Build October 2016 NEW

Build Magazine 28 Design With a presence felt across a wide range of industries, from customer support, to product development, to IT, Doctor Andy Khawaja of Allied Wallet represents a centrepiece role as a hub figure; indeed, as a top CEO of the Year, he is fixated on delivering the highest quality services to his clients, and on achieving a market-leading status within the field of e-commerce. Having already achieved major market penetration in local economies around the globe, from China to Germany, Dr. Khawaja now sets his sights upon newer opportunities.” octor Khawaja is a very hands-on leader. Being responsible as the CEO for a company like Allied Wallet certainly demands a certain level of tenacity and devotion, and Andy delivers these attributes through his willingness and determination to know every single thing that goes on in every sector of the company. He stresses that this is an easy task for him, in no small part, due to the free and open nature of the workplace that he oversees. “Most days are like a walk in the park,” Dr. Khawaja describes. “I can come to work knowing that my team will be getting on, and given the way that we are expanding currently, they will be rewarded for doing so. It is essential for them to feel that they have the freedom to be innovative, because in my experience that is what breeds innovation to begin with. That will give them the hope and the credibility to feel that the product is really something tangible, and not just something that they are selling on behalf of someone else.” Put in these terms, there is not a lot to separate Dr. Khawaja’s work with Allied Wallet from the efforts that a manufacturing firm might go to on a daily basis to make their products leaders in their respective fields. The various sectors of the AEC industry, all told, represent an enormous contribution to the world economy, and its growth is considered a vital statistic for its overall health. As the pace of technology quickens at a faster rate than the construction industry, the question has to be posed to firms within the industry as to when – rather than if at all – they will embrace the e-commerce trend. Already, various international government initiatives are involved in encouraging businesses to switch over into this electronic frontier. Added to this, as more and more clients – including construction clients – look to switch onto e-commercial pathways, the wider construction industry cannot afford to turn a blind eye; to do so The Pioneer of E-Commerce Solutions D would be to risk profitability, and run the additional danger of becoming mired in a technological world that is moving too fast for them to keep up. E-commerce certainly has the potential to enable new trade, opening numerous new avenues over the Internet for transactions. There are, however, a number of factors that limit or otherwise restrict its suitability for deployment in the construction industry. The point-to-point (P2P) nature of communication can be difficult for smaller construction firms to work within, as can the need to agree upon standards for the sending and receiving of structured, formatted documents. As for larger firms, large supply chains can get in the way. The high initial investment that construction firms would need to shell out in order to participate in the e-commerce trend might not be easy for companies with limited budgets, either. Not only that, but the prospect of multi-party construction projects can add a new and often unnecessary layer of complexity should e-commercial networks be needed in order to facilitate proper and effective project management. Having been in this position for 14 years since 2002, Dr. Khawaja has seen his fair share of challenges when building up the company to having worked with and feature in a number of prominent American institutions, including TIME Magazine, CNN, Forbes’, The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. These institutions, representing the media, are among the most flexible, and therefore more willing and able to make the transfer to e-commerce. The construction industry, meanwhile, as stated above, is a significantly harder nut to crack. Rather than focussing on those potential hurdles, however, Dr. Khawaja always finds himself focussing his efforts on the light at the end of the tunnel. The complexities of introducing e-commerce to the construction industry on a wide scale ought not to be a discouraging factor, he says, because the restraining influence of these factors are being lifted gradually. The practices of BIM are indeed making it easier and easier for multiple construction firms to be involved in a project concurrently, and that provides an opportunity for e-commerce to flourish in a new direction, and Allied Wallet is an e-commerce provider with a particular focus in processing payments for clients all around the world, giving the company an ideal platform from which to provide great support to the construction industry should it be required. That gives Dr. Khawaja further incentive to motivate and lead his team into developing new, innovative ways of gaining a foothold in this key new branch of their industry. This leads Dr. Khawaja to reflect upon his own qualities as a business leader and CEO. Citing his own career milestones as evidence for the importance of adopting such a tenacious pursuit of technology. From his relatively humble background, he has come to define his success as the result of a combination of hard work, dedication and understanding. Citing his travels across the world, from the USA to Japan, he draws influence and aspiration from the wider FinTech industry, and applies its best practices to Allied Wallet. “I have a global reach as far as financial technology is concerned,” he states outright. “I gain pleasure from being able to highlight the most cutting-edge aspects of the technology that’s out there, and then handing it over to my developers and coders and working closely with them on taking Allied Wallet’s services to the next level.” Allied Wallet, under Dr. Khawaja’s mentorship, has