CFO/COO and Tech

I personally think it’s very important that a CFO or COO understands basic tech concepts.

As someone with no tech background, I think of a company's IT infrastructure as building a city.

The best city is built with a vision (read: goals and business plans) that considers how things will operate immediately, down to the details…

…a vision that looks ahead to what the city will be capable of in the future…

…and a vision that plans how to expand that city over time.

If the city isn’t built with such vision, adding new facilities (read: new BUs or new products) or fixing parts that no longer fit with the city’s evolved state will require very careful planning. Or it could become messy.

In the meantime, new additions or fixes (read: improvements through software and automation efforts) may not integrate seamlessly with the current infrastructure.

The city may often end up with 'patchwork' solutions that, if they accumulate, will make the city cluttered and inefficient. It’s like a city where you need to hop on and off many different modes of transport just to travel a short distance, requiring you to carry multiple travel cards.

Or you’ll just have to drive (read: manual processes) to get anywhere, and you end up with crazy traffic.

Eventually, new infrastructure (read: network and data storage/ERP/CRM/security) will need to be in place to accommodate this evolved city. The existing platforms and people’s routines will need to adjust.

For example, you might carry multiple travel cards, but the city has worked to unify the systems to allow you to use a single travel card (read: data format that uniformly works across multiple platforms). You will then need to go through the transfer process for the card balance, your profile, etc., before you can use the new travel card.

It will be a bit of a pain in the beginning. Whether the pain will continue or whether it’s actually an improvement depends on the design of the infrastructure and how the architect selects the new platforms.

A big city with a complex economy will be more challenging than a small, simple one. The city’s facilities, how they’re organized, and how you design and envision the future of the city are critical. Do you want to be a Tokyo, a New York, or a Mumbai?

And if the city is small in physical area (read: financials) but has everything else of a big city, it needs careful attention. Do you want to be a Singapore, or do you want to be a Jakarta?

So, when you get push-back from your CPO or CTO, try to understand their pain. Appreciate that they’re thinking long-term for you.

If you want your city to be a Tokyo, let’s be a good thought partner for your product and tech — stay on this topic with me and let’s next talk about the immediate, short-term solutions that our product and tech will also offer.

And as always, share your thoughts, opinions, and experiences in the comments — I'd love to hear your views!