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IT-business alignment at Credit Suisse

Neil Macehiter By: Neil Macehiter, Research Director, Macehiter Ward-Dutton
Published: 2nd February 2007
Copyright Macehiter Ward-Dutton © 2007
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McKinsey has a very interesting interview (free subscription required) with Tom Sanzone, the CIO at Credit Suisse where he describes his approach to IT-business alignment. There are a number of points he raises which resonate well with the principles we outline in the book.

He makes it very clear that IT and business need to collaborate as peers, rather than as supplier and customer:

Many CEOs talk about how crucial technology is to the future of the company, but then they place IT two or three layers below them in the organization. I think if something's that important, you want to keep it close. I've always felt that if companies are truly technology-centric, IT needs to have a seat at the table… If we can create a competitive advantage in delivering our IT products to our internal customers, we've done our job. It's then up to them to go out and sell and trade and do business. That's the partnership.

Credit Suisse has an ambitious strategy to integrate its three core businesses—private banking, investment banking and asset management. The IT organisation has a key role to play in enabling that integration, whilst allowing each business to become a leader in its own right. Sanzone explains how this requires coordination of goals and objectives and a portfolio-based approach:

So there's a whole portfolio of initiatives within technology to improve profitability, grow revenues, and improve processes.

He also highlights the importance of running IT within the business and establishing the right organisational structure and roles to facilitate engagement:

One of the things I did early on was to ensure that IT was closely linked to the business. Just as I sit on the executive board and work for the CEO, I made sure each business's CIO also sits on the management team of the relevant business.

These are just a few snippets of particular relevance to The Technolgy Garden but the whole interview is worth reading, not least for Sanzone’s insights on the management of innovation.

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24th May 2007: 'Dwight Bygrave' said:

I do agree with Tom Sanzone's point on the importance of IT and the way it should be treated. I do believe that organizations that leverage IT as a critical asset to operate competitively in the marketplace should recognize it as a critical and crucial component of their business. IT is a tool that allows a business to function effectively and efficiently in the game of superior differentiated product offerings at the lowest possible price while still realizing a profit. However, too many firms see it as a necessary evil. Not as the asset it really is. If this is the sentiments of the senior leadership of the firm, then it will trickle down to the technician troubleshooting a cable on the "trading floor". This is not the message and attitude you want your staff to have. Otherwise, the results you get will be similar and we all know what the outcome could be, if that is the case. The market place we operate in today is a very vicious and extremely competitive one. Information Technology is one of the few things that can provide that much need edge to dominate the market. Companies that realize this, dominate the space they operate in through the availability and manipulation of data.

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25th May 2007: 'Neil Macehiter' (Author) said:

You're absolutely right. It's important for IT organisations to understand why "too many firms see it as a necessary evil. Not as the asset it really is". Our research for the book clearly indicated that it's down to trust - or a lack of it. Until the business has the confidence that the IT organisation can get the basics right it is going to be very difficult for the IT organisation to position IT as a strategic asset.

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