Bob Compton
Bob Compton has been leading IT at a senior level for more than a decade, covering a variety of C-level responsibilities including CTO, CDO and his current CIO role with SMF24 responsibility, which he has now held for three years.
Bob has led many initiatives to modernise IT at Mobilize, including their first cloud deployments; implementing RPA and more automation; switching to full Agile methodology; setting up a new testing team, nearshore and offshore; first uses of AI; adopting DevOps; and creating new schemes for graduates and trainees.
Bob is an active participant in industry events, external committees and the wider CIO community.
What's the most exciting part of your current role?
I would say it's the day-to-day variety of the role, given my responsibility for all the information systems, all the IT, ultimately for data, innovation and transformation - also including AI, automation, Agile and DevOps. With our banking license I share SMF24 responsibilities.
On top of this and right now we are just centralising our product owners into a new team, which is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for the company to continue to go from strength to strength on our programme of initiatives and the roadmaps for our suite of products.
What do you consider your greatest IT achievement of the last 12 months?
It is an eventful and interesting time working in financial services. In banking and the regulated space and you can often find yourself needing to pivot and deliver new needs at very short notice. The way we have integrated SCRUM to the organisation several years back has left us in a prime position to meet the challenges and change direction as required in line with customer and business needs.
I would say the greatest achievement for me is seeing a high performing and motivated team meeting the commitments of our release programme and any high and critical system changes time and time again. So much talent in the team and it is great seeing them develop.
What's the biggest challenge facing IT leaders today, and how are you tackling it?
I can turn this into three main categories of challenge that we all face.
Firstly, we can't move away from cyber challenges. An area ever adapting, we are unfortunately living in a world where for all the new knowledge gained some will want to use it negatively. So many vulnerable people have enough to worry about, let alone being the victims of cybercrime.
As an organisation, we have to continue to implement the best protections and tools, keep ahead of the curve and scan the latest trends to avoid impact - whilst recognising it may not be possible to stop every unknown and therefore having strong and robust recovery plans and super resilience.
Second - Talent. We have to make sure we look beyond the technical teams. The tools of today to make us more productive are across the WHOLE organisation as many are tech savvy. So as an IT leader I look beyond just my own team and want to also upskill the whole company.
Third - Tech adoption. It’s not totally fair to pass on shiny new tools and expect people to drop everything and move. Encouraging adoption is a particular skill to master, else you’re wasting an opportunity.
What piece of technology could you not live without, and why?
It changes all the time. For a while I would have said my Garmin watch as I am really into health and fitness, and tracking every last activity can become an addiction. However, at some stage you do question whether that is just habit, and not necessarily a good one. There are too many screens in our world; we need to find the right harmony and balance of the fantastic use of tech improving our lives with good purpose, and not impacting mental health due to going against what we naturally need in our lives.
What excites you most about the future of IT?
I’m always full of hope that technology will be used for good. It is exciting playing around with new technology, but also we need to see the benefits of it. Hopefully the majority have more awareness about what new technology is likely a bubble, seeing through the fear of missing out and the hype cycles and instead drilling into problem statements, best use of tech and making customers’ and users’ lives better, simpler and more fulfilled. I think all of us working in IT are fortunate that we can drive this behaviour.
What’s the strangest job you’ve ever had?
I had an unusual work experience in comparison to modern standards...I operated the photo finish machine at a greyhound stadium! I'm not sure somebody of that age would be allowed these days but it worked for me in the ’90s.
If you could instantly master one new skill, what would it be?
Getting my head in the zone to read a book, or a long document, with full focus without having to re-read any of it due to realising my mind is elsewhere, and to stay motivated to finish it off! Actually, this is learning to master a skill I should have mastered by now!