Technology innovation at theLondon Stock Exchangedistils and
magnifies the business-meets-IT issues and opportunities that
exercise all IT professionals.
The context is already dramatic, and it could become much more
so. It was not a workaday event for the Bank of England to bail out
Northern Rock, whose misfortunes cannot merely be discounted as
emanating from the deflating US housing bubble.
What the current volatility in the financial markets will
betoken for investments in IT in the financial services market is
hard to predict, but some impact there will assuredly be.
In the meantime, the London Stock Exchange is demonstrating how
core IT is to financial sector businesses. Karl Flinders, Computer
Weekly's financial correspondent, analyses the significance of the
Tradelect platform at the exchange. This emerges as a platform
deliberately built for future growth that extends beyond trading
volumes to subserve acquisition - such as that of Borsa Italiana.
The stock exchange's chief technology officer estimates that
Tradelect will make integration of the Italian bourse three times
faster.
The platform is one element of a four-year technology programme,
and its business case was predicated not just on increased trading
volumes and operating cost reduction, but on software agility that,
the exchange says, will enable entry into new markets. It offers an
exemplary case study of an aggressive investment in IT to drive a
business forward.
The financial services sector is also leading on green IT
initiatives. We report that
Barclays is set to replace more than 10,000 PCs with thin
clients, saving £5.2m in costs and reducing carbon emissions by
15,000 tonnes.
In this issue we publish the first of a series of chief
information officer profiles that focus on a moment of
transformation which propelled their careers forward dramatically.
David Lister, formerly CIO at Boots, now finds himself in a City
institution - Reuters. It is hard not to see the City as cauldron
of opportunity for IT professionals at this turbulent time.