Today customer wants more control, flexibility, and ease in transacting their business. As we continue towards digital transactions, the ability for this openness and simplicity is available. Balancing these factions, the customer’s desires and the implicit responsibilities of the bank in a profitable way is a challenge. To achieve this balance, product and service design is key. As for vendors, the banking industry is being challenged by the speed of change and multiple opportunities in financial services landscape. Banks and their technology providers have difficulty in meeting these changing needs, especially in timely delivery of products.

Some of the  things done to elevate IT's relationship with the business

Today, risk management and cyber security are areas that get a lot of attention. The past has shown us what needs to be done with respect to identifying, monitoring, and understanding the risks. We need to advance the tools and understand business analytics. Along with better access and analysis of the data, develop a culture and skill sets that better understand the uses of information and the generated insights.

Cyber security is another area of expanding risk. One of my biggest concerns is poisoning of payment and payment information systems. A trusted and robust payments network is required for economic trade and stability.

Manner in which data is used to head off problems and complications before they happen

We are working to better use analytics, to understand and analyze all aspects of our business. From customer knowledge and marketing, to risk and compliance, to business model performance, these tools give us deep knowledge and understanding. While practices are still very rudimentary, strides are being made. I do wonder if we are asking the right questions in order to make the most gain.

The areas in business environment where solutions do not yet exist or not up to the mark, and which if existed, would've made job easier

Banking, at its core, is a people business and will be for years to come. Automation has led to many improvements for banks in lowering costs and increasing efficiency. Automation now needs to help revamp the basic operating model of how banks serve customers. These changes need to be dramatic and faster.

Technology trends impacting enterprise business environment

We have two types of transactionsfinancial and informational. Combined, they are a powerful force. I recently attended a seminar where the speaker reiterated that there are powerful trends related to increased processing power, bandwidth, and storage. With these improvements, we have more ability to better process both types of transactions.

My roles and responsibilities as a CIO

The full integration of technology requires an enterprise wide effort. The technology itself is becoming more and more the product. The best fit requires CIOs to understand the customers’ needs and desires and how this relates to the use and expectations of the systems and products. The CIO is in a good position to be the person who can simplify customer views of the complicated processes, doing it in a manner that translates into providing a simple and secure interaction.

Lessons learned and advice for fellow CIOs

In today’s fast paced workplace, decision making seems to be a lost art. This leads to organizational drift. To quickly meet the demands of the market place, organization needs to be focused and work as one.

Do not lose sight of what you are trying to achieve. Don’t get too hung up on the situation. Just work it through.