importance of workforce ‘ buy-in ’, and companies must be willing to accommodate a significant culture change . How a company chooses to combine human and artificial intelligence can be pretty crucial , particularly as the optimal paradigm for operations has yet to be found . “ AI is still in its infancy and at this stage it ’ s very much about learning and testing hypotheses ,” says Ambrose . “ Human intelligence is essential to achieving that , and there are millions of tasks that AI can ’ t yet even begin to understand .” Indeed , at this stage in automation ’ s application to payments , a human is irreplaceably required at the beginning and end of a process .
Establishing a strong cultural element will have the added benefit of enabling a company to move flexibly with market changes , a significant advantage in the contemporary financial services market , where COVID-19 is reshaping the payments landscape . “ We launched our first product in the UK in April 2020 ,” recalls Menager . “ Launching in the midst of the COVID period was not ideal , but automated payments clearly held value for customers in that context .” He reflects that , prior to the pandemic , customers
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“ LAUNCHING IN THE MIDST OF THE COVID PERIOD WAS NOT IDEAL , BUT AUTOMATED PAYMENTS CLEARLY HELD VALUE FOR CUSTOMERS IN THAT CONTEXT ”
— Cedric Menager , CEO , PagoFX
“ My background is more on the tech side ,” he explains . “ I ' ve worked in both startup and big tech company environments , such as PayPal .” In addition to his executive posts at PayPal , Menager was also General Manager at Intuit and Sales Director at BNP Paribas .
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