New Chase CIO Setting Up "Centers of Excellence." (Chase Manhattan Bank CIO Craig Goldman) (Interview) (1992)

The technology requirements of an organization the size of Chase Manhattan Bank with $98 billion in assets, are as varied as the number of businesses in which the bank is a player. From platform automation in retail branches to currency trading systems in numerous foreign markets to securities processing and ACH services, the bank requires state-of-the-art systems in order to compete in over 50 markets around the world. Managing that array is Craig Goldman, the bank's newly appointed chief information officer. Mr. Goldman joined the bank in June 1985 as vice-president, corporate systems. In March 1988, he was named operations and systems executive for the North America Corporate Finance Sector. He was promoted to senior vice-president in November 1990. The following is an edited transcript of an interview with Mr. Goldman, which was conducted in January. ABA BJ: What do you hope to accomplish as chief information officer? Goldman: There are a couple of key points. One is to maintain systems and technology leadership, that is, to build on the strong technology base we have today and to find ways to exploit technologies that improve our ability to get products to the market faster and enable us to move from a systems maintenance world to one more focused on systems development. ABA BJ: On that first point, how will you make that happen? Goldman: By putting the right tools and products on the desktops of our technical people, we can make quantum leaps in productivity. We are placing a heavy emphasis on implementing enabling technologies throughout the bank. If I can provide programmers with high-productivity programming tools, then even the programmers with older systems can increase their productivity fivefold to tenfold. ABA BJ: What other initiatives will you undertake? Goldman: A second thrust is unification of our global technical community. There are a lot of talented people around the Chase world. If we can improve the way we communicate and share ideas, we'll make the whole organization much more efficient. I have a mandate to unify our technology groups so that the bank and its customers benefit. ABA BJ: What is your strategy? Goldman: One concept we're pushing is of We're breaking down the various technologies into categories. Within each group will be what we call guns. These are individuals who are recognized leaders in their discipline, who can be called on to answer questions or provide advice in their area of expertise. Right now, we're creating a list of the centers of excellence. I then have to decide how to organize them. That will be a large task, so we'll first pick the ones that have the greatest leverage in the organization. To further aid the unification process, we're equipping the technical professionals with programmer workstations, communications systems such as Lotus Notes, electronic mail, and utility programs, such as project and correspondence tracking. ABA BJ: How will this work in practice? Goldman: In the area of new product evaluations, for example, we'll unify that process so that the best area, or center of excellence, available evaluates a technology, not just the area of the bank that is interested in it. The appropriate top gun would evaluate the product and share the results of the analysis with the bank's technical community. This could apply to programming [tools], hardware, and systems software. ABA BJ: How will these changes affect the technical staff.? Goldman: What we do with our people is more important than what we do with our technology. So we are refocusing our efforts regarding how we train our people. For example, the nontechnical disciplines are often more important than the technical ones. Therefore we will place a much greater emphasis on subjects like project management, presentation skills, writing skills, business skills, and creativity. …