financial institutions, to better sell their products to a mobile audience – either using standard payment methods or digital credits traded against their airtime bundle.
To do this, we are developing our own, cloud-based, transactional technology, drawing on our deep understanding of machine learning, AI, real-time processing and automation. Through our fintech platform, our relationships with mobile operators and banks, and our deep understanding of data, we believe we can help those people without access to traditional banking methods, or those who are wedded to cash, to embrace and access digital solutions.
The global pandemic has had a traumatic effect on many but even before the pandemic, a digital divide existed in society, and there’s little doubt that the events of the last year has accelerated the transition to a digital lifestyle and further widened that divide.
Our renewed vision for fonYou recognises that connected citizens with access to digital payments will be best positioned to embrace the change. Our commitment is to work even harder to help deliver the digital transformation required. We believe that with our fintech platform we can make a difference and help to bring the next one billion consumers into the digital world.
As we look back on the successes of our first 15 years, we have to thank our clients, our partners and of course our team. Our success is their success, and we look forward to that continuing in the years ahead.
Discover our journey on our visual timeline here!