CISQ hosted its latest Technology Executive Roundtable at the Marriott at Grand Central (NYC). The topic for this installment was “Software Robustness and Resiliency in Capital Markets”, and featured the following speakers: Corey Booth, Partner and Managing Director, Boston Consulting Group; Dr. Bill Curtis, Director, CISQ; JP Chauvet, Chief Architect of Equities, Credit Suisse. Over 25 senior leaders from organizations such as Bridgewater Associates, BNY Mellon, NYSE Euronext, Deutsche Bank, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, and J.P.Morgan were in attendance listening to presentations, engaging in discussions, and networking with peers.
Dr. Curtis started off by discussing the recent changes in the regulatory environment at the Federal level, especially as they relate to software risk prevention. He covered some of the highlights of Regulation SCI, and the feedback provided to the SEC by CISQ. A link to the presentation can be found here.
Mr. Booth then talked about the tradeoffs between risk and development speed, and their implications on software quality frameworks and processes. He discussed the two worlds and speeds of IT: industrial and digital. Managing these two worlds requires organizing and executing in different ways, not to mention the differences in governing relationships and stakeholders within each IT world. Implementing digital-ready capabilities requires practicing an open architecture and flexible organizational governance. Some current case studies of capital markets clients that were building QA governance mechanisms to address system resilience (Data-Driven Operational Assurance) were also discussed. A link to the presentation can be found here.
Finally, Mr. Chauvet discussed the path to introducing software risk prevention methodologies. He talked about the types of issues that make it difficult to manage software resiliency and robustness, how to balance expectations from the business, and what regulatory response would be useful vs. detrimental. Key steps to enabling the cultural shift and success include: having a clear and consistent definition of Software Quality throughout the organization, identifying from within and implementing best practices of quality, and creating widespread visibility into quality measures (such as those defined by CISQ). Mr. Chauvet was an early adopter of software analysis & measurement in this industry, and he leaned on his successful experience at Credit Suisse. It was interesting to hear how using a combination of peer pressure and pull generated demand for quality measurement! A link to the presentation can be found here.
The Q&A session that followed included lively discussion amongst the speakers and attendees. Positive interviews of the attendees after the event reflected the event’s overall success. For more information regarding upcoming CISQ events, visit our events page.