Finance And IT: Creating Seamless Integration

How Symantec's CIO and CFO work together on the Verisign deal.
BURLINGAME, Calif. -- Symantec in May announced its $1.3 billion acquisition of Verisign's Web security unit. Nothing tests how well IT and corporate finance work together than an acquisition. Forbes Publisher Rich Karlgaard talked recently with the security software giant's CIO, David Thompson, and CFO, James Beer, to discuss their roles is in the integration. Video: Symantec Streamlining Verisign's Integration Article Controlsemailprintreprintnewslettercommentsshare Forbes: How do a CIO and a CFO work together for a seamless integration? Beer: We have been putting a lot of thought into the whole process of integration. Planning and mergers and acquisitions have been a regular part of the way in which Symantec ( SYMC - news - people ) has grown over the last decade or so. And so this is absolutely a key aspect of how we do business, how we develop the top line, how we develop the product portfolio. And again it's an example of how the two of us have very much got to be bolted together in terms of our thought process, the prioritization of resources. In order to get the integration accomplished as quickly as we can, one of the things we've learned in recent years has been the value of going more swiftly around M&A integration. Once the technology systems work has been accomplished, it's possible to accomplish the savings volume that you were originally looking for. This puts a lot of pressure on you, David, too. How do you look at acquisitions? Related StoriesThe 10 Youngest Power Men In AfricaStorage & Norton In Focus As Symantec Aims For $22Update: VeriSign Rally Extends As Rumor Mill Heats UpMarc Benioff's Five Leadership SecretsSymantec Heads to $20 with Antivirus And Storage ComboStoriesVideos Rate This StoryYour Rating Overall Rating Reader CommentsPost a Comment Thompson: Well, one of things we did is based on our learning's over the last few years is accelerate the integration. But we've created a cross-functional team where we've mapped out all the processes that we need to integrate. We've accelerated that process. And it makes our life much easier from an IT perspective when we've laid out the business integration plan and then we have an IT integration plan that falls within that. And that's been a great partnership between James and I in focusing on accelerating that time line, a cross-functional ownership of that plan and really driving it in our organizations. What advice would you have for other CIO/CFO teams when it comes to integration? Thompson: One thing that I would highlight as a key tip for integration is assigning team members that really have a background in integration and can work cross-functionally. James and I both have assigned resources to our integration team and planning teams that have been through multiple large corporations, small company integrations. And they understand the issues associated with that. And the impacts on the customers, impact on employees and impact on partners. And I think the key is finding resources that truly know how to work cross-functionally. It's one thing to assign a finance person that understands finance. But that person needs to understand impacts associated with other areas of the company. Same thing from an IT perspective. When I make a decision to consolidate a data center or change a technology I need to understand the impact to the business. And that integration discussion needs to be very cross-functional. That's where James and I have really worked hard on putting the right resources forward.

Computational finance

Generally, individuals who fill positions in computational finance are known as “quants”, referring to the quantitative skills necessary to perform the job. Specifically, knowledge of the C++ programming language, as well as of the mathematical subfields of stochastic calculus, multivariate calculus, linear algebra, differential equations, probability theory and statistical inference are often entry level requisites for such a position. C++ has become the dominant language for two main reasons: the computationally intensive nature of many algorithms, and the focus on libraries rather than applications. Computational finance was traditionally populated by Ph.Ds in finance, physics and mathematics who moved into the field from more pure, academic backgrounds (either directly from graduate school, or after teaching or research). However, as the actual use of computers has become essential to rapidly carrying out computational finance decisions, a background in computer programming has become useful, and hence many computer programmers enter the field either from Ph.D. programs or from other fields of software engineering. Specially with the advent of more complex computational machines, a knowledge of computer software and hardware has become a necessity. In recent years, advanced computational methods, such as neural network and evolutionary computation have opened new doors in computational finance. Practitioners of computational finance have come from the fields of signal processing and computational fluid dynamics and artificial intelligence. Masters level degree holders are also increasingly making their presence felt as more terminal programs become available at the leading schools; see Master of Computational Finance. Today, all full service institutional finance firms employ computational finance professionals in their banking and finance operations (as opposed to being ancillary information technology specialists), while there are many other boutique firms ranging from 20 or fewer employees to several thousand that specialize in quantitative trading alone. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was one of the first firms to create a large derivatives business and employ computational finance (including through the formation of RiskMetrics), while Renaissance Technologies, founded in 1982, is probably the oldest and most notable quant fund (along with D.E. Shaw & Co.).

• Covers all aspects of IT in Finance Shows a broad range of applications, e.g. in banking, insurance, trading and in non-financial companies

This Handbook contains surveys of state-of-the-art concepts, systems, applications, best practices as well as contemporary research in the intersection between IT and finance. Included are recent trends and challenges, IT systems and architectures in finance, essential developments and case studies on management information systems, service oriented architecture modelling, IT architectures for securities trading, IT-systems in banking, process-oriented systems in corporate treasuries, grid computing and networking. The IT applications in banking, trading and insurance cover risk management and controlling, financial portals, electronic payment and others. In addition, also finance-related IT applications in non-financial companies are considered. The concept-oriented part of the book focuses on IT methods in finance like financial models and modelling financial data, planning and processes, security, algorithms and complexity.

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