J Van Breda & Co: A workgroup approach to corporate strategies

Head of IT Marc Wijnants makes best use of a service-based model

Written by Gary Flood

Marc Wijnants is head of IT at Belgian bank J Van Breda & Co, a 400-employee financial institution that targets family-owned small and medium-sized enterprises and professional services firms.

In IT terms, the bank has outsourced everything related to infrastructure, including network, operations, helpdesk, systems management and security.

It uses a shared-service model, where the outsourcing company is 40 per cent owned by the bank and the rest is owned by two other companies.

‘But IT strategy, project management and all development is handled internally,’ says Wijnants. ‘We have a rather small development team and most of our applications are bespoke, except some package solutions.

‘Our core banking platform is mainframe based on mainframe technology, while all our front end applications are built in .Net,’ he says.

Some years ago, the bank aligned its IT strategy to the business strategy.

‘We want to focus our resources on the things that differentiate us from our competitors,’ he says. ‘For example, CRM is seen as strategic, so we maintain that in-house, while other applications are more commodity and are to be replaced by packages.’

Strategic projects are often initiated by so-called workgroups, where at least one of the participants is from the IT department and at least one individual is a member of the executive committee.

Such workgroups define the business needs and expectations of the project and make sure it dovetails with the business strategy.

‘Often we – IT and the business – will translate the specification of the workgroup into one or more prototypes,’ says Wijnants. ‘Based on these prototypes, the scope of the project gets finalised.’

For more tactical projects, every department within the business has an account manager within the technology organisation. The IT account manager, therefore, has a thorough knowledge of day-to-day problems within the business – and for every project, the account manager, or someone on the technology team, is involved from the start.

‘Three or four times a year, I propose the outline of the larger or strategic projects to the executive committee,’ says Wijnants.

‘This has a time horizon of 18 to 24 months and gives the executive team the opportunity to change the priorities.’

Wijnants also says he is in the right place, in terms of the organisational structure. ‘I report to the chief executive (CEO), though I am not on the executive committee,’ he says.

‘I am a member of the board of the shared-service centre and I agree completely that the ideal place in the organisation for a chief information officer (CIO) is within the executive committee. Directly reporting to the CEO is the second-best option and it works well here, because it is a non-hierarchical organisation.’

Wijnants believes in any company IT should be on the executive committee. ‘This will make it much easier for the technology leader to play the partner role,’ he says. ‘So, yes, the CIO should aspire to the executive committee.’

Tags:

reader comments

related articles

 

Gartner reveals growth pockets

VP of research accentuates the positive in 2009, but warns resellers of shifting business model going forward 22 May 2009

related whitepapers

today's top stories

What does Windows 7 mean for Microsoft?

With the sting of Vista still fresh, Redmond has to make next Windows work 10 Jul 2009

A smarter way to use BI

Getting the most from business intelligence systems requires not only careful management on the part of IT leaders, but also the committed involvement of decision-makers across the organisation 08 Jul 2009

The truth behind the Google/Microsoft/NHS rumours

Before Monday 6 July, did you know that Google and Microsoft had services for storing health records? Thanks to an article in... 10 Jul 2009

Quenching a thirst for IT modernisation

A substantial restructure at soft drink supplier Nichols -­ purveyor of Vimto - ­led the company to update its software to Sage 1000 to replace its in-house application. This resulted in the streamlining of the IT department and an opportunity to customise the system 08 Jul 2009

How Satyam cleaned up its act

Chief executive CP Gurnani tells Angelica Mari why Tech Mahindra opted to keep the Satyam brand after it bought the scandal-hit services firm, and explains what the deal means for existing and prospective customers 09 Jul 2009

Advertisement

Newsletter signup

Sign up for our range of FREE newsletters:

More available - click 'submit' to view

Existing User

Newsletter user login:

Advertisement

Jobs

Related jobs

Job of the week

Job alerts

Sign up here

Find your next job

IT Salary Checker

Check salary here

Advertisement

White papers

Search white papers

Top categories

VPN, Extranet and Intranet Solutions

WAN/ LAN Solutions

Network Security

Interoperability-Connectivity

Grid/ Utility Computing

Latest poll

Will Google Chrome OS be a genuine alternative to Windows?

Will Google Chrome OS be a genuine alternative to Windows?

Tell us your views on the new operating system rivalry

View poll results

Latest audio and video articles

network cablesVideo

How to maximise the value of your IT networking investment

A panel of experts discuss networking strategies that deliver real value to business 03 Jul 2009

green footprintsVideo

How to manage enterprise energy use - and the role IT can play

A panel of experts explore how firms can get to grips with their carbon footprint and make smarter use of energy 01 Jul 2009

Latest in-depth articles

Google ChromeAnalysis

Lack of enterprise appeal takes shine off Chrome OS

Enterprise buyers unlikely to ditch Windows for Chrome OS in the near term, say experts 09 Jul 2009

Satyam CEO CP GurnaniNews

How Satyam cleaned up its act

Chief executive CP Gurnani tells Angelica Mari why Tech Mahindra opted to keep the Satyam brand after it bought the scandal-hit services firm, and explains what the deal means for existing and prospective customers 09 Jul 2009

Advertisement

Primary Navigation