Innovation Is What Differentiates Us.

What began as a mid-90s startup is now a technology business offering software solutions to the world’s banks and building societies. Sandstone technology’s CEO, Bob Hall, and its director, people and performance, Violet Yu, tell how they turned a two-person business into a successful global company.

- Nikki Stefanoff

While we now live in a world of online banking, it wasn’t always this way. Telephone banking came before digital; prior to that, a lot of queuing, hard cash transfers and bank tellers stamping bits of paper. To get from there to where we are today didn’t take too long, but it did take one bank to be the first to enter this brave new world of internet banking. And one company had to be the one to build the technology.

In 1998, Adelaide Bank made the bold move to give digital banking ago and the two tech-savvy individuals who made it happen were Sandstone Technology’s Bob Hall and Violet Yu. Now, as Sandstone Technology’s CEO and Director, People and Performance, respectively, Bob and Violet have a global staff approaching 350, and have gone on to create digital banking solutions for every bank you can think of. However, back then it was just the two of them in a home office, fresh off the back of years of working for IBM.

“Sandstone Technology is only my second ever job,” laughs Bob. “I joined IBM as a sales engineer straight after completing my mathematics degree. Violet and I both worked at IBM servicing the banking industry, so when we quit our jobs, we had context and knowledge of the sector. We knew we wanted to write a software solution for an industry and, because internet banking looked like the new growth area for banks, we decided to start there.”

“We gave ourselves 12 months to create software and find a customer,” says Violet. “After the 12 months was up, we called everyone we knew in Australia and even reached out to banks in South Africa and Indonesia. No-one was interested, but we really believed in the product so we kept at it for a bit longer and then made the call to Adelaide Bank.”