In this episode of The Connector Podcast, host Koen Vanderhoydonk interviews Liesel, Business Development lead for BBD’s European operations. BBD is a South‑African software firm with 40 years of experience serving financial services and government clients. The conversation covers BBD’s four‑year presence in the Benelux, highlighting successful partnerships with Deloitte, NN Insurance, ING, Rabobank, and BMW, as well as smaller clients across Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. Liesel describes a flagship cloud‑modernisation project for a UK client that achieved a 50 % reduction in back‑office costs within five months through a “health‑check” assessment and targeted optimisation. She outlines BBD’s engineering methodology: start with the client’s business problem, co‑design a smart solution, choose the right architecture, deliver iteratively to show early value, and maintain long‑term relationships. The firm positions itself as a full‑stack provider, covering backend development, integration, automation, cloud migration, generative AI (ChatGPT, OpenAI LLMs), data engineering, and front‑end applications, emphasizing the importance of a robust data pipeline to feed AI models. Security is treated as a foundational principle baked into design, build, and operations, while external partners handle specialised penetration testing. Talent management is presented as BBD’s “super‑power”: recruiting, up‑skilling, and retaining engineers through a dual‑culture model, regular knowledge‑sharing events, certifications, an internal conference, and a magazine. Finally, Liesel explains how BBD navigates cultural differences in the Benelux by offering Dutch language classes, encouraging cultural exchange among expat staff, and fostering informal practices that embed local customs. The episode closes with an invitation to connect via LinkedIn.
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Welcome to the Connector Podcast, an ongoing conversation connecting fintechs, banks, and regulators worldwide. Join CEO and founder Koen Vanderhoydonk as you learn more about the latest available trends and solutions in the markets.
And here we are for another podcast by the Connector, and it's always nice to bring one of our customers with me. So today I've got BBD and Liesel. Liesel, can you explain a little bit what you do and what BBD does?
Sure. Well, it's really good to be here today, middle of Brussels, in the middle of a fintech conference. So a little bit about me. I am responsible for our business development and growth strategy in Europe. So I keep our partners happy. I keep our clients happy and make sure that we're finding new and exciting things to do in BBD. So a little bit about BBD. BBD is a South African, originally, software development company. We've been around 40 years and we focus mainly on financial services and government clients, building very complex software solutions for them.
Oh, that sounds very amazing actually. And while you're here today in Belgium, so can you tell us a little bit more about the ambitions In Belgium slash the Benelux?
Yeah, so for us as BBD, we've been wanting to grow into Europe for many years and we've been in the Benelux now for 4 years.
Ooh, and counting.
And counting. We've managed to do super well in penetrating the Netherlands and Belgium's next on our radar. So replicating some of what we've done, we've learned a few cultural adjustments of working in Europe versus working in Africa and India and the UK where we were before. Europe is obviously a whole other cultural adjustment, but we feel like it's time. It's time to grow further, do more, do more in Belgium as well.
And are you able to share us some big names in the Netherlands, or is that sort of confidential?
No, no, no, no. In the Netherlands, we have some lovely partnerships with Deloitte. With Deloitte, we work on a joint client with them called NN Insurance. We also have some teams inside of ING, who you will know well, inside of Rabobank, who you will know well, BMW. So some really nice names inside of the Netherlands. And of course, we also have some smaller clients in Belgium and the Netherlands and Germany, also Switzerland, that we're having fun with too.
Well, talking about fun, maybe if I may ask, what has been your most innovative challenge that you solved for one of your clients?
Gee whiz, in 40 years, so many innovative challenges. And I think they're so wide-reaching. So, I think some of the really cool stuff we've done lately has, of course, been with the cloud. How do we leverage the power of cloud to just optimize and modernize? And in a recent client in the UK, they challenged us to say, you know, could we save them 50% of their back office costs in 6 months?
Cool.
And we said, of course. And we did it in 5 months, actually saved them 50% of their back office costs just by purely modernizing. isolating what was really going down in their software. So we do this thing called a health check where we lift the hood and look at what your systems are doing. What does the code look like? What do your practices look like? And then from there we can say, hey, what can we do better? What can we modernize? What can we optimize? What really works? What can we change? And in this particular client that had been hugely successful, a small savings institute, Yeah, it really made a big difference there.
But to me, yeah, indeed, indeed. To me, that sounds one of the things that you really stand out in the market because the way you actually handle the projects. Could you maybe tell a little bit more, like, what would be a typical flow?
Yes. So for us, we very much believe that we must do what we're good at, and we must really trust the client that they are good at what they do. So we take the client's knowledge and we really try and understand from them what is the business issue that they have, not what's the tech issue, not what's broken. What is it they're trying to solve from a business perspective? And then we go, right, is there a smart engineering solution that we can attach to this? And then we go into, okay, let's think about what's the right architecture, what's the right tech to apply, what's the right approach. And then we build that. And we like to build in a way where we can iteratively drop a solution so that we show value very quickly and early. And then we continue to add features and add value as we go so that the client also gets confidence in our team.
Very important.
Very important. And our goal is to be in our clients for the long term. We have some clients we've been— we've got teams in for 35, 40 years. And that's our goal, to be a long-term partner. We don't want to just come in, do a project and leave. We really want to understand their needs, their business, and work together to solve.
Well, I was a little bit surprised, maybe not 100% surprised, but the example that you gave was around cloud. I was really thinking Liesl is going to give me like ChatGPT.
ChatGPT, of course.
Maybe not so directly about generative AI, but which are the other technologies that you actually are focusing on? Not only the cloud migrations and the cloud optimizations.
Yeah. So for us, we're a full stack, right? So we do everything from writing the backend to integration to automation, whether it's cloud, of course, AI, ChatGPT, you know, OpenAI LLMs, very topical at the moment. And we do have a big data science and data engineering team. But we, we really want to bring the whole lot together. So even if we talk about generative AI, It's not the model that's the most important piece. Of course, building the model is important and having the right LLM process in place. But at the same time, there's a big data element. Have we got the right data infrastructure in place? Have we done the correct data engineering to feed the model? And then have we got the right infrastructure in place to run that data and that engineering and the model? And so we would focus on that full value chain. So for us, yeah, and if there's an app on the front of it, we want to build that too. So front to back, we will concentrate on that.
Within the names you mentioned, a couple of banks, financial institutions, and everything they say lately is around cybersecurity. So how do you guys actually work on that front? How do you integrate secured solutions or whatever?
Yeah, so security is just such a confusing term for people. And when you say security in the tech space, people think about pen testing and, I don't know, hackers sitting in a cave somewhere. That is not our game. So pen testing is something we leave to the real experts. However, in everything we build, we're building secure solutions. So whether that's the cloud infrastructure, the way we set up our cloud infrastructure, we set it up with security in mind. If it's an on-prem solution, if it's an integration solution, Mm-hmm. Everything we do, we build with security in mind. What we don't do is the sort of a white ant testing, pen testing, because that is such a specialized skill and such a risk. And so we have partners that we do that with. But having said that, security is at the heart of everything we do.
Would you say, Liesel, then your architecture becomes a very important element?
Absolutely. So how you design, how you build, and how you operate. So we keep security in mind through all of those phases.
What would be the biggest challenges that your customers bring to the table when it comes up to business— I'm sorry, software development?
I think the biggest challenges our clients have at the moment is first of all defining what they want. So, you know, a client can come and say, can you build us this? And we'll be like, sure. And then at the end of the day, it's like, oh, that's not really what I wanted. So defining what they want is a big issue and we like to work right from the beginning to figure out what is it they really want so that we build the correct solution for them, and finding the right talent. And that's our entire business model. I think what is BBD amazing at? Finding and keeping incredible engineers. That's our superpower. And that's what clients battle with. How do you keep an engineer motivated, keep learning, keep educating, keep front of tech, not getting in a rut? That's what we bring. That's what we think we're really good at.
And are you willing to share a bit of the magic sauce?
Yeah, you know, we're an engineering company built for engineers, right? So we have a huge focus on what does an engineer need to stay motivated. And so they have 2 cultures that they live within. They live within the clients building the solution they're building and they live within our team. And we focus a lot on making sure they feel part of a family that they belong, that they feel seen. Yeah. And that we keep educating. So we have a team focused on just continually upskilling, which is so, so important. Important in the tech space because tech changes, as you know, Jeepers, all the time. And so we're constantly seeing how can we add more certifications for our team, how can we bring them interesting insights. We have weekly catch-ups where we talk about cool stuff that's going on. We have an annual conference, which by the way, we're thinking of taking externally because the content is so amazing, where we talk about incredible things that are happening in tech. Well, you have a magical Yeah, we have a great magazine where we're starting to share content. And so yeah, we really do focus on making sure that this is an engineering business for engineers.
Makes sense, makes sense. Well, we're almost at the end of our conversation or podcast. Earlier in the conversation, you mentioned you're actually landing into the Benelux already for 4 years. But how do you deal with all these cultural differences? Is there a program that you guys run or how do you get around?
Yeah, so it's, it's culture is such an important part of everything, right? So even if you're building a tech solution or you're doing anything else in business, culture is essential. And our philosophy is we, we have a strong internal BBD culture, but we like to adapt to the client culture as well, which has made moving countries maybe a bit easier for us because it's something that we concentrate really hard on. So for example, we are making sure that our team are in Dutch classes, that they're learning about Dutch culture through their classes.
So it's Afrikaans or Dutch?
Dutch, Dutch. Many of them speak Afrikaans, which does help. But we're a team of expats. So the vast majority of our team are not originally Benelux, which is kind of normal for the Benelux, I guess. It's a, it's an area of expats. And so, yeah, culture is really important for us. Getting people together in the office, having things that we do together, learning about culture. In fact, one of our team, she's really good. Every single week, she sends us like a crazy expression from somewhere in the Benelux, and then she's like, what does this mean, guys? And then we all try to figure out what this expression means. But yeah, it's just a little way that we're adjusting to the culture.
It's all about small things, isn't it?
It is. It really is.
Liesel, thank you so much for having you in our podcast. But before we close off, I think everyone is excited about your story. So if they want to get in touch with you, where can they find you?
Find me on LinkedIn. Reach out on LinkedIn. Drop me a hi. I love to chat, love to have a coffee. Come and hear what's new for you, what's exciting in your world, and yeah, how we can change the world just a little bit together.
Oh, beautiful. Thank you very much again. Have a good day.
Thank you.
And thank you also to the audience. And please stay tuned. Thank you so much.
Have a great day.
Bye-bye.
Thanks for listening to another episode of The Connector Podcast. To connect and keep up to date with all the latest, head over to www.jointheconnector.com or hit subscribe via your podcast streaming platform.
