Tackling Application Overload | Revamping Scenario Planning | Silicon Valley Bank’s CIO Mark Rohrwasser

Plus: AI + IoT = 1000X More Dense Networking Environments

Hi there, and welcome to this week’s newsletter.

The resurgence of Covid-19 cases in many parts of the world is a stark reminder of the precariousness of the business outlook. Airlines are already worried it could hit their plans to add more flights, bars in cities like Las Vegas are being closed again only a few short weeks after reopening and healthcare businesses are girding for another surge of cases.

IT teams will have to keep reacting swiftly to such jarring changes and cloud computing will play a critical role in helping them do so. Survey after survey shows companies are expanding their cloud footprints faster than ever in response to the pandemic, including their use of cloud-based SaaS applications. But might this rapid expansion of apps be counterproductive, at least in some cases?

That’s the thought-provoking question Forbes CIO Network contributor Mark Settle raises in his most recent post. A seven-time CIO himself, Settle is well aware of the benefits of cherry-picking best-of-breed applications for things such as employee-productivity and DevOps tools.

Still, the explosion of SaaS services is creating complexity, adding coordination costs and increasing the attack surface for hackers. As he puts it, some workers now have to navigate through such a thicket of apps that they manage to be productive in spite of the tech stack that’s supposed to help them, not because of it.

To solve this issue, Settle floats the idea of creating “enterprise optimization platforms,” or EOPs. These next-generation enterprise resource planning systems would provide a more centralized foundation for leveraging applications that reduce complexity and enhance security. There would, of course, be inevitable trade-offs to be made. EOPs’ more monolithic approach would mean inevitable battles with teams that want to protect or promote their own favorite SaaS solutions. The systems will also come with their own costs and complexity, but those will need to be weighed against the downsides of the current, less controlled proliferation of apps.

What do you think? Have we reached a tipping point where an EOP-like solution is now justified? Or would a more monolithic approach do more harm than good? You can share your thoughts with us on Twitter using #ForbesCIO.

Thanks for reading and do please send me your tips, thoughts, questions and ideas for future issues at mgiles@forbes.com. You can also follow me on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

Technology & Innovation

Machine learning: The technology is evolving incredibly fast, with the emergence of more and more vertically integrated applications that focus on disrupting entire industries. Here’s a helpful overview of the rapidly changing landscape.

Cybersecurity: Twitter suffered a major cybersecurity breach that is a stark reminder of the risks to companies that use the service. Hackers penetrated Twitter’s defenses and used the accounts of dozens of companies and high-profile people, including Bill Gates, Elon Musk and Joe Biden, to promote an apparent bitcoin scam.

Leadership & Strategy

Data and ethics: There are all kinds of risks associated with data, from privacy issues to bias that can get embedded in algorithms. Chief data officers can help deal with these, but there may also be a case for creating a dedicated data ethics officer role on your team. In either case, companies need to ensure they have the right systems in place for gathering and managing data.

Customer experience: In the Covid-19 era, the challenges of managing queuing for everything from entering stores to attending sports events are massive. Thinking through how technology can help is going to be key to ensuring customers aren’t turned off by the way they are treated.

Talent & Careers

Training: Many companies offer their employees some form of time-management training, but this traditional approach may not be well suited to a world in which employees are having to deal with things like a myriad of different communications channels and “always-on” expectations. It may be time to focus more on attention-management training.

Coaching: It’s tempting when the pressure’s on, as it has been during Covid-19, to put on hold coaching sessions. But there are several good reasons why taking a regular helicopter-style overview of your work and your career with the help of an outsider are now more important than ever.

Bonus bullet: Looking for some new backgrounds to jazz up your video calls from home? Then check out the options here. My personal favorite is the “Share a story…start a conversation” one in the inspiration collection section. Sharing stories and sparking conversations is what this newsletter—and the Forbes CIO Network—are all about!

“One of the most exciting things for me,” says Rohrwasser in emailed comments to Forbes, “is that I will be able to meet and exchange ideas with the best technologists on the planet.” The new CIO of the bank, which is the main arm of the $11.4 billion market cap SVB Financial Group, hopes they will push his thinking on what’s possible as the business leverages agile methodologies and cloud-enabled solutions to “drastically change” the speed at which it develops and rolls out new services.

Ensuring customers’ data is kept secure will also be a top priority—and it’s an area where Rohrwasser, who will report to the bank’s chief operating officer, has very relevant experience. Prior to joining Silicon Valley Bank, he was the international CIO for credit bureau Equifax, where he was responsible for standardizing platforms across the company’s 23 global locations. He also served as Equifax’s interim global CIO after it suffered a massive data breach in 2017 and helped guide the organization through a major cybersecurity overhaul.

Another priority will be to develop his team. “For me, it always starts with people,” says Rohrwasser. “We need to have the best technology talent available.” Silicon Valley Bank recently appointed new leaders to oversee its corporate systems and those for its commercial and private banking activities. They and other executives will report to Rohrwasser, who is looking to add more talent in the bank’s offices in Arizona, California and Bangalore in India.

"One of the most exciting things for me is that I will be able to meet and exchange ideas with the best technologists on the planet."

Mark Rohrwasser

CIO, Silicon Valley Bank

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