Panel Profile: Yolt CTO Roderick Simons

Welcome to the IT Pro Panel Profile, where we talk to the CIOs, experts and IT leaders that make up the IT Pro Panel, and discover their top tech, pet peeves and IT inspirations.

The UK’s fintech sector is one of the most dynamic and fast-moving industries in the country, and Yolt is one of the companies riding that wave. Initially established as a venture of banking giant ING, the app allows users to save and manage their money, as well as offering an enterprise-level open banking platform through its Yolt Technology Services arm.

Ensuring the stability, security performance of these services is Yolt CTO Roderick Simons, who has spearheaded projects including the company’s move to the cloud, the development of AI-driven services to add value to business clients, and the addition of new payment card services for retail banking customers.

Roderick Simons

CTO, Yolt

Describe your role in 20 words or fewer.

I’m the chief technology officer of the Yolt app and Yolt Technology Services.

What was your first computer?

My first computer was a PC with a 16MHz i386 CPU. I remember the days of having to run memmaker or manually changing the config.sys file in order to free up memory before starting a new program.

What do you like most about working in IT?

The most rewarding aspect for me is getting to build software with great teams that customers like to use. I still remember the first moment when I saw someone opening an app I helped to develop.

If you could magically get rid of one piece of technology forever, what would it be, and why?

I’d eliminate notifications or badges that keep popping up and that draw away our attention when we’re trying to get into a good flow.

What future tech innovations are you most excited about?

There’s two areas I'm excited about; firstly, I follow the developments that AI can bring in different areas with great interest, from helping companies make better-informed lending decisions, to using AI to better predict the cause of a software issue.

Secondly, due to DevOps and continuous delivery, we have seen an increase in the speed of delivery. Supporting tools are needed to allow the teams to remain in control. Therefore, I like the development of tools that enable the continuous compliance of IT assets by checking against a predefined list of acceptable configurations, or by using more advanced methods to detect irregular patterns in an IT landscape.

Who’s your biggest inspiration in the world of tech?

I think both Elon Musk and Bill Gates are having a big effect on tech in the wider world, both in the past and in the future. It shows the impact a single person can have, which is truly inspiring.

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