Vaiie’s DigitALL Focus: International Women’s Day 2023

This is a theme that particularly resonates with Vaiie as a technology solutions provider that digitises experiences to enhance the way businesses meet their regulatory obligations.

Part of the Jersey Post Group, Vaiie provides cutting edge technology that enhances, secures, and digitises compliance processes for its clients.

This International Women’s Day, Thursday 8 March 2023, we sat down with Vaiie Project Manager, Hannah Falvey to explore the theme ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’.

SF – Let’s start with an easy one, can you tell us about yourself?

HF – I’m Vaiie’s in house Project Manager. I work closely with stakeholders to ensure project deliverables are communicated and met throughout the project lifecycle while simultaneously coordinating and monitoring project progress to ensure they are brought in on time and within budget.

HF – Away from the office, I have volunteered with Girlguiding Jersey. I spend a lot of time walking with my golden retriever, Paisley who is always keeping me on my toes. I also enjoy a bit of line dancing!

SF - What led you to follow a career in a digital environment and can you tell us a bit about what you have done previously?

HF - After completing my BA Hons in Business and Management, I started my career managing and assisting a range of projects across several jurisdictions within the Finance sector. During this time, I was shortlisted for the Jersey Finance Rising Star Awards 2021, and I qualified as a Prince 2 Practitioner. Since then, I have qualified as an Agile Practitioner and trained in Scrum which allows me to act as Vaiie’s internal ScrumMaster.

SF - What appealed to you about working for Vaiie?

HF – Quite simply it’s the chance to be part of something unique, to move from project delivery within financial services to managing FinTech projects that ultimately solve real world problems that I have faced in financial services was a compelling factor.

HF - At Vaiie we have the best of both worlds, a start-up feel but with the benefits of being part of a wider group. Having worked in financial services, gaining trust, credibility and how the outside world views your organisation is important to me, Jersey Post is one of, if not the Islands most trusted organisation.

SF – If we look at the bigger picture, what does International Women’s Day mean to you?

HF – It means a lot, it is about embracing equality and celebrating not only female pioneers but everyone. It is also around what I can do, and how I can positively make a difference towards gender equality. We are all different, gender does not mean that we all share the same lived experiences, so it is about recognising differences beyond gender and giving everyone a voice.

SF – This year’s theme is ‘Innovation and technology for gender equality’, how do you see these factors positively impacting gender equality?

HF – We are on a road towards a future world without race or gender bias in technology! Technology can be an enabler for equality! Beyond gender, if we look at equality as a whole, we need to ensure that technology does not leave others behind. For me, this really stood out when Vaiie worked with the Government of Jersey to deliver the JerseyMe solution, we worked with EYECAN and other accessibility specialists to ensure that the solution met the needs of all Islanders.

SF – and yet, there are significantly fewer women working in the digital and technology industries that could build gender levelling solutions, why do you think this is?

HF – Historically, technology has been a male dominated space, many women have been put off going into male dominated sectors and this applies across a number of STEM related roles. There is progress being made, we are seeing more female led start-ups and more women joining the digital workplace but this is just the start of a long and continual journey to bring workplace equality.

SF – One final question, International Women’s Day celebrates the advancement of women’s rights, who are your most inspirational female role models?

HF - Funnily enough, I was asked a similar question when I was 8 and the answer has not changed! Always has and always will be, my mum! Her caring nature, ambition and drive in life is something I will always look up to and cherish. 

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality.