06 Feb 2018
Six must-have skills for leaders in the digital economy
Leo D'Angelo Fisher |
The idea technology is something which happens in the IT department won’t cut it anymore.
27 Apr 2018
Businesses are in a tech war: Bloomberg chair
The chair of Bloomberg LP, Peter Grauer, says demand for improved customer experience in the new digital economy means companies are at war for tech capability. That’s something which resonated with me.
“[There’s a] technological war out there and we've got to stay in front of it so we can continue to maintain our growth,” Peter tells me in this podcast.
"Providing the right working facilities and culture for a tech industry is very important.” - Grauer
“When I started as CEO in 2002 we had 7000 employees and 10 per cent were technologists or engineers. Today, we have 18,500 employees and almost 30 per cent are engineers.”
Bloomberg has many uses for engineers including building the infrastructure used to deliver services to customers, developing new data functionalities and quantitative analysis tools as well as AI in machine learning.
When talking with Peter, I remembered his co-founder Michael Bloomberg used to insist everything that could be made of glass should be made of glass. He believed in ultra-transparency and wanted people moving around, running into each other.
Peter agreed providing the right working facilities and culture for a tech industry was very important.
“Genius manifests itself in a number of different ways but physical space is one of them. We're trying to anticipate the way people will continue to work, how they'll work in the future and the tools they need going forward,” he said.
“It took me two or three months to get used to the Bloomberg environment but openness creates better access to people, better collaboration and a breakdown of silos that exist in so many organisations.”
Peter says corporate social responsibility also played a big role in the culture at Bloomberg: “The social consciousness with which we conduct ourselves and the role we play interacting in the community is a critical part of our ability to attract and retain the best people.”
Listen to the podcast above to hear more of our conversation.
Shayne Elliott is Chief Executive Officer at ANZ
The views and opinions expressed in this communication are those of the author and may not necessarily state or reflect those of ANZ.
editor's picks
20 Apr 2018
LONGREAD: tech shock > China shock
Richard Yetsenga |
Technology is challenging the economic order far more than China ever did.