Clear View Systems Ltd: The Silicon Review

Currency exchange businesses, whether traditional or online, enable you to easily exchange one country’s currency for another. Real currency (coins and paper bills) is normally exchanged at a teller station over a counter. The businesses that operate such transactions can be found in a variety of forms and venues. It may be a stand-alone, small business operating out of a single office, a larger network of small exchange-service booths at airports, or a large international bank offering currency exchange services at its teller stations.

Clear View Systems Ltd. (CVS) develops currency exchange software for small to medium Money Exchange Businesses (Bureau De Change, BDC). Its flagship product CurrencyXchanger is a robust and affordable banking-quality software used daily by over 400 customers in 42 countries.

The Silicon review had an interesting conversation with Tiran Behrouz, CEO of Clear View Systems Ltd, in 2019. Tiran was happy to share some important facts about his company and how it all started. He also gave vital information concerning the services they offer. Here is a report of the answers he gave to the questions he was asked.

Q: What was the reason behind the genesis of Clear View Systems Ltd?

The company was built based on a software automation project. Our first customer had a vision for an automated system that can streamline their money exchange operation. I developed the software that satisfied their requirements. The business analysis was done by one of my friends who knew the customer. It took six months to build the first version of the software.

Q: How successful was your first project? Please share your experience.

Our first project was very successful, and it was the reason the company’s focus switched from a general software service to a product and services firm. What started as a one-off project became a full-on-off-the-shelf software solution that we were able to sell to others. According to the customer’s own words, CurrencyXchanger helped them gain a substantial competitive advantage over their competitors. It enabled them to offer better and faster services to their client base while staying in compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering regulations.

Q: What challenges did you face in your initial years? What can your peers learn from it?

“In the process of developing CurrencyXchanger, we have built a backend The biggest challenge we faced was the fact that we were a small company with a new product in a very tough market – the financial software industry. Prospects would ask us about references and how many years we were in business. For an apparent reason, they were not impressed with our answers. This question was raised all the time, “how do we know you will be staying in business in the next five years?” It took us five years to reach seven customers. It was very tough and hard in the beginning. I think the lesson is not to give up if you believe in your product. The reason is that it is only a matter of time before people start recognizing you. Keep developing and improving the product and don’t be scared of the more significant players.

"Keep developing and improving the product and don’t be scared of the more significant players."

Q: Is your company a ‘leader’ or a ‘follower?’ Do you formulate your core values?

We are a leader in our industry. When you are a leader, your competitors copy your products and ideas all the time. I guess it is much easier to copy than to innovate. Some competitors have replicated our site contents, videos, training manuals, and even partial modules of our software. We upgrade our product so frequently that by the time a feature is copied, it’s already old news for us.

Q: What exactly do you mean by “a smart company?”

A smart company is one that has stood the test of time and survived several economic downturns. It is a company that can beat its larger competitors by offering better products and support while choosing the most efficient development tools. We have been able to keep a 95% customer retention rate. We kept our focus and energy on making one or two products that can capture the market. We, as a smart company, are growing dynamically and organically by developing excellent products, selling, and maintaining them in the long run without external investors.

“We, as a smart company, are growing dynamically and organically by developing good products, selling, and maintaining them in the long run without external investors.”

Q: What are the factors that make your brand one of the SMARTEST, and why?

On our platform, our customers always own their data. We never share or access the data of the customer (unless to provide technical support). Our solution is not fully web-based and not fully desktop; it’s a hybrid system that uses the best of both worlds. Our solution can be deployed either on a centralized or decentralized network. Our customers can continue doing their business if the internet goes down. So, it’s possible to use our solutions in areas that don’t have fast or reliable internet. A big part of being a “smart company” is to use a “smart tool.” We use a coding tool that allows us to develop new ideas five to ten times faster and cheaper than our competitors. It’s called 4D. In my opinion, it’s one of the best development platforms that exist on the planet today.

Q: Do you have any new products which are ready to be launched?

Yes, we have a new product, CurrencyXchanger 6, that is ready to be launched. We have started installing it for some of our customers. We are also working on two other products that will be launched in 2020. Both of these products will be cloud-based SaaS.

About Tiran Behrouz

Tiran Behrouz serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Clear View Systems Ltd. He has an interest in coding, math, and financial systems. Tiran holds a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and a second bachelor’s degree in Computer science. He has pursued an MBA in technology management. Tiran has developed the first scientific calculator for Mac OS called Calculator + in 2001. He has also developed several financial systems including accounting software, a hedge-fund management software, a stock portfolio analysis, software, and a currency exchange software.

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