Transforming the Customer Experience: A Fireside Chat with REGnosys and Old Street Partners, Part I

Between March and October 2023, REGnosys welcomed Jayna Devani into the team. Jayna set up Old Street Partners earlier this year, working with high-growth B2B fintechs to set up and scale their Go-to-Market efforts. She was tasked with building out a playbook, sharing sales best practices and equipping the technical team with essential commercial skills.

Jayna recently sat down with CEO, Leo Labeis, to discuss how REGnosys has increased its focus on delivering a great customer experience. In the first instalment of their two-part fireside chat, Leo and Jayna spoke about why REGnosys decided to focus on the commercial function and what this means in practice.

The 3 Key Takeaways:

i) As demand grows, REGnosys is more focused than ever on ensuring great customer experiences.

ii) The secret sauce? A collaborative, problem-solving mindset, and continuous iteration.

iii) There’s a balance to strike between staying nimble and putting in place robust processes and frameworks for long-term success.

Jayna: Leo, as the CEO of a fast-growing company, you've got a lot on your plate. There are many areas of the business you could have chosen to put under the microscope. Why did you focus on the commercial function in particular?

Leo: Great question. Let’s start with the backdrop: regulatory reporting is going through a period of major change. Last year it was the CFTC Rewrite, which went live in December 2022, and further deadlines are just round the corner - EMIR Refit and JFSA, to name a few. The shift to a new collaborative approach addresses an increasingly acute industry pain-point, and that’s why a growing number of banks and buyside firms are starting to turn to us. 

Whilst we’re always been known as a dependable partner, I knew early in the year that we had to act. We’re handling more customer demand than ever - and that meant we needed a clear strategy, plan and path to implementation to serve new and existing customers. And that’s where you came in!

Jayna: Absolutely. As we began building out the commercial function, we talked a lot about how customers are at the heart of the business. You’ve consistently emphasised the importance of delivering a great customer experience, from the moment someone signs up for a free trial, right through to a full integration and contract signature. I know this isn’t just rhetoric. Could you elaborate on what a ‘great customer experience’ means to you? 

Leo: We have big ambitions here. We want to be the partner of choice for the financial services industry to deliver regulatory reporting transformation. Delivering a high-quality customer experience is a critical component of this goal.

What does this mean? Actually listening to what our customers tell us. And then genuinely trying to help. Needs differ between customers, but one thing is consistent: we’re always aiming to get to the solution quickly and in a cost-efficient way.

Jayna: I’ve personally found it very fulfilling to work with a team that takes such a thoughtful approach from the outset. Caring deeply about solving problems for customers seems to me like the ideal starting point for a successful commercial function. Going a step further, how did you think about putting these principles into practice? What were the concrete, measurable steps taken?

Leo: This is an important question - actually saying that you care versus demonstrating it are two very separate things! First and foremost it was working with you to revamp the early stages of customer engagement. We built out a deep discovery process for our banks and buyside customers. We wanted to understand both technical requirements and big-picture business priorities. What did our customers do day-to-day, and what did they care about? 

Building this process out with you, we realised we shouldn’t even begin to put forward our solution as the right fit until we’ve profoundly understood the needs of our customers. 

After the deep discovery, we deliver in-depth analysis on the technical and commercial scope of our solution, and show tangible proof-points early on in the process. This provides a clear sense of direction to our customers, helping them evaluate multiple complex solutions.

We had been doing this on a customer-by-customer basis, which was not only resource-intensive but also may not generate the optimal outcome. We enjoyed working with you to turn this into a systematic and scalable process that also increased value-add for our customers.

Jayna: Likewise. It was fun working alongside a team of solidly technical people - engineers and quants and structurers - to deliver this process. I enjoyed finding that balance between encouraging the team to apply a commercial mindset, but not making it feel ‘sales-y’. In the end, I think we worked well together because you believe in the value of what you can offer, and you wanted to communicate that to customers.