Amely Driessen
We think about every detail and how it affects the customer
Amely has always been interested in human behaviour and how people make decisions. Her current role as Customer Journey Expert in the Mobile Payments & Digital Solutions team is right up her street!
Amely: “As part of my master’s in Economic and Consumer Psychology I did an internship at a multinational in the FMCG sector. It was fun and interesting, but I missed real added value for customers. That set me thinking about where I could actually find that – and preferably in combination with a healthy dose of technology because I find that really interesting too.”
“It didn’t take me long to decide on the banking sector. Nowadays, people are in daily contact with their bank – such as when checking the mobile app and performing any transaction – so we’re all making decisions about their finances several times a day, often without even realising it. I thought it would be fascinating to see how people make those decisions, and how advanced technology helps them. The ING traineeship immediately appealed to me – because of its international nature, the opportunity to work abroad for six months and, last but not least, because ING stands out as a pioneering tech company.”
Madrid
“My first assignment was in a Mortgage Services team and then I went to Madrid for my second assignment. At ING Spain, I worked in the Investments department, where I analysed data in order to gain insights into customer behaviour. It’s a very different product from mortgages in a very different environment and a very different culture. In Spain, you don’t take it in turns getting everyone coffee to drink at their desks; instead, you take the time to enjoy drinking coffee together during communal breaks. I had a wonderful six months in Madrid. It was an interesting assignment in a great team and I lived in a lovely apartment in a nice neighbourhood.”
A hectic year
“When I got back to the Netherlands, I started in my first permanent role. I was a Customer Journey Expert in an IT team which built an online tool to help small business customers to gain quick and easy insight into whether they were eligible for a business loan. It unexpectedly turned into a hectic year because the coronavirus outbreak meant that all kinds of new schemes were developed for companies. The pressure was on to organise and communicate everything quickly. It was a period in which I learned a lot and we were all working at the maximum energy level.”
Apple Pay and an Albert Heijn pilot
Although I was happy there, I felt an urge to move to an even more IT-oriented team where I could have even more impact on our customers. So, I became a Customer Journey Expert for Mobile Payments & Digital Solutions in a team made up almost exclusively of engineers. We worked on some really cool things, such as Apple Pay, mobile payments for Android and a digital payment method that were piloting with food retailer Albert Heijn.
The team thinks up and builds payment solutions for extremely complex issues, while ensuring that the applications are completely logical for our users. And that’s not easy; we have to think about each and every detail and how it affects the customer. For me, that completed the circle: we see precisely how a small change influences customer behaviour and decision-making. So, it was right up my street!”
Nowadays Amy works as product owner in the Digital Sales Tooling department.
About Amely
After leaving high school, Amely went to Spain to learn Spanish and then backpacked her way around South America on her own. Once back in the Netherlands, she did a bachelor’s in Psychology at VU Amsterdam and a master’s in Economic and Consumer Psychology in Leiden. She spent a couple of months backpacking around Asia before starting at ING, and a trip to Japan is at the top of her wish list as soon as international travel becomes possible again. Besides travelling, she enjoys cooking, spinning (indoor cycling) and yoga.