Joost Walgemoed (CEO Blanco) looks back and forward
Despite the challenges and uncertainty of 2020, Blanco can look back on a satisfying year. AIRS and Blanco have merged and are continuing their step-by-step technical integration towards one platform. This is the moment to hear from Joost Walgemoed (CEO of Blanco) about how he looks back on the past year and what the coming year has in store for Blanco.
What are your thoughts on the past year?
“The past year was a difficult one for many people because of the unprecedented impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic. It certainly had an impact within our company as well, as our team had to work from home and it was not possible to get together. Fortunately, the transition to online and remote working in our company went smoothly, and we were able to continue our work as usual. We were able to further improve our products and build many new features that add value for our customers. We have also welcomed many new customers in 2020, despite the difficult circumstances, which makes us both grateful and proud. Blanco continues to grow!”
How is the integration of the AIRS platform going?
“The different teams have gotten to know each other and the cooperation is going well. As many processes as possible have been merged and we have also legally become one company. In terms of technology, we have focused on connecting the Blanco KYC Suite to the AIRS PMS platform in the past year. The software of AIRS and Blanco existed side by side in these first steps, but slowly we worked towards more fusion. By merging the technology of AIRS and Blanco step by step, the onboarding technology of Blanco can be used within the AIRS PMS and the functionality of the AIRS PMS is further developed in the Investment Suite of Blanco. This year will be characterised by the further integration of the PMS platform in the other modules.
We have also taken the decision to migrate the platform to Amazon’s Cloud, which will make it more scalable and enable better integration of both platforms. We are also busy developing a new front-end, updating the entire user interface for a fresh look and feel. In the future, customers will be able to choose between the current and the new interface.”
What are the plans for the coming year?
“In addition to the ongoing technical integration of the AIRS platform, Blanco is going to further develop the KYC Suite. For example, we are going to introduce the possibility of reading NFC chips in passports. In addition, the KYC Suite will become a European platform. Our technology will be available in even more languages and we will also connect all European company and UBO registers. There will also be a compliance dashboard in the KYC Suite and more workflows will be set up, of which the risk review workflow is already live this month. Read more here. The four eyes principle can be used within these workflows, where a task can be assigned to several persons, so that control and approval of tasks is possible. Finally, there are changes in laws and regulations that will – where possible – be incorporated into our platform, such as laws and regulations regarding ESG.”
