Kristin R. MoyerAfter all the market activity yesterday, I started my day off in the paper, online and combing through subscription e-mails. I was relieved to see that much of the chatter this morning was more focused on an analysis of Bloody Sunday (2008) than about any new and big things happening today. But then again, the story is far from over. Some are suggesting we’re in the eye of the hurricane at this point.
What does the shock of Merrill, Lehman and AIG mean for IT? I think it means at least this:
- Tightening budgets
- The need to support rapid change
- The ability to support consolidation of functions (for example, commercial banking and investment banking).
I’d encourage you to get ready for this conversation with whoever your boss is – the CIO, COO, CEO… Maybe you’ve had some of these conversations before, maybe even recently. But the shock state of the market right now means it’s time to circle the wagons again.
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Mary Knox September 19, 2008 at 1:11 pm
The need to support rapid change has often been pursued by building — and reusing — services and shared databases (such as a common customer profile or a common securities master across lines of business), often as part of a services oriented architecture. As we see financial services firms having to sell off bits and pieces, this may create a unique challenge. It suggests that more attention may need to be paid during the design process to how to decouple if the need should arise.
2 Rick DeLotto September 19, 2008 at 4:53 pm
We are sure to be entering a time when mergers, acquisitions and divestitures are going to be the main order of business…. I suspect that the Smart Guys are going to be getting everything in their purview ready to withstand extreme due diligence, and training their staff to be able to help perform it.
To extend your metaphor: Chaos is not an attack– get your scouts out on patrol now and keep the wagons moving toward safety.