Taking Control

“We are not without accomplishment. We have managed to distribute poverty equally.”
– Nguyen Co Thatch, Vietnamese Foreign Minister

Last month, I spent a morning at one of the workshops at the BAI Operations and Technology Conference. The topic was technology planning and management, and 60-70 people attended. Most of them were CIOs or heads of operations, with a smattering of CEOs, CFOs and vendors.

To begin, I asked them to list the single biggest frustration, problem, issue or challenge with technology they saw at their institutions. Here, in no particular order, was the list:

• Integrating disparate systems and data
• Project management, especially finishing the last 10%
• Resource management
• Building the right level of confidence in the IT group
• Acquisitions
• Getting employees trained
• Assigning accountability to better manage vendors
• Justifying investments – i.e. payoff
• Having the appropriate mix of outsourcing and in-house delivery
• Managing changes in priorities and business direction

Now, I suspect that a group of CEOs and marketing directors would have added several other issues such as competing with technology, selling with technology, and making technology planning more strategic. Nonetheless, this group probably represents that part of the bank most responsible for getting things done, and in terms of getting results, their perspective is probably right on point.

Here’s what strikes me about this list. First, with the exception of the first item, it has very little to do with the programs or technology deployed — Microsoft, for example, or browser technology, or the core system.

Second, with the exception of two items, it really doesn’t have much to do with vendors. While vendors certainly play a part in many of these things, they don’t determine the ultimate success or failure of them.

My dad used to say, “Focus your worry on things you can control.” Maybe as we look at 2002, we should look at these issues and see opportunity. The point is that they are within the ability and reach of management teams to address and take advantage of. They are within your control.

My partner Steve Williams talked last week about strategic opportunities in tough times. Let’s apply this thinking to managing technology this year. Looking forward into 2002:

• Capital budgets are equal to or lower than 2001 in most banks, and many of them are for upgrades of existing equipment and systems.
• Staff additions are hard to come by.
• Nobody is looking at wild, sexy technology. Pragmatism rules the day.
• Acquisitions appear to be slowing, but the hangover from the last two years remains.

This doesn’t mean we’re slowing down or that we’re just going to manage cost for a year. It only means that we’re getting ready for the next wave of technology and projects we know is around the corner.

So how do we get ready? Here’s a “to do” list for 2002 that doesn’t translate to major new capital budgets:

1. Most banks need to have fewer projects to worry about. If you haven’t already, inventory your bank’s open projects. Identify every one that’s 80% done or more. You know them. They’re the ones where “we just need to do a bit of re-training, documentation and clean-up — and we’re finished.” Set a goal to have them done by the second quarter, and allocate the resources for them.
2. Get serious about project management, particularly killing those projects that aren’t important. If there is no agreement that the project is absolutely required because of strategy or that it has a FAST payback, say no. No “dabble” projects and no secret ones in 2002.
3. Get specific about the training discussion. Everybody thinks training is an issue, right? So get the people responsible for training to set specific expectations for systems knowledge and skills. Have vendors audit your use of their systems and make recommendations to improve it at least 10%. Set a goal to improve usage of all systems by 10%.
4. Keep pushing the intranet! Maybe it’s taking longer than we thought, but the intranet will provide the opportunity to significantly improve process and reduce costs in the future. Have every business group start at least one intranet project to automate process or improve service. No “home run” results required. Singles will be just fine. The real goal here is to develop skills and discipline. Most of you have the intranet in place already, so this isn’t a start-from-scratch effort.
5. Get e-mail addresses for every business customer and at least every high-end retail customer, and get them into your CIF system. You’ll be glad you have them when you need them.
6. Get serious, and specific, about measuring technology and performance. Create a scorecard that sets expectations for the business groups. For example, branch platform — measure the number of accounts opened or serviced. Commercial loan officers — measure assets managed per officer. Whatever it is, set at least one productivity goal for each business group, set a baseline and target, then report results to management and employees — just like sales reports. People aim better at goals that are specific and public.

Get ready for the next upturn. Get old initiatives off the table. Do a few new things well. Build skills. Refine project prioritization and management skills. Push training and require process improvement with it. Build (or improve) intranet skills.

Maybe then at the December 2002 BAI conference, we can all list “using the Internet to book a vacation with the big bonus” as our important technology issue.

Hey, it could happen.
-tr