Becoming digital, staying human

What are some trends you forecast? And what do you see InterFund Solutions focusing on in the near future?

I think AI is heading more and more into the automation of things – of processes, workflows, and interactions. That really ends up in supporting us in our daily life, because all of us have at least one process where human interaction is required, but which really isn’t fun. Agentic AI is a trend, which opens the door for many opportunities in the future. 

This isn’t necessarily a trend, but certainly cybersecurity, and more specifically encryption, is a huge focus area for us. Our products in the market are critical for our customers. We need to make sure that we have the highest standard of security in our products. Encryption and post-quantum cryptography (PQC) are very relevant. If our products are not secure anymore, if they can be hacked, our customers – and we – have a problem.

You’re tasked with managing a transformation. But surely that takes time, especially in a large company?

I think it’s important to state that there is no end in this transformation. It is a continuous improvement.

There will always be a new technology. Currently everyone is talking about AI, but 10 years down the road, we’ll probably have another technology that affects us heavily.

We must keep in mind, especially when it comes to the transformative part of digitalization, that it is about our people and how we work. It is about education and providing methodologies toward trying new technologies. It is about experience, and it’s also about mindset and curiosity, because when something is new, we need to motivate our employees or our colleagues or friends to use new tools. It is also about providing the space for trying things, about providing a culture of curiosity.

My guiding principle is “be digital, stay human.” Even though technologies like AI are here to stay, we are still humans. This is important to me personally, but also for us as a company.

You’ve mentioned that people need to come to new technologies with curiosity and not fear. Can you amplify that?

I think it is our responsibility when it comes to new technologies to really evaluate the impact. That impact has two dimensions: every new technology is both an opportunity and a risk. And both sides are equally important.

A new technology can disrupt your own portfolio, your own go-to-market, things like that. On the other hand lies opportunity. This is where curiosity comes in. Remember my original question, “What is a digital answer to our business model?” Well, if there is an answer, better we find it than someone else! But we can’t neglect the risk. We need to talk about it. As a SecurityTech company, our responsibility is to find a solution to certain questions, and also to certain risks.

My personal approach is always to be positive, to see the opportunity. This is my mindset. I’m a technical optimist. But not in a naive way. We are always mindful of risk. 

How do you talk to people about managing the perception of risk? Is there a conversation in the larger industry about these things?

It is tough talking for an entire industry. We’re talking about huge changes. There will be people who are more focused on the risk side of those changes, and they will highlight that part of the discussion. It may be part of their job to highlight the risks. 
The innovation people, on the other hand – they probably talk more about the opportunity side of the equation.

I think it’s a mindset. And mindsets can change. If a leader is only talking about the risk from new technologies, everyone will be afraid. You know, “AI will take my job!” This is one sort of message about the risks of new tech.

Or, we could say, “There is a new technology coming, this will impact the way we work. But we provide training. We provide you the tools to work with it. And we encourage you to give it a try because this technology is here to stay.”

That is a different message, a different tone. This is how we want to communicate to the organization. Risk shouldn’t limit our spirit of innovation.

How important is speed in this conversation?

The issue with speed is that there is a trap: you can move too slowly, but you can also move too fast. Being too early in the market with a great idea, a brilliant idea, might also lead to a failure. Nobody wants an expensive failure. Speed isn’t just about being fast. It is about finding the right pace.

Perhaps initiative is a better gauge than simply speed. I’m a big believer in taking the initiative. Being an observer won’t bring you to a result. Seven to 10 years ago, AI was already in the conversation. But the discussion was among people with a high amount of expertise. Today, AI is everywhere. If you are just starting your AI journey now, you’re not too late, but you are probably lagging behind.

This has an impact.

How do you see AI being embedded in the next five years in InterFund Solutions?

These are the pillars of AI at InterFund Solutions, as I see it.

Firstly, how we use AI in processes. We use and develop helpful tools that support us internally in different fields. Software development and testing are just two examples where we can use AI in providing a toolset to our employees for their daily work.

Secondly, adding AI in our existing products. We are enhancing our current portfolio with AI applications such as analytics. 
When it comes to the future, we are generating a new customer offering based on AI. This is challenging, as it requires a real understanding of the target market, so we can actually generate the revenue we need.

In general, I think it’s important to remember that, as with any other strategic goal, resource allocation for AI has to be in line with defined priorities. The usage of AI has to be scaled so that the desired value is generated.

Let’s stay with AI. How important are regulations in framing the conversation at the top level, and in framing individual policy at the company level?

There is a need for regulation. But in my personal opinion, we need to deregulate technology and make it easier and more applicable for companies. 

We don’t want regulation to be stifling. It can become about fulfilling the requirement, about documentation, which takes away management attention and budget for innovation.

A different approach could be a two-page regulation where it says, “We don’t want this and this to happen. Please approve, and document how you solve the problem.” We can work with that. It’s not a single regulatory document that bothers us. It’s the amount of regulation we need to be compliant with.

You’ve said before that your own values are important in how you frame questions in your professional life. Are you seeing that represented sufficiently in the conversation around technologies like AI?

Technology is used by humans, and it should benefit humans in some way. It should make life easier, more transparent. In a professional environment, it should lead to faster product development, better requirements that engineers can follow, and so on. This is why I take the human part very seriously.

When it comes to humans and organizations, there is a concept called corporate digital responsibility (CDR). This takes in data integrity and data privacy, but also transparency. 

My pledge is that we must consider the human part, and the responsibility that comes along with technology.

What does “ethics by design” mean to you as CDO of InterFund Solutions?

Thank you for asking me this question. This is at the heart of why this discussion is important, especially when it comes to AI. My core hypothesis is that the interaction between humans and technology changes through AI. This is truly transformative. 

AI has the ability to behave as a friend, as a partner, as a consultant to humans. It isn’t just another text program. AI, and GenAI in particular, is a reasoning engine. You can get into a discussion with a machine about personal stuff. I ask a question and get a response. When the response is not appropriate, I rephrase my question. 

This is what GenAI is meant for. If my hypothesis is true, that through AI the relationship between humans and technology changes – in the sense that it is getting more and more personalized – then the interaction between humans and AI must be based on ethical foundations. Because human interaction is based on ethical foundations! 

Let’s push this idea forward. Imagine I’m using AI for supporting me in my daily processes, and you are doing the same. Agentic AI, in other words. At some point in time, our AI agents may need to communicate with each other. These two AI agents are working on our behalf. They require a common ethical understanding, just as we do.

We need ethical foundations for AI, because in the end AI is there to support us. Call it moral training. [Laughs] AI will coexist with us, but we don’t want to end up in a “Terminator” scenario.

You handle ESG as well for the group. There is a perception that the “environment” part of ESG is being over-emphasized, while the “social” and “governance” components perhaps get downplayed. How do you respond to that?

There are some causes for this. We have a carbon issue, and global warming. If we open our eyes, we see this. When was the last heavy rain in Germany? This is one reason I think why so many people focus on the “E” in ESG. 

But the social and governance aspects are equally important. Let’s talk about the “S,” which goes along with a word I use a lot, which is responsibility. Being responsible is important to us.

Being a responsible employer, for example, means that we provide adequate working conditions for all our employees. It means that we follow the rules in the respective countries we’re doing business in. 

Digital responsibility is part of that as well, that we treat and use the data we have in a responsible way. Data integrity is part and parcel of ESG.

Now, the “G”: we train our people for particular topics, like compliance. If I want to be a responsible employer, this is crucial. If people don’t stick to the compliance rules we end up with totally different issues. We incentivize our upper management on ESG to really underline the importance of this topic. 

What are your guiding principles that you try and communicate to your colleagues in InterFund Solutions, when using all the tools at their disposal?

Always keep in mind we are a SecurityTech company. Let’s take that word apart, to illustrate what I’m talking about.

Firstly, “Tech.” We’ve been talking about AI, but there are also multiple other technologies that impact our industry, like PQC. There are also huge amounts of class-leading tech in our physical products, like banknotes and payment cards. As a technology company, tech must play a prominent role in the way we think. We have to move fast enough to stay ahead of the industry.

Second, “Security.” We need to deal in a responsible way with all this tech. Responsibility is a foundation for trust. If you’re searching for what it is that links our entire portfolio, it is trust. It cannot be taken for granted. You need to earn it and keep it.

I would like to encourage all my colleagues to be curious about what is positive in technology. What is the next cool product we could be building, what is the next great market we can enter. But also, be aware of the responsibility we have to secure the trust that our customers put into our company. You don’t gamble with it!

Published: 18/09/2025