Lynkos

Picture: Lynkos' development hub is based in Zonamerica

Upon their vision regarding a global need for a new order of efficiency and growth support in the financial services industry, Federico and Gabriel decided to start meeting every week to brainstorm around this opportunity and outline what would later become Lynkos.   

The Vision

Starting at the young age of 17, Federico had various roles in the financial services industry.  He helped overcome operational & sales development challenges derived from the interaction between +10 global financial institutions and their distribution channels.  At the other end, he understood how portfolio consolidation and client management was a key challenge for hundreds of distribution channels that carried more than one product offering. Recent trends in the financial services industry made these problems bigger at each end of the industry.  Financial institutions needed a better and more efficient way to interact with their distribution channels and end customers, and distribution channels –driven by more demanding end customers- needed wider product offerings and a better way to operate with multiple carriers.   

A solution that could link both sides of the value chain could tackle the highest challenges at both ends, efficiency and growth support.  At a very high level, it had to be an independent solution that could integrate to multiple carriers and assimilate multiple types of financial services, offered through a SaaS (Software as a Service) model.  In detail, it had to provide financial institutions with a new order of efficiency in transaction processing and customer service.  At the other end, it had to enable distribution channels to consolidate their various portfolios in a single place, while providing them with the same operational and customer service features.  But specially, the solution should serve as a platform that would enable both ends of the value chain to share the same processes and information in real time. 

When interviewing candidates for an engineering position, and explaining to a candidate what the project was about, he said “Got it…  You want to do in financial services what SABRE does in the travel industry”.  That sentence hit the spot, they wanted to do exactly that, and the sentence became the definition of Lynkos’ vision. 

The Name 

At that point Federico & Gabriel would refer to the project as “SWAN” (System Without A Name).  They tried to buy the domain from its registrant, but after an exorbitant amount of money was requested, they desisted and went the other way.  They looked for available domains and found www.lynkos.com.  The explanation came later… “A system that links”! 

The Beginning 

Gabriel had developed software platforms for several financial institutions in Latin America and the US, and shared Federico’s vision.  He also knew the challenges ahead in the process of building a solution that could tackle this opportunity.  These challenges included product specification, technologic definitions, development strategy, budgeting, among many others.  Such an ambicious solution was a challenge from every aspect at that stage, and they both concluded that the key success element was going to be focusing in the 20% of things that delivered 80% of value to users. Plus, field tests and proof of concept with real customers was mandatory.   

Even with that approach, the solution to be built was complex enough, and they both new how IT projects go beyond time frame and budget.  They needed to design the application and validate the required resources and budget with third parties. 

In June 2009, the company was incorporated with the Lynkos name.  The first “LYNKOS Team” was set up bringing on board a team of operational and technical experts that had previously worked with Federico and Gabriel, and the design of Lynkos V1.0 started.  During the first 6 months not a single line of code was programmed.  The whole period was spent braistorming and testing concepts with key industry players, with a top down approach that outlined what Lynkos V1.0 should be about.  The specs were partitioned in modules that would be later integrated through a development framework, and partitioned RFP’s were sent to multiple software factories to validate budget and required resources. 

In January 2010, with the financial support of friends, partners & initial investors, the actual development started.  Lynkos V1.0 was ready 10 months later, combining the work of The LYNKOS Team with +40 off-site developers in two countries and 4 different software factories. 

Lynkos Today 

Financial institutions from the US, Europe and Latin America are welcoming Lynkos’ features and as resources allow, they are moving forward through the integration process.  More than 250 paper based processes were eliminated during the first three months with each company.  More than 300 broker networks across 30 countries are already using Lynkos.  Lynkos is changing the way financial institutions look at their operational, channel management & customer service strategies.