Interview with Dr Liam Terblanche

For Dr Liam Terblanche, Chief Technology Officer at Airvantage, his passion will always be cutting edge, customer-centric technology engineering. Creating something out of nothing. Making something exceptional out of something regular.

With a PhD in Technology &Innovation Management, a Master's degree in Software Engineering, and a B.Engin Electronic Engineering, and over 25 years of software engineering experience, there is never a dull moment. Being an integral leader at Airvantage, we sat down with him to find out more about his career and thoughts on the future innovations in technology.

Tell us more about your journey in technology and innovation and what initially sparked your interest in engineering?

I grew up in the early days of computing, when the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum ruled the home computing market. At that time, books on software development were scarce, so we used to enter source code (often in Assembly) from magazines and tried to figure out how it all tied together.  And that’s where the bug bit me, and as they say, the rest is history.

AI and machine learning have grown so much in recent years, how has this influenced the way you approach innovation at Airvantage?

You cannot be a software engineer and not embrace and capitalise on every opportunity to accelerate your processes. At Airvantage, we designed our architecture in a way that optimises the use of generative AI without detracting from good engineering principles.This is no different than any other technological progression. You get to know it.  And then find ways to adopt the good parts and mitigate the risks of the not-so-good parts.

Airvantage’s proprietary algorithms sound fascinating! How do they help create those personal connections with customers that boost ARPU and reduce churn?

Tempting as it is to claim AI/ML as the secret sauce, the real success comes from the people building our models. One of the greatest misconceptions out there, is thatAI/ML can solve any problem.  It cannot. ML by its nature, is a function approximation. It cannot create what doesn’t exist.  It can, however, find signals where the human eye cannot. And thanks to brilliant analysts, data engineers, and deep institutional knowledge, our ml models have become exceptionally good at reducing bad debt, providing positive reinforcement for good repayments, and promoting network stickiness.

Staying on the cutting edge of technology is no small feat. How do you make sure Airvantage’s AI-driven products are always leading the way?

It’s part of our DNA. We celebrate innovation. We re-engineer our code-base every 3 years.  The same goes for our architecture. We embrace open-source initiatives. And every engineer has a voice. You cannot maintain a competitive edge without brilliant engineers. And you cannot attract and retain brilliant engineers if you don’t listen to them. So we push, and we listen, and we rework, and we innovate. And then we start again.

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With your experience in both enterprise systems and telecoms, how has that shaped the way you approach AI and machine learning in this industry?

We’re handling tens of millions of ml executions per day. We therefore need to build models that can execute at high transaction rates, with low response times, and limited memory and processing overhead. Everything, from data classification, model training, to deployments, require a disciplined, systematic approach that includes load testing, comprehensive A/B testing, and fine-grained monitoring and alerting.This is more than just implementing platform as code. There’s zero margin for error. So we evolve, evaluate, critique, and improve. Continuously.

You’ve mentioned your passion for “making something exceptional out of something ordinary.” How do you bring that passion into your leadership roles?

Empowerment, trust, and ownership. Give people this, and if you’re lucky, you’ll see them grow and mature into confident, competent, and exceptional individuals that can pay that forward to the next generation.

What’s been one of the biggest challenges in your career and how did you tackle it?

Any system, be it software, hardware, financial, or even social, works under an agreed set of rules and laws. And you can design for it. Build redundancy into it. Optimise your required outcome by abiding by those rules.  But people are free willed. They are the biggest variable in your system. It takes one recalcitrant individual to derail any short-term objectives.

How do I deal with it? I call in others that are better than me in dealing with people.

You’ve had an incredible career spanning 30 years in software engineering. What are some key lessons or principles you’ve carried into your role as CTO?

I firmly believe in 3basic principles:

·      Lead by example. Be there in the trenches with your team.  Attend midnight deployments. Review code, and let others review yours.

·      You cannot know everything. But you can know something about everything. So read and code and experiment. Every chance you get.

·      Ensure that you’re not the smartest person in the room. If you are, you may end up being the only person in the room.  

Dr Liam Terblanche

Chief Technology Officer

AIRVANTAGE

Contact us to find out more about how we can increase customer loyalty, ARPU and revenue at scale and speed for your organisation.

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