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Tools for the Modern IT Organization
For the first time in recent memory, senior technology leaders' No. 1 mandate is not to build technology to prepare the business for growth. Instead the top IT priority across Wall Street is to manage technology efficiently. This dramatic reversal of priorities that places future growth behind efficiency is forcing CIOs and CTOs to take a long look at every part of the technology organization.
Services that were provided to the business by the technology organization in 2007 may no longer be core to a firm's competitive strategy. An inefficient and costly architecture that could be tolerated when banks were logging record profits is no longer tenable today. Untapped or idle storage and computing capacity may no longer be justifiable in the current environment. And new hardware and software simply may not be in the budget for 2009 or even 2010. These challenges, new to many CIOs, also often come with a drastically reduced IT workforce, making it even harder to complete projects on time and on budget.
Luckily many of the technologies and strategies that Wall Street firms have been exploring may be ready for prime time. For instance, cloud computing has matured to a point where some firms, and even some exchanges, are using the technology to reduce costs in data management and storage, risk analysis, and even e-discovery. But not all of the IT pros on Wall Street are sold on cloud computing for the enterprise. Security concerns in particular have prevented many firms from adopting the technology, and unfortunately cloud computing service providers remain very tight-lipped about their own security practices.
Another mature technology strategy that is helping Wall Street firms survive the economic turmoil is virtualization. Large Wall Street firms began tapping virtualization years ago, and that trend will likely accelerate in the next few years as organizations seek to reduce architecture costs and better utilize existing hardware resources. Software as a service, or SaaS, also has become a popular way to reduce overhead, as it allows small and large firms alike to select a software provider and then (almost) forget about maintaining the application, as the servers, maintenance and updates are all handled by the provider. Finally, outsourcing -- always a big part of businesses' cost-cutting strategies -- will also be a key tool in a CIO's toolbox. But during these volatile times, outsourcing requires closer supervision and management than ever before (see: Satyam).
To help capital markets firms weigh these technologies, Wall Street & Technology has compiled the following Special Report -- because even if the IT organization isn't focused on growth today, the business' survival may well depend on how the technology organization leverages modern solutions to position the enterprise for tomorrow.
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Virtualization Is Virtually Everywhere on Wall Street
Outsourcing's Appeal Grows During Volatile Times
SaaS a 'No-Brainer' for Small Wall Street Firms
Greg MacSweeney is editorial director of InformationWeek Financial Services, whose brands include Wall Street & Technology, Bank Systems & Technology, Advanced Trading, and Insurance & Technology. View Full Bio