Speaking at Gartner Group's Internet and E-Business conference here, Charles Schwab's vice chairman and CIO, Dawn Lepore, on Wednesday stressed the importance of flexibility and customer focus during the current economic downturn.

To illustrate her theme, Lepore walked through some of Schwab's recent challenges in adjusting to the deflated economic climate. The New York-based broker, for instance, has had to "de-install equipment and mainframes" to reflect a decrease in online activity, she said.

"We are now seeing a lot of companies that knew well how to expand, looking clumsy as the market contracts," she said.

Lepore said that one of her biggest challenges lately is figuring out how to be flexible.

"You must think about what equipment to put in and what to pull out in reaction to the market, all the while preparing for when the market comes back," she said.

Because Schwab did not outsource crucial data center functions, the company has been able to "turn on a dime," Lepore said. But she added that an enterprise's decision-making around outsource options should remain the same.

"It really is the same decision corporations have always had to make -- a strategic and economic decision based on what a company must retain control over," she said. "I don't think it's a decision tied to the economic climate."

Lepore characterized Schwab and other financial services companies as being in a period of reinvention. But she went on to say that despite the "end of the Internet bubble," online activity and e-commerce will continue to strongly impact the strategic direction of most large businesses.

"We cannot be lulled into thinking the Internet craze is over. We will still see the Internet create dramatic shifts in the landscape," she said.

Lepore drove home the point that the Internet must continue to shape enterprises' approach to customer service, and ran through a list of 10 priorities she has crafted based on customers' perspective. The list includes 24-by-seven availability, speed, technological simplicity, and an aggregation of data about customers that enhances their interaction with Schwab.

Customers are also now driving Schwab's wireless efforts, she said. The company has decided to hold off on enhancements to its Pocket Broker until enough feedback about the wireless device's use is gathered.

"As a company, we've scaled back our investment in wireless like many others have, but we don't want to scale back too far," she said.

Pocket Broker is a service that Schwab customers can use to check account status and pull down market news via a Palm device, HTML phone, or RIM pager.

» posted by ITworld staff

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