By Elissa Baxter, Senior Journalist - FST Media.

BAXTER: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, Tony. With BT Financial preparing to switch off five legacy systems over the next four years, would it be safe to say that streamlining legacy systems is BT’s main IT focus in the next 12 to 18 months? If not, what is your main focus?

FORWARD: While our continued drive to rationalise our superannuation and registry systems onto a single strategic platform is vitally important to positioning BTFG for future success, success will only come on the back of continued strong growth in our business. In that context I would say our main focus will be our customers. Our industry is faced with enormous opportunities around the growth in the superannuation market. These opportunities impact our whole organisation from our Advice business to our Wrap platform, as well as the traditional product areas of Superannuation and Insurance. The focus on the customer is nothing new but if I may quote Gail Kelly (CEO for Westpac) we need to “delight our customers”.
We will be looking towards our customer facing systems as well as our back-end. We will ensure that the functions our customers want are available in the channel they require and that the execution of those functions will be as smooth and automated as possible. We are promoting a customer-centric design philosophy across the board, we are increasing our level of straight-through processing and we are providing a registry platform which is agile and cost effective.

BAXTER: BT’s superannuation products are pioneering because they are now accessible through Westpac’s internet banking interface. How do you see Web 2.0 technologies changing the banking sector?

FORWARD: Web 2.0 covers such a broad range of technologies and approaches that the impacts on financial services are likely to be profound both in terms of challenges and opportunities. At one end of the Web 2.0 spectrum we can talk about the “brand” opportunities presented by the social networking sites, or the improvements in customer experience arising from more vibrant and compelling user interfaces. I think BT will position itself to be a supplier of compelling and useful services which its customers can consume in whatever process they require.
At the other end of the spectrum we find the emerging “marketplace” based financial services products such as Prosper or Zopa. The jury is still out on what role the large financial services companies can, or should, play in these community initiatives but experience from the business model explosions based on “old-Web”, such as Amazon and E-Bay, mean that we can’t ignore these developments.

BAXTER: What would you say is the most significant challenge facing financial services IT is the next three years?

FORWARD: Talent. The stock of emerging IT graduates is reducing in an industry where opportunities are available globally for high performers.  BT fosters a high achievement culture and our focus on people is critical to its success. Super is another big ticket item. The superannuation market is growing at a phenomenal rate. How do we keep up? What is our ability to respond to market changes and to position ourselves to scale? Of equal importance - how do we meet and surpass customer expectations so they can effectively manage their Super?

BAXTER: What are your thoughts with regards to SOA? Some CIO’s seem to see it as nothing more then hype for an approach to IT that has been around for years, others advocate it as the silver bullet for disparate systems. Where do you stand?

FORWARD: Good question. If you are referring to SOA as a means of delivering technology services such as system integration then yes, SOA is the natural extension of the journey IT has been on for a number of years. The concepts are not new but the technology and standards to support them have matured.
At the other end of the spectrum SOA as a means of delivering business services (e.g. Super, Life Insurance, Wrap services, Foreign Exchange, etc) and the ability to package these services in an agile and customer responsive way – then this is where the challenge lies, this is where the scope broadens and this is where the benefits are to be had.  So yes, I guess you can say that I am an advocate.

BAXTER: It has been reported that by 2010, one third of BT Financials IT work will be off shore. Where do you draw the lines around which functions go offshore and which stay within Australia?

FORWARD: Our people and our intellectual property are key drivers for our success. This is something that we will never lose sight of. The nature of our roles may change as IT evolves but their value cannot be overstated, or lost. Our offshore partnerships provide us with scale and flexibility.  This allows us to respond to business demand and deliver what our business needs. These partnerships form an integral part of our IT strategy as we build and develop new and existing relationships.

BAXTER: There has been significant concern within the banking sector about the costs involved in complying with the government’s anti-money laundering provisions. Do you support a build or buy strategy to meet the target date of December 2008?

FORWARD: Our goal is to meet the requirements of the AML/CTF Act in a way that minimises impact on our customers and employees. The Act mainly requires us to collect, verify and store identity information for new customers, and monitor transactions for money laundering and terrorism financing patterns and report any suspicious matters. The Act allows us to conduct a staggered implementation of the various requirements between now and March 2010. We are using a buy approach for our core AML/CTF solution and integrating this with our current systems, which we need to adapt to fulfill AML/CTF requirements.

BAXTER: Every IT leader, particularly at your level, has a legacy they wish to be remembered for. From the perspective of a CIO, what is yours?

FORWARD: We're always building legacies, I think that is unavoidable. What keeps me awake at night is the thought that the investments we're making in systems are going to build a sustainable business.
So you would have to rate our Westpac online connected superannuation product, Super for Life as perhaps the best example of a legacy people will remember me for. But I have to say, I don't think we're finished yet!

Elissa Baxter, Senior Journalist
FST Media