Introducing Elaine Keith

It was quite unusual to have such in-depth knowledge of the digital side of retailing. I fancied a change so joined the Novuna Consumer Finance team as a Strategic Relationship Manager in 2014, to look after onboarded retailers. With my experience managing stakeholders, pitching, and delivering training sessions, it was a natural progression for me to work directly with retail partners to help them achieve their goals.

Your role's changed a lot over ten years, though?

Originally my job was to onboard retailers and help them make the most of our finance solutions. A lot of our focus seemed to be on in-store retailers, though. At the time most of our business came from bricks and mortar retailers with in-store POS systems - so e-commerce was very much an afterthought. I knew it didn't have to be that way.

We spotted a real gap in the market to create an outstanding e-commerce integration process and I jumped at the chance to take the reins and make a difference.

How has the integration process changed over the last decade?

How hasn't it changed?

Ten years ago there was barely an integration process to talk about. We simply handed retailers a short integration guide and expected them to get on with it. Of course, our support team would do all they could to help, but the integration process was so difficult.

Once we brought the onboarding and integration capability into the Business Development team, things became much simpler. Our Relationship Managers and e-commerce specialists know our retailers inside out so we could be much more responsive to their needs.

We also did a lot of work on the integration process itself to ensure it became as pain-free as possible for our retailers. For example, we developed a range of plugins to make it much quicker for retailers with a straightforward website to integrate with us. We started with just one basic web plugin but we now have a range of customisable plugins for a number of different platforms. As e-commerce has evolved and sites have become more complex, many of our retailers now require bespoke integration solutions which is something we love to support too.

No other competitor focused on e-commerce in this way, so we've been very much at the forefront of retail finance technology over the years.

We go beyond supporting the integration process, though, don't we?

Oh, absolutely. We brought Ben and Nick on-board about five years ago for this exact reason. It wasn't enough to hand over a plugin and a guide on how to use it. We wanted to really support our partners, giving our online retailers the same level of great service our in-store retailers had come to expect.

There are often so many moving parts and different stakeholders involved, from the retailer themselves to their developers. Having that hands-on support, a team to bring everyone together, can make all the difference to an integration project.

Does having that extra support really make a difference?

Without a doubt. Retailers are busy people with lots of priorities. They're understandably often focused on driving revenue. Other people within the process - developers, for example - have their own priorities. They might be keen to get the job done quickly to move on to other improvements or changes to the website, or to complete the integration ahead of a busy period.

Our e-commerce team have one goal: we want people to have a good experience integrating with us.

Your team looks after developing new solutions and integrations too. Can you tell us a bit about that?

We're always working on the next thing. Technology moves at such a fast and furious rate, it's never good enough to just stand still.

The team constantly ask 'what's next?' It could be updating our plugins, or a major update to launch a new feature (such as our new-and-improved CreditMaster3 system a few years ago).

A lot of the time, though, we add new features as a result of retailer requests. Because we're a dedicated e-commerce team, we can be extremely responsive to bespoke requirements. Having a project manager to act as a conduit between you and your development partners helps no end when it comes to custom requests.

What does a typical day look like for you and the team?

One of the great things about the work our team does is that nothing's 'typical'. The team could be attending an onboarding call to introduce ourselves to a brand-new client, or we could be having project meetings with retailers or internal teams. It's not an 'out of the box' process, which keeps our jobs very varied (and busy!)

Nick and Ben handle most of the hands-on project management so they'll often be busy supporting retailers and working out what success looks like to them. It's often all hands on deck for some of the bigger, more complex bespoke integration projects though.

A lot of our time is also spent on innovating. There are lots of exciting features and tools on the horizon... but they're all under wraps for now. Sorry!

Any sneak peeks you can tell us about? 

Well, we're very pleased to have launched a Shopify plugin this year. This will allow even more retail partners to come onboard with us, as we'll be able to fast-track the integration process using a plugin that's compatible with their website.

What's it like to work with the rest of the e-commerce team?

We have a really lovely mix of experience between us. Ben's worked for digital marketing agencies in the past, Nick has first-hand experience of working for a retailer and I've been a Relationship Manager in the financial services sector for many years.

Because we've all been on 'the other side' in various different ways, we really empathise with every stakeholder within the integration process. We know their priorities, their frustrations, their end goals because one or the other of us has been in their position before. As a team, I think we have a unique perspective on things because of our past experiences.

What has been one of your biggest career challenges so far?

Proving e-commerce was a sector that needed to be prioritised. It sounds hard to believe now, because online shopping is such a big part of our day-to-day lives, but it didn't used to be so prominent.

At Novuna, one of our brand values is 'Pioneering Spirit'. We don't stand still and we don't just wait until someone else makes a move. We've been championing the e-commerce sector for over a decade now. It's enabled us to continually react to what's going on in the industry without ever being on the back foot.

What's one of the most common questions or concerns you get asked about the integration process?

'How long does it take to integrate?'

Our answer to this is always 'as soon as possible'. An integration can go live within weeks - or even days - if a retailer is able to use one of our plugins. A more complex endeavour will naturally take longer.

The time it takes to integrate does largely depend on the developer though. Some retailers have a development team in-house, others hire an agency or some work with freelancers to support the integration. Each will have different timescales. Our e-commerce team can be flexible - we'll do all we can to make sure the process runs like clockwork.

If you could give one piece of advice to retailers embarking on the integration process, what would it be? 

Communicate.

There are lots of stakeholders involved in any integration process and it's important everyone's involved as soon as possible.

We make sure our e-commerce team are part of the process from the very beginning, so we have an in-depth understanding of your site's technical requirements and customer journey. It's a good idea if your technical experts can be involved from the get-go, too, so we can crack on with discussing the nitty gritty of your integration.

Another piece of advice I'd give is 'don't be afraid to ask questions'. We don't expect you to know everything (we'd be out of a job if you did!) Put your trust in us as the experts to help manage the project - we'll always be happy to help and support but we can't do that if we don't know what you're looking for.

Finally, what's your favourite part of the job?

Seeing projects successfully launch. It doesn't matter if it's an up-and-coming retailer using a plugin to launch retail finance for the first time or a nationally-known brand launching a bespoke integration that's been months in the making. For me, it's all about making sure our partners have a good integration process and enjoy working with me and the team.