CIO’s Goal Not Green

This week leading CIOs from the US have met in Miami to tackle the day-to-day issues they face in the constantly volatile, evolving world of big business.

Recently CIOs have been dealing with an array of challenges. It seems that the ‘green issue’ has been dropping down the CIOs list of priorities with spending caps hampering any green ambitions, due in part to the evolving nature of the CIO role. At last it seems that the CEO is becoming aware of the cost savings that can be involved in turning to the CIO. At the CIO US summit (hosted by GDS International) business leaders from companies such as Dr Pepper Snapple Group INC, Adecco Group NA, JP Morgan Chase and DHL Express US agreed that by aligning the correct goals with broader cost cutting initiatives money could be saved.

The attendees wanted to discuss sustaining transformation within their company. They believe that to succeed in today’s fast-evolving and increasingly complex global environment technology strategy must be driven by business innovation and new service solutions.

“Today’s CIO needs to manage complex IT transformations or major shifts in strategy and explain how those directly benefit the business.” Christine Kincaid – SVP Security Global Strategy, Citigroup

Christine went on to discuss how keeping strategic business compliance, privacy and security on a roadmap can further complicate a company’s plan, resulting in higher costs in delivery complexity as you layer the requirements from inside your IT organization and outside sources such as legal, regulatory oversight groups and shareholders. Executives are having to take a hard look at their IT spends as the economy continues to squeeze business and consumers alike.

It is evident that the job of a CIO is to navigate their way through opinion experts, industry hype and an avalanche of white paper reports without falling victim to unnecessary risks, all the while having to explain and justify spending their budget, as well as the direct results of that spend.

It is now the job of the CIO to speak out they must understand the language of business and step out of the shadow of the back office in order to change business direction. This ‘new’ CIO understands that if a company refuses to transform they will lose out to competition in an economy where technological advancement is a given. Business now depends on technology and in many cases the CIO is now in the position to take a leadership role ensuring they internalize the processes for success.

More Mobile than Banking

Finance leaders across the US will meet to discuss Mobile Banking Growth

Mobile companies are now jumping on the Finance bandwagon, Nokia have just announced the launch of a mobile financial service which they plan to roll out next year. The growth potential of Mobile banking has not yet been harnessed by the banking community, and it is the mobile providers who have made the first move. The opportunities available to the financial industry are to be discussed at the upcoming FST US Summit (hosted by GDS International).

Some of the key points to be raised will focus on Understanding the U.S. wireless ecosystem, Finding the reality of mobile internet, Defining business opportunities, Comparing technology options and managing security complexity while utilizing mobile services to expand on consumer satisfaction.

“Wireless and mobile services are changing the way people live and work impacting the service model of every industry across the globe. The financial industry is no exception. On the other hand, opportunities around the mobile internet often remain undigested despite its popularity in the media.” Ben Riggle - Summit Director
Recent data has also shown that the majority of existing mobile banking users have accessed their information via Mobile browsers as opposed to a using a specific application and a massive 67.8% of US Smartphone users are regularly using mobile banking. However there is a generalized belief that Mobile Banking is not secure and leaders in the finance sector must work with the consumer to build a platform that works for both the industry and the consumer and a trust between the two.

Mobile and financial services offer huge growth, with over 4billion mobile phone users globally but only 1.6 billion bank accounts emerging markets will create fantastic potential which is already seeing interest from industry leaders such as the Bank of America - Ron Tagle, SVP, Capital Group Companies - Julie St. John, CIO, JPMorgan Chase - Michael Sztejnberg, MD Enterprise Technology and Morgan Stanley - Jim Rosenthal, MD who have all confirmed to attend the FST Summit in Florida next month.

It is now up to the finance sector to recognize the consumer calling for mobile services and begin the chase of those mobile providers already exploiting the growth potential of mobile banking.