The launch of the MonacoTech startup programme in late 2017 clearly demonstrated the Monegasque government’s commitment to supporting innovation in the Principality. KeeSystem, a Monegasque Fintech startup, joined the accelerator during its first recruitment campaign, alongside CleanTech and HealthTech startups. KeeSense, its portfolio management and consolidation application, enables banks, wealth managers and family offices to automate coordination of their activity. A few months after the start of the adventure, what are the contributions and benefits of hosting a FinTech startup in the incubator?
“Significant time saved on our innovation programme”
Fabrice Marquet, director of MonacoTech, set the tone in his opening speech, “We aren’t just an empty shell. Monaco’s companies are evaluated during their time with us.” This policy and commitment were immediately on-boarded by the entire team at KeeSystem, the only FinTech player selected by MonacoTech. From the beginning, KeeSystem defined research and innovation topics with the goal of meeting banks’ urgent need for even more effective management in a particularly complex regulatory environment. “Risk management and compliance are part of our expertise. At MonacoTech, we have worked on new modules to better meet the needs that are frequently expressed by our customers,” explains Pierre-Alexandre Rousselot, the founder of KeeSystem. A few weeks after joining the accelerator programme, a new risk management module was developed, capable of handling compliance with MIFID2, which took effect at the start of 2018.
Going beyond its features, the user experience (UX) has been completely redesigned. “Powerful tools have to stay simple and pleasant to use. Our users spend a lot of time on KeeSense, so we want to give them the best possible experience,” says Cédric Cazes, Chief Strategy Officer at KeeSystem. The innovation team overhauled the interface design using agile methods. Every step of the way, a group of users tested and provided feedback on the design proposals. The incubator accelerated the adoption of these techniques, which are based on group intelligence and design thinking. This iterative consultation process enabled KeeSystem to develop new dashboards for different user profiles. The Asset Manager dashboard was particularly popular with customers. “These techniques are some of the current best practices in innovation. KeeSystem was already using them - we just provided additional support for this approach,” explains Fabrice Marquet.
Supporting and fostering innovative practices
One of MonacoTech’s many roles as a startup programme is developing organisations and work habits that favour innovation.
In practical terms, the KeeSystem teams work on the MonacoTech site every day. There are set weekly work sessions. One half-day per week is reserved for work on the UX, and half-day per week is dedicated to an innovation hub meeting on issues related to processes and technology intelligence. The startup’s time at MonacoTech is also marked by other events. Design-a-thons have been held, for example. These work sessions, whose name combines the words “design” and “marathon,” aim to generate practical design ideas in record time.
“The MonacoTech team is there to provide support and assistance. We are literally in an environment that is 100% dedicated to innovation,” says Pierre-Alexandre Rousselot. “Our banking and finance customers benefit directly from our innovations, something of which we are very proud.”
