SOA Infrastrucutre Paves Way for Web 2.0 at ING Investment Management

- Web 2.0 will have as much of an impact on business as the Net's first generation,- Project management centralization will standardize success metrics,- Enhancement of portfolio management capabilities will increase flexibility

ING Investment Management

Tom Schreier

SVP of Information Technology

SIZE OF FIRM:
$400 billion in assets under management globally.

PREVIOUS POSITIONS:
CIO, Aeltus Investment Management (purchased by ING as part of Aetna acquisition).

EDUCATION:
B.S. in computer science, Trinity College.

ING Investment Management
10 State House Square, SH11
Hartford, CT 06103

WHO INFLUENCED YOU THE MOST IN YOUR CAREER?
I worked for Glenn Salow, who is now with Ameriprise Financial. He taught me that the most important part of being a technology manager was not the technology, but how it can be used to help move the business forward.

LAST GOOD BOOK READ:
"Tales From the Q School: Inside Golf's Fifth Major," by John Feinstein.

What's Next?

WEB 2.0 is going to have as much incremental impact as did the Internet in its first general release. You're talking about next- generation mobile computing and Internet, broadband delivery, and ubiquitous access across all platforms with interactive intelligence. Anyone, anywhere, anytime can engage in a business transaction with a growing variety of access methods.

VITALS

IT Budget:

25 percent of operating budget.

Key Technology Management:

Kevin McMahon, Head of Operations and Technology

David Bercaw, Head of Business Support and Operations

Size of Technology Team:

Approx. 130 people onsite and 25 people offshore.

Percent of IT Projects Outsourced:

30 to 40 percent of discretionary projects.

Key Technology Partners:

HP, Microsoft, Charles River, Bloomberg.

Success Metrics:

We do project surveys that measure quantitative elements -- on time, on budget -- as well as some qualitative elements, such as the benefits delivered to the customer. We use cost-benefits analysis to determine ROI characteristics where appropriate.

2008 INITIATIVES

Enterprise Architecture

We want to migrate to a more service- oriented architecture. The implementation of this architecture is going to be a combination of technical infrastructure, a real-estate interface platform such as Microsoft's integration platform, and the appropriate processes that will support pervasive computing. All of these are requirements for Web 2.0, the next generation of computing.

Project Management Centralization

Within ING Investment Management, project management has been a decentralized process with a somewhat uneven structure and success ratio dependent on the native skill of project managers, who are typically performing the function on a part-time basis. We're creating a more formal project structure within technology and operations, including a central project management office and the implementation of six sigma techniques to augment what we're currently using, which is CMMI for application support and ITIL for infrastructure support.

Portfolio and Asset- Management Capabilities

One of our larger initiatives is to enhance our portfolio and asset management capabilities. Historically, we've used highly customized, internally developed systems, and that approach has allowed us to have a tight integration with the investment process as well as the opportunity to create some additional value behind the market indexes. However, with the complexity of today's instruments and new product support, we're investigating vendor systems to replace components of the process that are commodities and don't offer a competitive advantage in order to gain more flexibility, scalability and maintainability.

TOP 3 CURRENT PROJECTS

STP Operational Revamping

Our current business support model has pretty low unit costs and high production volumes for traditional products, but the significant increase in more-complex and esoteric financial instruments, such as derivatives, requires more automation, flexibility and scalability. We've invested in the investment systems, and we're now focusing on operational revamping to increase productivity and responsiveness while also reducing our risk.

Centralized Data Management

We built an internal data warehouse for operational data for our third-party business, and we're now expanding the purpose and usage of that repository. We're also investigating a vendor system for our proprietary business that we would then leverage for our third-party business.

Information Lifecycle Mgmt.

This initiative focuses on the technical infrastructure portion of data management. It covers everything from information risk management (classification, security, disaster recovery) to productivity improvements (hierarchical storage management, server consolidation).