If you ask Paul Heller, the CIO of Vanguard, to describe his IT organization, most likely he'll say one word: "Awesome!"

One might say that Vanguard, a mutual fund company that manages more than $900 billion in assets for 19 million customers, has created its own IT vanguard. The 2,600-person, in-house IT team, supplemented by 300 contractors and 500 business-unit professionals involved in IT, built 70 percent of the applications, and purchased the remainder of them from large software suppliers. The highly centralized IT organization aligns functionally and strategically, not physically, with each of the major business units.

During his 23-year career with Vanguard, Heller, who became CIO in 2006, has held many leadership positions which have included driving revenue and managing technology. But, Heller says, he loves being at the intersection of technology and business. "To lead a business, you need to understand and appreciate the value of the technology being used." And, given the mere four-percent employee turnover rate that IT enjoys, it's obvious that his organization appreciates his leadership.

Join us for a conversation with Vanguard CIO Paul Heller, about the strategies and issues at work 24/7 in a company where IT is at the core of business success.

Resources

The Vanguard Group| Paul Heller: "Simplifying the Mutual Fund Maze with Technology"

Techniques for Measuring IT's Effectiveness

Bio

Paul A. Heller is Vanguard's chief information officer, responsible for overseeing all aspects of Vanguard's use of technology to provide high-quality, cost-effective services for Vanguard shareholders. Mr. Heller joined Vanguard in October 1984 and has held leadership positions in the company's corporate, institutional, and retail divisions. Prior to becoming CIO, he was responsible for overseeing Vanguard's core retail business that provides service to approximately four million clients with over $150 billion in assets. Mr. Heller earned a bachelor's degree in engineering and economics from Tufts University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program.

Production Credits

Elizabeth Ferrarini, Producer
Dana Farver, Executive Producer, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer, Show Host

Many CIOs grapple with how to align IT with the needs of their businesses. By de facto, they have to demonstrate the value their role serves and to make sure technology works well within their businesses. However, these CIOs aren't alone. Businesses, in general, have a hard time measuring and quantifying the value of IT and how it affects the entire business.

Meanwhile, forces such as a mobile global workforce, the growing dependency on social media, and the push for more utility computing based on service-oriented architecture are driving businesses to converge their IT strategy with their business strategy. This move will fuel growth and will sustain profitability. In a converged company, information, not the technology behind it, is what matters to all constituents the company serves. As a result, CIOs take on the new role of information officer not chief IT officer. They become more involve in strategy planning and in the governance process. Moreover, they look at how technology enables the business architecture and how the business manages the overall investment portfolio.

No one knows more about getting out of the alignment trap and moving toward convergence than Faisal Hoque, founder and CEO of BTM Corporation; founder of the BTM Institute, a not-for-profit IT think tank; and author of five books on business technology management. In fact, a decade ago, Hoque conceived and developed a unique holistic business model which looks at the relationship between business and technology in the following areas: governance, strategy and platform, enterprise architecture, investment management, and the maturity of the overall management structure. The result is a converged organization where business and technology come together to drive innovation, which, in turn, fuels growth and profitability.

In this podcast, Hoque provides a good overview of the organizational changes and the philosophy changes CIOs need to consider if they want to transition from alignment to convergence. He also talks about the BTM Institute's Business Technology Convergence Index, a five-year study that quantifies the relationship between the way global companies value their technology investments and the companies' revenues and profitability.  He says, "Companies with mature converged business technology management practices, such as FedEx, UPS, and Procter & Gamble, have better financial performance than their competitors. Think about it. Today, both FedEx and UPS are information services companies, not just movers or packages and trucks."

Bio
In 1999, Faisal Hoque founded Business Technology Management (BTM) Corporation, to innovate new business and technology models to help global organizations improve their operational efficiency. He also founded the BTM Institute, a not-for-profit technology think tank comprised of academic researchers, global business leaders, and government officials.

A former senior executive at General Electric and other multi-nationals, Hoque is an internationally known, visionary entrepreneur and award- winning thought leader. Professor Mohammed Yunus, a 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laurete, has recognized the value of Faisal Hoque's work in bringing sustainable technology and business innovation to third-world countries. Recently, Ziff Davis Enterprises named Hoque one of the 100 Most Influential People in Technology today.

He is the author of five books including The Alignment Effect: How to Get Business Value Out of Technology, Winning the 3-Legged Race, and Sustained Innovation: Converging Business and Technology to Achieve Enduring Performance.  He has written numerous articles and papers for such publications as BusinessWeek, The Economist, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and CIO Magazine, and is a frequent public speaker.

Resources
MassHighTech  -- Ziff Davis Partners with BTM
CIO   - Study Provides Evidence That Technology Execution Leads to Business  Performance
CIO  - IT Management in Search of Alignment Answers

CIO Quarterly - Blending  Business and IT

CIO Update --  Offshore Outsourcing article by Faisal  Hoque

Production Credits
Elizabeth Ferrarini, Executive  Producer
Tom Parish, Host and Audio  Producer
AlarmMusic.com Production Music  Library for Broadcast, Film, Video & Post Production