Software is eating the world (“Why software is eating the world“, Marc Andreessen, Wall Street Journal, August 20, 2011) and many companies see the importance of becoming (like) a software company. It starts with committing to a software culture through leadership, communication, and investment. Leadership: Bring tech and software experts and visionaries on board, measure specific software KPIs, get software leaders to join your board (or advisory board, or technology board, just pick one), and join some of theirs. Communication: Communicate constantly about the strategy, value proposition, and progress of software, internally and externally. Investment: Sustained investments in software are required over many years. Management must also measure employees’ satisfaction.
JPMorgan started its journey with culture and mindset, talking about business outcomes, obsession over customer experience, and delivering value faster.
Invest in empowered product managers, while driving engineering excellence through autonomous teams and flexible architecture. The quality of the product managers and their ability to steer is critical to the success of this endeavor. Build on the ecosystem, leveraging others’ platforms and offering your own platform. Bring in “citizen developers”.
Last but not least, understand how to leverage software and data, where it can make a major difference.
Two key sources:
1) “Every company is a software company: Six “must dos” to succeed“, McKinsey Quarterly, December 2022.
2) “Inside JPMorgan’s appointment of 25 “mini-CEOs” and new strategy to operate more like a startup <…>“, Business Insider, April 2022.
Digital Transformation of Asset Managers and Wealth Managers 