Addressing the gender gap is a challenge for many industries across the globe. In the constantly changing and evolving world of technology, many positive initiatives are underway to ensure that people from all backgrounds and gender are able to bring their diverse skills to this exciting industry, driving the development and adoption of cutting edge solutions for the benefit of all.

At Precise, all of its people are essential for successfully delivering the company’s strategy and world-leading biometric solutions – diversity is very much an everyday commitment. As Stefan K. Persson, CEO of Precise explains “Diversity has always been extremely important for Precise and for me. It is always a challenge to fulfil diversity 100 percent especially with this size of company but we shall always have it on our agenda. Diversity is important because no two people will have the same experiences. It’s about everything; background, experience, gender, sexual orientation, age, which country you are from… and diversity moves a company in the right direction. For example, Linda Xiang has been working as part of our fingerprint recognition software team since 2018. As well as being highly talented, her background from Sweden and China is unique; she understands the culture aspects and can be the bridge between our offices in Shanghai and Lund. So we are very happy she has chosen to work with us, as we benefit in so many ways from her expertise.”

We spoke to Linda to get her insights on working in the vibrant world of biometrics technology.

Linda, please tell us about being a woman in the biometrics industry and working in technology at Precise.

I was fortunate to collaborate and work with Precise while I was completing my studies for my Masters degree at university, so I already knew the company well when I accepted a job to work here full-time once I graduated in 2018. I’m seeing more and more women joining this technology area, which is great as we need more women and their skills in this industry! Personally, I find the work environment at Precise supportive and my skills and experience are respected equally with those of my colleagues. I’m pleased to say that I’ve never felt that I’m not listened to or not given responsibility simply because I’m a woman.

It’s a good industry to be working in. I like coding and sitting by myself to figure out solutions. I also enjoy that my role is varied because the team here isn’t too big which means there’s more opportunity to get involved in different activities, for example customer support. As part of this I’ve been able to travel to our new office in Shanghai to understand more about the solutions that we are working on to support our customers in Asia.

Tell us about the new office in Shanghai.

It is very different compared to Sweden! The main focus for the team in Shanghai is on fingerprint recognition solutions for customers in Asia. One of the key things that I’ve noticed is that in China, the customer expects solutions very quickly.  So the team is always working at high speed. It’s a small team at the moment but a very high performing one with everyone working in synchronisation as one to develop the right solutions for the customer. It feels like a very inclusive team and as a result, has a good team spirit. When I’ve visited, I’ve joined the team there for dinner after work and it’s great to see how well everyone gets on – it’s like a family really.

It’s clear that our customers in Asia appreciate having the team closer to them than previously.  Now if a customer needs a Precise engineer onsite, someone can be with them in as little as an hour. There’s no longer a need to wait a week or two while Visas are applied for and travel arrangements made from Sweden.

The team is also able to understand new trends in the local market and environment by being in the region. Again this helps to develop solutions quickly with our customers as we can be much more reactive to any changes.

What’s the most exciting innovation that you are seeing in the area of biometrics?

I’m very excited by the increasing use of biometrics for payments, unlocking phones and facilities, particularly where different kinds of biometrics are being combined (such as using fingerprint and facial recognition together) for even higher levels of security.  I think this is an incredibly important aspect as we move into the future and definitely an area I’m proud to be playing a part in.