Pioneer Moves From Data Management to Enterprise Information Management

- If the data is correct, everything else works just fine- Learning to manage integration important as firms continue to globalize- Reengineered global investment systems infrastructure will increase efficiency

Pioneer Investments

Peter Noll

Chief Technology Officer

Pioneer Investments
60 State St.
Boston, MA 02109

SIZE OF FIRM:
232 billion euros (US$316 billion) in assets under management as of March 31, 2007.

PREVIOUS POSITIONS:
Independent technology consultant; SVP and CIO at MFS Investment Management; SVP, Client Technology Integration at State Street Corp.

EDUCATION:
B.S., University of Rhode Island.

WHO INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST IN YOUR CAREER?
A geometry teacher in high school had an early influence, helping me figure out my own learning style, which differs from others. When I worked at Burroughs Computer, Dick Messier took me under his wing when I was a sales guy and turned me into a technical person. Mike Zucchini at Fleet was a big influence in terms of how to integrate different businesses. Dave Sexton, who hired me at State Street, was a big influence on how to move an organization using technology and setting the right pace at which do so.

WHAT WORK EXPERIENCE HAD THE MOST LASTING IMPRESSION ON YOUR CAREER?
It's always through the political experiences that you learn. One of the main lessons [I've learned] is the pace at which you're capable of moving yourself versus the pace at which an organization is capable of moving. My experiences have made me learn the hard way about the pace of organizational change.

What's Next?

Continued globalization and the area of business integration as companies are acquired are very important. I also see continued commoditization of the investment management process and more middle-office outsourcing, which gives companies like ours an opportunity to think about outsourcing differently than we do today.

VITALS

IT Budget

8 to 10 percent of revenue.

Key Technology Management

N/A

Size of Technology Team:

About 100: 75 percent to 80 percent are full-time, while the remainder are contractors added as needed.

Percent of IT Projects Outsourced:

10 percent to 12 percent.

Key Technology Partners:

Syntel, Beacon Consulting, Hewlett-Packard, EMC.

Success Metrics:

We have a structured planning and management process based on the strategic goals of the firm. We do project selection with an IT steering committee and use a homegrown project portfolio system to track all actuals against estimates and delivery dates, providing reports on a monthly basis. We work with the senior business people on a monthly basis to review project selection and make any corrections -- we work closely with the business side to make sure they're the ones selecting and authorizing projects, not us.

2008 INITIATIVES

GISP Rollout

Continued rollout of GISP. As we acquire new companies, we'll enable them with the new platform.

Global IT Operating Model

We're looking at creating a single, global IT environment with an organizational structure that provides consistent levels of support, regardless of geographic location, as well as standardizing platforms globally when it makes sense.

Data Management Strategy

We'll continue our data management strategy, moving toward real data classification and an information lifecycle approach.

TOP 3 CURRENT PROJECTS

Enterprise Information Mgmt.

Like many in our industry, we're trying to get a handle on data management: the inputs, how it's processed, and what the authoritative source and owners of each piece are. There is a data warehouse component to this strategy and a tiered storage initiative. Ultimately, it will lead to a full data management and classification project down the road. The goal is to get a better handle on the use of data, whether it's financial data, regulatory data or investment data. If you get data right in this business, everything works just fine.

Global Investment Systems Project (GISP)

We're reengineering our investment systems infrastructure, replacing the security master with a single authorized source as well as launching a new trading platform globally. We're also in the midst of coming up with a single, global operating model for our investment business to become more efficient. It plays into the data management strategy overall, and we're starting to do a lot of things across business lines on a global basis.

Workflow Enablement

As part of our overall data management strategy, we brought in the Documentum document management and workflow product to enable our business areas to become more efficient and gain better control of their data -- both relational and nontraditional data types. All of these are multiyear projects.