As IT leaders, we’re all faced with new and enduring realities. Chances are that you can identify with some of the ones we’re facing at Vanguard:
- Cyber threats have become more sophisticated and persistent
- Our company is now global
- Technology continues to innovate at a staggering pace
- Clients continue to expect even more from IT
- The war for technical talent continues to rage
- Volatility in our industry has become a constant
This is the new normal for IT.
At Vanguard, these realities shape the way we approach our IT strategy, as well as the transformational initiatives we’re taking on. In light of these new and enduring challenges and opportunities, we recognized the need to step back and envision our future state.
We started working through our IT strategy initiative by using Jim Collins’ “Flywheel” concept to capture what our core values and objectives were. From there, we generated a three-year roadmap of transformational initiatives.
To enable the transformation, we had to make some structural changes in our IT organization to ensure the right leaders were in the right seats to be able to drive the change. Among the changes: We created a formal CTO shop to not only stay abreast of new technologies, but to also help drive change internally. We also formed an Enterprise Shared Services (ESS) division to help drive consistency and control across IT. One way ESS helps facilitate consistency is through its own IT Communications Department, which is dedicated to communication and change management efforts for the rest of the organization.
Finally, in order to evaluate our progress with the transformation, we created a scorecard for IT. The scorecard has outcome-oriented measures for each dimension of our flywheel, giving us a concrete way to measure the value we produce for the company.
All of this work has backing and support from our most senior executives, and we are continuing to promote our transformation in forums across the company to build awareness and excitement for our plans. By mapping out our future state and creating our three-year roadmap, we’re committing to a future where technology continues to be an enabler and accelerator of new products and services.
Read 'Working through the issues associated with transformation.'
John T. Marcante is Vanguard’s chief information officer and managing director of Vanguard’s Information Technology Division. Vanguard is the world’s largest mutual fund company with more than $2.6 trillion in global assets under management. Marcante oversees all aspects of Vanguard’s worldwide technology agenda to serve clients and manage investments. Mr. Marcante, with more than 26 years of experience in the business and technology fields, joined Vanguard in 1993. After serving in a number of leadership roles throughout the company, he returned to the IT division in 2012 and was named Vanguard’s chief information officer and managing director. Marcante holds a Bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University and an M.B.A. from Saint Joseph's University.
