ANZ is following through on its promise to shift to agile methodologies in IT development by adding Jeff Smith - the man who, as CIO, led the agile charge at IBM - to its international technology advisory panel.
Now established at tech giants such as Google and IBM, the shift to agile methodologies in IT development is taking the banking world by storm as incumbents muster forces to take on more nimble, fleet-footed startups.
Last month ANZ went public with its determination to follow in the footsteps of ING, BBVA and a host of other top banks who are using the agile concept to break away from traditional bank IT development projects, which have typically worked on a two-year waterfall cycle to deliver a polished end-product.
The overhaul is being helmed by Kath Bray, currently managing director products, but now tech royalty Smith has also been enlisted to lend his expertise as part of the international technology advisory panel, which was set up in 2015 to guide ANZ in the strategic use of new technologies.
Smith, a former Telstra CIO and CEO at Suncorp Business Services, has spent the last three years as IBM CIO, responsible for rolling out an agile culture across Big Blue.
In a video for ANZ inhouse magazine BlueNotes, he insists that the agile approach can work for banks just as it does for tech firms.
Shayne Elliott, CEO, ANZ, says: "We need to deliver this transformation at a much faster pace through new ways of working, so Jeff’s leadership in technology roles and his experience of implementing an Agile culture make him a valuable inclusion to the panel."