First, tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at Wizeline.

I’m an introverted elder millennial, a stand-up comedy enthusiast, and a Broadway musical aficionado who cannot sing to save my life. My perpetually itchy feet have currently planted me firmly in Sydney, Australia.

I’ve been with Wizeline for over three years, and I always jest that my claim to fame is being the first Wizeline Australia employee. I joined the distinguished but now defunct Business Relationship Management team, focusing on establishing and strengthening client relationships in Australia and the Asia Pacific. 

As Wizeline evolved, I evolved with it, playing as many roles as the years I have been with the company. I now work on the delivery and operations front, centered on managing our operational processes in the region, stabilizing APAC as a strategic global delivery partner,  and enabling the growth of our team in Vietnam. 

How did you get started in the technology industry? 

I was always inclined (and encouraged) towards the STEM pathway when I was younger. I was a Chemist in my previous life; I got board-certified and did a short stint in a pharma laboratory. But I didn’t quite see my future in the labs. I took my first step into the tech and corporate world through Accenture, where I first started as a Mainframe Cobol programmer. 

I’ve been fortunate to have had many opportunities to grow and evolve since, working alongside some veteran stalwarts who taught me a lot about the tech but wanted to steer clear of the business and its ever-changing facets. But what they didn’t like about it, I embraced — being open to constant change and ambiguity gave me the chance to learn and grow, then evolve and grow again.

As a global company, Wizeline’s teams in Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia play a big role in serving our customers from all over the world. How do the teams in APAC collaborate with teams in EMEA and North America?

Since Wizeline opened our Delivery Center in Ho Chi Minh City in 2016, we have drawn from the benefits of international diversity, with Wizeliners from Mexico working side by side with our Wizeliners from Vietnam, both taking advantage of the Work Abroad program. 

We have had many different structures in how we have delivered projects and solutions together. Our teams in Vietnam have worked on projects, like AirAsia and Boomin, supported by Engineers in North America. We also have project teams in the Americas and EMEA supported by Engineers in Vietnam, like WashingtonPost (Arc XP) and Inditex.  

Regardless of the team structure or project, global team collaboration has always been an essential part of our business and a key to success for Wizeline.

In the past year, we’ve published case studies on our work with AirAsia and True — two of Wizeline’s biggest customers in APAC. What are some of the services we’re providing these and other clients? 

We partnered with AirAsia, the ASEAN region’s largest low-cost airline, to launch two new applications, SNAP and Hotel, through their SuperApp. With these services previously offered through a third-party white-labeled application, the launch enabled AirAsia to customize and modify the service to better align with their business goals, bringing customers a new way to fly. These products are built on Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Wizeline Vietnam’s GCP expertise was critical as AirAsia hosts most of its applications on GCP. You can check out the recently published “Behind the Scenes” blog to learn more about this project!

The APAC team also designed and developed several solutions for True Corporation, a leading telecommunications and digital service provider in Thailand. Among them was a SaaS-based data analytics and data visualization tool called Digipulse that allowed True to leverage its significant data assets to create powerful insight and decision-making solutions for their B2B customers.

With a track record of delivering quality and on-time results to customers with varying project scopes and sizes, we develop products and solutions that utilize our skilled pool of engineers in APAC. We have high-quality FrontEnd, BackEnd, FullStack, Mobile, Data Engineering, DevOps automation, and Cloud Management teams to support our customers.

Wizeline is one of the fastest-growing companies in our industry. How have you seen this growth impact your region since joining Wizeline?

I fondly remember the days when Wizeline Vietnam was still in a small co-working space; many of the young “DreamPlex” group are now senior members and leaders of the APAC team. We have seen tremendous growth in the last few years, not only in our move to an incredible new office of our own but also in the diversity of customers we have been able to work with. 

Of course, along with the diversity is the growth in our capabilities and knowledge in different industries. We were primarily working with clients in Media & Entertainment, but we have grown to deliver projects in FinTech, E-Commerce, Real Estate, and Travel & Hospitality, among other new industries in the last two years.

What makes Wizeline different from other employers? 

I’ve seen what difference the culture of ownership and community at Wizeline can make. Not only does it cultivate a good, collaborative experience for us as employees, it also filters down to our customers. I like that the phrase “It’s not my job” isn’t in the vocabulary. 

I also appreciate Wizeline’s commitment to bringing together people from diverse backgrounds, genders, cultures, and nationalities. But more so, I respect that we work to involve everyone actively — diversity is only powerful with inclusion.

What has been your experience as a ‘woman in technology’ at Wizeline?

I’m grateful to be in an organization that not only supports women but celebrates them. There’s a big impact from having women on Wizeline’s Executive Team — Judith, Lin, and Danielle are such driving forces and ensure that nothing is performative. There are many initiatives for women in Wizeline, primarily the Women in Leadership program, which provides a community for us to help navigate workplace challenges and improve our ability to lead and influence. 

Because of the strong culture of women empowerment, I find myself valued, supported, and thriving in trust-based collaborative relationships with people around me. At Wizeline, I am confident that I can just do my job and do my best. It’s all about the hard work without the heaviness of constantly worrying about how my ideas and leadership will be received just because I’m a woman. 

I’m proud to be a WizeWoman.

If someone is thinking about joining our team anywhere in the world, what would you tell them?

Do not hesitate! As someone working remotely even before COVID-19 hit, I haven’t felt excluded or isolated because Wizeline has created a very supportive and flexible working environment. It has kept me motivated and empowered; I am confident it will do the same for you.

Wizeline is a vibrant, people-centric organization where everyone is passionate about learning, innovation, and community. It’s a great place to develop, deliver great results, and have an opportunity to build an amazing career. Apply today!

An Interview with Regie Taytayon, APAC Operations Director