Blog
Latest updates from FetchSky.
Company news, and writing on digital transformation, chatbots and digital loyalty for banks and insurers.
- Engineering and delivery
What is a forward deployed engineer?
A forward deployed engineer is a software engineer who works inside a client's business, alongside the people doing the work, to understand a problem first-hand, build a solution and get it into production. Unlike a consultant, they write the code. Unlike a contractor, they decide what to build. The role has become common in AI projects, where the useful solution is usually found in a team's daily operations rather than in a requirements document.
14 October 2026By Muhammad Ali Khoja
AI in productionWhy most enterprise AI pilots never reach production
Most enterprise AI pilots never reach production because they were built to prove the model works, not to prove the system works. The pilot runs on a clean data export with no access rules and nobody depending on it. Production runs on live systems that disagree with each other, permissions written for people rather than software, a risk team that needs an audit trail, and a team that needs someone to call when it misbehaves. The model is rarely the hard part. The engineering around it is.
13 October 2026By Muhammad Ali Khoja
Digital bankingDigital banking modules: a guide for banks and insurers
Digital banking modules are self-contained features, such as account opening, an offers catalogue or a branch locator, that a bank or insurer adds to its app, website and messaging channels without building each one from scratch. The hard part is not building a module once but keeping it identical on every channel as the content changes daily. Peekaboo Connect does this with 9 modules on 4 channels from one platform, live at 15 banks in Pakistan, with data management services that keep offers, plans and locations accurate. The build-or-buy decision turns on whether you want to own that upkeep.
12 October 2026By Muhammad Ali Khoja
Alliances and loyaltyMerchant alliances and loyalty programmes: the complete guide
A merchant alliance programme is a network of negotiated discounts and perks that a bank, insurer, telco or payment scheme offers to its customers under its own brand, with the merchant honouring the offer at the point of sale. Running one means recruiting and renegotiating with merchants, configuring offers by card BIN, checking that staff honour them, handling cardholder and merchant queries, and reporting on redemptions. FetchSky runs these programmes end to end: 5,000+ merchants, 50+ cities, 5 million+ cards served, over ten years. A loyalty engine such as Mintly is the complementary piece, rewarding transactions with points rather than discounts.
12 October 2026By Muhammad Ali Khoja
Engineering and deliveryWorking with an engineering partner: a guide for technology leaders
Working with an engineering partner means choosing one of four engagement models, agreeing scope before work starts, and holding the partner to the same delivery discipline you would expect from your own team: short cycles, code review, a staging environment and a rollback plan. The four models are resource augmentation, forward deployed engineers, project delivery and managed services. At FetchSky an engagement starts with a conversation, then scoping, a proposal and a start date, usually within a few weeks. The partner that behaves best is one that runs its own products, because it lives with the consequences of its engineering choices.
12 October 2026By Muhammad Ali Khoja
AI in productionEnterprise AI in production: the complete guide
Enterprise AI reaches production when it is built on real data, real permissions and real operations from the first day, not on a sandbox. That means connecting to the systems your teams already use, giving each task only the access it needs, logging everything the AI reads and does, and keeping a person in the loop for anything that affects a customer or moves money. FetchSky does this through a four-stage process: a free consultation, a six-week pilot on your own data, a scoped rollout, and ongoing operation. Published results include trade confirmations with 98% less manual effort and a four-day report cut to three minutes.
12 October 2026By Muhammad Ali Khoja