Leading innovative payment solutions and boosting customer experience: How he is changing the way people do business

THIS seasoned fintech leader believes it is essential to match technology innovations with real-world demands. With an extensive career spanning across industries such as e-commerce and computer technology, Alexander Tan sees the value of innovation in driving productivity and empowering workers.

The 38-year-old, whose current role is Mastercard's regional director of products in Asia-Pacific, attributes his perspective on how fintech assists businesses and employees in achieving their goals to his graduate education at ESSEC Business School.

During his classes at the Cergy-Pontoise campus in France, he was particularly inspired by the concept of how businesses can empower workers and sought to apply that at work.

He cites his experience in e-commerce as an example, when he partnered a consumer electronics company with service providers in South-east Asia for initiatives on sales, marketing and operations. In this stint, he saw the importance of the instalment payment option in helping gig economy workers acquire the right tools upfront.

"In business school, we have always been focusing on growing top-line and bottom-line numbers," he recalls. "It was wonderful to play a part in enabling financial inclusion and seeing it in action to empower people to reach their full potential," he says. Expanding his perspective

Tan began his career at professional services firm Accenture. This was followed by another stint working on server products at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). He recalls his experience in these established companies had motivated him to learn more about the ins and outs of business.

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"While I had a degree in engineering, I felt that I needed to have a comprehensive understanding of business and commerce to bridge the gap," he shares.

Having studied and lived most of his life in Asia, Tan hoped to broaden his horizons with a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Europe. ESSEC, which is less than an hour's drive from Paris, turned out to be an ideal choice.

"ESSEC has strong ties to industry, with affiliations to LVMH and Sanofi," notes Tan, who was referring to the luxury goods conglomerate and pharmaceutical giant respectively. "Many of ESSEC's faculty come from industry, including Denis Morisset, the former CEO of Giorgio Armani France."

Another pull factor was a good balance between a traditional business school curriculum, and fieldwork done in collaboration with running businesses. Professors would often invite practitioners to share stories in class, and bring students to test products through mystery shopping initiatives to improve customer experience.

"We would take a train to Lyon's retail shops. We would act as customers, learn about the buying experience and present our findings in class," says Tan, who attended ESSEC's one-year MBA programme in 2010.

These experiences also forged strong bonds between Tan and the diverse student population hailing from different parts of the world. Tan's classmates have gone on to a smorgasbord of varied careers all over the world, including running wholesale businesses, coming up with technology solutions for film and TV, to launching rockets, and working in the hotel industry.

Improving the world with fintech

Tan attended ESSEC's MBA programme that is tailored to equip students with the knowledge, strategies and skills that enable them to create significant influence in global markets - preparing them for opportunities that surpass geographical boundaries.

"During my time at ESSEC, digital businesses had started growing in North America and Europe. It was expected for innovations to come to Asia next," he explains, recalling the rise of super apps, e-commerce marketplaces and digital payments during the early 2010s, just after he graduated from ESSEC.

In his current role in Mastercard, he is responsible for leading the private label card solution for transit cards, gift cards, buy-now-pay-later cards and other closed-loop implementations, as well as enhancing what he calls a "resilient payment experience".

The former refers to how companies issue digital cards for consumers to use via their mobile phones, while the latter ensures that the digital payment process runs smoothly and securely for both the consumer and the merchant.

The skills Tan picked up from ESSEC have taught him how to focus on the customer's experience, either by reducing sources of frustration or creating moments of magic. "I still use the mystery shopping technique to research what it's like to use our products," Tan shares.

The new frontiers in technology are seen to bring exciting fintech opportunities. Already, advocates of new technology like blockchain are promising faster and more transparent transactions.

"Each industry will have their own ways of tapping into evolving technology," says Tan, who has seen different businesses adapt drones, artificial intelligence and 5G into their operations.

While technology evolves, business fundamentals remain crucial. In his varied career, Tan has lived by a philosophy of "adapting yourself to the changing times and technologies." Take it as good advice from a veteran of reinventing himself.