This week’s Women in Business Spotlight features Tiffani Rice, an Associate Consultant of the Wealth Management practice at IBM. Tiffani earned her B.B.A. in marketing and a minor in information technology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA) in 2019. During her time at UMA, she served as a Teaching Assistant for an Introduction to Marketing course, where she did pro bono consulting for small businesses alongside her students. Tiffani excelled in this role, and looked for a full-time position that translated well with her consulting experience. In her senior year, she successfully landed her first job at IBM, where she currently works. Tiffani’s focus is to identify opportunities for financial firms to technologically enhance their operation processes, to drive optimization and efficiency.
Read more about our conversation on the future of currency, trends in the Fintech industry, and the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on corporate America.
July 2, 2020, 11 am EDT
Written by Sarah Chu
The Future of Currency
SC: Many scholars define this century as the “Digital Age.” With the rise in cryptocurrency, like Blockchain and Bitcoin, it appears that printed money is becoming obsolete. From a technological perspective, where is the future of currency headed?
TR: Currency is becoming increasingly digital. There is a growing demand for financial literacy, along with transparency between banks and consumers. People also want to understand how to build and protect their own wealth, so many may shift toward using cryptocurrency as an alternative.
SC: That is an interesting point – and how do you think cryptocurrency will change the relationship between banks and consumers?
TR: Cryptocurrency will directly disrupt financial institutions. Let’s look at Bitcoin. The goal of Bitcoin is to serve as a peer-to-peer payment system for digital money, which removes the need for banks to serve as the “middleman” that facilitates all transactions. Money is already digital, so by removing banks from the transaction and by leveraging Blockchain, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin could help build transparency and trust in transactions.
SC: I’m wondering if most consumers know how or what Bitcoin is to adopt it as our new form of currency. I don’t!
TR: Yes, cryptocurrency is at an early entry stage where many people don’t know about its benefits. Many scholars believe cryptocurrency will be just as revolutionary as electricity, cars, or the Internet, so it will be a big disruptor in the Fintech industry. I encourage people to read more about it.
Fintech Trends
SC: What are some Fintech trends everyone should look out for?
TR: Consumers have fully embraced peer-to-peer services, like Venmo and CashApp. Consumers want to digitally exchange money in an instant. We should closely monitor Fintech startups looking to disrupt traditional banking services.
SC: Just to add onto this point, I think people are becoming progressively impatient. I point blame at social media for constantly keeping us occupied with new content.
TR: You’re right – it’s like an ‘instant gratification complex.’ I call it the Amazon effect. Before Amazon, there was no problem waiting two weeks for a package. Now, I can get almost anything from Amazon within 1-2 days. People want these services free and fast, and we see that trend growing in Fintech as well.
Black Lives Matter
SC: What are your thoughts on the impact of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement on corporate America?
TR: In terms of corporate response, firms fall between ‘Ben & Jerry’s’ or ‘Starbucks.’ Ben & Jerry’s is transparent, authentic, and genuine. They didn’t wait for the resurgence of the BLM movement to begin social activism. Meanwhile, Starbucks didn’t allow their employees to wear t-shirts in support of the BLM movement until they felt the backlash. Then there are companies that fall on the responsiveness spectrum.
SC: Do you think corporate America is progressing the movement?
TR: In most cases, no. Many firms exhibit signs of performative activism, where they make blanket statements to express solidarity with their black employees. They fail to take actionable steps that provide real change.
SC: What does ‘real change’ in a corporate setting look like?
TR: To be honest, it’s hard to measure. I worry that when this moment passes, people forget about systemic racism. I personally am trying to think of ways to create change using emerging technologies, and would encourage others to do the same.
SC: I am hopeful the BLM movement changes society for the better. CEOs should listen to consumers because of a shift in consumer sentiment. Consumers are becoming more vocal about racial injustice. They will remember the firms that make blanket statements that show support to the movement, yet provide no real solutions.
TR: Exactly. Systemic change takes a lot more than hashtags, retweets, and sharing on Instagram or LinkedIn. We need to pass legislation, and the movement needs corporations to vocalize their support. We need to advocate for more people of color in tech, so we can build our own technological solutions that drive social impact. That way, we don’t have to wait on corporations to do it for us.