Payo Feature: Discussing the endless evolution of tech with Eric Adolfo

To say that technology is everywhere is an understatement. It has become a valuable necessity, especially in recent years, one that greatly contributes to the E-commerce industry. Merchants, customers, and E-commerce enablers in the Philippines have all seen how tech optimizes business operations and makes everything easier. The question these stakeholders now have to answer isn’t whether or not they should be open to tech, but how they can take advantage of it.

To discuss how Payo plans to leverage recent tech innovations, we talked to Eric Adolfo, Payo’s new Chief Technology Officer. 

1. Please tell us about your journey with Payo. How have your first few months been?

Prior to Payo, I’ve experienced being a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for another company. As Payo’s new CTO, I can say that the adjustment to the role was really smooth. Also, the former CTO of Payo did a great job in properly endorsing me to the different Payo team, vendors, and partners.

I decided to join Payo because of their excellent work culture, hardworking team, and approachable leaders. We support one another to create dynamic synergy, and we also thrive and grow with each opportunity we encounter. I am honored to be part of the Payo team.

2. Can you walk us through your main responsibilities as the new CTO?

As the new CTO, I oversee all the projects that the development teams are working on. I ensure all technology practices adhere to regulatory standards, and I set up the vision for how technology will be used in the company.

Most of the time I ensure technological resources meet the company’s short and long term requirements. I discuss these with Payo’s leaders. I also make sure that we stay on top of technology trends and development. Ultimately, it’s my responsibility to drive innovation in Payo.

3. Does the ongoing pandemic affect the way you work or go about your responsibilities?

The ongoing pandemic sparked a lot of changes for businesses and people, and there are both pros and cons to the new normal we’re experiencing. On the brighter side, the work from home and hybrid work setup allows us to work from anywhere, plus I’ve noticed that this setup doesn’t interfere with the team’s productivity. Instead, it allows us to go about our tasks without having to deal with long travel times or traffic congestions, which can exhaust a lot of us. We do our job better this way, and I’m happy to have leaders that are understanding enough to provide us this work option.

4. Many see the pandemic as the catalyst for the rapid tech evolution we’ve been experiencing. Is this something you agree with? 

Yes. The pandemic brought to light a lot of gaps with how people have usually done things, especially when it comes to manual services. This opened up a lot of opportunities in the tech industry to innovate, especially in logistics. Moreover, these are the opportunities that Payo wants to explore, especially when it comes to streamlining merchant processes and improving customer experience.  

We want to use all of the available and relevant new technologies to help us improve our services. We plan to do this hand in hand with the growth and development of tech as a whole.

5. What are your predictions for tech and logistics in the coming years?

There are a lot of things going on with technology, especially tech in logistics. Most logistics companies are now looking to offer other services such as online platform creation, social media management, and even marketing.

This applies to Payo, and we’re working on several projects right now that will be the first of their kind here in the Philippines. Various technologies like data science, blockchain, IoT, and Metaverse will help us towards that journey. 

6. How do you plan to optimize Payo’s processes? What areas are you looking to focus on?

There’s a lot of automation that we want to implement in Payo. These do not just involve merchants and customers – We are also doing improvements in the internal processes of the company. 

I’ve spoken with the other teams like Sales, Operations, Customer Service, Marketing, and Finance. We are in the process of pinning down the pain points that we are currently experiencing. This is the first step to optimizing the company – analyzing our processes and seeing what can be improved.

7. How does your work contribute to making E-commerce simple, which is Payo’s goal?

We believe that online selling shouldn’t be hard, and that every Filipino deserves to get their order faster and cheaper. Automation through innovation in tech can help us achieve that. That’s why we’re constantly experimenting on how tech can make the entire E-commerce process easier for everyone.

Also, this would not be possible without the hard work, cooperation, and dedication of every member of our tech team. The legacy of the previous leadership is something worth continuing, so I will make sure that our team will pave the way to achieving our company goals.

8. What’s one thing you want to achieve with Payo this 2022?

I want Payo to seamlessly adapt to the ever-changing opportunities in the market. One way to make sure that this happens is to make Payo a one-stop shop for different E-commerce solutions. That’s a direction that I’m really looking forward to taking.

Using the different technologies available out there in the market, I’m confident that we can achieve this. We are still on our way to becoming that, but as long as our teams have one common goal in mind, we will make this a reality. 

Curious about how Payo, an E-commerce enabler in the Philippines, can help your business? Check out our website for more information, or sign up with us today!