As part of a new interview series, Matt Hyde, Director of Recruit121 and FinTech Awards Wales, talks to a whole host of professionals in and around Wales’ thriving FinTech Sector.
This week Matt caught up with Steve Dukes, CEO at Confused.com.
1. We all know of and have heard of Confused.com, but maybe give us some background to your time there and your current role
I joined Confused.com as COO back in 2019 and my role at the time was essentially to ‘join the dots’ across a number of functions in the business in order to evolve and grow, which we did.
Now as CEO, it’s an honour to lead a business that is so relevant to UK consumers. We’re also part of a really exciting group of businesses called RVU, together facing a huge opportunity to help consumers in many areas of their life over the next few years.
2. How does Confused.com leverage technology to enhance its services and customer experience?
As a purely digital business, tech is at the core of how we operate. It flows though not just what our customers see and use, but also through how our teams operate. Our industry is highly competitive, so our colleagues across all departments adopt the latest tech, tools and techniques to deliver ever-better services. This is one of the things that makes it a very dynamic place to work and a great place to learn and to further your digital career.
When it comes to customer experience specifically, it is increasingly the union of data and tech that is unlocking the best experiences – that is – creating personalised, seamless journeys delivered at the most helpful time for our customers.
Putting data and technology to work at scale to help both of our customer groups – consumers and service providers – is a huge part of what we do.
3. What trends in the Fintech industry are you most excited about, and how is Confused.com adapting to or leading in these areas?
In some cases early Fintechs focussed on creating digital versions of established businesses in large markets. In other words, the ability to access the same services, but easier, quicker, on your terms… and online.
What’s exciting about this next wave is that we’re seeing Fintechs fundamentally changing the underlying products in order to create a materially better experience for the customer. Temporary insurance is an example of that. Consumers used to have to call up their annual insurance provider to temporarily add a friend or family member to their policy or to arrange cover when buying a second hand car. Now, new providers have emerged that have built an effortless experience specifically for those use cases. Others have emerged to meet other needs – for example to create a better experience for new arrivals to the UK.
If you’re passionate about customer experience, these Fintechs are exciting and as an established distribution channel, we’re excited to bring them to consumers.
4. What advice would you give to new Fintech companies looking to innovate and succeed in today’s market?
In short, think about distribution, as well as product. It is common for Fintechs to start with a B2C vision, focus on building a strong product, then later pivot to a B2B model once they learn attracting consumers and building a brand can be challenging, expensive or both. Think of the number of ‘household name’ consumer financial services brands created in the last decade – it isn’t a long list.
That early focus on the product is vital, but in B2C, not sufficient. I would encourage founders to think about their distribution model early. This might lead to starting initially with a B2B2C or B2B model, then revisiting the B2C route once the business has traction, momentum and the necessary cash flows to grow via a new front.
Another effective model – in tune with the examples discussed earlier – is to focus on a specific customer segment to begin with and perfect that, establish momentum, then broaden out later.
5. What inspired Confused.com to become the headline sponsor of the Fintech Awards Wales 2024?
As a Welsh-founded business, we are committed to seeing the local Fintech community grow. Many of our team are from the local area, or have joined us from the wider Fintech community, and so it’s important to us that we continue to support the Welsh Fintech scene and remind people that Wales is a not just a fantastic place, but also a very real option for them to accelerate their career in digital products, tech and Fintech.
Historically it was thought that to have a great career in tech and Fintech they had to move to London or the South East. But that’s no longer the only option. So we’re here to celebrate our people, and businesses who are doing great things in the Fintech space, right here in Wales.
6. What role do you see Fintech playing in the future of financial services, particularly in consumer markets?
Fintech as an industry has now been around for many years. But in reality, it’s just getting started. The digitisation and re-invention of large financial services product categories is by no means ‘done’. Excitingly, the incumbents are also pursuing this opportunity, it isn’t just the startups. So I still believe we’re at the beginning of Fintech’s potential.
Confused.com is the same – we’ve been around for more than 20 years now, but we’re still evolving, learning, growing, and still have a huge amount we can to positively impact the UK consumer experience.
7. As the headline sponsor you got to join the judging panel so how did you enjoy the interview and judging process.
It was such a pleasure to listen to some amazing companies and individuals share their successes. The drive to make things better and the resilience to see it through really shone through. I wish everyone the best of luck for Awards night.
8. Finally, favourite book you have read and why
There is a flipbook I was given many years ago called “Powers of Ten”. In the middle page, it shows a to-scale image. Each page further back shows an image 10 times further zoomed in and each page further forward shows an image 10 times further zoomed out. If that sounds like an odd book to mention… you’re right. But it had a fairly profound effect on my young brain at the time, it taught me how much there is to see when you look at both the big picture and at the smallest details. That one lesson has proved very helpful !