Tim Loo

I’m an Executive Director at Foolproof and on the global leadership team of Zensar’s Experience Studios. I work with Chief Product Officers, Chief Digital Officers and Chief Transformation Officers to help shape their strategies and organisational response to ever increasing complexity and the next wave of technology change.

I started working in Sydney, Australia, in what came to be known as “digital”, in 1996 when my boss at the financial consultancy I worked at brazenly proposed to build a self service website for our client, knowing neither he or I knew how to build a website (everybody needs an entrepreneurial boss like Roland at some point in their career). With the help of Microsoft Frontpage we delivered. To our delight, it not only technically worked but our client’s employees loved the experience - easy, convenient and empowering. I was hooked.

It sent me on a new career path leading me to London, UK in 1999, working on a startup, building one of the UK’s first fund supermarkets leading me to become the Marketing Director at a leading online investment service. Now a business leader and way behind on my sales and revenue targets, I discovered UX and user centred design as a way to understand what our customers were really trying to achieve and how to create better journeys, built around their context and needs. Through the process of observing real customers, reacting and responding, we increased conversion, sales and adoption. It was a revelation.

I joined Foolproof in 2004 and it’s been an incredible learning journey for me. I’ve had to learn, unlearn and learn how to create valuable and meaningful digital customer experiences and what it takes for businesses to deliver and learn continuously. I’ve worked with fantastic clients around the world in banking, insurance, energy, healthcare and Pharma and media & consumer services.

I passionately believe that building great digital products and services requires an endless curiosity about the world of the end customer and what makes the difference to them.

Since those early days of digital, the promise was personal, relevant and contextual experiences. This was supposed to be delivered at scale powered by data. The reality though for most enterprises is that, for all the promises of the technology, this hasn’t been accompanied with a required shift by the capabilities, organisational design, funding models, and the wiring of data into how to make better bets and decisions.

I believe that modern cross functional, product delivery has been the missing ingredient to most businesses digital transformation. I believe we are on the edge the next wave of disruption; 5G, machine learning, artificial intelligence, IoT now look ready to unlock the hyper-personalisation we talked about all those years ago. I feel excited by these opportunities and inspired by the talent we’ve assembled at Foolproof to realise the potential here.

Outside of work, cooking is hobby and passion of mine (I’m particularly fond of Malaysian, Spanish and American BBQ). I’ve been a contestant on MasterChef and will tell you my story for a coffee or a beer.