BNY Mellon's CIO John Fiore discusses enterprise IT

Bank of New York Mellon last week named John Fiore as its newest CIO. In an interview with Bank Systems & Technology, Fiore discusses the challenges that enterprises can confront in developing an IT workforce, working with vendors and promoting innovation.

With the banking industry under a spotlight since Wall Street's recent fiasco, one might question whether innovation would be a top priority. But according to Fiore, innovation is more important than ever. BNY Mellon set up an Office of Innovation to look across the organization's various business units and develop revenue-generating products and services.

One of the challenges that large IT vendors have in meeting the innovation demands of large enterprises stems from their size and complexity, according to Fiore. They manage established product lines that they can't just drop by the wayside, and when launching new products, they have to be careful not to cannibalize existing ones. For that reason, companies like BNY Mellon also work with smaller, VC-backed vendors "that aren't burdened by that legacy of existing products and client bases..." Fiore says.

In developing the IT workforce, Fiore finds his biggest challenge at the entry level. Because of the recession, the pool of available workers with expertise is plentiful. But the number of prospects graduating from universities and colleges has dropped, so BNY Mellon sponsors internship programs and residencies to maintain relationships with key institutions.

For more:
- check out this interview with John Fiore at Bank Systems & Technology

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