Jeremy Annis – Ripjar – Countering Global Money Laundering, Terrorism, and Criminal Networks
“Businesses must make sure they can control costs during unpredictable times , not just the pandemic, but also in times of financial uncertainty like this one, so that operations can continue despite unrest.” – Jeremy Annis
Jeremy Annis, founder of Ripjar, is a former intelligence professional and data scientist with the British government’s signals intelligence agency, GCHQ. He has extensive experience in complex analysis and visualisation of large, structured and unstructured data sets to generate critical insights for national security and the detection of serious crimes.
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Jeremy Annis: I’m Jeremy Annis, the CEO of Ripjar, a company at the forefront for businesses wanting to combat today’s financial crime. Ripjar enables financial institutions and governments to link and analyse numerous data points in real-time, across more than 20 languages, using advanced machine learning and data visualisations, in order to acquire a full view of the threats posed by financial crime.”
“Organisations have an advantage when using Ripjar to address some of the most challenging problems facing society. These include guarding financial institutions like banks from fraud, money laundering, and participating in the financing of terrorists and unjust global conflicts.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Jeremy Annis: The most important lesson for businesses, in my opinion, is the value of people. Businesses must put time and effort into their employees to make sure they are content and have the resources they need to succeed, with communication tools at the centre of this endeavour.”
“The key to ensuring that your business can prosper and that everyone is on the same page will, in the end, be excellent communication
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Jeremy Annis: Businesses must make sure they can control costs during unpredictable times , not just the pandemic, but also in times of financial uncertainty like this one, so that operations can continue despite unrest. This entails putting systems in place that can serve as a safety net for your company to use in managing tumultuous situations.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Jeremy Annis: As a result of the pandemic, the financial services market has seen more fraud and crime in general, as the government process has been ill-thought-out. As a result businesses such as ours have benefited, but adapting to the new market has been difficult.”
“Revenues have increased as a result of how we as a company have reacted to the pandemic, but we have taken care to be aware of our rapid expansion. We aren’t unwinding, as we’re aware that our customers’ needs are constantly evolving and therefore we are continuously upgrading. Having a product like Labrinth, which can be used in so many various markets, really eases the burden of surviving the crisis.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Jeremy Annis: I wish I had given more thought to how I communicate with my staff and what they actually do on a daily basis. On any given day before the pandemic, I used to be able to approach any person in the office and have a face to face conversation, but that no longer happens.”
“When covid hit, we had to quickly adapt in order to ensure we all maintained a broad perspective on what was going on throughout the firm. Had we known what was in store, we would have had technology and procedures in place beforehand to ensure minimal disruption.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Jeremy Annis: We will concentrate on making sure that as a business we can access information and essential functions remotely in 2022 and beyond. Although we have adjusted to this new way of working over the past two years, there are still opportunities to streamline this process so that I can manage my staff efficiently and provide them with the support they need to execute their tasks.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Jeremy Annis: At Ripjar, we believe communication is absolutely key to our success. Ultimately I think business leaders need to be transparent and clear with their workforce. Employees work their best when they have all the information in front of them before doing a task, so we make sure we tell our workforce everything we know and don’t hide anything.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Jeremy Annis: Our real challenge is that we have so many avenues and opportunities to explore, but only a certain number of hours in the day. Instead of pursuing everything and stretching ourselves too far too fast, our business’ real challenge is going to be capitalising on the opportunities we already have. This way we can expand efficiently in the future.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Jeremy Annis: We have worked with several cryptocurrency companies and are finding this to be a really interesting industry. The next opportunity for us in this market which we are keen to learn more about are Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). It’s fascinating to see a nation attempt to launch its own cryptocurrency. Whether these will be adopted and the effect they will have on the market should be interesting to see, as a company.”
“As for myself, I am excited to learn more about marketing and branding teams. We have grown over the last eight and a half years while these and have only recently employed partner agencies to help us out. This should create a real turning point for us in 2022 and I look forward to seeing where it takes us.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Jeremy Annis: This is a real issue within our market right now. Pre-pandemic, we had next to no attrition, due to the being a small company who were all employed because they were aligned with the main goal of the business. After the pandemic when we saw a boom in the job market, we saw wage inflation in our industry grow by up to 100%, making it hard to stay competitive.
“For us, we are combating this by really focusing on our company culture. Making sure employees feel valued, but also really connected to the business and its operations is key to retaining talent at the moment. This is working well for us, so we’re going to keep doing it!
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Jeremy Annis: If I could, I’d print money! That way we could fund exciting new projects and share this wealth with our employees.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Jeremy Annis: Ultimately Ripjar’s goal this year is going to be to become profitable, and we are going to work hard to achieve this. It’s a big goal, but one we are committed to reaching and I am excited to see what the year brings for us.
This interview was originally published on ValiantCEO.
