Meet the ADEPT Decisions Management Team – Jarrod McElhinney

Introduction

The entire ADEPT Decisions team has always prided itself on providing the ‘personal touch’ to our clients; whether it means going the extra mile on a project, accommodating short-notice configuration changes, or just providing a sounding board to the credit risk team.

We believe that this flexible, ‘can do’ attitude is one of the aspects of ADEPT Decisions which set us apart from larger and less accommodating corporate vendors.

With this in mind, we decided it was a suitable time to shine a light on the unique personalities behind the ADEPT Decisions software. This is a management team which prides itself on delivering above and beyond the call of duty!

Describe your role at ADEPT Decisions

I am the Head of Client Solutions at ADEPT Decisions, responsible for all client interactions, solutions specification and delivery. The beauty of the role for me is that it is client-facing, enabling me to grow relationships with our amazing user base, and assist them with identifying and solving business challenges. I also enjoy the opportunity to work with the sales team engaging new prospective clients, identifying pain points, and helping to define solutions that fit their business needs. Finally, I am responsible for defining and documenting the business requirements for new solutions that we develop and bring to the market. The multiple areas of focus ensure that I am never bored, and always have something challenging to do.

How long have you been with the company?

I joined the company in November 2017. Back then, we were just finding our first decision engine clients, and I travelled a fair amount to work on client integrations. That all changed in early 2020, when the pandemic forced us to transition our deliveries to a remote interaction methodology, which has had the added advantage of growing our global operating capabilities, while at the same time reducing costs for our clients. In mid-2021 I relocated from South Africa to Sweden, a move that has been seamless for our customer engagements, thanks to my remaining in a similar time zone.

What led you to join ADEPT Decisions?

Most of my career in credit risk has been in consulting, with specialisation in decision engines and related technology. When I discovered what ADEPT Decisions was doing, and had an opportunity to view the platform, I was intrigued and wanted to get involved near the beginning of the journey. A bonus for me was the other members of the management team, several of whom I have worked with over the last 20 years. I knew everyone involved had a passion for the solutions that they were building and I was excited to add my knowledge and experience into the mix.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced so far?

With any new startup, there are plenty of challenges to surmount as the company grows. ADEPT Decisions is no different, and we have had to adapt several times to new operating environments. This was particularly noticeable during the pandemic, when we had to rapidly adjust to a new engagement model, while at the same time adjusting our product and service offerings to meet ‘the new normal’.

Also as a small company, there is a requirement for team members to be nimble and step into roles that they may be inexperienced with. I have certainly had to stay on my toes over the last five years, and this has given me many opportunities to expand my knowledge and skills set.

What is your background?

Although I was born in the UK, my parents moved to South Africa when I was three years old. After completing school in Johannesburg, I was not sure what I wanted to do with my life. I spent several years doing various jobs across many industries, until I saw an advert one day for a computer programming course. I took the course and qualified as a COBOL programmer.

Shortly thereafter, I took a year off, backpacking around Europe and the Middle East. Thereafter I settled in London and took on an entry-level programming position with a payroll company.

How did you start in the industry?

After a few years, my wife and I decided that we wanted to move out of London, to experience life elsewhere in the UK. That started me on my credit risk path at the Fair Isaac (now FICO) office in Birmingham. I was completely new to credit risk but found the industry interesting and decided to apply for a project management role within the company about 6 months after joining.

I spent four years with FICO, and it was an exceptional learning experience for me. Not only was I learning the ropes as project manager for TRIAD software implementations, but I was also put in charge of the sales support and project delivery for the Fair Isaac Decision System, or FIDS. I gained great experience implementing the first FIDS solution in the UK.

After four years with FICO, I felt the urge to return to South Africa. I approached PIC Solutions and joined the team in Cape Town as a business consultant. There I remained for about ten years.

What changes have you seen over the years?

When I started in credit risk consulting, specifically in South Africa, automated decisioning was still relatively new. The banks, retailers and other credit grantors were still learning how to make the most out of these systems. Strategies were generally best practice led, built using the knowledge and experience of the business team. Data was used for scorecard development, but not in the development of strategies.

Over time, strategy design techniques have grown significantly more advanced. Everything is now data-driven, and with the availability of exponentially more computing resources, strategy design tools have become more and more advanced.

As data scientists have become more prevalent, I feel a lot of the best practice safeguards and tools used to iteratively and measurably build better strategies have fallen by the wayside. I believe that it is important to remember that data and predictive analytics are greats tool to assist with the development of improved strategies, but they are not the only tools. Judicious use of A/B Testing with varied outcomes can create rich data sets for analysis and design.

What advice would you give to those starting out in the industry?

Stay abreast of the tools and techniques that are coming into (and falling out of) favour in credit strategy design. It’s a fast-paced industry, and there are always new tools and new approaches to credit risk management. Make sure that you use everything that is available to you, and don’t be afraid to speak up in favour of older, proven methods that may not be in favour any longer due to a lack of a ‘high tech’ factor.

Also, always set aside plenty of time to track and monitor your new strategy designs. Staying on top of performance is the best way to see when things start to shift, ensuring that you are in a good position to react if things go awry.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Having recently moved to Sweden, I am spending a lot of my free time exploring my new surroundings and getting to learn a new way of life. The countryside is beautiful here, so I enjoy walking in the forests, over hills and around lakes. My two teenage boys also keep me on my toes and have become great companions to my wife and me as we settle into our new world.

What’s your favourite quote?

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

— John Lennon.

I could never have known the path that my life would take. By staying alert to opportunities and being willing to take chances, great changes can happen out of the blue. I have been very fortunate that my wife is extremely adventurous and keen for any new opportunity that comes our way. It has led us on an amazing journey over the years.

What’s a little-known fact about you?

I am an avid player of PC video games and have been since I first discovered a ZX Spectrum as a young boy. When I was in my 20’s I played Counter-Strike for one of the top clans in the UK at the time. Nowadays though I just play for fun, mostly single-player fantasy Role Playing Games (RPGs). I am constantly amazed at the complexity and fidelity of the latest video games, and it has created in me the need to constantly upgrade my PC, sourcing new parts, installing them and tuning performance in order to get an extra few frames per second of performance. I am a proud nerd!

About the Author

Jarrod McElhinney is the Head of Client Solutions for ADEPT Decisions and has held various roles in the credit risk industry since 1999.

About ADEPT Decisions

We disrupt the status quo in the lending industry by providing lenders with customer decisioning, credit risk consulting and advanced analytics to level the playing field, promote financial inclusion and support a new generation of financial products.