DYCSI: Face to Face are conversations that occur between friends and colleagues concerning the Financial Services Industry.
In this first edition, Iliana Hernández, a HR Consultant at DYCSI, sat down with Joe Torres, the CEO at DYCSI, to talk about the challenges of his position, how the company began, and what the future looks like for DYCSI.
According to Joe, DYCSI is a company that was born from an idea in the late nineties when his father José Luis Torres Vivanco, one of the founding partners, was working at one of the largest software consulting firms in Monterrey. Having worked in the IT department of large banks in Mexico for many years, José became familiar with how their ecosystem of solutions was extraordinarily complex. Shortly after, he began researching different solutions. He discovered that SAP had an integral system that provided, in a single instance, the management for all the processes that a financial company carries out, integrated with accounting.
Around 2001, what we now know today as the “cloud,” was something quite different. During 2001, it was called Application Service Provider (ASP), and it was a very avant-garde and risky concept for its time. Always innovative, Mr. Torres Vivanco thought of using a data center, along with SAP as the banking core, to offer a comprehensive solution to financial intermediaries.
By the end of 2002, with the help of investors, “Decisión y Control Sistemas de Información,” now known as DYCSI, was established as its own company.
“It is always a challenge to deal or interact with a high-performance team. The people who work at DYCSI are very high-level, committed, and intelligent. Coordinating a high-performance work team and keeping them motivated keeps me entertained.”
The role of CEO is not an easy task, something that Joe is very much aware of. When asked what the most difficult challenges of his position are, he mentioned that working with highly specialized teams is always challenging. He explained that it is important to try to find a balance between a motivated team and delivering on time. As CEO, he has the challenge of managing the different personalities and functions of people that exist within the company, since each have distinctive characteristics and must complement each other well.
An external challenge is that he must always be looking for new clients, especially since, in addition to his position as CEO, he still retains the responsibility for the commercial area and strategic alliances of the company. As such, he is constantly looking for new projects, new alliances and new markets.
“We were not prepared to implement a full Bank system when we made the decision to deliver, the team was very young […] They say that ignorance gives courage; we decided to go forward, and we grew together.”
When asked about achievements, Joe did not mention a personal one, but the one that he believes took DYCSI to the next level: the full implementation of core banking system.
A company that was originally born from the idea of offering a comprehensive system for lenders, managed to implement the loans management system in a bank, as well as the deposits management system, the branch teller system, and the debit card switch, using SAP technology.
At the end of this 18-month project, which carried substantial risk due to the size of the bank and the newness of the team, it began a new stage in the history of DYCSI.
Today, the biggest challenge Joe faces is continuing to grow within the global marketplace. Two years ago, DYCSI began doing business and implementations in the United States. However, this is only the beginning, as DYCSI wants to achieve the internationalization of the company so that it is known throughout more countries. In fact, they are already participating in projects in Central America as well.
“I wanted to be the engineer who was programming, who was designing things on technology teams.”
After working for so many years in the industry, it is not unusual to wonder if this was an interest that Joe had his entire life? The short answer is yes, he is utterly fascinated by technology.
Although he has studied Electronics and Communications Engineering, and earned a Master of Engineering in Telecommunications, fate placed him in jobs within the commercial and sales departments in technology companies for many years.
In fact, it was during a period when Joe had left his job and was looking for a new one, that Mr. Torres Vivanco invited him to join DYCSI on a temporary basis, to help them sell new projects. That very invitation happened 12 years ago, and Joe has been a part of the company ever since and is now the mayor shareholder.
From the beginning of his professional career, Joe showed a great interest in financial markets and began to invest in stocks, real estate and personally lend his money. One of his great passions is keeping up to date with the state of the economy and new companies.
“In the last couple of years, there has been a boom in fintech startups.”
The industry is constantly changing, and one of the latest changes came about because of the accelerated growth of financial companies. Thanks to this growing demand, SAP developed a cloud solution called SAP Cloud for Banking C4B, which is an updated version of FinoBank (the solution developed by DYCSI using SAP Banking for financial companies in México) but on a worldwide basis.
In the past, banks would use the same technology for up to 20 years. Today, with a cloud solution, banks can have regular updates and the flexibility to integrate with other systems.
No software or technology is going to have a 100% end-to-end solution; each company must develop its own differentiators. Through SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), SAP manages to integrate the core of its solution with multiple systems, allowing companies to have a high-level solution with both quality, and security standards, far superior to those of the competition.
In addition, another main advantage of SAP C4B, is its ability to make implementations in an accelerated way at a much lower cost compared to what was possible a few years ago.
“I’ve always said that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to be successful. You simply have to keep your promises.”
Something that Joe reiterated when asked what recommendation he could offer to other entrepreneurs was to keep your promises. He also stressed that, “to have a successful company you simply must keep your promises and do things right”.
Joe explained that “if you say you are going to do something, then deliver it. If for some reason you will not be able to finish it, then renegotiate the delivery date. Transparency with the client is of the utmost importance, since their recommendation is what will allow you to continue growing in the market.”
“Personally, I am very into the idea of growing outside of Mexico […] We have seen many opportunities in the US and Latin American market lately, and in five years we also see ourselves doing business in Europe. I see us as a global company; as a company that can serve customers from all over the world.”
Speaking about his vision for the future, Joe hopes that in five years, a good part of DYCSI’s business will be international. Currently, US projects represent 30% of the company’s sales, but the hope is that in a few years international projects will represent 70-80% of DYCSI’s sales.
There is a remarkably high capacity of engineers and professionals in Mexico that allows for conducting business outside the country. DYCSI has the potential and the resources to be a global company focused on the financial industry with SAP technologies.
We must continue to believe in ourselves in order to continue conquering the market.
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